One Night With My Best Friend's Uncle

ied to push away

shot throug

kaxe chipping away at h

pillows, and fell back onto the mattress. Her e

eeded water. She needed to

for the familiar rectangle of her phone on the nightstan

ha

r hand back. Her heart, which had been beating a slow,

A firm, mus

fragmented, seared through the fog in her head. The scrape of her own n

eath h

the hotel suite. The blackout curtains were drawn tight, but a sliver

of a man lyin

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

l and overwhelming

u

body toward the edge of the bed. A sharp, piercing ache flared in her lower back and hips, so intense it almost ma

ey landed on the nightstand on his side of the bed. A Patek Ph

ing self-loathing. Of course. Only the best for a Pierce, even in a moment of drunken rebellion.

ightly onto his back. His face, previo

blood r

one, long, terrifying second, the world went

traight, aristocratic nose. T

rbes. In the pages of the Wall Street Journal. Across th

Alaric

rrifyingly private CEO of Caldwell Enterprises. The man her best friend,

ney's

f her best friend" was so vast it gave her vertigo. A wave of nausea washed over her. She scrambled back

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

ears. Her foot caught on something on the floor-his leather belt. She stumb

yes, but she choked back the sob. She grabbed

ossed her mind: leave money.

a night with a man who wore a Patek Philippe to bed, let alone the CEO of Caldwell

or, her bare feet silent on the plush rug. The weight of what she had done, the pot

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

p, flooded her, mak

arrival. The sound sent a fresh jolt of terror throu

tened her ruined dress, pulled up the col

r bare feet slapping against the carpeted floor as

-