Chapter 69
OCEANS.
I pulled out the chair opposite her table, sat, and crossed my legs, watching her gaze travel everywhere around the office but
“You’ve been avoiding me,” I said.
She scoffed. “We’re literally in the same office every day.” She typed something. “What exactly am I avoiding?”
I reached forward and pushed the laptop shut.
She exhaled through her nose and rolled her eyes.
“I’m working.” She protested.
“For me.” I leaned back in the chair. “So I outrank the laptop.” I let the silence sit for a moment. “Look at me, Kiss.”
She hesitated but looked.
“Do I scare you?” I held her gaze and asked the question that had been sitting in the back of my head since I ripped that cheap piece of jewelry off her neck two days ago.
I may have said some words… Yeah… But, well, they were not words I didn’t mean.
She tried to look away.
“Keep your eyes on me.” The tone I used left no room for negotiation. “Do I scare you?”
She heaved another sigh, “Look, Oceans… Maybe we shouldn’t have started all these in the first place. Maybe it was all a
mistake.”
“I don’t do mistakes. I do ‘intentional.” I replied calmly, even though my insides were anything but.
“You seem to be taking it too far. It was meant to be a one–time thing, because my fiancé cheated on me…”
“With your cousin.” I finished for her. “I know.”
There was a pause. Her brows narrowed.
“What?” She adjusted in her seat slowly, “How… How did
you
know?”
“I’ve always known, Kiss,” I replied, and the shock on her face was pleasant to watch. “From the moment they started.”
“Jesus, Oceans,” She stood up, “You knew. You knew this whole time, and you never said anything to me?”
“As who, exactly?” I tilted my head. “Your boss? A man who calls his PA into his office to inform her that her fiancé is fucking his soon–to–be wife?” I let that sit. “Does that sound like something I do?”
Her mouth pressed together.
“And you never told me either.” I held her gaze. “You knew. You’ve known for a while. Should I be angry at you?”
“That’s different.” She looked away briefly. “I was trying to protect Moonie. I didn’t want to ruin things for her. She- stopped. recalibrated.“—she genuinely likes you.”
She likes the idea of me. I corrected. “There’s a difference,”
she
16:36 Fri, May 22 M.
Chapter 69
“Oh, my God.” She pressed her fingers to her temple and started pacing the small space between her desk and the window with a tight, contained energy. “How are you this calm about it? Your fiancée is sleeping with another man and you just you let it happen? You watched it happen?”
I shrugged.
“Wait…” She stopped pacing as if she just realized something, and faced me, “You let your fiancée… The woman you’re meant to marry, sleep with some other man.” She held my gaze. “But I’m not allowed to accept a gift from my own fiance. I’m not allowed near any other man. I’m not allowed to-” she gestured vaguely, the frustration and the confusion and something rawer than both sitting plainly on her face. “How does that make any sense? How is that even…”
She paused for a moment.
Was she waiting for a response? Like hell I’d give her one.
The answer to that question lived somewhere I had spent eleven years making sure nobody could reach, and I was not pulling it out in this office on a Wednesday afternoon.
“Oceans…
Thankfully, a timely distraction before she could get the next words off her mouth.
When the door opened, even though I didn’t appreciate the person who barged in, I appreciated the interruption considerably more than I would have appreciated the next question out of Kisarel’s mouth.
“What’s going on here?”
Her voice grated on my nerves.
“What does it look like, Moonie?”
***
KISAREL.
The second Moon walked through that door, I almost lost my mind.
Every scenario my brain had been carefully avoiding for the past few weeks assembled itself in my head simultaneously, with great enthusiasm.
What if we were having sex?
What if he had me bent over that desk?
What if she had walked in the other day when he had me pinned against that door with his tongue in my mouth and his hand at my throat?
What if-
Before I could finish processing my thoughts, Moon forcefully pushes something against my chest, yanking me back to reality.
“What. I gasped.
“There.” She sneered, stepping back with her arms crossed. “Those are your filthy things. Take them.”
rabbed the bag she shoved at me on instinct.
my style anyway,” she added. letting her eyes move over the bag with theatrical distaste. “Such boring taste.
16:36 Fri, May 22 M.
Chapter 69
Moon. Oceans spoke before I did, and she turned her attention to him.
“Take the bag back,” Oceans said ever so calmly, and the room went very still.
Moon stared at him. “What?”
“Take it back.” He said again. “The way you’ve just handed it to her is wrong. Take it back and do it again properly.”
“Oceans-”
“I’m not going to repeat myself. Moon.”
I turned slightly. “It’s fine, honestly, I don’t-”
“Kiss.” He said just my name. But his eyes moved to mine for exactly one second, and gave me the ‘stay out of this‘ look, before turning his attention back to Moon. “Take the bag back.”
When Moonie looked at me again, the sneer was gone,
What replaced it was the expression of someone who’s trying so hard to locate the version of this situation where she had the upper hand, and finding it didn’t exist.
She took the bag and held it at her side, like it had personally offended her.
“Now apologize for being rude.” Oceans ordered.
O
Ruby Walker is a rising voice in the world of romance and spicy fiction. With a gift for weaving deep emotions, sizzling chemistry, and unexpected twists, her stories are a blend of passion and drama that captivate readers from start to finish. Ruby’s writing style is bold and irresistible—perfect for those who crave intense, addictive love stories.

Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Just Before My Wedding: Trapped By My Ruthless Boss