Chapter 1

I gagged.

The dry heave cut Adrian Knox off for the fifth time. The acquisition had just reached the page on valuation.

His brow drew in. The rest of that ice-cut face gave nothing away.

Executives lined both sides of the long table. Every one of them found the wood grain fascinating.

Adrian set his pen down. He didn't raise his voice.

"We're done."

Chairs scraped. The door opened and shut.

In under a minute, the glass office a hundred floors up held two people.

I slouched into the chair and crossed my legs. The silk skirt rode up another half inch, baring a length of thigh, pale and long and straight.

All I felt was irritated.

The taro boba in front of me used to be the thing I loved. Iced. Sweet. The straw clicked when it went in. Today it had been wrong from the first sip. Sugar climbed back up my throat.

Adrian came around the table with a black look on his face. His shadow dropped over me and the cup together.

"What did you eat that wasn't clean?"

I looked up.

Up close, he was even better-looking. Harder to look at for long. I had seen that face for years. At eighteen. In the church. This past year, in the car, in the mirror, whenever he came down over me.

It still stunned me.

I gagged.

My stomach answered him. Louder.

I swallowed it down and shot him a look. "You ought to know what got eaten last night."

Adrian went still.

A suspicious red climbed from the base of his ear, fast enough to watch.

He stared. His mouth moved. What he finally forced out was thin.

"Eden Cross. Can you act like a decent person?"

Most of the irritation scattered.

"Sure." I flicked the hair off my shoulder and tipped my chin. "Crooked morals. A straight face. Isn't that your favorite kind of woman?"

He didn't answer. His hand went to his tie.

Heat, maybe. Or the line had burned him.

Dark silk hung loose against his chest. It looked filthy.

I dropped my voice.

"While we're here, you still owe me a word." I let it land. "Sister-in-law."

Maybe that was what hit him.

Adrian stared. His throat rolled, hard. His eyes went dark by inches.

He braced both hands on the arms of my chair and shut me inside the air around him.

His gaze slid anyway. Down the silk over my chest. Down to my bare thighs.

I didn't move.

I let the breath hit my skin. The irritation actually let go.

Then my hand got there before my head did.

Through his trousers, I grabbed his ass.

The muscle under my palm locked.

Adrian's jaw went tight. He pulled in a breath and held it, at war with himself for a few seconds, and reached for his belt.

The metal catch opened in the empty room. Quiet. Clear.

His hand wasn't steady when the belt came free.

The red had reached his neck. His jaw was clenched to the bone, angry, or barely holding on.

Champagne silk bunched at the top of my thighs. Cool on the skin. Then his hand warmed it.

"Eden Cross. You asked for this."

Outside went to pieces.

Footsteps jerked sharp. Someone coughed. Someone knocked and took the hand back in midair.

After that the whole corridor sounded scorched. The steps were a mess.