I made it through the entire morning meeting without looking at him directly more than twice.

It was a miracle of pure survival instinct. Alexander Vale stood at the head of the long glass table and walked us through quarterly projections like he hadn’t had me pinned underneath him forty-eight hours earlier. His voice stayed even. His expression stayed professional. Only once, when the marketing director asked a question about the new product launch, did his gaze flick to me and linger half a second too long.

That half-second was enough to make heat crawl up the back of my neck.

When the meeting ended I gathered my notebook with...