~ Amara ~
The Pinecrest Country Club was a sprawl of manicured green grass and white limestone that looked too perfect to be real. It was the kind of place where even the air felt expensive. I sat in the back of the black sedan, my hands folded tightly in my lap. I wore a pale yellow sundress Helena had sent to my room two days ago. It was beautiful, but the silk felt like a thin layer of armor that wasn't quite thick enough.
Gideon sat beside me, his attention buried in his phone. Since the power outage three nights ago, the air between us had shifted. For one hour in the dark, he had looked at me like I was a person instead of a contract obligation. He had shared a drink and talked about things that didn’t involve mergers or optics. But as soon as the lights hummed back to life, the bi
