All Chapters of The Playboy's Forced Bride: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

His hand gently cupped my jaw and lifted my face to his, he looked at me for a long moment, giving me time to pull away.My heart pounded hard in my chest, and heat flushed through my body.I reached up, loosened his tie, and let it drop. Then I opened one button, then another, my fingers touching his warm, bare skin.His breath rose stronger against my lips.That was my answer.His mouth settled down on mine, fiercely and hungry, releasing six months of hallway glances and almost-touches, they were all finally breaking free, not softly, just raw need. It felt like relief and chaos all at once. I moaned softly against his lips as his fingers slid into my hair, yanking out the pins that held everything in place. They scattered across the gallery floor. My scalp prickled, the sharp pulls spread straight down my spine.“Harper,” he said, quietly and roughly.“I know,” I whispered back.He walks me back until my shoulders meet the wall and the cool surface against my bare skin makes me g

Nobody told me it would feel like this.I had expected some kind of aftermath, the careful distance and pulling away, the polite way people rebuild walls after something big happens. I thought we would treat that night in the gallery like a storm that had passed. Intense while it lasted, then filed it away. I knew how to handle that kind of thing, I had done it before.What I did not expect was Tuesday morning.Adrian was already in the kitchen when I walked in, a routine we are used to, he always woke up earlier than I and moved through the place with his usual calmness while I was still waking up. What felt different was the way he looked up when I entered and said, “There is a second cup,” with a small nod toward the counter. It was so everyday that I nearly missed how much it meant.He made coffee for me.Not because I asked, he made his own and simply thought to make one for me too.I sat down, drank it, and we didn't say anything, yet that small act stayed with me all day long.

It was all still there.The file sat inside a folder I had named Q3 Vendor Review. It looked completely boring, nobody would ever open it. The whole directory was built that way on purpose, with dry names and a plain structure, but inside that folder was eighteen months of my life.I had started digging long before the gala, before the hallway moments, before the quiet Thursday dinners and second cups of coffee. This investigation was the reason I came here in the first place. It was the real purpose behind every smile I gave at events and every night I spent in this apartment. It was why I signed that contract that now felt so confusing.I had not stopped working on it.I needed to be honest with myself about that. Being close to Adrian had not made me softer or made me forget why I was here. If anything, living in this world has given me better access, I saw things from the inside now, and I understood the connections in ways I never could from the outside.But it had made everythin

Adrian POVNathaniel came to see me on a Wednesday.He did not send a message or ask Elena to set up a time. He came straight to my office, which was unusual. When he walked in, he closed the door behind him, which was even more unusual.I put down the papers I was reading.“Sit down,” I said.He sat, his jaw looking tight. I waited.Nathaniel had worked with me for eleven years, and I had learned that when he took time to speak, it was always important; rushing him only gave me half the story.“It is about Harper,” he said.Something tightened inside me, but I kept my face calm.“Go on.”He placed a thin folder on my desk, maybe six or eight pages. He did not push it toward me; he left it in the middle so I could decide if I wanted to pick it up.“We run checks on everyone close to you,” he said. “It is normal protocol, we keep watching, not just at the beginning. You know how it works.”“I know.”“Harper’s activity has been irregular in ways that needed closer attention.”I stared

It happened during a conversation about something else.We were talking about the Meridian deal. The final details had been giving his legal team problems for three weeks; one clause kept coming back with changes, but still did not feel right. After dinner, Adrian spread the papers across the dining table. He did this more often now; he brought work into the shared spaces without making it a big thing.I looked at the clause and saw the issue right away. The problem was not legal; it was about how the two sides related to each other. The terminology treated them as equals when they were not; no amount of legal wording would fix that kind of basic mistake.I told him so.He studied the clause for a moment, then looked at me. His face showed that something had clicked.“You are right,” he said.We worked on it together. I told him what to do while he listened. Both of us sat at the table with the papers between us. We thought out loud and built on each other’s ideas. It felt natural, as