He laughed. “Yeah, that’s why I didn’t waste a moment to say yes!”

Chuckling, I glanced at the boxes. “You need any help with these? I’m free right now.”

The eagerness was lucid in his eyes. “Yes, please! I’d be more than grateful if you do.”

Smiling, I took the smaller box he handed me and accompanied him to Liza’s former office.

Laughing at some joke he shared from his first day at job, we were just outside the empty office when we noticed Ace and Carter.

Carter was explaining something to Ace while trying to match his employer’s powerful steps. The tense jaw and clenched fists of his declared of the storm that was raging inside him.

He was… furious.

He came to a halt when his eyes met mine. The swirl of intense emotions that ran in his gray pools was unknown to me. My smile faded.

What happened to him? Even Carter was pale and out of breath.

When Ace’s gaze fell on Matt, his jaw tightened even more before they moved back to me, eyeing the box in my hands. In my peripheral vision, I saw Matt taking a step back, fumbling with the box as the boss glared daggers at both of us.

Slightly moving his head, he pointed Carter to the white parcel in my hands and in seconds, it was taken from me.

“I’ll help Matt from here. Don’t worry,” Carter said, casting a nervous glance at Ace.

I narrowed my eyes at his boss as he came closer.

“What’s with you now? And do not give me that look. I’m not scared of you!” I snapped, even if I found difficulty not to step back under his towering figure.

Placing a hand on my waist, he cupped my chin as if Carter and Matt weren’t standing there, watching us. “I told you to go home and rest. Then what are you doing here? And with—” he threw another sharp look at Matt, “—one of my employees?”

“I was just helping him,” I replied, confused.

“He can help himself. And if he can’t, then he can just ask someone else. You don’t need to help him.”

“And what’s wrong with me helping him?” I gave him a challenging look.

Pressing his lips together, he kept silence.

“I should go now. A lot of work is pending,” Matt stuttered.

“You better!” Ace hissed, not looking away from me.

Throwing a thanks my way, he fled inside the office, followed by Carter.

All the while, our gazes didn’t break. We did the staring match for some moments, until he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, calming him down.

Once opening them back, he pressed our foreheads together. “You always make me lose my sanity, Rosebud.”

With my brows still furrowed, I said, “And you drive me insane!”

His lips twitched at the side. “Do I?”