جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 140

I head to the rose garden for our forbidden second dance. It’s harder than usual to slip away, what with Nicholas watching me like a hawk, but I finally manage it as the chandeliers dim overhead and the music grows languid. Tension fills the ballroom as the dancers move closer, lips parting on a collective sigh, and even my overprotective brother can’t resist the spell.He partners with a woman dressed all in green silk, twigs and red berries woven around the edge of her mask, and I dodge my mother’s searching eyes to duck through the patio doors.The gardens are dark. Couples moan in the shadows, clothes rustling in the quiet, and my dress swishes against my legs as I plunge down our usual path. I’ve only been here a handful of times, and always in the darkness, but it’s as familiar as my own bedroom at home.The scents of roses and rich soil lace the air. Moonlight glints off waxy leaves.Simon. Will he come this year? Or is he tired of the endless chase? I hurry faster, goosebumps

There's a low sofa against one wall of my office. Cracked tan leather. I steer her there, our footsteps muffled against the carpet."What are you—oh." The backs of her legs meet the sofa, and Kiara plops down with a surprised oof. Her skirt billows out around her thighs. "You don't want to dance anymore?""Not right now."There's something I want to do much, much more.Her ankle is still bruised when I bare her legs, flipping her skirt up and sinking to my knees. I cradle it tenderly, sneaker cupped in one hand, working the foot left and right just to be sure."I'm fine, Simon." Slender fingers comb through my hair, and that gentle touch sears me from the inside out. "Honestly, I'm fine."That reassurance isn't enough. I won't be able to think straight until I've seen her leg again, strong and unbruised, her weight hopping easily between both feet. Until we've danced in the rose garden again, and not a single grimace of pain mars her beautiful mouth.But that's not why I'm down here. I

Okay, so the rose garden is off limits. That’s fine. But I need to find somewhere to hide and fall apart, some dark, quiet corner where I can catch my breath and mourn everything that could have been. As soon as my mother is on the dance floor, spinning happily in the arms of a portly older gentleman, I slip along the edges of the ballroom and out into the foyer.My heels echo against checkerboard marble tiles. Servers rush back and forth, silver trays held aloft as they dive back into the ballroom, and a grand staircase leads away from tonight’s event, up to a shadowed second floor.I climb the steps swiftly, dress raised in one hand, and try to look like I know where I’m going. That’s how you do it, right? Sneak around old, fancy buildings without getting stopped?“Ass,” I mutter under my breath, a certain pair of silver-gray eyes lingering in my brain. Can’t believe he had the audacity to look hurt after everything he’s done. Wounded that I’d walk away from him. Ugh.My dress drops

It’s intoxicating, being near Kiara again. Kira Kerr, according to my shamefaced investigator, but she’s right. Kiara suits her much better. She peers around us with wide, brown eyes, absorbing every inch of the hotel as Nicholas and I give our joint tour, and I can barely focus past the thud, thud, thud of my heart as we talk.Over the last month, I’ve learned the meaning of the word ‘humility’. I’ve reached out to my greatest rival and made amends; I’ve faced the unflattering image Kiara showed me in the mirror. Nicholas Kerr is not the only person benefiting from my new leaf. And though I’ll keep working to change her mind for years, decades, my whole goddamn life if necessary, part of me hopes…Kiara glances at me through her lashes as we all study an old-fashioned elevator with a metal cage door. There’s no power to use it, but it’s striking.Does she like it? Does she still like me?Fuck. Her lips curve up into a small smile, and I fend off a heart attack.“What a wonderful proj

Tatiana Adams has been in enough trouble to last a lifetime, and now she wants one thing and one thing only.A normal life as an Uber driver.When hotshot billionaire Michael Jordan calls her up to drive, she's stunned at her good luck. But when Michael proposes her to be his personal driver, she feels fate might be pushing her luck too far.Bad boy billionaire Michael Jordan has never been interested in more than just bedding a woman. But when the fierce, drop-dead gorgeous Uber driver pulls up to take him home, he's all hot and bothered.He wants her, more than anything.He wants that gas.-----------------------1 - Michael.I wake up as I normally do – with a nice firm ass pressed up against my thighs and a mess of hair on the pillow next to me. My head hurts from last night, and I rub my eyes and open them to the sight of the gorgeous naked body next to me.She stirs in her sleep. Shit, what was her name? Karen? Carmen? Kristen?I shrug, yawn and swing my legs out of bed. Not lik