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The coffee shop loomed ahead, quaint and unassuming. He parked with an uneasy churning in his gut and stepped out of the car. Inside Brewed Dreams, his eyes scanned for Delcy among the small morning crowd and behind the counter, but she was nowhere to be seen.
Disappointment settled like bitter dregs at the bottom of his stomach. He hadn't realized how much he’d hoped to see her until now. With a silent curse at his own foolishness, Colton turned on his heel and strode back to his car.
The engine roared to life beneath him as he pulled out of the parking lot, and then chaos erupted. A figure darted across the lot with such haste it seemed they were fleeing some unseen predator.
He slammed on the brakes with heart-stopping force, tires screeching their protest against asphalt. Through the windshield, Colton watched in horror as a woman crumpled to the ground.
“Shit!” He threw open the door and rushed out before the car had fully stopped moving.
The woman lay there, disoriented amidst scattered belongings from her bag. Colton reached her side in an instant, his voice laced with urgency. “Are you all right?” He grabbed her arm, pulling her up toward him.
It took only a moment for recognition to dawn—Delcy was there before him without her usual mask to shield her face, her features bare for him to revel in, and Colton couldn't help but stare.
She was beautiful. It wasn't just her allure as an omega that struck him. It was her—delicate features framed by that same dark hair that haunted his dreams. A surge of protectiveness welled up within him, and he wanted to scoop her up and whisk her away so he could have all of her to himself.
She scrambled to gather her things. “I'm fine,” she said breathlessly, her cheeks flushed with shock or embarrassment, perhaps both. She quickly slipped her mask over her face and then rushed away from him with such haste that it stung like rejection. He watched her retreating figure until she disappeared into Brewed Dreams.
Colton stood there amidst idling cars and honking horns, pulses of city life oblivious to the encounter, and felt something within him shift uncomfortably. He had come here searching for something he couldn't name, and now that he'd found it in Delcy's sudden appearance, he felt more unsettled than ever.
She left behind an imprint—a tangible sense of absence that made him question what exactly he was doing here when Sterling Enterprises awaited him just blocks away. A strange mixture of pleasure at seeing her unguarded face clashed with frustration at her swift departure.
Returning to his car felt like stepping back into a role, the collected billionaire who didn't chase after women who literally ran from him. But Delcy's fleeting presence had breached something in that armor.
* * *
Sitting at his mahogany desk, tapping his Montblanc pen absently against the polished wood, Colton's gaze was locked on the reports spread before him, figures and projections marching down the pages in relentless rows. Yet for all his focus, Delcy's image persisted in the periphery of his thoughts, a ghostly presence he couldn't banish.
Her scent, her eyes, her soft voice—they haunted him. He shouldn't be thinking about her, not when he had a multimillion-dollar deal to finalize, but he couldn't get her out of his head.
The clock struck one, signaling the end of lunch—a meal he had ignored—and the beginning of an afternoon meeting that promised to be as tedious as it was necessary. With a heavy sigh, Colton stood and made his way to the boardroom.
The meeting dragged on like an anchor through mud. Colton's impatience grew with each passing minute, his responses sharper, his directives more curt. The board members exchanged uneasy glances, sensing the storm brewing within their CEO. Even Emma, ever efficient and composed, hesitated before speaking, her words measured and cautious.
Jaxon leaned back in his chair, amusement dancing in his eyes at the spectacle of Colton's mounting irritation.
“You're quite the demon today,” he said with a teasing lilt in his voice. “Need a coffee to mellow out?”
“Emma will get it,” Colton said tersely, dismissing Jaxon's offer with a flick of his hand.
Emma returned with a cup from the staff room, a blend Colton had tasted a thousand times over. He took a sip and immediately scowled. It lacked Delcy's touch—the subtle nuances she brought to the brew. His mood soured further, each sip reminding him what it wasn't rather than what it was.
Jaxon excused himself from the meeting to make a call outside. The sight of his twin's casual demeanor only deepened Colton's annoyance. Couldn't Jaxon feel the weight of their responsibilities pressing down upon them?
Finally released from the confines of discussion and debate, Colton retreated to his office. He walked down the hall with purpose, ignoring the watchful eyes that followed him—eyes wary of drawing too close to Sterling Enterprises' tempestuous leader.
As he entered his sanctuary, something on his desk caught him off guard—a coffee cup sitting innocently beside his keyboard and a note adorned with a small doodle. A warmth bloomed in his chest as he reached for it, Delcy's handwriting curled across the paper like vines seeking sunlight.
Colton's lips curved into a rare genuine smile. He sat and picked up the coffee. The scent that rose from the cup as he brought it to his lips was unmistakable—Delcy's craft—and he savored it like a man finding water in a desert. The liquid slid down smoothly, and for an instant, Colton imagined he could taste heaven itself.
Intrigued by which of the pens Delcy might have used from his collection to write such delightful words, he picked up each one and held it close to his nose. Outside his glass office walls, curious eyes watched as Sterling Enterprises' most feared alpha sniffed pens like a hound on a trail.
Finding the right one sent satisfaction rippling through him; its familiar scent mixed with Delcy's unique aroma was intoxicating. Colton's inner alpha purred contentedly.
With newfound lightness in his step, Colton headed next door to Jaxon's office on matters concerning their latest deal. He found Jaxon amidst an array of pens strewn across his desk like soldiers after battle.
Hearing laughter spill from Colton's lips was rare enough to give Jaxon pause. “What are you so happy about?” the brother asked before explaining his own quest for Delcy’s chosen pen. “I'm searching for buried treasure,” he said with half-joking desperation.
Colton leaned against the doorframe and surveyed the chaos. “So you were the one who ordered the coffee?”
