THE CEO'S HYBRID HEIR

ike leather and mone

else. Anyone else. Because the name on the clinic's apology letter had said Damian Cross, and she had assumed, stupidly, that Damian Cross would be some retired professor or a s

red, but his eyes weren't bored at all. They were fixed on her in a way that m

me out sharper than she meant it t

uld you

instead of at work." She pressed her palm flat against her stomach without meaning to, an instinc

s, exactly. More like focus. Like a man re

t again,

what

d when they were choosing words to defuse something. "The clinic told you

ce shaking and hated that too. "They said it was a system error. A mislabeled vial. They said I could terminate

ou wa

ic counselor had, gently, like she was fragile. He asked it like the answer actually mattered

to a man who already knew more about the situation than she did an

in the word sounded almost like an apology

aching something that might bolt. She didn't bolt. She sat very still instead, gripping the arm of the chair, watching him close the distance between them until

lated boardroom stillness cracked. His jaw tightened. His nostrils flared, just barely, like he was breathing her

oing," Mia said

n them, and when he spoke again his voice had gone rough at the edges. "You

use

e worked in his jaw. "Let me try again. I wou

er felt like losing something she couldn't name. "An hour ago I didn't know yo

ot that

, very strange man is telling me to uproot my life over a mistake

ht he might actually answer her honestly, and something about

, is not something I can explain to you in this office in the next five minutes. And because if I let you

o the air in the room. It set

from

bridge he's about to burn on purpose. "Tha

again, and this time she didn

e," sh

against the glass, and for a moment he looked less like a CEO and more like a

ll you everything, and then you can walk away if you still want to.

s rebuilding herself after Jason, after the affair, after deciding she'd rather do this al

eyes when he crouched in front of he

" she said.

irst time since she'd walked in

m asking," he