KEISHA’S POV
I finished the records I was given at half past four, read through it once, made two corrections before I saved it and sat back and looked at it on the screen for a mont.
Mara’s face kept coming back to . That smile. She had been watching before she ever walked through Ashveil’s gates and I didn’t know what to do with that yet, so with a sigh, I picked up the printed copy and stood up.
The walk to the mansion was quiet. I walked with the docunt under my arm and thought about what I was going to say to Callum and how I was going to say it without being weird about it.
Why didn’t you tell ?
That was simple and direct. It was also four words. I could do four words.
The mansion was quiet when I stepped inside, the familiar sll of it hitting imdiately. I had grown up coming here. Spent half my childhood in these corridors, dragged along by Nadia to one thing or another while Callum sat sowhere being responsible and occasionally called us both trouble with the sa tone.
I looked around the entrance hall.
It was empty.
Shouldn’t soone be ho?
"Hello?" My voice echoed and I didn’t receive a response.
I moved further in, past the sitting room, past the staircase and poked my head into the study. All I saw was an empty desk, papers stacked neatly and lamp on. I stood there for a mont and looked at the photograph on the corner of the desk that had been face down the last ti I was in here and was face up now.
I backed out and kept looking.
The corridor that went toward the back of the house was darker and I moved down it slowly, one hand tracing the wall, thinking about being eight years old and running down this sa corridor because Nadia had dared to touch the big painting at the end and co back before anyone noticed.
Obviously, I had done it and been so proud of myself while Callum had been standing at the other end watching the whole ti with a small smile on our face.
He never told on us. He never told on us for anything.
I stopped walking, staring at sothing down the hall.
"Looking for sothing?" A voice made jerk.
I spun around.
Callum was standing in the doorway of the room I had just passed, leaning against the fra and he was not wearing a shirt.
Oh shit.
I stared.
He had clearly just co from trainingㅡ his hair was slightly damp and there was a towel over one shoulder and he was looking at with mild curiosity while I stood in his corridor looking at his chest like I had completely forgotten what I ca here for.
Which, to be honest, I had.
It was almost like I was seeing it all over again. Those toned abs. His—
"Keisha."
I looked up. "What?"
"You have sothing in your hand." He nodded at the docunt.
I looked down at it. "Right." I cleared my throat. "The eting record. Pren said to deliver it to you."
He pushed off the doorfra. "Co on then."
He turned and walked back into the room and I followed. It turned out to be a smaller study off the main one with a desk.
He dropped into the chair behind it and held his hand out for the docunt. I gave it to him and stood on the other side of the desk because sitting down felt like staying and I wasn’t sure I was staying.
He read through it and I looked at the wall. At the window. Even at the ceiling briefly but definitely not at him.
"This is thorough." He noted without looking up.
"It’s a eting record." I frowned. "It’s supposed to be thorough."
"The toll rights point." He flipped a page. "Your recomndation. That wasn’t in the original proposal, I’m glad you added it."
"It should have been. It was lazy skipping." I sighed. "I don’t know why the first person didn’t think of that. If we’re letting them route weekly convoys through our territory we should be positioned to benefit from the trade directly, not just facilitate it." I paused. "The percentage model scales better than flat rate. As their trade volu grows so does ours."
He looked at the page for a mont. "Agreed." He said simply.
He kept reading and I stood there, wondering how to bring up the pressing issue.
Just four words. That was all.
When he leaned back, done with the docunt, I blurted it out.
"Why didn’t you tell ?"
He looked at .
"Riven." I specified. "You knew he was coming earlier than he said. You knew days before he got here." I held his gaze. "Why didn’t you tell ?"
He was quiet for a mont. "Pack business doesn’t require your prior knowledge." He said it evenly.
I looked at him and waited for the anger to co.
But nothing ca. "You could have told anyway." I said. "As a courtesy. The way people who—" I stopped. "The way people tell each other things."
He held my gaze. "Would it have helped?"
I thought about it honestly. "I don’t know." I said. "Maybe not." I paused. "It still would have been better than finding out when he walked through the door."
Callum said nothing for a mont. "You handled it well though."
"Everyone keeps saying that." I said. "It’s starting to feel like a low bar."
Sothing like amusent at the corner of his mouth. He stood and ca around the desk and I held my ground because I wasn’t going to step back every ti he moved, that was a thing I had decided about myself at so point since all this started happening.
"You did." He whispered. "Handle it well." He stopped in front of . "The toll rights. The proposals. Mara."
I looked up at him. "You saw that."
"I saw enough." He nodded. "What did she say to you?"
"The usual." I said. "Stay away from her mate. Don’t listen to what he says. The kind of thing won say when they’re threatened by soone their partner keeps looking at across conference tables."
He was quiet for a second. "He kept looking at you, I saw that."
"I noticed." I said.
"So did I. Hard not to" He grunted, irritation underneath it.
I looked up at him, aware of how close we were. "Callum."
"Hm."
"You’re very close right now."
"I am." He agreed.
He reached up slowly and his hand found my jaw and tilted my face up.
To steady myself, I felt my fingers find the front of his shirt before I had decided to reach for it except he didn’t have a shirt, so my hands found his chest instead and he inhaled slightly.
"We’re in your house." I whispered.
"I know where we are." He murmured.
"Nadia could be ho."
"She’s not."
"I’m working." I said. "Technically. I’m still technically working."
He looked at for a long mont, his thumb tracing my jaw. "Tonight then." He said quietly. "Your place."
I looked at his face.
Oh no.
I stepped back and his hands dropped.
"I’m working late." I cleared my throat.
He looked at with a frown.
"I’ll see myself out." I said.
I picked the docunt up off the desk where he had left it and put it back down because I didn’t actually need to take it anywhere.
Then I turned and walked out of the room and out the house.
The evening air hit my face as I stood on the steps for a mont with my eyes closed and just breathed.
Then I walked back to my office.
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