LOGINJoella’s POVI hung up and sat there with my hand still on the receiver.The CEO wanted to see me.Mr. Ahmed had walked back into that office with my folder. That had to be it. The error. The millions we almost lost. A thank you. A question. Maybe even the beginning of the promotion I had been chasing for over a year.My hands were not steady when I stood.I smoothed my blouse. Checked my reflection in the dark computer screen. I looked like a woman who had come to work. Blouse. Hair. Lipstick that was already fading. Not a woman who had come on a stranger’s fingers the night before with her back against a rooftop rail.Good.That was the version of me this building needed.I took the long way to the elevator anyway, just to give my pulse a chance to slow down. It didn’t. People on my floor were still talking in that tight, careful way. Joe was at somebody else’s desk, no doubt spreading the same story he had brought to me. I kept my eyes forward and walked past all of it.The elevato
Joella’s POVI sat very still for a second, staring at the folder like it might change its mind.Then I stood up.This could not wait.I took the folder and left to find the head of finance, Mr. Ahmed.His office was two floors up. I knew the way by heart. I had been in that hallway enough times with reports, questions, and the quiet hope that somebody would finally see how hard I worked.His secretary looked up when I arrived.“Is he in?” I asked.“He’s on the CEO’s floor,” she said. “Meeting.”Of course he was.Today of all days.“Thank you,” I said.I should have waited.I didn’t.The longer this sat, the worse it could get. If the new CEO was already in the building, the last thing I wanted was for this to reach him through some ugly surprise instead of through the people who were supposed to catch it.I took the elevator to the last floor.The ride felt longer than it was. My reflection in the mirrored wall looked flushed. I told myself it was the error. Not last night. Not dark
Joella’s POVThe next morning, as I got ready for work, my mind pulled me in two different directions and refused to pick one.One part of me could not stop thinking about my fate at the office. Was I going to be laid off? Would I walk in and find my name already halfway off a list? Would somebody smile at me in the kitchen and then later box up my things like I had never been there at all?The other part was worse.The stubborn part.That part kept drifting back to dark eyes in a starry night and fingers that made me gush. To a rooftop rail. To a timer on a phone. To a man who licked my come off his hand and called me a word I still did not know how to say.Asteraki.I stood in front of the bathroom mirror with my toothbrush in my mouth and glared at my own face.“No,” I said around the foam. “We are not doing this.”My reflection did not look convinced.I spat, rinsed, and tried again, out loud this time, like that would make it stick.“You do not even know his name. He made you com
Joella’s POV“Then give it back.”He smiled against my skin.“Ask nicely, asteraki.”I hated how wet that made me.“Please,” I whispered. “Please don’t leave me like this.”“Like what?”His fingers curled, just once, and stopped again.I made a broken sound.“Close. I’m so close. It hurts.”“That’s not pain,” he said. “That’s your body learning what it can do. You said no man ever made you come. I’m not going to rush the first time and let you think it was an accident.”He started moving again.Slower than before. Deeper. His thumb returned to my clit in lazy circles that were almost worse than the fast ones. My knees threatened to give out. I pressed my forehead to his chest and tried not to moan.“That’s it,” he whispered. “Take it. Quiet. Let me feel this tight little pussy get desperate.”“I am desperate.”“I know. I can feel you dripping down my wrist.”A shaky laugh left me. It turned into another gasp when he rubbed my clit firmer.“You’re evil.”“You told me to prove it.” His
Joella’s POVI gasped. My hips jerked toward him like my body had already chosen a side. He only smirked, watching my face, circling that swollen little spot through silk that was already ruined.“There it is,” he murmured. “Soaked already. All that talking, and this pretty pussy was ready before I even touched you.”“Don’t flatter yourself.”“I’m not flattering myself.” His fingers pressed firmer, slow and filthy. “I’m feeling how wet you are. You came up here aching, didn’t you? Standing at this rail, pretending you only wanted air.”I couldn’t answer. Not honestly.He leaned in and kissed my neck. Open-mouthed. Hot. His teeth grazed the skin just under my ear, and my knees went weak. While he did that, his fingers pushed my panties aside and found my naked clit.Bare.Direct.No more fabric between us.The double assault tore a moan out of me. His mouth on my neck. His fingers sliding over that swollen little bud like he had done this to me before. I clutched his shoulders and trie
Joella’s POVNot awkward. Shocked. Like I had told him something that should not exist.“You’re serious.”“Unfortunately.”He stared at me.“A man has never made you come.”“Not one,” I said. “And before you start, yes, I’ve tried. Yes, I told them what I liked. Yes, they all thought they were going to be different. They were not.”His jaw tightened.“That’s insane.”“That’s my sex life.”He let out a slow breath, like he needed a second with it.“So you’ve been with men who don’t know what they’re doing,” he said, “and then you decided it was you.”“I decided it was safer not to expect much.”He looked at me then. Really looked. Like the idea offended him personally.“That’s not how it should be.”I laughed under my breath, trying to put the armor back on.“Let me guess. You give all your women mind-blowing orgasms and they send you flowers in the morning.”He didn’t smile.“I never leave a woman unsatisfied.”The way he said it made my thighs press together. Heat slid low in my bell
Lia's POVBut even as I flew away from the island, even as physical distance grew between me and what had happened there, I knew something fundamental had shifted.I wasn't the same woman who'd boarded this plane days ago.I wasn't the same woman who'd accepted Rob's neglect and disrespect as norma
I spun around with a sharp intake of breath, my hand flying to my chest.Victor stood just a few feet away, watching me with those piercing blue eyes. He was so quiet I hadn't heard him approach at all. He'd changed since earlier—now he wore a dark suit, perfectly fitted, the kind that probably cos
When I finally got to my room, I stopped in the doorway and just stared.It was beautiful. Really, genuinely beautiful. The room was spacious and airy, with high ceilings and large windows that looked out over the water. The last light of the evening was painting the Mediterranean in shades of oran
Those blue eyes. God, those blue eyes.Up close, they were even more intense than I'd noticed from across the room. They were the kind of blue you saw in pictures of the Mediterranean—deep and clear and impossibly bright. They held a sharpness to them, an intelligence, like he was taking in everyth







