I returned to the apartment just after midnight, the city lights blurring past the elevator glass like scattered diamonds.
The dinner with Charles had been exactly what I expected — elegant, probing, and laced with carefully veiled offers. He hadn’t pushed too hard. He never did. But every word had been designed to plant doubt.
Shawn was waiting in the living room when the elevator doors opened.
He stood near the windows, jacket discarded, sleeves rolled, the city skyline framing him like a dark king surveying his domain. The moment he saw me, his entire body tensed — a visible ripple of restraint and raw hunger that made my breath catch.
He didn’t speak.
He simply crossed the room in measured strides and stopped just short of touching me, leaving that deliberate space between us. His
