CIARA
The velvet emerald dress clung tightly to my waist, leaving my collarbones completely bare. As I stood in front of the full-length mirror, my knuckles were white against the edge of the wood. The door didn’t just unlock—it swung open with a violent, heavy thud that made the glass panels rattle.
Hayes stood in the frame. He wore a sharp, pitch-black formal suit, the top two buttons of his shirt undone to expose the thick, scarred muscles of his neck. His dark eyes locked onto mine, dragging slowly down the low-cut velvet before snapping back up to meet my gaze. The sheer animal hunger in his pupils made them dilate until they looked completely black.
He closed the distance between us in three heavy steps, his massive frame completely blocking out the room. The dark heat rolling off
