LA

of my trench coat tighter as I push open the glass door of a 24-hour CVS on a quiet

l aches from

ice. I wore the black dress he sent over-beautiful, expensive, another chain. The entire evening, his hand stayed on my waist, his t

if he wanted to speak, but one cold glance from Graham ma

silent

as waiting. The name I'd been trying t

We need to talk ab

four words kept

ooking for. My hand closes around the small, rectangular box-Plan B. One Step. On impulse, I also grab a

man in his fifties, doesn't even glance at m

fierce resolve solidifies within me. I will not carry his child. I will not be

my bottled water to swallow the small pill

57

h

the wet pavement. I race through the lobby of Rogers Corp, a blur of apo

y lungs burning, my hair damp fro

rse at my desk when his o

ray suit that probably costs more than I've mad

says, his voice

of the room. I scramble to my feet, my heart hammering a

t of my desk. He's so close I can feel the heat radiating

y silk blouse has shifted, exposing the delicate skin of my collarbone. And there,

he bruise with an unnerving intensity. I see his pupils dilate, just

almost think I imagined

, sending a shiver of unwanted awareness through me. His thumb, rough and calloused, traces the e

" he rasps, hi

ulling away, my voice

g me to look at him. "I'm aski

g. Replaying last night. My clumsy resistance. The tear that escape

thing. A fluke. A rogue's f

's deep tissue damage. The kind that does

bers-how did she

ced moans. Not

e tremors. With her teeth sunk int

he "whore" story

sheets..." he mutt

expression shifts-not just anger anymore. Shock. Disbelief. And

hammering with a ferocity that matches my own. But his isn't fr

t my ear. His breath is hot, sending

uestion. It's an accusation. His

aze. Shame and anger churn in my stomach. "It was a transact

en lower, laced with danger. He grabs my wrist, his grip ha

e offended confusion. As if he can't accept that the thing he marked as his

final, but a sudden, violent cramp seizes my

clutch my abdomen, my knees buckling

I can't identify. Alarm. He instinctively reaches out,

i

ough the tense silence. It's followed by th

eting!" a shrill, familiar vo

the executive su

a mask of arrogance. She freezes, her eyes taking in the scene: me, pale and doubled ove

arrogant, contorts into a ma

isdain as her eyes lock on me. "What is a w