로그인KLAUSThe brass deadbolt clicks into place behind my back, cutting off the thumping bass of the nightclub.Inside the private restroom, the air is cool, dim, and dead silent, save for the ragged sound of our breathing.I don't let go of her.I walk Olivia backward three steps until her spine hits the dark slate wall beside the marble vanity, caging her soft body beneath the weight of mine. My mouth slants hard over hers again, deep, rough, and punishing, drinking in the taste of warm honey and smoky tequila as her small hands tangle desperately in the hair at the base of my neck.A low, helpless whimper vibrates in the back of her throat.When I bite down lightly on her swollen bottom lip, she gasps, and I slide my tongue straight into the wet, scorching heat of her mouth.She doesn't fight me for a second.She kisses me back like she’s starving to death and I’m the only oxygen left in the room, her fingernails scraping against my scalp while her breasts heave against the front of my
KLAUSIf I let him put his hands on me for real, he won't just break me, he’ll… ruin me.Damn right I will.As Olivia’s spine hits the dark wallpaper of the corridor and a sharp gasp rips out of her throat, every single word she just confessed is still roaring inside my skull like gasoline on an open flame.Thirty seconds ago, standing here in the dim crimson light while she babbled to what she thought was a stranger with my face, I was fighting for my life just to keep my hands inside my coat pockets.She has no idea what she just handed me.For three days, she has fought me tooth and nail.She slapped me in my club, hid behind Ben’s pathetic alibis, cried against my penthouse window, and looked me dead in the eye in my elevator to tell me she wouldn't let me touch her if I were the last man on earth.And then three shots of Don Julio loosened her tongue in a dark hallway, and the truth poured right out of her mouth.She can't close her eyes without feeling me.She can't stand near a
LIVMy back hits the wall hard enough to knock the breath out of my lungs.I press the back of my trembling hand against my mouth, staring wide-eyed up at the tall shadow towering over me in the crimson light.No.No, no, no.That wasn't supposed to happen.Kissing a random guy in the hallway was supposed to break the spell.It was supposed to taste like cheap beer and unfamiliar skin, snapping my brain back to reality just like when Gia pulled that sleazeball off me at the bar.Instead, the second my lips touched his, a bolt of lightning tore straight from the center of my mouth down to the space between my thighs.His lips were firm, scorching hot, and devastatingly commanding.And when I breathed in against his face, he didn't smell like cheap cologne or stale tequila, he smelled like freezing winter air, expensive bourbon, and dark, suffocating sandalwood.My heart is hammering so fast against my ribs I feel dizzy."I'm fucked," I whisper against the back of my hand, a hollow, pan
KLAUSI don't know who you are, and I don't need to know your name... but do you want to fuck me?For three full seconds, the roaring bass vibrating through the hallway walls fades into dead silence inside my skull.I stand frozen under the dim crimson glow of the wall sconces, staring down at the five-foot-four menace blocking my path.Ten seconds ago, I was coming down those VIP stairs ready to commit murder.I had deliberately stayed back in the shadows of the upper mezzanine so Zara wouldn't spot me and realize her texted photos had dragged me out of the penthouse like a dog on a chain.I told myself I was just going to verify that Olivia went home, finish one drink in the dark, and wait until Wednesday morning’s meeting.Then I watched that idiot at the main bar back her into the alcove and shove his sweaty hand up under her cream sweater.By the time Gia ripped the guy off her, I was already moving down the back stairs to haul Olivia out the rear exit myself and throw her into m
LIV"Get your fucking hands off Liv this instant!"Gia’s furious voice slices straight through the roaring bass and the thick, dizzying tequila fog inside my head.My eyes snap open.All at once, the illusion shatters into a million pieces.There is no dark sandalwood.There is no pale scar along a sharp jawline.There are no arctic blue eyes.The man pressing me against the dark alcove wall smells like cheap body spray and stale beer, and his sweaty palm is shoved halfway up my ribs underneath my cream sweater, his rough stubbled chin scraping uncomfortably against my neck.A wave of revulsion slams into my stomach.Before I can even shove him, Gia lunges into the alcove like a bat out of hell, grabs a fistful of the guy’s dark button-down shirt, and yanks him backward off me with enough force to rip two buttons straight off his chest."What the hell is wrong with you, you creep?!" Gia snarls, shoving her body between us as the guy stumbles back against the brass rail. "The dare was
KLAUSFor twenty minutes after the elevator doors slide shut on Olivia, I don't even bother putting a shirt on.I stand by the floor-to-ceiling window in the dark penthouse, staring down at the taillights streaming across the road.The ghost of her small, trembling palm still burns right in the center of my bare chest.She walked up here tonight ready to go to war over Ben’s company. Yet the second I backed her against that marble bar and pressed her hand to my skin, her pulse went haywire and her eyes went dark.If she hadn't been wearing that fraud’s diamond ring on her finger, she wouldn't have left this room until Wednesday morning.On the marble counter behind me, my phone starts to buzz.I turn around, pick it up, and glance at the caller ID.Zara.I swipe the green button and put it on speaker while reaching for a clean black cashmere sweater draped over the back of the sofa."Make this quick, Zara," I say, pulling the sweater over my head and easing my bandaged left forearm th







