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Looking for an out that doesn’t exist anymore.

“It’s against the rules, Graham,” she says, but this time, her voice isn’t sharp—it’s strained.

She’s fighting something, something we both know she’s losing.

I step closer, eating up the last bit of space between us. “Then I’ll change the rules.”

Her head snaps up, eyes wide. “You can’t just⁠—”

“I can,” I cut in, voice steady. “And I will.”

Her hands drop to her sides, her shoulders stiff as she shakes her head. “That’s not the point.”

“No?” I challenge. “Then what is?”

She exhales hard, blinking rapidly like she’s searching for the right words. But I already know what she wants to say.

She wants to tell me that this is wrong. That there are lines that shouldn’t be crossed.

But the problem?

We already crossed them. The second we saw each other again, the second I looked at her in that conference room and felt the past come roaring back, the second she kissed me like she was trying to bury every excuse she had left.

And now, she’s trying to shove everything back into a neat little box that doesn’t exist anymore.

I don’t let her.

“Come to my place,” I say, watching her reaction carefully.

She freezes. “What?”

“My penthouse,” I clarify. “Tonight. We need to talk. Figure this out.”

She lets out a sharp, humorless laugh, shaking her head. “You don’t really think talking is what’s going to happen, do you?”

I hold her gaze, dead serious. “Yes.”

Her breath catches. Just barely.

She knows me well enough to know that I wouldn’t say something I didn’t mean. That if I’m asking her to come over, it’s because I’m done playing games.

She shifts on her feet, the internal war still raging behind her eyes.

I watch her throat bob as she inhales slowly, then lets out a long, controlled breath.

I wait.

Because I already know what her answer is going to be.

She shakes her head once, like she can’t believe she’s even considering it, then exhales sharply.

“Fine,” she mutters. “But I mean it, Graham. Just talking.”

I almost smile. Because we both know that’s a lie.

But I nod. “Just talking.”

Her gaze narrows slightly, not missing the way my voice dips lower, the way I don’t sound entirely convinced.