i P

. As he leaned in just a fraction closer, the scent of cedarwo

of the leather armchair behind me caught

, I can revise the draft immediately," I said, cl

at me,

used thumb and index finger caught my chin, tilting my face upward with uny

to those icy blue eyes, swirling

ety spilling over. "I went to the pharmacy this morning and bought

way too much. I'm sorry. I wasn't in my right mind, and I

le. "You don't need to apologize, Cori," he said, his voice dropping to a smoo

napped up

gaze dropping to my lips with a dark, intense heat. "But ev

umiliation was unbearable. I wan

r happened," I begged, trying to pu

air in the office plummeted below freezing. His ja

the color of storm clouds over the Atlantic. "Ar

ant!" I stammered, my hea

it coat draped over the chair. He pulled out a crisp, white legal folder and

staring at the dark sea

, his posture turning into that of

otel this morning. The league's ethics board has

t to cover a media rumor wit

nt. You become Mrs. Duran in name. In exchange, your designs will be fast-tracked to the E

l, reckless men treating women like collateral damage. My mother had spent twenty years in

t, my spine snappi

icker of genuine shock crack

"I will not be your public relations shield. I am not a

bridge of my nose. "You think you can walk out that door and remain

nto his eyes without flinching. "Until they do,

esk, turned on my heel, and marc

pped out into the foyer, an

against the marble wall, clutching the portfolio to my ribs, trembling from hea

burning clarity settled in my chest. I rode the elevator back to

gner who had been whispering about my impending doom stared at me with wide,

he water cooler, watch

g with false sweetness. "Did the big boss

calibrating your tensile algorithms as you do watching

my screen close, ignoring

t P

e tiny yellow taxicabs swarm through t

lay the white legal agree

. This prickly little hedgehog was even more stubborn than she was three ye

the contract, and fed it slowly into

the heavy legal paper into

up, a dark, slow smile

It only makes the cat