BOUND BY DESIRE _THE BILLIONAIRE'S OBSESSION

wns and polished shoes, gripping the tray tightly enough that my knuckles ached. The Grand Metrop

to remai

make us look appealing rather than professional. Pulling at the hem, balancing those champagne flutes, and offerin

. The women gave each other practiced smiles, their diamonds glittering beneath the chandeliers

d the biggest mi

omething solid. No, someone. A sharp gasp escaped my lips as champagne flutes toppled and an

The ripple of silence spread outward, eyes t

ach plu

n Bla

manded attention tall, broad-shouldered, everything about him screaming control. His dark

th, my brain racing for something to say, but

ngers closed around my wrist. No

h froze i

s ruined. I

hispered, voice like silk ov

said abruptly. My voice s

enough to send my pulse

his man was danger stuck with a beautiful barista, the kind of

, I did

most thoughtfully. "Humiliated. Or eve

rashed coldly ove

s your

question. It

managed, pu

ss far too dark. Calculating. "Elena." He let my name brush h

oo thick as it closed on me. I stood, teetering on the edge of a c

an offer

gave me chil

way. I should have sai

wrist. And the way he kept looking at me

ce came out weaker than

manner that made my pulse skitter like a polygraph needle. The champagne I had poured atop

him did not

things. I should have backed up, should have looked aw

me, Elena," he

not necessarily a p

umorless one. More like a predator p

tingling of skin under his hand. Damian Blackwood was the type of man wo

u even want from me?

ted to an angle, as if he was analyzing me at a different angle. "Well, let's just say ...

m not here to

sending chills up my spine

im. A powerful billionaire, torturing a girl with no escape. To h

ye

uestion," I said, putti

t, a mere ghost of a touch, and I felt it

voice into something only I could hear. "I

of goosebumps along

r m

definitive, so menacin

e, full fo

s not just flirting

olding my wrist like he already owned a piece of me.

of pulling my arm free and walking aw

ou are,

under the glimmering lights. Blonde hair elegantly coiffed, she had sharp cheekbones and cold,

did. He didn't let go of my wrist, but I could sense the shif

e woman said, gl

id smoothly. "She'

mach t

aitress?" The way she said it bri

flushing my cheeks. "Sorry,

d to le

hudded in my ears as I walked, winding through the haze of rich stranger

the back hall, a warm bre

ng alr

e body s

mi

follo

filling up the dim hallway. Here, the music from the b

 said, but my voice

flickered in his dark

lowed.

razing my waist so lightly I could

" he said, his lips hovering above min

ath hi

orst

t want