One Night With The Cold CEO

Faye Hayes whispered

tlights. It had cost her three months of savings from h

ythm a counterpoint to the excited thumping in her chest. She keyed in the code. I

piness. Ryan was meticulous about secu

shed i

A pair of heels, carelessly discarded n

her lungs t

iven her best friend, Penelope Car

pressed laugh, followed by a distinctly femi

eins felt like it was freezing, turning to slush

t. The bedroom door was slightly ajar. Through the gap, she saw them.

poison in her ears. "You're so much

laugh was a shard of

its way out of her throat. A wave of nausea washed over her. She stumbled back,

ingers. It hit the hardwood floor with a sharp, sick

ait. She tur

lt like they took an eternity to close, sealing her in the small, suffocat

g through her. She walked without direction, her mind a maelstrom of broken images and whisper

ave," she told the bartend

hroat a welcome distraction from the ache in her chest. One glass became two, the

ts. Ryan. Penelope. A bitter laugh escaped her lips. She

tmosphere. The air grew colder, charged. He wore an expensive suit, and a scent of cold wood and somet

A strong jaw, a severe profile. He looked

ow rumble. She could feel his eye

g laugh bubbling up. "Wanna buy me

eep-set and dark, holding an unnerving intensity. "You lo

cry. Instead, she reached out, grabbed his untouched glass, and

ht fractured into d

ring her out of th

ight air o

held against a chest as har

expensive shirt, the words of betrayal pour

otel room, stabbing at her eyes. Her head throbbed with a vicious, pulsating rhythm. She

overed in marks that weren't hers, faint bruises in the sh

k sheets to her chest, her heart hammer

rned h

ood in her bod

calm and severe even in slum

she

er. The cold, untouchable CEO who ran his family's empire with ruthl