I woke up in a cold sweat, body frozen in fear before I could realize it had all been just a dream. Yesterday's events begged to be addressed, but I was too hungover to process anything. Over anything else, I needed coffee. And then if I had the time, I needed to scrub my knees hard enough that I wouldn't have any lingering effects of his hands on me.

I picked out a basic white shirt and black pant combination, not in the mood for a lot of colours today. Lydia would disapprove, but she'd have to live. I already had Kylie on my back for my horrendous fashion choices, I didn't want to give Lydia that free pass too. I was running low on groceries so I noted down the things I wanted on the app, setting the order to be delivered after seven in the evening. The transaction went through and I checked my account balance, horrified to see the numbers dwindling faster than I had imagined. Being rich was expensive.

Or maybe I just needed to put my feet back on the ground. I cancelled two orders I had placed for clothes, hoping the funds get credited to my account by tomorrow morning. Frivolous spending could wait till I had my salary in the account. I was finishing my coffee when the doorbell rang, so I took my cup with me to the door.

Aiden wore a perfect white shirt and a black tie today, ditching his regular blazer for a waistcoat. His blazers often hid the full extent of his muscular arms, but the shirt was much kinder for the female population. All of humanity, really. "Good morning?" I asked almost like a question, not sure if there was any reason for him to be here this morning.

"Are you ready for work?"

I looked at my toast lying on the table before shaking my head. I was fine. I was ready. "Yeah, almost. Why?"

"I'll be in the parking lot. Be there in 5." He walked away, leaving me utterly confused. Why would he drive me to work now, considering I was okay with using public transport? But then again, who was I to turn down a free ride? I tucked my shirt into the pants, making sure no creases were visible. After yesterday's fiasco, I wasn't taking any risks and grabbed my jacket too. My lunch was packed and ready, and I made a note to eat it today, no matter what. I had to catch at least ten minutes in the whole day for myself.

I arrived at least ten minutes later, but Aiden was still in the parking area, seated in his car with his phone pressed to his ear. I sat down quietly, buckling in my seatbelt and listening in to the conversation, even one-sided. It's one of the things I've learned with Aiden. Things that you don't think much of, often end up being key pieces of a puzzle you're trying to piece together. Always have your ears open.

"No, that's seven million too less. Tell him if he doesn't cooperate the acquisition will become hostile and he'd be sweeping the floors of his own company." Jesus. Aiden had never been this crude around me. I could take a page out of Jason's book and just wait for this whole thing to go away, or I could simply ask him what the fuck was twisting his balls. I chose the option that would certainly lead me to death.

"What company are we taking over?" I asked as soon as he was done with his call, dropping his phone in the holder.

"Karlene Holdings."

I paused for a moment. How was this name familiar to me? Karlene Holdings, a subsidiary of Jacksons Co., where Cory Morgan held a 60% stake, and the remaining 40% was with Lucas Jackson. Morgan had acquired the stake for an undisclosed amount, although estimations were as high as $3billion. How he came by that money is a mystery, since he was nowhere near having that much money even with all his assets combined. Many suspected foul plays, but since it was all hearsay, no one really said anything. I'd read about it in between shifts at Target, where I used to be store manager before moving to GAP. Who would have thought folding clothes paid better than managing an entire fucking supermarket?

"He has a higher stake in the Blue Chips company," I noted.

"Not my market." Aiden drove through the streets with ease, "It's to deal with customers and I don't understand them nor do I give a fuck about them."

"My business also deals with customers," I pointed out.

"I have only 15% stake and I fully intend on bargaining with you till I have no role to play but to sign papers." He grinned almost, and his eyes shining. God, Aiden really fucking loved negotiating. There was nothing more thrilling in his life than walking off the table a winner.

"Do you have such little faith in your abilities?" I asked him, "You think you cannot train me well enough to successfully negotiate a contract?"

"Oh, I know you'll run a hard bargain, Thea. I just know I'll come out on top." He pulled over where I'd asked him to, a block away from the office.

"We'll see in three months' time, Mr Steele," I said smugly, before getting out of the car and walking away. Aiden drove off soon too, and I knew he'd be in his office before I could even walk up to the entrance of Steele Park. I took my time, taking in the sunshine. Life was a lot easier when you always had food in your system. Healthy food, even.

Aiden assigned me to work in HR for the rest of the week, and it was incredibly boring to deal with numbers and spreadsheets all fucking day. I was no longer assigned to read documents for him or to take notes in his meetings. No one ever glared at me when I would walk barefoot in the office. Penny, my HR manager would call me sweetie pie all the time, which sickened me but also was nice in a strange way that I wasn't used to feeling. Penny, or Penelope, I quickly found out, had a thing going on with Kiara from finance, which was all nice and good but very distracting and on more than one occasion I've had to physically pry them apart at the risk of doing too much in public. Kiara always cooled down by the ladies' room on the sixteenth floor while Penny would take some time off and disappear to the roof. This left me to pick up her slack which was also something I didn't mind, not until Aiden called me to his office on Friday evening.

This would be the first time I would be seeing him inside the office building in a week. He'd usually drop me off a block away from Steele Park and then I'd straight up see him the next morning in our apartment parking lot. Lydia gave me a hug, asking me how my week has been before making me take a seat. He was in the middle of some conversation that could not be interrupted.

A few minutes of idle chatting later, Rodgers came out of the room, followed by Jason who gave me a grim smile before walking away. No hellos and no smart quips. Oh, this was not good. At all. Jason Emerson, I had discovered was the personification of sunshine on most days. He'd always drop by HR and say hello, usually accompanied by a joke or two at Mr Steele's expense. Penny would try hard to hold in her laugh, but it was hard and we'd end up laughing till our stomachs hurt and our eyes watered.

Now, a dark shadow named Aiden Steele had eclipsed him. I was surely signing my death sentence by walking in, but what choice did I have? I knocked on the door, pushing it open anyway when I received no response. Aiden sat on his desk, head resting on the palms of his hands. His elbows were propped against the table but I couldn't imagine it would have been comfortable at all.

"Mr Steele?" I asked, keeping my voice low to avoid startling him.

He jerked anyway, looking haggard and tired. "Have a seat, Thea."

I sat down, keeping my shoes on at the risk of pissing him off even more. Aiden rubbed his temples before craning his neck side to side, causing loud cracking noises. Yikes. Someone needed a good massage. I stood up from my seat, Aiden's eyes following me, "Thea, I really do not have the patience to deal with your childish and impulsive behaviour, please sit down."

"I'm just trying to help," I walked over to his side of the table, turning his chair around ever so slightly.

"Thea, I'm-" Aiden's voice was silenced as I touched his shoulders, squeezing them lightly to assess the knots. Trying to remember all that I knew about pressure points, I pressed my palms flat on his shoulders, rubbing the tension that was forming. Geez, Aiden Steele might as well be called Dwayne because all that muscle and stiffness was making him a rock.

I pressed on the points of his back where his neck met his shoulders, eliciting a strangled noise from his lips, between relief and discomfort, "This is hardly workplace appropriate-" He said, making me roll my eyes.

"Nothing you've done for me is standard workplace behaviour," I continued pressing his shoulders and neck, "You got me a house, almost a car, and my shoes cost more than the rent I used to pay at home. You drive me to work every single day, and you're mentoring someone who wasn't able to complete her MBA. You're giving me the opportunity to change my entire life. It's hardly what any intern deserves and it's certainly more than what any waitress who calls you a cunt should get." A small exhale left his mouth as I worked up a spot on his spine.

"I told you I can't miss a good business."

"And I am telling you now to relax, just for five minutes." It wasn't much, but I saw his body lose some of its rigidity. He'd been holding himself for far too long. I wondered if he even fully relaxed while sleeping.

Aiden had his eyes shut, and I took the opportunity to press his back to his chair, turning him to face me. I worked my way from his shoulder socket to his neck, rubbing the small balls of tension under his jaw. With all the anger he had, I wouldn't be surprised if the knots there became permanent. Making sure to keep my movements consistent, I stepped closer, standing between his legs and working my way up to his face.

Aiden's lips parted when I moved to massage his temples. The grease and grime of the day were resting on his face, but he looked so worn-out and relaxed, I didn't care enough to stop. His temples must have been incredibly pressurized because a soft groan escaped his mouth as soon as I touched them, and my gaze dropped to the pink of his lips, wondering just how much of a dumbass I would have to be to bend just a little and kiss him.

The unwelcome thought shook me, and my paused movements made Aiden open his eyes. Golden brown eyes to his murky brown, he stared at me, an undecipherable expression on his face. Damn it, just when I thought I had him figured out. The thoughts of the unintended kiss made me crave him more as they swarmed my head, and I willed my brain to divert itself to other disgusting thoughts. I was probably going to spend my entire life making up weird, stupid scenarios in my head and when nothing would come out of it, I'd be left heartbroken.

Aiden had been my fairy godmother all this time, I just wasn't sure if I would ever find my Prince Charming.

God help the poor soul who ever found themselves falling in love with me. They'd never match up to the romanticized version of them I'd created in my head and they would never be able to live up to my grand ideas of love. I wanted hearts, flowers, the screaming and fighting of a romance novel, all the time. If our love didn't burn me, he wasn't the one, maybe. At this rate, I was convinced that I'd never find someone like that and that anyone who desired a relationship like this would be better off going to therapy. When I could afford it, I'd go to therapy for sure and get my head sorted. Someone had to work on my love life too, and how unfortunate that my entire love life depended on me.

I focused my attention on Aiden again. His usually sharp features were softer, somehow, and it reminded me of the night he spent at my place. Carefree, passionate, self-assured. Everything he wasn't right now. Frazzled, stressed, always angry and frustrated. We were so close; it was surely not workplace appropriate. But neither of us made a move to put any distance between us. I wanted to understand what had changed so much in such a short span of time, but a ringing sound broke out a little bubble, jolting me out of my thoughts.

Get a grip, Thea.

I stumbled away from him, feet finding it hard to walk straight, breaking whatever that moment was. Aiden answered the call on his phone, a seemingly unimportant conversation with someone about hospitals and some medication. I focused my concentration on sitting down, not like the action required much thought anyway. I just had to get away from him. That was all.

When his call finished, Aiden had to snap me out of my thoughts, "Thea!"

In a span of half an hour, we'd been so jumpy around each other it was a proper shame we didn't call Aiden's office a scary house. Maybe I could convince others to call it so till it caught on eventually.

"Grab the files from the Mallory merger and Steele Transport deal. We'll work on them at home." I obeyed, already feeling grumpy about his command. The Mallory merger file was probably my most hated object of all time. While I enjoyed every single aspect of marketing and strategy, tolerating anything that was purely in the domain of finance was my biggest nightmare. I had to spend days trying to follow words and sneakily look up stuff on the internet to understand most of what was going on.

The Mallory files weren't a cakewalk either. The merger had been at a standstill for about six weeks now, and the money we'd lost already was crossing seven digits. It was a terrible thing for business, and I figured a large part of Aiden's stress came from his businesses being stuck in one place or the other.

Owning a vast business empire sounded like a fascinating thing, but I could see how it weighed Aiden down. Not one day was spent in peace, not one hour spent thinking about how well things were playing out. If the Real Estates were doing good, the Transport was getting broken into, if the coal and gas wing was performing well, the telecommunications had to be doing something stupidly wrong. There was no escape. Poor Aiden, all of thirty-two years of age had to deal with all of this on his own. As far as I knew, he did have a younger brother, but Aiden never spoke of him. Patrick Steele was the kind of enigma that flew across the globe flashing his wealth but no one ever had a clue what he was doing.

Before I could wonder much about anything, Aiden told me to start walking quickly, "If I don't see you outside that coffee shop when I arrive, I'll leave without you, and you'll have to travel by subway."

Oh god, no. I could not possibly arrive at home in a single piece if I took the train today. Hurriedly waving at Lydia as I ran past her. Mary gave me a weird look as I skid past her in the lobby, running out of Steele Park and making my way down the block. I could not miss my ride home.