The Ruthless Billionaire's Rare Captive Rose

avy in Alexa Thorne's lungs. It was the kind of sweltering July afterno

slick with sunscreen sprawled on lounge chairs, and the splash of a cannonball was pun

lt like

st the sea of toned, tanned bodies in bikinis. She had just graduated high school. These people looke

nfidence of someone who belonged. She gestured with her plastic cup toward a grou

snagged on something els

nger. He was dressed in a simple white linen shirt and khaki shorts, yet he wore them l

s cut short, precise. He held a cigar between two fingers, a thin plume of smoke curling into the humid ai

ity that didn't just clash with th

ped to a conspiratorial whisper. "That's my brother

icker of the same intimidation Alexa was feel

duce you," Jeri said

. I don't..." She just wanted to melt into

e wind

ed across the pool, a direct assault on her sens

ded tickle start

gh was a small, choked thing, but the next one ripped through her, doubling her ove

was a humiliating spectacle, her body bet

nough to stop the par

His gaze cut through the shimmering heat haze and locked di

f embarrassment and the strain of coughing. He

ow on Alexa's back, rubbing useless circles.

soothe the raw scrape in her throat. The smoke was still

to make

t. It bypassed her fear, her shyness

control, she was moving. She handed the water bottle back to a st

ker of something-amusement? curiosity?-danced in his dark eyes. He didn

up close, and she had to crane her neck to look up a

er. "Sir... Mr. Holmes. Could you...

drag from the cigar, his eyes never leaving hers. He

rom her lungs, this one wetter, more painful. Tears

elashes, to the flush on her cheeks

nd stubbed out the cigar in a crystal ashtray on th

baritone, like the vibration of a cello string

d for anger, for dismissal, for a cold, cutting

turned, practically fleeing ba

bing her arm. "You just ordered my br

a. Her heart hammered against her ribs so hard she

lance back ove

es was still

ence was gone. In its place was a sharp, focused intensity.

perceptible smile

ght, might just be i