[Juliette’s POV] The hint of disagreement across Luke’s features acknowledged my suspicions. Something was wrong. I looked up at Ralph and asked, “Why’s the CEO’s personal assistance proofreading proposals? Don’t we have managers for that?” Ralph threw an arm around my shoulder and squeezed it gently as he gazed down at me. “Juliette love—.” My right brow raised in renewed surprise. Love? “—-are you questioning my leadership now?” I caught the warning undertone of his voice and shook my head to humour him, then returned to Luke’s disoriented look with a reassuring smile. “No, I don’t, Ralph dear.” My left arm went around the back of Ralph’s waist to pull myself closer to him and sarcastically added, “I trust your judgement.” I grinned excessively up at him. Ralph returned an even grin then switched his gaze from me to Luke. “Mr. Paufertee is gifted at what he’s doing now, am I right?” I shot a curious gaze at Luke, and he smiled obligingly, nodding his head. Now, I

[Juliette’s POV] For almost a minute, we gave each other the hug of a long lost friend. As soon as we pulled apart, as always, Luke ruffled the top of my head like the older sibling. He is six years older than me, so I understand the attitude. And, as far as I could recall, ruffling my head has been his favourite move. Since little, I’ve noticed that with others, Luke is more reserved with his gestures of affection. So the ruffling made me feel special—until I started having a crush on him. From then on, every time his hand reaches over to the top of my head, I’d cast a look of irritation, or move my head out of his hand’s way to avoid it altogether. Despite my persistent protests, he never grows out of it, as though I’ll always be the sister that he wanted. Now, having not seen him for a month, which has never happened before, I let him ruffle to his heart’s content. Giggling until he stopped, I looked up at him, beaming like a little girl, as he gently smoothened the strands

[Juliette’s POV] Who the fuck is ‘him’? Oh God…, here’s another one! It radiated from the spot where he struck, rippling through my skin to my fingertips. A delighted moan slipped into the sweaty air around us. "Ooh… yes!" I tried to pull him closer. I need him to be closer. To feel all of me. I want to feel all of him. There must be more… more of him that I can take…. "More… Deeper…." I squeezed out a tiny whisper. He seemed to know what I wanted and pushed the back of my knees towards my chest to drive further into my velvety heat of delight. I clenched him harder. “Fuck, kitten.” He grunted with pleasure. Pressing his forehead on mine, he rammed into me as he growled, “My sexy kitten…," then pulled back slightly and rammed in again. More thrill arched my back, ripping a high pitched gasp from my throat, and I heard Ralph snarled, "Look at you… making that face again." He rammed into me once more. "Do you make this face for him too, Juliette?" Who the hell is he

[Juliette’s POV]The sex was darn good. The area between my thighs were still aching from squeezing too much; my insides, still numb from the pressure of his sheer size as he slammed mercilessly into me last night, in various different positions—that brute strength was still ringing in my skin; my limbs were still sore from the numerous contortions to assist him in reaching the deepest depths of me. I swallowed hard as images of our wild sex from last night congested my mind, and his deep, husky groans of immense pleasure echoed in my ears. My cheeks started to heat up.Yes, sex was really good—in fact, too good. And when something is too good, you know it isn’t true. My marriage with Ralph. It had started with a deal, a deal that had forced two strangers—mortal enemies—to start a family together. Pfft! What family?My insides chuckled sadly. With the deal, the Lux fortune and our family feud between us, the notion of love sounds like a daydream. I don’t care what Papa thinks, I d

*WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SEXUAL VIOLENCE.* [Juliette’s POV] His face turned from being clueless to having fathomed out my response. Taking one step closer, he taunted, “OK. Let’s hear it. Why are you blind? Your eyes look fine to me. And you look like you want to kill me. So go ahead, let me have it.” That does it. I shot up to a stand, both hands in tight fists, eyes glaring at him. “You two-face jerk.” “Two-face—? Oh….” He dropped his face on the grass and shook his head in a dry laugh. “This is something new.” I mimicked his sarcastic laugh. “Yes, it’s darn new to me too! You, being all nice and warm in front of me, and then a slimy worm behind my back.” I thought about him pretending to help and sabotaging my investigation, and more anger filled my eyes. He straightened and glared condescendingly at me. “Do you always spit on someone's kindness, or is this about me being a Virtus?" I stepped forward and jabbed a finger in his direction. “Don't you dare swing t