Too Late, Mr. Forbes: Watch Me Shine

ov

m shut behind her. The biting Manhattan wind swept into the gr

the sweeping staircase. Her eyes raked over Hayden's pale f

the nerve to show your fa

ght toward the stairs, her boots clic

he first step. "Mr. Forbes isn't here to

was dead flat. She stared direc

. She took a half-step back

and took the stairs two at a time. Her chest was tight, her lungs burni

the bedroom

blow to the stomach. Her throat constricted. She forced herself to brea

She went straight for the back corner, dragging out the batt

sp. She started pulling her old, faded sweaters and pl

m door cra

e spun around. The sudden light from the hallway blinded her for

es stood in

eaved once. His dark eyes locked onto the open suitcase o

strides. His leather shoes sank int

e hit the hard wood of the closet

around her wrist like a steel vice. He yanked h

Hayden gasped, t

his broad chest to pin her against th

racting for a fraction of a second before the vulnerability was swallowed by a mask of cold mockery. He lifted his hand, his fingers t

Hayden ground her teeth

his thumb and fingers gripping her chin so hard her teet

decide when we are

his mouth a

, his teeth scraping against hers, forcing her mouth open

d both hands against his solid chest, but

for air. She clampe

ank into hi

taste of blood ex

th a sharp hiss. H

rug, her palms burning from the friction. She sat

his mouth. He looked at the smear of bright red blood

nd now this?" He looked down at her as if she were

sted. He didn't even ask why she was leaving. He didn't care

is face twisted in disgust, as if her blood had contaminated him.

deadly calm. "You will not leave until my grandfather's centennial gala is ove

of the closet, out of the bedroom,