The sound of the door settling back into place hung between them like a detonator.
Ava’s breath hitched against Dominic’s shoulder. Every instinct screamed at her to shove him away, smooth her skirt, pretend nothing had happened. Someone had seen. Someone had proof. The whispers weren’t whispers anymore—they were bullets waiting to fire.
But Dominic didn’t move.
His body was still buried deep inside her, every line of him tense, eyes locked on the blinds as though daring whoever had been there to step fully into the room. Slowly, deliberately, his gaze dropped back to Ava’s face.
“They’ll talk,” she whispered. Her lips trembled. “If it gets out… your board, the press—”
“Let them.”
The words were raw, stripped of his usual calculated control.
“Dominic—”
His mouth silenced her protes
