Delaney slowly opened her eyes, realizing she’d fallen asleep. She was pressed tightly against Ivan’s body, and despite the fact her face was chilled, it wasn’t as cold as she’d assumed it should have been for not having had heat all night.

But despite all that, Delaney only felt warmth.

Looking out the window, she could see the sun starting to rise over the skyscrapers. Damn, they had slept this whole time?

She looked over her shoulder and saw Ivan still sleeping, his short dark hair slightly disheveled. Even with his guard off, he was attractive, strong and powerful.

She slipped out of bed and realized it was warmer than it had been last night. Was the heat back on? Walking over to the thermostat, she saw that it was indeed on.

Delaney rubbed her hands together to warm them. She moved toward the window and stared at the city. The snow must have stopped falling sometime after they fell asleep, because it seemed like traffic and city life was back to normal.

The traffic.

The bustle of people up and down the sidewalks.

The street vendors.

The angry chaos that always went with city life.

Just then, she heard shuffling behind her. She was throwing her clothes on in a matter of seconds. Looking over her shoulder, Delaney saw Ivan sitting up in the bed, his focus on her.

“Get dressed,” she whispered. “Someone is out there.”

He smirked, but stood and started dressing as well. She stared at him and he gave her this sleepy, lopsided smirk, and she felt her heart start to race, her body reacting to being in his presence instantly.

She smiled in return.

Once they were dressed, he held out his hand and she found herself walking toward him, letting him wrap his hands around her waist and pull her down onto the mattress.

He kissed her soundly, deeply. Nothing else mattered in that moment aside from the two of them, alone, the room starting to get hotter.

And then she heard voices, ones pretty damn close. Snapping her eyes open, she pulled back, seeing shadows on the other side of the window, the blinds drawn so she couldn’t make out who was there.

She stood quickly just as her office door opened. And there stood a security officer and the janitorial staff, looking between her and Ivan, and then back at her again. She felt her cheeks heat, knew they were probably red.

There was no doubt they knew what was going on, or what had happened.

“Morning, Miss,” the security officer said. He looked at Ivan and her again, but she kept her focus straight ahead. “We were notified of employees possibly stuck in the building. With the power out and the lines down, we didn’t get the message until a little while ago.” As she looked between them, she saw the smirk on his face. “Maybe we didn’t need to worry after all.”

She narrowed her eyes and felt her cheeks get even hotter. God, what had she done?

Ivan ran a hand over the foggy mirror, leaning against the sink and staring at his reflection. He had a towel wrapped around his lower half, his hair damp, the steam from his recent shower filling his bathroom.

It had only been a few days since he’d left the office, since they’d been “rescued.”

What he wanted to do was go to Delaney, to tell her that what they’d shared hadn’t been a one-night thing. He wanted to tell her that she was his, that he didn’t care about what others said, didn’t care about any rules.

But she’d hardly said anything once the security officer had arrived. She’d seemed flustered, nervous as she gathered her things. She’d only given him one last smile before she stepped out the front doors and got a taxi.

And he’d stood there, watching as she drove away, wanting to chase after her.

Normally he’d work the weekends, but Ivan forced himself to not go back to the office even though he knew he’d see Delaney.

She was always there, a true workaholic.

And he was living in hell not seeing Delaney.

All he wanted was go to her, to hold her, kiss her, tell her how perfect they were for each other. It was like that one night had changed everything for him, had made him realize what he’d been missing in life.

Tell her that he wasn’t giving her up without a fight.

But Delaney was strong-willed, stubborn even. If she thought things would get weird, be ruined, she’d pull back and slam a wall down around herself.

She’d block him out and he sure as fuck couldn’t handle that.

He’d fallen for her a long time ago, but when they’d been trapped together the other night, he’d felt something shift in him. He felt, for the first time in his fucking life, that things were right.

Things were how they were supposed to be.

As he stared at himself in the mirror, he knew what he had to do ... tell Delaney that they belonged together.