One Night With My Best Friend's Uncle

tiny pickaxe chipping away at her brain from the inside. She groaned, a weak sound swallowed by the

the familiar rectangle of her phone on the nightstand. Inste

ricity, snatching her hand back. I

the hotel suite. The man lying beside her shifted, rolling slightly

; it stopped. For one, long, terrifying second, the w

aristocratic nose. The sharp cut of

ly efficient CEO of Caldwell Enterprises. And terrify

nted memories seared through the fog in her head: the scrape of her own nails down his broad back, a man'

ut her wallet. A few crumpled twenties and a ten. Not nearly enough to cover a night with a man who wore a Patek Philippe to bed, but she desperately slappe

e of the bed. A sharp, piercing ache flared in her lower back and hips, so intense it almost made her cr

the space, radiating a quiet power that felt both intimidating and strangely familiar. The steady, deep s

A glass of water. It teetered for a moment before tu

deafening in t

bbit playing dead in the face of a wolf. She counted the seconds, each

th

g remained d

a second chance. In one fluid, desperate motion, she swung her legs over the side of the bed. He

uined. Humiliation burned her cheeks. She snatched it up, along with her scattered underwear. Her thigh musc

zipper on the dress snagged halfway up her back. She gave it a frustrated t

t caught on something on the floor-his leather belt. She stumbled, he

k the sob. The weight of what she had done, the potential consequenc

b. She turned it with agonizing slowness. The latch made a

k at the bed. H

blast of cool, air-conditioned air from the hallway. She squeezed throu

engaging was the sweetest

heaving as she dragged in huge, gulping breaths. The panic

f her dress. Her fingers brushed against a tend

with Courtney's uncle, the stern and formidable head of the Caldwell family. Hadn't Courtney described him as strait-laced and ascetic? So how did he end up having a one-night s

arrival. The sound sent a fresh jolt of terror throu

tened her ruined dress, pulled up the col

in a disheveled state, the man lying on