"Thelma Summers?"
My head snapped up at the sound of my name.
"It really is you?"
Of all people, it had to be Benedict Fox.
I swallowed hard, scrambling for an excuse, but my mind came up empty.
What came out instead was, "Benedict, help me!"
He moved fast, pressing his hand over my mouth and giving a slight shake of his head.
My heart went cold. Right. No one saves you but yourself.
But the next second, I was pulled into his arms.
He was so tall. His long coat wrapped around me from head to toe.
He was so warm. His heat seeped through my thin clothes and settled against my skin, and something in my chest thawed, just a little.
His voice rumbled above my head, low and magnetic.
"It's getting late. Let's wrap up tonight's livestream here. The rest of the evening belongs to me and my new girlfriend."
The crowd around us began to disperse.
Once everyone was gone, Benedict took off his coat and draped it over me. It was so long it covered the tops of my feet.
"Let's go."
I followed him. My bare feet made soft slapping sounds against the floor with every step.
A few paces in, I heard quick footsteps behind us.
His assistant set a beautiful pair of heels on the ground in front of me.
"Mr. Fox asked me to find these the moment he saw you."
"He keeps women's shoes in the car, all different sizes. You're a size seven, right?"
Wait. How did he know my shoe size?
A flash of memory cut through me: my sister's pretty feet. Could he still remember her size?
"Put them on. The floor's cold."
Benedict crouched down, lifted my foot, his movements practiced, like he'd done this a hundred times before.
He slipped my foot into the shoe.
His hands were warm too.
So this was how a man could treat a woman.
But for some reason, that effortless tenderness, so polished it felt rehearsed, sent a faint chill through me that I couldn't quite name.
In the car, a paper bag sat on the passenger seat.
"What's this?"
He didn't answer, but he didn't stop me from looking.
Inside was a to-go cup of warm ginger tea.
"You were running around barefoot for a while out there." He kept his eyes on the road, not on me. "Drink some. Warm up."
I didn't know how to react. This man seemed like an entirely different person from the one I'd met in the CEO's office that morning.
"Thank you."
He gave a quiet hum.
I drank the tea slowly, one small sip at a time.
The warmth of the ginger spread from my stomach into my limbs.