Chapter 78: Jealousy’s Sting
Lisa’s POV
When it comes to Friday, the office is determined to push my patience to the max.
There’s a new kind of energy in the building — the feeling that comes along with new footsteps on the floor, new voices, a different brand of cologne wafting down the hallways. It had been announced that morning that a new consultant was joining the coalition’s broad project, relocating from the London office for what was termed “strategic integration.”
At first I hadn’t really noticed. Fresh people came through our department all the time.
Until he walked past my desk.
“Hi, You must be Lisa.”
BUT His accent is soft but precise. His smile is wide and natural, the kind that instantly relaxes you. He is tall, well dressed, and has warm eyes that see everything.
“I'm Daniel,” he says, holding out his hand.
I shake it politely. “Nice to meet you. Welcome to the madhouse.”
It’s a genuine laugh, one he laughs from the belly. “I think I’ll survive. “I'm the one who’s been assigned to liaise closely with your group. They said you’re the guy that can make a miracle out of chaos.”
“There’s an argument for that,” I say lightly, though heat begins to climb lightly to my cheeks.
I feel it before I look – across the room.
Leo.
“Mind taking me through the reports? I want to know what you think.They said you know the map better than anyone…”
“I can do a high-level run-through,” I say as I open the folder on my desk and slide it to him.
Knee to knee as he leans in for a look. It’s innocent, virtually unintentional, but still my nerves coalesce. Not for him — but for who is watching.
"I have a feeling we’ll make a great team.” Daniel says.
“Professional energy, right?” I say on a lightly joking note.
“That’s what I was expecting, at the very least,” he replies, smile broadening.
A chair pulled out with a screech to the floor.
Leo stands at my side, resting his hand flat upon the desk, a mere inches from mine.
“Is everything clear here?” he asks Daniel, his voice smooth, though a sharper edge lies beneath.
Daniel looks up, unfazed. “Perfect. Lisa was just explaining the framework. She knows what she’s doing."
“I know.”Leo’s fingers curl slightly against the desk. “That’s why she’s usually not available. I’m taking over here.”
It’s not his usual fare.
Usually, Leo is cautious. Decisive. Strategic.
Now… that there’s a subtle territorial undertone I’ve never heard before.
Daniel studies him for a moment, then flicks his gaze back to me. “I will catch you later, Lisa.”
“Sure,” I say quietly.
As he leaves, I fake going back to my screen, but every fiber of my being is focused on Leo. I feel his presence as an irrefutable force beside me.
“Since when are you the type to be handing out on-the-spot advice?” he murmurs.
“I wasn’t. He asked a question.”
“Of course he did.”
The slight harshness in his words makes me shiver for some reason.
Is he… jealous? I wonder.
The thought both scares me and turns me on.
We work in silence for a few tense minutes. My eyes dart over numbers I can’t process. I’m conscious of everything he does. The shift of his weight, the faint clench of his jaw, the way he is so controlled when he looks at the spreadsheet and refuses to look at me.
“Daniel is just a colleague,” I finally say under my breath.
“So am I.”
I hesitate. “Not now and you know it.”
His eyes meet mine at last, and I feel my stomach clench at the depth in them.
“That’s the problem,” he says softly.
—-----
The day goes on in stolen glances and undermined thoughts rather than forward movement. Daniel continues to stop by — for documents, for clarity on protocols, for small, unnecessary conversation. I stay polite but restrained, and I am increasingly aware of how Leo is getting ever closer to that unseen line every time Daniel nears.
By mid-afternoon, I can nearly feel his exasperation outside of his body.
When Daniel asks if I want to get coffee later to “talk through some potential ideas,” I don’t even have an opportunity to respond.
“I already have her booked,” Leo says, materializing once more beside us. “Team meeting.”
Daniel blinks. “I wasn’t informed—”
“It’s last minute,” says Leo, interrupting, then glances at me. “Right?”
There’s something that flickers in his expression — it’s not command, it’s plea. Desire. A vulnerable male wrapped in a cloak of authority.
“Yes,” I say, a little breathlessly. “I forgot that.”
Daniel looks at us for a moment too long, and then he nods. “Next time, then.”
He’s gone, and the silence crashes in after him.
Leo exhales sharply. “You’re too kind to people like that.”
“People like what?”
“People who see you and silently begin staking claims.”
Now I turn to him fully. “They were just as bad as you are.”
“I wasn’t pretending otherwise.”
My breath hitches.
“That’s not professional,” I say to him.
“No. It isn’t.”
And then, softer, more dangerous.“But it’s honest.”
The helplessness contained in that single word makes my heart collapse.
We don’t talk again until the end of our workday. When most of the office is empty, and golden sunlight shines through the windows, Leo pulls up to my desk.
“You loved the attention,” he says.
It’s not a charge. It’s an observation.
“I liked what it did to you,” I say, not so much as confessing.
A slow smile crawls out — black, shallow, absolutely amused.
"You should not enjoy making me feel jealous."
“‘But you enjoyed being jealous.’”
“More than I should have.”
His eyes travel down slightly to my lips — not enough to be noticed by anyone, but enough for me to feel it like a spark.
Then he says something reckless in a tone that’s almost softer than breath. An unguarded one.
“Don’t flirt like that… I feel like you already belong with me.”
I'm hit by the words like a crashing wave.
Not owned.Unclaimed.
But wanted. Chosen. Saw. A shiver slides down my spine.
“You don’t get to decide that,” I whisper back, but even as my words betray it, the idea sounds pretty appealing.
“No,” his eyes never leave mine, “But I get to feel it.”
And the worst part?And I don’t mind that he does.
I like it.More than I should.
Because under all the business, beneath the danger, caught up in the electricity that sizzles between us like a live current, something much more vital is beginning to congeal.
And jealousy …may be the first true indication of it.