Chapter 143: Getting interrupted on the desk

Josie accepted the call on the second ring.

"Hello..."

Tom stood up from the dinning table and walked into the living room as he heard her voice from the other end.

"Hi. Uhm... You called me last night." He said.

"Yeah, and you didn’t pick up." Josie said flatly. It was obvious she was trying to not let it show that him not picking up got to her.

Tom heaved a sigh and took a moment before speaking up;

"I didn’t pick up. I couldn’t..."

The way he added the last statement made Josie curious, just as he wanted. A pause stretched on her end, controlled but not empty. "Why?" she asked.

"I had a reason." Tom turned slightly away from Aria’s lingering presence in the room and lowered his voice.

"Not one I want to explain over the phone. If you allow it, I’ll come to your office. We can talk there." he told her.

Silence again. He could almost hear her weighing the risk of letting him into her space during work hours. Then Josie said, "Okay."

Then they fixed a time. When the call ended, Tom remained still for a second with the phone in his hand, as satisfaction settled in quietly. Access to her office was not a small thing. It put him where she was most powerful on paper, and most exposed in the one way she least wanted to admit.

His eyes shoned as he realized that today could be the day he begun bringing up her meters properly...

He slipped the phone away and headed out.

Bree was already waiting for him outside. The moment she saw him, she fell into step with the usual readiness he had come to expect from her.

"What’s on the schedule?" Tom asked.

"For L×L, nothing today," Bree said, checking the tablet screen once more as if to be exact. "Although, they’re preparing for an exhibition in a few days. From tomorrow, your schedule becomes tighter. Runway training starts properly, and it’s going to take hours at a stretch."

Tom gave a short nod. "Good. As long as today remains open." He stopped near the car and looked at her fully. "I need you back on the club setup. I’ll drive myself for a personal outing."

Bree’s eyes lifted from the tablet. "Understood. On the club side, the interior decorator has sent the full charge breakdown. Materials, labor phases, estimated timeline..."

"Approve what is necessary and collect the account details. I’ll handle payment." Tom opened the driver’s door. "When I’m done with what I need to do, I’ll come and inspect the property myself and check the progress." he said.

"I’ll have the updated progress ready by then, Including the decorator’s proposed layout for the main floor and private rooms." Bree told him calmly. She had come prepared for everything and that impressed Tom greatly.

"Thank you for your diligence." he replied her with a small smile.

She nodded then stepped back and left him to the day without further comment.

Tom started the car and pulled away from the house at an unhurried pace. There was no use arriving at Goldy looking like a man chasing leftover hunger from the night before. If he was going to walk into Josie’s office, he would do it with control intact, even if control was exactly what she kept stripping from him.

~~~~~~~~~

Goldy Realty’s entrance carried the same sophisticated authority as the woman who ran it. The bodyguards were on stand by, checking the entry pass as the first day Tom was here.

Tom knew the drill now and didn’t bother to go and embrass himself at the entrance without a pass. After parking his car, he stepped out and called Josie from outside the building.

She answered quickly. A short instruction from her was enough. The bodyguards at the entrance received the confirmation and let him through without unnecessary delay.

Tom was directed to her office with the utmost respect because a visitor heading to the CEO’s company deserved that much.

Her office was above the ordinary noise of the company, it was spacious enough to announce status without needing clutter. And every object in the room looked chosen rather than merely placed.

Josie was already on her feet when he entered, dressed in an elegant work outfit - skirt and blouse that held her figure perfectly.

"Good morning." He said gently as he walked into the room.

Josie replied him as gently as he had spoken. Tom did not move to the visitor’s chair.

He walked straight to her instead.

Josie remained beside the desk rather than putting it fully between them. Whether that was confidence or a small miscalculation, it left only open space and the hard edge of the desk at her back. Tom stopped close enough that ordinary conversation became impossible to treat as ordinary.

"Are you going to be busy anytime soon?" he asked.

Josie searched his face, wondering what kind of discussion made him to be asking that. "Sort of." she later said.

"Okay, I can work with that."

His gaze dropped to her hand. The bracelet was still there, resting against her skin like an innocent accessory. Seeing it on her pulled a quiet inward smile from him. She had not removed it. That alone mattered. He reached out and took her hand, his fingers closing around her wrist with a purposeful ease and slowness.

The contact should have been minor but it got a reaction from Josie, she still stiffened.

It was slight, almost hidden, but her body betrayed the first fracture before her expression could fully guard it. The System answered immediately.

```

[BRACELET LINK — JOSIE HALE]

Arousal: Rising

Body Response: Heat spreading

Resistance: Active

Note: Even simple contact is landing harder than her composure admits

```

A second note followed, shamelessly blunt;

```

[SYSTEM NOTE]

Target is deeply sex-starved.

Intentional touch in the right places can break more ground than conversation.

```

Tom kept her hand in his and lifted his eyes to her face.

"I didn’t pick up last night because I thought it would be better to stay away from you," he began. His voice remained low, steady, stripped of soft confession. "because the more we interact, the more I lose control."

Josie’s fingers tensed against his.

He continued before she could rebuild the distance with a clean reply. "But after ignoring that call, I couldn’t sleep through the night. I kept thinking about the fact that I had silenced it." His thumb stroked once along the inside of her wrist, slow enough to make the touch impossible to dismiss as accidental. "This morning I realized I can’t stay away from you."

Josie’s lips parted. "What?"

"You have no idea what you’re doing to me." he muttered.

There was no romance dressed into the line. It came out like an admission of weakened restraint from a man who disliked how easily she pulled at him and still refused to step back. His hand left her wrist and settled at her waist, his palm spreading over the fitted line of her clothes, his fingers firm enough to claim attention without yet becoming outright indecent.

Josie swallowed hard and the bracelet flared harder.

```

[BRACELET LINK — JOSIE HALE]

Arousal: High

Body Response: Wet

Resistance: Strained

Note: Her body is already ahead of her pride

```

Tom absorbed the reading with dark satisfaction. He was pleased to know that In her own office, in elegant work clothes, with her title still wrapped around her like armor, she was wet from this much. From a hand at her waist. From words that confessed appetite instead of affection...

He drew her half a step closer.

The movement brought her nearer to the desk and nearer to him at the same time. Josie’s breath had changed. Her face still carried composure, but it was no longer effortless. It was being held in place under pressure, and both of them could feel the strain of it.

Tom bent his head slightly because of the height difference, close enough that the next words would remain private between mouth and mouth.

"Tell me, Josie..." His fingers pressed at her waist, as he proceeded to ask the question that shook Josie to her core;

"Has anyone ever interrupted you at this desk?"