HIS SECRET ADDICTION

x's

you're think

should have been asleep, but these conversations had become my addiction. Three months of talking to someone who di

is that you know me better than peo

ause I'm not looking at your surface.

through my chest. This stranger had become everything, my confidant, my es

's stopping you from being your

ent. Fear of showing weakness. Fear of w

at do y

were here. "Someone who sees me. Really sees

you,

we'd keep this anonymous, but I need to see you. I n

ared, appeared again. My hea

Once we meet, w

ve been sure

ll send you an addr

be t

s. I already kno

aced ahead to tonight. Damien Cross presided over the conference table like a king surveying his kingdom, cold, commanding, untouchable. He'd built C

are you l

mien's steel-gray eyes fixed on me. "

perceptibly. "I asked about

t is up thirty-two percent since

convers

percent," I a

graph

gagement from the twenty-five to forty age ran

before moving on to grill someone else. "R

two years and I still couldn't re

y pocket. The addres

colleague Jennifer stoppe

ou seem dist

I lied. "Didn'

She perched on the edge of my desk. "Hey, some

ight. I ha

She grinned. "

ing lik

been married to th

how complicated

settling on dark jeans and a fitted black shirt. Casual but delibera

uzzed. "St

Leavin

ner

me smile

ous or bad

efinitel

usive hotels in the city. My stomach fluttered as I crossed the

a hand through my dark hair. What if the chemistry wasn't there in

chimed. Pen

ay with only one door. My hand

oached. The do

sto

ipation to shock to something I couldn't name. He was wearing dark slacks and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled u

came out rough,

d shared everything with, every fear, every desire, every vulnerable piece of myself, was m

unded distant, foreign.

osure cracking. "You're h

managed. "All thos

is hair, a gesture I'd never seen him make at work. "T

ething else, something hot and dangerous, fl

the first time. And he was, wasn't he? He'd never looked at me like this at work, nev

rk. About my boss. About...

." A ghost of a smile touched his lips. "You thin

s impos

t here

evelation hanging betw

ok a step backward

me cold. "Don't run, Alex. Not after three

is insane. This coul

, expensive and subtle. "Do you think I'm not calculating every risk right now?

eating fast."H

nd reached out, hovering near my face but not quite touching.

, this man who was somehow both, and ma

athed. "God help m

w with unexpected gentleness. "Then come inside