Beneath the storm

etween three and four in the morning, the angry winds reduced to a faint moan against the glass. The marble floors had chilled her bare feet, the silence of his lux

k yo

n't loo

his presence lingering like smoke on her skin. She'd known the moment she walked through his front door that she didn't belong in his world. Didn't belong in anyone's world,

otton of his borrowed shirt brushing against her th

nts of whiskey on the table beside him. Even now, relaxed and unaware, he

't asked fo

s the p

lped her

and tank, and left the borrowed ones folded neatly on the edge of the

the

n't loo

say g

was the only thing sh

ears

rrored elevator climbed floor after floor of Hawthorne Innovations' glass monolith.

that snowy nigh

n minutes. Don't be late," the receptionist said as she h

er sleek black blazer. Her heels clicked against the pristine marble of Ashbo

lendars, and fetching goddamn coffee for overpaid execs. But to Reyna, it was more than that. It wa

sign that fate was ready to

-walled office she'd been assigned to, was for h

a

king-As

ing at his wrist, sleeves pushed up just enough to show a flash of ink beneath his

heart

blin

w

ter, his jaw a little sharper, his confidence c

as she r

ept

assed righ

ecognition. No

another face in the s

t chair, and adjusted her expression into one of

t recogn

hat was

t was a

was he

is w

later, he wo

wor

ould

d numbers, strategy, expansion. None of it registered. All she could focus on was the curve of his jaw and t

moved quickly, hoping to dis

Hay

a fr

oice.

rned s

er with the faintest crease in his brow.

s,

he new as

st start

yourself well. Calm under press

u, Mr. As

ment longer, his gaze

rned and w

a ex

cl

mber her. Not when she st