urgent, shrill. The hotel manager

ll right in there? The guests

he back of the neck and peeled her off hi

e unnatural heat running through her veins, she leaned right ba

is eyes. Without looking away from her, he reached

ly flat. "If anyone touches that bell aga

d of security boots on the hallway carpet.

lammed his rocks glass onto the bar hard enough to crack the base, hooked an arm around her

," he growled, and

hum of traffic thirty-two floors down. Caught in the undertow, Alicia arched her back, her nails raking bleeding l

eyes snap

turned her head on the pillow. He lay with his back to her, a dozen angry red claw mark

. Her engagement party was tomorrow. If she was photographed leaving this floor, she'd walk into it as the scandal instead of the bride

bunched over the center of the bed. Between the thick blackout curtains and the charcoal-gray sheets, the

nd shot out and loc

voice, low and scraped raw by

and let her shoulders sag into a frightened tremble. She turned slowly under

lked into," she whispered, a weak, empty sm

His gaze dragged over the marks

was nothing warm in it. "No woman in New Yo

his shoulder, all helpless surrender. "Then what

hing hitched. His grip on he

nd, fingertips brushing the cold edge of his phone and the keycard pinned beneath

least wash

he was still holding the leash. His hand opened. Alicia stood on shaky legs, one palm braced on the bedpost, her eyes a