Read it before you agree to anything.”
Liv noticed what he had done.
He hadn’t asked her to dinner yet.
Not even now.
“You said you’d ask when it was official.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“You haven’t accepted the change.”
She shouldn’t have been surprised.
Somehow, she was.
The roads reopened late that morning.
They drove home through a landscape washed clean and scattered with branches.
The conversation stayed mostly professional.
Dominic didn’t touch her.
He didn’t turn the previous night into a running joke.
He didn’t use their new honesty as permission for intimacy she hadn’t granted.
On Monday, Liv received the formal paperwork.
She read every line.
No pay reduction.
No demotion.
No quiet loss of influence.
If anything, the new structure gave her more independence.
She signed it Tuesday afternoon.
Dominic said nothing.
Wednesday passed.
Then Thursday.
By Friday, Liv was irritated enough to wonder whether she had misunderstood the entire hotel conversation.
At 5:47 that evening, Dominic appeared at the open door of her office.
He stayed in the hallway.
That detail mattered.
“Busy?” he asked.
Liv looked at the clock.
“Depends who’s asking.”
“A man who has absolutely no authority over your performance review.”
She fought a smile.
“What does he want?”
Dominic slipped his hands into his pockets.
For a man who could charm an entire ballroom without effort, he suddenly looked almost nervous.
“Dinner.
Tomorrow.
Seven.
Somewhere with multiple rooms and an irresponsible number of available chairs.”
Liv laughed.
“That’s your pitch?”
“I’ve had better evenings.”
She let him wait.
Not because she wanted to punish him.
Because for three years, the power between them had always been obvious.
He was Dominic Cain.
Owner.
Millionaire.
Boss.
Now, for the first time, the choice felt completely hers.
That was what the storm had really changed.
Not the fact that she wanted him.
She had known that for years.
It had changed whether wanting him had to mean surrendering something else.
