A spontaneous Friday night outing led Nova to a surprise destination: Ramiro's bed, the one person her brother can't stand- and the one who ignited a fire she can't seem to ignore. "𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙥𝙞𝙨𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙛𝙛, 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪?" 𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙, 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙖𝙧. "𝘽𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙄 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨, 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩?" 𝘼 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙠, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙝 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙡𝙮 𝙧𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙩. 𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙛𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙣 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜. "𝙍𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙧𝙤," 𝙄 𝙢𝙤𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙘𝙝𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙡𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙢𝙚 𝙜𝙪𝙡𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙨. "𝙍𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙧𝙤?" 𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙙. "𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙈𝙞𝙧𝙤, 𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙧?"

When Serena enters a new workplace, she has one rule; stay focused- no matter what. It soon turns out to be easier said than done when she meets her new boss. Valentino is strict, the epitome of difficult and much to her dismay; unbelievably fucking hot. She's determined to ignore the attraction she feels to him for the sake of keeping her job. But what Serena doesn't know is that Valentino can't get her out of his his head. He thinks about her everywhere. He feels captivated by her. He wants her. And he hates every moment of it.

Every morning, Serenity shows up to the office before anyone else - including Ezra Langford, her infamously cold, calculating, and annoyingly attractive boss. She brings him coffee, not because he asks, but because she wants to - always with a handwritten quote on the cup, something cheesy, optimistic, and completely not his style. Or so she thinks. Because while Ezra never says thank you, never even cracks a smile... he's kept every single cup lid with her notes. Hidden in the bottom drawer of his desk, they're the only bright spot in his otherwise grayscale life. But when Serenity's warmth starts to get under his skin - and into his heart - he'll have to decide if he's brave enough to step out of hiding and tell her the truth: She's not just his coffee girl. She's the only reason he still believes in good things. »»-------¤-------«« "So, uh... any regrets on the merger yet?" "Only that Chase ordered shrimp from that place on 8th again." I laugh, too hard and too quickly. "You didn't like it?" "It tastes like regret." I grin. "That's what he said about your budgeting spreadsheet." Ezra's mouth twitches. Not a smile, not really. But close. I should say something professional. Something normal. Instead- "Do you really read them?" I ask softly. He looks up. "The quotes," I clarify, nervous now. "Do you actually read them, or... just collect them?" His eyes hold mine. There's no teasing in them. No cold, hard CEO mask. "I read them," he says. »»-------¤-------«« Word Count: 26, 074