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“Why are you here?” I ask, walking toward my car and hitting the button to unlock it.

My headlights flash, signaling it is now unlocked. I climb into the driver’s seat.

“Cyrus dropped me off here on his way. I wanted to make sure you weren’t going to try to skip town,” he says, opening the passenger door. He stops, looking down the side of my car at the huge scrape.

“Should I be worried about getting in a car with you?” he asks, a silly grin on his face before he gets in.

“No, my car had a fight with a bollard in your parking lot,” I tell him.

“What did the bollard do to you?” he asks with a smile on his lips, and I realize that is the first time I have seen him actually smile.

“It got in my way when I was running late,” I tell him, backing out of my driveway.

I pull onto the street, driving toward work. Traffic is painfully slow, and I see Eli fiddling with his phone. He looks squished sitting in the front of my little car.

“The seat goes further back. There is a lever under the seat,” I tell him.

He looks down and pulls it, adjusting the seat, giving himself more room.

“Coffee?” I ask as I pull up at the café I stop at every morning on the way to work.

Eli nods, and I get out, expecting him to wait when he gets out of the car, too, following me inside. I order coffee, knowing already what he drinks, considering I am their coffee bitch in the office. I go to hand him some cash when Eli hands the man his card and orders Cyrus one. We wait for my name to be called.

“You over your tantrum?” Eli asks, typing away on his screen.

“Don’t think someone having their house held as ransom and being upset over it could be classed as a tantrum,” I tell him.

“Regardless, it’s in the past. You just need to come around to the idea of being ours,” Eli says, putting his phone in his pocket.

“I’m not anyone’s. Why do you keep saying that?”

“You are and always will be. We want you, Addie. In every way possible,” he says, confusing me.

“What do you mean? Stop being so cryptic,” I tell him, and he chuckles. He steps closer and grabs my hand. Sparks move across my palm, and I try to pull my hand away from him.

“You two really need to get checked over. Both of you keep bloody electrocuting me,” I tell him, giving up on trying to get him to release my hand.

He laughs, and my name gets called. He lets go of my hand while I retrieve the coffees in their cardboard cups on a little tray. I walk back toward the car, propping the tray on the roof of my car, unlocking the door, and placing my bag inside. Standing back up, I notice Eli isn’t in his seat before jumping when his hand touches my lower back, making me spin around.

“I don’t think you understand when I say we want you,” he says, making goosebumps rise on my skin, and I spin around. His hand is on the top of my door, the other now on my hip.

“Oh, I understand perfectly well, and it’s not going to happen. I am not sleeping with you. I am not some prostitute,” I tell him before sitting in my seat.

He looks down at me with a smile on his lips before handing me the cup tray. I place it on the dash as he closes my door. He walks around the other side, and I hand him the tray before starting up the car and driving to work. Eli takes me to a different elevator, one I haven’t been on before; I haven’t even been on this level of the parking lot before. He presses a button, and I find it leads straight to the top floor, a private elevator, making me wonder why they used the other one the day I’d met them.

Eli answers my thoughts. “It was down the day we met you. Only got repaired this morning,” he says, and I nod, wondering why he thought he needed to explain himself. When we get to our floor, I step out. Cyrus is sitting on my desk, waiting for us.

Chapter Ten

Adeline

“Morning, Addie,” he says, and I nod to him before handing him his coffee.

I turn the phones over, choosing to ignore them; they eventually get the message and leave as I settle behind my desk and turn the computer on. The morning goes by quickly, my phone ringing just as I am about to go to lunch. Sam’s number pops up on my screen. I smile quickly, answering it; I haven’t spoken to him in over a month as he has been away for work.

“Hello, stranger,” I answer.

“Hey, Ada. I am back in the city,” he tells me just as Cyrus walks out of his office.