Tangled Temptataion: A one night stand with my boss

nce room on the forty-third floor of Blackwood Enterprises gleamed like a pressure cooker...sleek, polished, and ready to explode. H

account. It was her idea: her pitch and

t heads took their seats around the mahogany table. And her manager, Burke, th

athing controlled. She glanced at the massive digital screen across

antly in a gray silk pantsuit, her signature pearl earrings gleaming like miniature

ut instead of Ava's intro slide, another deck loaded, havin

name appeared on the screen... under so

Burke. "What is this?" she whispe

for reheating other people's work, launched int

as the messaging, even the emotional hook-"Reawakening Parisian Beauty"-wa

been stripped bare in front of the room. Meanwhile, Monica offered a

ng there, and Burke lingered near the door. "It's politics, Ava

harp. "He didn't even understand the third-quarter

sion came from higher up. You're a valued

bonfire on the inside. "Don't wo

h her head held high and rage

*

la said as she slammed down a martini at the corner table of Valen, one o

ourbon. "For what? Theft of int

at. "And for making you sit through S

with frustration. The soft jazz playing through the speakers did little to s

re," she said, r

it. "Screw them. You're

, relentless ambition, and outworking everyone around her. And now, someone with a legacy

ship," Ava muttered, swir

overboard first

leaning against the counter. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and cut from the kind of stone sculptors in Florence dreamed about. His

n Ava's chest. But his stare didn't flinch or leer either. It was... curious an

allowed to have that much bad luck in one

't plan

g over," Lil

d. He didn't hesitate ot pause to assess. He just stopped ri

eat taken?

id, glancing at Lila. "By my

r a facial," she said, grabbin

eechless, as Lila kissed her cheek

ange, a faint smile curv

ed. "Hav

in across from her. "You looked like

e someone who

y and professionally," he replied,

t makes you think you're qu

ss. Or maybe I'm just g

ant," she

" he said with

e kind that curled low in the stomach and warned

"do I at least

head slowly.

"Mysterious b

he said, h

eath c

had just shattered, and she didn't care anymore. Or maybe it was tha

girl who makes bad

ant to," h

e pause between them fe

ned in. "Just