across the man's face. For a split second, his mind s

sed close, molding against his chest, and the reckless closeness she forced between them-combined with the

Without the slightest hesitation, she leaned in harder, her warm breath brushing his lips as her

ad left was slipping, t

brushed instead against the sleek warmth of her

lungs, and for one perilous heartbeat,

tation didn't read as rejection at all-it felt like

nd bold. She seized his wrist before he could pull back an

ce of cedar clung to him, but the heat of his breath against her lips burned in contrast, sending a strange thrill through

ason gave way completely to instinct. Her fingers shot out,

an eye, everyt

her reeling backward. When her vision steadied, she found herself sprawled across

thin strip of hallway light

nne exhaled softly, irritat

d as an escort? The thou

or him, what was he doing try

ing the loosened tie in her hand, she straightened with unsteady determinatio

ithout warning-didn't that mean

nearly collided with a young man

of practiced charm that felt almost rehearsed. He looked impossibly young, barely out of his te

her and the photo on his phone, brows kni

urtis told me to

opped listening entirely. A cold r

es locking onto the roo

, no,

the wrong room and k

scort without a second glance. Driven by a rising panic, she sprinted after the stranger,

rs-by the time she burst out through the club's entrance, he had already dis

ught her breath, irritation tangling with a

e, something near the entrance snagge

Rolls-Royce Phantom, its sleek body gleaming with authority. The

e on about his elusive uncle, his voice laced with envy and something dangerously close to awe. According to him, the man owned a globally

fingers curling tighter around the tie in h

Jonny answer for what he had done-the sting

at, something sharper, something that

e would never dare belittle again. Even more than that, she wanted to force him into a place where, e

become his un

lf in her mind, she found

a car-it was a doorway, a straight

oved the loosened tie into her crossbody bag, then fumbled out her perfume and

nding, fixing every detail with practiced precision befo

haled deeply, steadying herself, and

ose-let alone someone so far out of her reach that every ste

d through her thoughts, each one

d and knocked on the window. Seconds stretched thin and

ted tightening in her chest, the tinted glass

onto a pair of icy, unreada

ugged at her, halting her breath

the rest of his sharply de

r was now fully revealed under the clear light

t, her thoughts scat

ad forced onto the sofa and kissed

was he sittin

he was Jonny's elusi