Oops… My New CEO Saw Me in a Towel Chapter 03

Oops… My New CEO Saw Me in a Towel Chapter 03

The conference room went still. Harrison Sterling hadn’t made a decision, and no one on the panel dared to make the call without him — they just kept glancing between him and me.

This was deliberate. He was dragging it out on purpose, and if anyone had a right to be angry here, it was me.

He’d known I was interviewing here, while I had no idea he ran the whole company. Real cute.

That thought straightened my spine. I stopped avoiding his gaze and stared right back.

Harrison’s mouth twitched — barely a smile — and then he stood. The rest of the panel scrambled to their feet behind him.

He walked out with the rest of them trailing behind. At the door, without turning around, he dropped one line. “Her. Have her report to headquarters first thing tomorrow.”

“Yes, Mr. Sterling.”

“…”

Did he seriously just pull strings to hand me the job?! My phone buzzed in my bag. I didn’t need to check to know exactly who it was.

Outside Apex, a familiar black SUV sat parked across the street. Subtle. Like a billboard.

I tried to ignore it. The nonstop buzzing in my pocket had other plans.

A quick glance both ways — no one I knew in sight — and I bolted across the street like a fugitive, yanked the door open, and ducked inside.

His face was right there. Inches from mine.

Wrong side. Now I was stuck — half in, half out, folded awkwardly in the doorway with nowhere to go.

“Slide over.”

He didn’t move. Not one inch.

“…”

Fine. He was the boss. I pressed my lips together and started backing out to go around, already cursing the day I ever got involved with this man.

They say nothing good comes from wanting someone this badly. Looking at my life right now, they had a point.

My foot barely touched the pavement before Harrison’s hand shot past me. The door slammed shut.

“…”

The slam knocked me off balance. I tumbled backward onto the leather seat, back flat against the window.

“Harrison, what the hell?!”

Panic stripped every bit of composure from my voice. Harrison smiled — slow, devastating. “Stella, I was closing the door for you.”

If he weren’t so infuriatingly good-looking, I’d have decked him ages ago.

“Thanks.”

I spat the word through clenched teeth, brushed off imaginary dust, and started squeezing past his knees toward the far seat. Harrison stretched his legs out. My whole upper body pressed flush against him before I could stop it.

Through that thin red fabric, I could feel the heat rolling off him.

“Nice dress.” His voice dropped low. “Shame you picked the wrong bra.”

“…”

“Where exactly are your eyes right now?”

His gaze held mine — dark, unhurried, flickering with something that made my stomach flip. His lips parted.

Panic won. My hand shot out and clamped over his mouth.

“Don’t. Not a word.”

What was wrong with him? Where was the composed, untouchable man everyone else saw? Around me, he had zero self-control. The man was shameless.

Proof — my palm was still pressed against his lips, and he licked it. One slow, deliberate stroke of his tongue.

Every nerve in my body short-circuited.

He knew I couldn’t pull away — not without risking whatever would come out of his mouth with the driver sitting right there.

One death glare, and Harrison finally behaved himself and pulled his legs back.

The seat. Finally. His fingers laced through mine the second I sat down, locking my hands in his grip.

I didn’t fight it. They were just hands. He could have them.

A while into the drive, the storefronts outside started looking more expensive — designer logos, valet parking. I sat up. “Where are we going?”

“I’m taking you shopping.”

“…”

Somebody give me back the Harrison I first met — the untouchable one who looked like he’d never had a human feeling in his life.