He built an empire without ever being touched. She was supposed to be the one telling his story-not changing it. Julian Cross is a tech prodigy, a reclusive billionaire, and the media's favorite enigma. He's also a thirty-two-year-old virgin-and not because he can't have anyone, but because he's never let anyone close enough. His life is control, silence, and steel... until isla Monroe crashes into it. Isla is a journalist trying to resurrect her stalled career. One exclusive with Julian could mean redemption. But she never expects the guarded man behind the genius to be so devastatingly human. So lonely. So unclaimed. What begins as a professional assignment spirals into forbidden kisses, stolen moments, and a connection too powerful to ignore. But when their intimacy explodes into the public eye, Isla becomes the villain in a narrative written by vultures. Now the world is watching. Secrets are surfacing. And Julian must decide if he's willing to risk his legacy-for love. Because sometimes the man who has never been touched... is the one who burns the brightest
Isla Monroe didn't believe in fairy tales. Not after her third unpaid internship, not after being ghosted by her ex and fired by her editor in the same damn week.
So when the offer hit her inbox-"$10,000 for a one-week freelance profile. NDA required. Subject: Julian Cross."-she assumed it was a scam.
Until she Googled the name.
Julian Cross. Billionaire. Tech mogul. Reclusive genius. A man with no social media, no public appearances in over five years, and a reputation more encrypted than the source code that made him rich.
"Subject prefers in-person engagement only," the email continued. "No photos. No recordings. Just words."
Isla stared at the screen in her shoebox apartment, the New York skyline flickering behind her like a promise she could never afford. Her stomach twisted with a cocktail of suspicion, curiosity-and something she hadn't felt in weeks.
Hope.
---
The elevator in Cross Tower rose silently. Velvet walls, soft lighting, no buttons-because, of course, you didn't choose your floor in Julian Cross's world. The elevator already knew where you were going.
Isla smoothed her black skirt, adjusted the neckline of her fitted blouse, and inhaled sharply. This was insane. She was here to write a profile, not sell her soul. But the NDA was airtight. Her only weapon was her pen.
The doors opened into silence.
His penthouse wasn't what she expected. No cold tech-chic or sterile glass walls. Instead, it was warm-dark wood, navy velvet, old books lining the walls. It felt more like an old-world library than a billionaire's fortress.
Then she saw him.
Standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, hands in his pockets, dressed in a tailored black shirt that hugged his frame like it had been stitched there, Julian Cross turned around.
And damn.
His jaw was sharp enough to cut glass. Slate-gray eyes watched her like he was analyzing a code string. His dark hair was tousled just enough to suggest he didn't care-and yet somehow made it look devastatingly intentional.
"Ms. Monroe," he said, his voice a low rasp. "You're late."
She swallowed. "The elevator didn't give me an option."
He smirked. "It never does."
She stepped forward, heart beating too fast. "So... why me?"
He studied her. "You're not from Vanity Fair. You've been fired recently. You don't intimidate easily. And you're hungry."
"For the story?"
"For more than that." His gaze dipped to her lips and back. "But you don't know it yet."
Isla blinked. "Do all your interviews start with flirting and psychological evaluations?"
"I've never done an interview," he said, turning back toward the window. "You're my first."
Something in his tone made her pause. It wasn't just about the interview.
You're my first.
She crossed her arms. "And what exactly do you want from me?"
He turned slowly, stepping toward her with the precision of a predator-not aggressive, but deliberate. Controlled.
"I want a story," he said. "But not the one the world's heard. I want to give it to someone who might understand."
"And what do I get in return?"
His eyes darkened. "A week in my world. No lies. No cameras. Just the truth." He stepped closer, and her breath caught. "But if you want the real story... you'll have to earn it."
Her pulse skidded as he brushed past her, the heat of his body barely missing hers. "You're free to leave," he added. "Or you can stay and find out why a thirty-two-year-old billionaire has never touched a woman."
Her mouth went dry.
Julian Cross was a virgin.
And suddenly, Isla knew-this wasn't just a story.
It was a storm.
Chapter 1 -The Assignment
01/08/2025
Chapter 2 Terms of seduction
01/08/2025
Chapter 3 Forbidden currents
01/08/2025
Chapter 4 Touch me not
01/08/2025
Chapter 5 First sparks
01/08/2025
Chapter 6 The leak
01/08/2025
Chapter 7 The storm before the flame
01/08/2025
Chapter 8 The first time
01/08/2025
Chapter 9 The fallout
01/08/2025
Chapter 10 The statement
01/08/2025
Chapter 11 After the fire
01/08/2025
Chapter 12 The first line
01/08/2025
Chapter 13 Temptation in ink
01/08/2025
Chapter 14 Trouble in paradise
01/08/2025
Chapter 15 The woman he left
01/08/2025
Chapter 16 Father interrupt
01/08/2025
Chapter 17 Father of lies
01/08/2025
Chapter 18 The knife you know
01/08/2025
Chapter 19 The decision
01/08/2025
Chapter 20 The edge of the storm
02/09/2025
Chapter 21 The trap in silk
02/09/2025
Chapter 22 Masks and daggers
02/09/2025
Chapter 23 The opening Gambit
02/09/2025
Chapter 24 Julian's Fury
02/09/2025
Chapter 25 The Art of war
02/09/2025
Chapter 26 The weight of secret
02/09/2025
Chapter 27 Seven smoke and shadows
02/09/2025
Chapter 28 Cracks in the glass
02/09/2025
Chapter 29 Tethered by fire
02/09/2025
Chapter 30 Whisper in the dark
02/09/2025
Chapter 31 A crack in the glass
02/09/2025
Chapter 32 Restless shadows
02/09/2025
Chapter 33 The warning
02/09/2025
Chapter 34 The shift
02/09/2025
Chapter 35 The edge of truth
02/09/2025
Chapter 36 Thread of control
02/09/2025
Chapter 37 The uneasy Glow
03/09/2025
Chapter 38 The Fracture Line
03/09/2025
Chapter 39 Thread Unraveling
03/09/2025
Chapter 40 Cracks in the glass
03/09/2025