Chapter 220: Jealousy In A Suit and Tie

Holly’s POV

The presenter kept talking about IRR projections and exit multiples, but I’d zoned out somewhere around slide twenty-three. My eyes were locked on David’s hand resting on the table…long fingers, rolled-up sleeves, the way his thumb kept rubbing slow circles on the Montblanc pen like he wanted to snap it in half.

The image of me crawling under the table and sucking him dry crashed through my mind again, forcing a wince out of me.

“Holly?”

Norman’s sharp voice cut through the fog. Twenty heads swivelled toward me.

Shit.

I blinked, realized I was staring at a blank wall like it owed me money, and felt heat crawl up my neck.

“Care to give us your take on the consumer retention in the revised model?” Norman asked, eyebrow raised.

I opened my mouth. Nothing came out for a solid two seconds as I scanned through my head for reports I read earlier about business talks like this.

A low, amused chuckle floated across the table. A woman in a charcoal suit…perfect blowout, diamond studs sharp enough to cut glass…smirked at me.

“Little girls these days think it’s all about flashing a pretty face card and a little cleavage,” she said, voice dripping honeyed venom. “When the numbers hit, they freeze. Good thing they’re usually better at office romance than actual work.”

The room went pin-drop silent.

I smiled. Sweet. Slow. Deadly.

At least I’m good at office romance, I thought. Isn’t that exactly why I’m sitting here in the first place?

I leaned forward, rested my chin on my hand like I had all the time in the world.

“Actually,” I said, voice clear, “the retention dip in Q4 isn’t from churn. It’s from the onboarding bottleneck we fixed in the new funnel. If you flip to page forty-one,” I nodded at the presenter, who scrambled to click “you’ll see the thirty-day cohort is already trending up 11% month-over-month since we rolled out the simplified signup flow. The bigger risk isn’t acquisition cost. It’s LTV acceleration. Which means we can justify the 18% higher CAC the model’s showing, because payback drops under six months. That’s the real lever.”

I sat back.

Everyone stared in disbelief. Even the Mrs goody shoe scoffed and clapped once.

How do I know all those business jargons I just spewed like I’ve got shares in the stock market?

Because I studied like a psychopath. I went over all their reports as soon as I got the job.

One scary detail about me is that, when I want something, I go all out.

And I want David, so I gave it my best.

But do I actually know what those jargons mean?

HA!

I’m a medical student.

My entire world revolves around bones and blood…not “profit margins” and “quarterly projections.”

Every time they say “dividends,” I genuinely think it’s a new disease.

So yes, I studied.

But did I really understand?

Not even a little.

More like crammed, panicked, prayed, and hoped Google wouldn’t expose me.

Just then, heads started nodding and more applause. All thanks to google and ChatGPT.

One of the new partners… I think Mr Silver Dunly, actually scribbled something down like I just gave him a lecture.

Norman looked impressed. David’s jaw flexed, but he stayed quiet.

Silver leaned back, eyes twinkling at me. “Brilliant. I like her. David, I should take this one to lunch after we sign. My treat. She just saved your valuation slide.”

David’s voice cut in before I could open my mouth. Flat. Professional. Ice-cold.

“I would like to decline as her employer. She’s got a full schedule.”

Silver raised a brow. “Woah…chill. It’s lunch, son. Not a marriage proposal.”

I turned to Silver, all sugar, because testing David’s patience is now my favorite hobby. “Actually, Mr. Dunly, I’m free at one. I’d love to hear more about your portfolio strategy.”

David’s pen stopped moving. His knuckles went white immediately.

Then, calm as you I could have thought impossible… “Holly. Go get Coffee for everyone. Black for Mr. Langford, oat milk for Ms. Chen, two sugars for Mr. Patel. And another black for Mr Silver. Everyone else knows what they want. The conference room needs a refill. You can leave now to get that fixed.”

He didn’t look at me when he said it.

But I saw it…the muscle jumping in his jaw, the way his eyes went dark and lethal for half a second before he locked it down.

Possessive as hell and trying so hard to hide it.

I stood slowly, smoothed my dress, and gave him the sweetest smile I had in my purse.

“Yes, sir.”

Every person in the room watched me walk out.

I didn’t miss the way David’s gaze burned into my back the entire way to the door.

Or the way Mr. Dunly chuckled under his breath and said, “Interesting dynamic you’ve got here.”

David didn’t answer.

But I felt the storm coming.

And I couldn’t wait to dance in it.

I stepped out of the conference room with my heart doing a victory lap and my cheeks still burning from that little showdown.

Take that, charcoal-suit witch!

Maria…one of the junior admins was already waiting by the credenza with the coffee cart.

“Girl,” she whispered, eyes wide, “you just ate them alive in there. Norman looked like he was about to offer you his firstborn.”

I laughed under my breath and helped her load the tray…ten cups, three different milk options, sugars, stirrers. It was too much for one person, so Maria grabbed the second tray.

We rolled back in together.

The second I crossed the threshold, my eyes found him. David.

He was leaning back in his chair, arms crossed, looking every inch the untouchable CEO…except for the tiny flicker in his jaw that only I seemed to notice.

And then I saw Mr. Silver Fox watching me like I was the dessert menu.

Perfect.

I plastered on my brightest, most innocent smile and started toward him first, hips swaying just enough to taunt David.

Tray balanced, I leaned over the table right in front of Silver, close enough that my blouse did that accidental-but-not-really dip…and set the black coffee down with a sweet little, “Here you go, Mr. Silver. Extra hot, just how you like it.”

His grin widened. “Why thank you, sweetheart—”

“Holly.”

David’s voice cracked across the room like a whip.

I froze mid-lean.

The entire room went dead silent. Even the presenter stopped clicking.

David didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to. It was low, controlled, but still sharp enough to cut glass.

“Over here. Now.”

I straightened slowly, blinking like a confused deer. “I was just—”

“Drop the trays on the side table,” he said, each word clipped. “Everyone can grab their own. Then go to my office. The Q3 files on my desk need sorting. Today.”

Maria practically sprinted out of the room to save her life, leaving me alone.

I opened my mouth to protest…because playing innocent is fun, but David’s eyes locked on mine and the words died in my throat.

Those weren’t boss eyes.

Those were “I will bend you over this table in front of all these people if you take one more step toward him” eyes.

I swallowed.

Norman cleared his throat awkwardly. “Uh…since when is file sorting Holly’s job? That’s Amber’s territory, isn’t it? Or did you forget that Holly is my assistant?”

Every head swivelled to David.

He didn’t even blink.

“I rehired Holly personally,” he said, voice smooth as steel. “She’s my assistant now. Amber’s being reassigned to your team, Norman. Any problem with that?”

The room collectively decided breathing was optional as they stared, maybe expecting Norman and David to argue.

Norman forced a smile that looked painful. “Of course not. We’ll…discuss the details later.”

David’s gaze flicked back to me, dark and unreadable.

“Leave.”

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning like an idiot, grabbed my notepad, and walked (okay, maybe swayed) toward the door.

As I passed his chair, I caught the faintest growl under his breath. So low only I could hear.

My stomach flipped.

Oh yeah. He’s jealous.

And I cannot wait to find out exactly how much.