LOGINJulian didn't release his grip on my hip. Instead, his fingers tightened, pulling me out of the armchair until my front was pressed against his hard chest."You're not sleeping in the guest room tonight, Maya," he murmured, his voice heavy with an absolute authority that left no room for negotiation. "You're sleeping in my bed. With me."I stiffened, pushing against his shoulders. "No, Julian. I'm not doing this. I need space, especially after everything that just happened tonight."Julian’s grey eyes darkened, a slow, dangerous smirk tugging at his lips. He leaned down, his lips brushing against mine, taking away my air before I could even draw a breath."You don't get space from me anymore, sweetheart," he whispered against my mouth, his hand sliding up my back to cup the nape of my neck, tilting my face up. "You can try to fight it, but you're too exhausted to run. Stop making this harder than it needs to be. You're staying right beside me where you belong."The intense heat rollin
My heart slammed against my ribs. I shoved the pendant back into the secret seam, pressed the mahogany panel flush, and scrambled to my feet just as footsteps hit the marble floor.It wasn't Julian. It was Marcus, his sharp eyes scanning the living room before settling on me."Miss Blue," Marcus said, his voice flat. "Mr. Vance requires you in his primary study immediately."I swallowed the lump of panic in my throat, adjusting the straps of my overalls. "Now? It's almost midnight.""Now," he simply said. Then shifted slightly, giving me a way to move towards Julian.I walked down the long, dimly lit hallway toward his office. The heavy double doors were pulled wide open. The room reminded me of the escapade we had that morning inside his other study. I couldn't lose my composition. I have to brace myself. I breathed out softly as I walked further inside. Inside, the room was bathed in the cold blue light of multiple monitors mounted on the wall. Financial graphs were crashing red lin
My shop suddenly feel suffocating, I couldn't stay in here anymore. Looking at Marcus standing outside through the display window was like looking at the bars of a cell.If I wanted my life back, I had to finish the desk. Once that restoration was complete, Julian would have to sign over the deed to my workshop like he promised. Then I could put some real distance between us, his security team will be damned.Marcus opened the heavy door of the black SUV for me without a word. I slid into the leather backseat, clutching my canvas tool bag to my chest like a shield. Sam was in the passenger seat, his eyes constantly scanning the rearview mirror."I don't need two full-grown men taking me to work," I muttered, glaring at the back of Marcus's head."Mr. Vance’s orders, Miss Blue," Marcus replied, his voice completely flat. "We go where you go." I bit my tongue and stared out the tinted window. Julian had built a wall of muscle around me, and no matter how much I complained, his men only
The sound of my own ragged breathing filled the quiet study. My body was still trembling, my skin flushed and sensitive, but the second the fog in my mind started to clear, a wave of deep embarrassment slammed into me, turning my blood from hot to freezing cold. God, what had I just done? Five minutes ago, I was screaming at him about my missing father. Now I was lying naked on his office desk, panting like an addict.Julian leaned over me, resting his hands on either side of my shoulders. He looked down into my face, and a slow, dark smirk pulled at his lips."You pretty much enjoyed what you claimed you didn't want," he said, his voice low, raspy, and thick with satisfaction.I turned my head away, my cheeks burning with a heat so intense I felt like crying. I hated myself at that moment. I hated how fast I had surrendered, how easily my body had betrayed every boundary I tried to build between my client and I.Julian didn't say another word about it. He reached into his trouser poc
I couldn't breathe.TARGET - DAVID BLUE (DECEASED).The words burned into my retinas. My hands shook so violently the heavy leather file rattled in my grip. My father’s face stared back at me from that paper, his kind eyes looking straight through me from five years in the past. This can't be a coincidence. None of it was. The desk, the job, the double pay, the sudden interest in my tiny workshop—it was all tied to my father. It has to be. And my father isn't dead, why is he being declared as deceased. Does Julian knows something —"Find what you were looking for, Maya?"I jumped out of my skin, dropping the folder onto the glass desk.Julian was standing in the doorway of the study. He was wearing a grey linen shirt with his sleeves rolled up and black trousers, holding a steaming mug of coffee. His face was completely calm, but his dark grey eyes were locked onto the open file lying on his desk.As he walked closer to me, a wild, blinding rage exploded in my chest, hot enough to sc
Julian’s words echoed in my head like a gunshot. “She owns my complete attention.”The ballroom was dead silent for three whole seconds before whispers broke out like a wildfire. Victoria looked pale, stumbling back into the arms of her two friends while the wealthy elites traded shocked glances. I stood frozen, my waist locked in Julian’s heavy, burning grip. My heart was hammering a chaotic rhythm against my ribs.Why was he doing this? We barely knew each other. I was a woman who was brought into his life a few days ago with sawdust in her hair, yet here he was, ready to crush the city's powerful families just because someone insulted me. It didn't make any sense. Despite the wild, dangerous pull I felt whenever he touched me, a deep sense of panic rose in my chest. If my shop hadn't been held hostage, I would have ripped off these heels and walked out right then.Every minute at that table felt like an eternity. I could feel the hostile, judging eyes of high society digging into m







