Serena sat at her desk, the low hum of the office around her almost soothing as she went over her reports. The soft tapping of her keyboard was the only sound she could focus on—until the door to her office creaked open.

She didn't need to look up to know who it was. His presence filled the room before the door even closed behind him.

Ryker.

His movements were deliberate, confident, but not hurried. He stood in the doorway for a moment, surveying her, before finally stepping inside, his shoes clicking softly against the floor.

"Serena," he said, his voice smooth, almost too smooth. "How's everything going?"

She glanced up, meeting his piercing gaze. The intensity of his eyes, that enigmatic quality that seemed to pull her in, made her stomach do an unexpected flip. She quickly looked away, feeling a flush creeping up her neck.

"I'm fine," she replied, trying to maintain composure. "Just finishing up a few things."

Ryker didn't move from where he stood, his posture relaxed but commanding. "You’re working late again. That's admirable," he said, his tone both approving and laced with something else—something she couldn't quite place. "But you need to take care of yourself too."

His words were soft, almost gentle, but there was an underlying weight to them, a subtle command hidden behind the concern. Serena tried to ignore the way his presence seemed to wrap around her like a thick fog.

"Is that your way of telling me to leave early?" she asked, managing a light smile despite the strange tension in the air.

He smiled back, but it didn’t reach his eyes. His gaze lingered on her for a moment longer than she was comfortable with, and her heart rate picked up.

"Not leave. Just… don't overdo it," he said. "You’ve been working hard lately. I’m not blind to your dedication, Serena."

Her cheeks warmed again, this time not from the effort to hide her discomfort, but because his words struck a chord with something deep inside her. She wasn’t used to receiving such praise—at least, not in such a personal way.

“I’m just doing my job,” she said quickly, glancing down at the papers in front of her. She felt the weight of his eyes still on her, studying, analyzing.

"You do it well," he said, his voice dropping slightly, as if sharing something only meant for her. "But you deserve more than just admiration from a distance. People like you deserve to be looked after."

The words were odd, oddly intimate. The way he said them—low, measured, like a promise—made Serena’s pulse spike unexpectedly. She couldn’t quite place what it was, but there was something unsettlingly magnetic about him. The way he cared, but didn't quite seem to care, at the same time.

Serena swallowed, trying to refocus. "I appreciate the concern, but I'm fine. Really."

He took a step closer, his presence overwhelming the space between them. "Are you sure about that?" Ryker asked, his voice now soft but unmistakably insistent. He stood beside her desk, leaning just slightly toward her, his hand brushing against the back of the chair. She could feel the heat of his proximity even without him touching her.

Serena shifted in her seat, caught off guard by the mix of charm and something else—something darker—lurking beneath his smooth words.

“Sometimes, we need to step back,” he continued, his gaze now unwavering as it fixed on her. “Reassess. Make sure we’re not losing ourselves to the work.”

She could feel the words like a pull in her chest, a tug at something buried deep inside her. She wasn’t used to being coddled, and yet, there was something about the way he spoke to her, as though he truly saw her—not just the employee, but something more—something personal.

"I don't need anyone to reassess me," she said, a little too defensively. She didn’t want to feel vulnerable—not to him.

Ryker smiled, a slight quirk at the corner of his lips. "I’m not telling you what to do, Serena. I’m just offering a suggestion. After all, you seem to take on more than your fair share. Don’t you think it’s time someone took care of you for a change?"

His words hung in the air between them, and she felt a mix of emotions—discomfort, but also… something else she couldn’t quite identify. His presence was like a shadow in the room, pulling her in, making her second-guess herself.

For a moment, Serena said nothing, the only sound between them the steady beat of her heart in her ears. She wanted to deny it—deny the sudden, inexplicable warmth flooding her chest. But she couldn’t. Not when it was coming from him.

"You have a strange way of showing concern," she said, her voice quieter now, betraying the uncertainty she felt. She couldn’t deny the flicker of something—something more—igniting deep inside her at his attention.

Ryker’s smile deepened, his eyes twinkling as he straightened up, finally pulling away from the desk.

"Maybe that’s what makes it all the more interesting," he replied softly, his tone teasing but layered with something that made her breath catch. "Goodnight, Serena. Don’t work too late."

With that, he turned and walked out of her office, leaving her alone with her racing thoughts. His lingering presence felt like a weight on her shoulders, the atmosphere in the room somehow heavier with his absence than with his arrival.

Serena stared at the empty door for a long moment before shaking her head, as though trying to shake off the strange feeling that had settled in her chest. She didn’t need to read into it. He was just being… a good superior.

But as she returned her focus to her work, her mind wandered back to Ryker—and his unsettling, magnetic presence that made her heart race and her thoughts cloud with confusion. She couldn’t deny it any longer: something about him, something dangerous, drew her in.

And despite every logical instinct in her body telling her to stay away, she couldn’t help but wonder if she was already too deep to escape.