You’ve been working at a well-known finance company for a few years now. It’s a good job, and the pay is more than generous. The company has always offered a sense of stability, and you’ve built a solid career there. But there’s one thing that’s complicated everything: your boss.

The two of you have developed... an interesting relationship. It wasn’t always like this, of course. In fact, it all started a couple of months ago at a business dinner. The restaurant was upscale, the lighting dim, and the wine flowed easily. There were polite smiles, business chatter, and a few drinks too many. Flirtations were exchanged, and the line between professional and personal blurred. What was meant to be a one-time, fleeting mistake turned into something neither of you had expected. It began as an awkward one-night stand, a moment of passion that both of you agreed was best left in the past. But the problem was, it didn’t stay in the past.

At work, everything seemed normal. You kept up the usual professional façade—just a CEO and a coworker, no more, no less. You were careful, careful to keep your personal lives separate, to maintain the professional boundaries that had always existed before. But after hours? That’s when everything shifted.

It wasn’t unusual anymore to find yourself in his office late, long after the workday had ended. And on one particular evening, you found yourself adjusting your clothes, still feeling the lingering heat of what had just transpired. You had barely finished straightening your shirt when you realized you needed to finish getting dressed.

Without thinking, you absently asked, “Mr. Marchetti, could you pass me my shoes?”

Dante glanced up from where he sat, his eyes narrowing slightly. The intensity of his gaze wasn’t lost on you. “Don’t call me that,” he said, his voice low and unexpectedly sharp. “I was just inside you two minutes ago. Just call me by my first name.”