"I spent the weekend cleaning my house." I said into the phone. Sophie was listening patiently on the other end, as always very attentive to my ramblings even though we were both very busy and had plenty of work to do. "It was hard to be back in the house, but I hired a couple women from a cleaning service to help me. They made the process go much faster than it would have by myself. I have new appliances coming tomorrow so the house will be livable again. I still need to replace a lot of smaller items though, like lamps and stuff."

"And the security system?" Sophie pushed.

I swiveled around in my chair, looking out of my floor to ceiling windows as I watched the world bustle around outside. It seemed bizarre that some many people were untouched by the strange and dangerous hands that had touched my life so recently. Here I was discussing the security system that I had spent a fortune on to keep a deadly man out of my house and they were ordering soy lattes, complaining about nothing more than the heavy and dark clouds.

"Come on, you've probably already somehow managed to hack it, it's connected to my cell so I can watch the surveillance and everything, I imagine it's pretty easy to mess with." I teased, but the system had eased my mind, as hand Sophie's capabilities.

"I didn't hack it." Sophie sighed, exasperated. "I tapped it. It wasn't that easy actually, which is good. If I had a hard time with all the tech I have access to then anyone else is going to struggle for months. But now I can monitor it as well. I've set it up to notify me if there's movement between any time that you're at work or if there's anything moving by the doors during the night. There's a couple people in the office here that I could call and they would be over at your place in a heart beat, no questions asked. And if it's really bad I can always call the police of the Tactical Team." She explained, "Anyway, how was the gala? Sorry I couldn't make it, but you know I don't do dresses. Or people. Or upscale events."

I gave out a little laugh, knowing that Sophie was more of a hermit than anyone else I had ever met, unless it came to food or strong coffee. "The gala was great. We raised well over the budget which is amazing and I was almost as shocked as the organization we were donating to when they announced the number. A lot of kids in need will be getting hearing aids." I explained, grinning to myself, the paper work behind me forgotten, "You'll never guess what happened though." There was a quiet pause, "I danced with someone." I gushed, unable to contain myself.

"My God, really?" Sophie gasped, "Wait, were you drunk?"

"I mean a little. Okay, well more than a little, but nothing too bad and certainly not sloppy." I defended, but then began laughing again, "But it doesn't matter. I wasn't drunk enough to step on his toes or fall flat on my face so I would say it was a great success."

"And how was he? I mean very few people can dance as well as you can, but could he keep up with you?"

"He definitely could." I agreed eagerly. "And we danced for more than one song."

"You let a man touch you for more than a couple minutes?" Sophie asked, her voice becoming serious.

"Yes!"

"Celeste, I don't remember the last time, if ever, since Josh." She whispered.

"I know!" I squealed excitedly. "It was amazing. Like the dancing was just good, but just being able to do that after years of being so afraid, man it was so good. So liberating. I mean, Stanley was floating around the gala and that made me feel safer, but it was still really good."

I saw the reflection of a friendly face appear at my door. I spun around in my chair to face my receptionist, Hope.

"Yes?" I whispered, covering the receiver as Sophie chatted away.

"Your three o clock appointment is here." Hope replied.

I gestured for her to send them in and resumed my conversation with Sophie, telling her that I had to get back to work and that she should probably get back to her own as well.

"Okay, have a good night. And I'm proud of you Celeste, drunk progress is still progress."

Her words warmed my heart.

I hung up just as a young woman walked into my office, looking timid and unsure of herself, but her smile glowing nonetheless.

"So you're here to discuss your product?" I asked politely.

And just like that she launched into her creation. I wasn't a big fan of taking on new products from strangers, they weren't tried and true and people had a hard time trusting an unknown source. My team had taken enough gambles through the past years and I wasn't sure how many more they could handle. But she talked so passionately about what she was selling that I could tell she had made it herself, she had come up with every inch of the product and she knew it as well as she knew her own body. So I grilled her relentlessly. Not to be cruel, but to be certain. Her smile faded, but she answered every question I had very well and though she lost confidence in herself she never lost confidence in her product.

I scanned her over as she spoke. I noticed a slight stutter, but I couldn't tell if it was from nerves or not. Her hair hadn't been dyed recently, her roots showing quite aggressively, and her clothing was old and worn.

She reminded me of myself when I had first started my company. Broke and desperate, but so certain of what I was selling.

"You've given me a lot to consider." I said firmly when I felt all of my questions had been answered, "I appreciate your offer. We will be in touch."

I watched her grit her teeth, frustrated with herself as she thought she hadn't done well. But her product was good and she could be great if given the right tools and support. I knew that she had already made a sale to me; I just needed time to negotiate the terms of it and make sure some of my employees that would be influenced by this change would be on board. Because I had a good idea for talent and unrelenting faith in the underdog but not everyone did and not everyone could.

And I had to decide if I only wanted her product- which was quite impressive in itself, or if I wanted her. She could grow to be quite impressive if she was willing to put the work in and I would be damned if I let her slip into someone else's hold. But I could be wasting money if she wasn't prepared to dedicate her blood, sweat, and tears to her own self growth.

She left with a polite, but stuttered dismissal.

I just placed my fingers on the keys to begin typing a quick email to a few select employees when Hope reappeared in my door. She was looking apologetic and mildly concerned, but her cheeks were coated with a red blush. Hope was efficient and had a nice clear voice over the phone, but she was nothing if not a bit of an unshakable ice queen. It would take a lot to unsettle her.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing, there's just someone else here to see you. He wouldn't tell me who he was, just said that he wanted to speak with you directly."

It was strange. Most people could've been pawned off on my executive managers or any with a title really. Hope usually only came to me with business proposals like the one I just had and she was quite effective at persuading people not to waste my time.

"That's alright, if they don't want to see anyone else than send them in. I have time." I encouraged with a bright smile, but I felt exhausted and the reality of the situation was that I didn't actually have that much time to donate to strangers. I had been swamped since I had taken some time off to deal with my house. My team was great and I appreciated how hard they had pulled together in my absence. Unfortunately, I was the head of the company and I had that title for a reason.

But Hope scuttled away willingly, retrieving my unknown guest.

I expected someone to kick down my door and come into my office swinging, complaining that one of my employees had done something so awful, so terrible that they would never use any of my products again, that I should be ashamed and fire every one of my staff who had wronged him. I would sigh and roll my eyes internally because no client could demand that I take away someone else's livelihood and I knew that anyone in my office who wasn't a complete expert at what they did was activity working on it. No client in the world was worth a single one of my employees.

Or maybe it would be a grateful parent whose child received hearing aids because of my gala.

Or someone who wanted to invest in my company.

Hell, part of me even expected Josh to walk through the door.

But I did not expect the man I had danced with the saunter in and casually plop himself down in the chair across from my desk, like he owned the office as much as I did. The only thing that would've made the picture more complete would've been a glass of scotch in his free hand as he grinned at me, too handsome and too cocky all at once.

"Star." I blurted before I could stop myself, but when I searched his handsome face I suddenly understood why I had felt like I had known him at the gala. "Agent Kingsley."

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