Penny's POV
The silence in Bernie's office felt thick, broken only by the rhythmic clicking of keyboards and muffled sounds drifting from the hallway outside.
We had been buried in work for some time, dissecting every detail of a critical project set for next week's investor presentation. The complexity of the task should have commanded our complete attention, keeping everything strictly business.
It should have worked that way.
Instead, an undercurrent pulsed between us, something neither of us dared acknowledge aloud. Ever since that night at the Sterling gathering, every stolen glance felt loaded with meaning. Each time our fingers nearly grazed while exchanging papers sent electricity shooting through my nerves.
