Page 5 of Cole's Command

“Can I get you a refreshment, sir?” Joe offered him a grateful smile.

“A coffee would be great.” Cole nodded, aware of Lewis’s scrutiny as he spoke to her assistant.

“How do you take it?” Joe asked, rising from his seat.

“Black, please.”

“Of course.” Joe appeared to be suppressing his leer as he turned to his boss. “And for you, Dr. Lewis?”

“Just water, please,” she replied, peering back at Cole. Gesturing to the open doorway behind her, her lips curled. “Shall we?”

Chapter Two

Eden Lewis

Two hours earlier

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THROWING HER DUFFLE bag over her shoulder, Eden collected her briefcase as the silver doors to the twenty-second floor slid open. Staring around the deserted space, she strode past her assistant’s desk to her office, pausing to unlock the door before she let herself in.

Striding inside, she stowed her gym bag in the sleek black closet just as she did every morning. Eden was a creature of habit and reveled in her routines. She hit the gym every morning, often meeting her personal trainer and sometimes enjoying a swim before work. Eden knew the fitness regime set her up for a focused and productive day, and that if her body was strong and healthy, then so was her mind. She always made sure she was in the office at least half an hour before Joe every morning, and could digest her notes for the coming day while indulging in a coffee. Eden only allowed herself one shot of caffeine per day, and when she did, she took the time to savor it, taking in the enviable view she enjoyed from her enormous office.

It was that balance of discipline and reward that had propelled her through life. She hadn’t become the first woman in her family to fly through college, graduate with a first-class degree in clinical psychology before earning her doctorate, and then become a partner in her own firm by the age of thirty-five by coincidence. It also wasn’t by chance that she was the only partner who wasn’t of Caucasian descent. Eden was the most driven person she knew. She decided what she wanted and went for it, refusing to take no for an answer. She’d accepted that the world was an unfair place and that rightly or wrongly, she had to work harder than others to accomplish the same achievements. It wasn’t fair, and she worked harder than most to break down the walls that held many of her gender and ethnicity back, but she was also pragmatic and she hadn’t let any of those challenges stand in her way of success.

Not Eden Lewis. She was too damn good—capable of so much more and determined to prove it. She played by the rules, even when the die was loaded, and she won. Every. Single. Time.

Smiling at the thought, she closed the closet door and wandered across the plush blue carpet to her desk. She’d chosen the color scheme herself, having studied the effect of different hues on her client’s well-being. Blues, in her experience, were related to relaxation because patients tended to link the shade with the sea and the sky. That was why every inch of the office had been designed to maximize that reduction in stress. A relaxed patient was more likely to open up, talk, and make discoveries about their personal development. Eden wanted everyone who walked through her door to be at ease.

Opening her large purse, she pulled out her laptop and plugged it into the port on her desk as she skimmed her calendar. Another long day beckoned, but Eden didn’t mind. She adored her career, and knowing she could help people and make a genuine difference to their lives would have been reward enough, although the six-figure salary she made was certainly a well-deserved bonus. Powering up her computer, her gaze scanned over the family portrait she kept at the end of her desk. It had been taken the day she had graduated, and saw her wearing her mortarboard and holding her degree, flanked by her proud parents. Her eyes wanted to linger over the image of her father longingly, but she dragged her gaze away.

No time for that.

She swallowed at the mental scolding. Eden missed her father every day, but there was no time to dwell.

There’s never any time to dwell.