Chapter 1
Chapter 1: If Looks Could Kill
Rowan Bennett hated mornings.
She hated small talk.
She hated office birthday parties.
And most of all, she hated Liam Calloway.
At least that was what everyone believed.
“Morning, Rowan!”
Her eye twitched.
There he was.
Standing in the doorway of the conference room with that stupid golden-retriever smile that somehow looked good at seven-thirty in the morning.
The man was a menace.
“Do you ever get tired?” she asked flatly.
“Nope.”
“Tragic.”
Liam laughed as if she’d just told the funniest joke in the world.
The sound made several people in the room smile.
Traitors.
Rowan dropped into her seat and opened her laptop.
If she ignored him, maybe he’d wander off and bother someone else.
Unfortunately, Liam never seemed to understand the concept of being unwanted.
A coffee appeared beside her laptop.
Her favorite order.
Extra dark.
No sugar.
No cream.
She frowned.
“Liam.”
“Yes?”
“I didn’t ask for this.”
“I know.”
“Then why did you buy it?”
He shrugged.
“Because you forgot breakfast again.”
The room immediately went silent.
Rowan slowly looked up.
Half the office was staring.
“Oh my God,” Mia whispered dramatically. “They’re doing their thing again.”
“We are not doing a thing.”
“Sure,” another coworker said.
Liam sat beside Rowan.
The seat beside her.
The seat everyone else avoided because Rowan apparently had the social warmth of a snowstorm.
“You’re welcome, by the way,” Liam said.
“I didn’t thank you.”
“I know.”
“You bought it anyway.”
“I know.”
“You’re irritating.”
His smile widened.
“I know.”
Several coworkers started laughing.
Rowan considered homicide.
The meeting began.
Unfortunately, so did the arguing.
Every suggestion Liam made, Rowan challenged.
Every criticism Rowan offered, Liam countered.
It wasn’t hostile.
Not exactly.
But it definitely wasn’t friendly.
By the end of the meeting, the entire team looked exhausted.
Meanwhile, Rowan and Liam looked completely normal.
“Are they always like this?” asked the new intern.
The room erupted.
“Always.”
“Every day.”
“Three years and counting.”
The intern blinked.
“Then why do they sit together?”
Nobody had an answer.
Because honestly?
Nobody knew.
Not even Rowan.
When the meeting finally ended, everyone rushed out.
Everyone except Liam.
He lingered.
Of course he did.
Rowan gathered her notes without looking at him.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re staring.”
“I am not.”
“You absolutely are.”
She glanced up.
He was smiling again.
Different this time.
Softer.
Almost thoughtful.
It made something uncomfortable twist in her chest.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Liam hesitated.
For the first time all morning, he looked nervous.
Then he shook his head.
“Forget it.”
“Good.”
He stood.
“See you tomorrow, Rowan.”
“I certainly hope not.”
His laugh followed him out the door.
Rowan stared after him.
Annoying.
Ridiculous.
Impossible.
And somehow…
The office felt strangely quiet after he left.
She hated that.
What Rowan didn’t know was that across the hall, Liam had stopped walking.
And for the first time in years, he pulled a folded photograph from his wallet.
A photograph nobody knew existed.
A photograph of Rowan.
Taken three years ago.
Long before she ever noticed him.
Long before she became the center of his world.
Liam stared at the picture and smiled.
“One day,” he whispered.
Then he slipped it back into his wallet.
Completely unaware that someone else had seen it.
And that person was already planning to use it against him.
