Back at my apartment, I stared at my pathetic account balance and the stack of bills waiting to be paid. The partial payment I'd made would buy me a few weeks at most. Then what?The Eden competition prize money would help once it came through, but that could take months. My Thorne Designs salary barely covered my rent, and I'd already been living on ramen and clearance produce to stretch every dollar.I had exactly two options: find more income immediately, or swallow my pride and ask Daniel to unfreeze the accounts. The second wasn't really an option at all. I'd cut off my own arm before I'd go crawling back to him.Which left only one real choice. One I'd been avoiding since the meeting in the hospital.The next morning, I arrived at Thorne Designs an hour early, rehearsing what I'd say as the elevator climbed to the executive floor. This wasn't begging, I told myself. This was a professional request for an advance on my salary. People did it all the time. It wasn't personal.But it
I lost myself in the gentle curve of silver wire beneath my fingers, bending it to my will. This was what I needed—creation instead of destruction. My hands moved with practiced precision, muscle memory taking over as my mind drifted. Three new designs flowed from my fingertips since dawn, each edgier than anything I'd have dared under Daniel's watchful eye.The design floor hummed with distant conversation, but no one approached my corner. Word of my confrontation with Sophie had spread, creating an invisible barrier around me. Fine by me. Solitude was better than fake smiles and whispered judgments."These are... different."I jumped, nearly stabbing myself with the metal pliers. Alex stood beside my desk, studying the pendant I'd just completed—raw crystal wrapped in delicate silver threads like a cage that wasn't quite closed. The gemstone could slip free if turned just right, but appeared securely trapped at first glance."Christ, wear a bell or something," I muttered, setting dow
Maribelle's was exactly the kind of restaurant Daniel used to take clients to—all understated elegance and old money pretension. The kind of place where they don't put prices on the menu because if you have to ask, you can't afford it.I gave my name to the host, ignoring the way his eyes flicked over my borrowed dress, assessing its worth and finding me acceptable. The thought made me want to spill something on the pristine tablecloth, just to see his perfectly composed face crack.Alex waited at a corner table, rising as I approached. His eyes widened slightly as they swept over me, a fleeting reaction quickly masked by professional courtesy."Maya. You look..." He paused, apparently searching for an appropriately professional compliment."Green?" I supplied, sliding into my seat.His mouth curved into a genuine smile. "I was going to say 'stunning,' but 'green' works too."I glanced around at the other diners—wealthy couples in designer clothes, business executives making deals over
As we pulled away from the restaurant, I leaned my head against the cool window, watching raindrops race each other down the glass. "Why are you being so nice to me?" The question slipped out before I could stop it."Is being nice so suspicious?" he asked, eyes on the road."In my experience? Yes." I closed my eyes, the wine making me loose-lipped. "Everyone wants something.""What do you think I want, Maya?"I turned to look at him, the city lights playing across his profile. "Control. Isn't that what all men want? To own something beautiful and keep it in a cage?"Alex's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "Is that what Daniel told you?""He didn't have to tell me. He showed me." The words tumbled out, filter dissolved by alcohol and exhaustion. "Every day for three years. My designs, my body, my mind—just pretty things for him to possess.""I'm not Daniel," Alex said quietly."No? Then what's this really about?" I gestured between us, the movement sloppy and uncoordinated. "The j
Alex's POVI heard her voice falter as I walked away, slurring slightly with the wine and exhaustion. "If Daniel was using me for my designs, and you're not... then what do you want from me? Really?"The question hit harder than she could know. What did I want from Maya Russo? The simple answer—the one I couldn't give her—was everything. The chance to know her, to see if the woman she'd become matched the girl who'd saved me in those mountains all those years ago.But she wasn't ready for that truth. Not tonight, and maybe not ever."Right now? I want you to get some sleep and feel better in the morning. Everything else can wait," I said instead, keeping my voice gentle."That's not an answer." Even drunk and swaying on her feet, she was sharp enough to call me on my evasion."I know." I couldn't help smiling, thinking how that stubborn perceptiveness was so essentially Maya. "Goodnight, Maya."I closed the door behind me, listening for a moment to make sure she was moving around safel
Sunlight stabbed through my eyelids like hot needles, dragging me unwillingly toward consciousness. My head pounded with the distinctive throb of wine regret, and my mouth tasted like something had crawled in and died. Groaning, I rolled away from the light, burying my face in a pillow that smelled unfamiliar—clean, expensive, and definitely not mine.My eyes snapped open.This wasn't my apartment. This wasn't my bed. And this sure as hell wasn't my life.The events of last night came flooding back in humiliating fragments: the dinner, the wine, my loose tongue spilling secrets, Alex driving me to his house instead of mine, me saying—oh God, what had I said to him? Something about him being just like Daniel? And then...nothing. The rest was a blank.I sat up too quickly, making the room spin. The emerald dress was twisted uncomfortably around my body, the silk now hopelessly wrinkled. My hair felt like a rat's nest, and my makeup had likely migrated south to give me attractive raccoon
I hesitated, then took a seat on one of the sleek stools. The eggs were perfect, like everything else in Alex Thorne's carefully controlled world."I have a spare set of clothes you can borrow," he said, refilling my coffee. "Someone left things here for when they visit. They might be a bit loose, but better than putting that dress back on.""Someone?" I raised an eyebrow, curiosity warring with the desire not to pry.Alex's expression remained neutral. "A houseguest. The clothes should fit well enough."I had a hundred questions about whose clothes I was about to wear, but I swallowed them with another sip of coffee. Not my business. Not relevant. "Thanks. I appreciate it.""The Cartwright designs are coming along well," he
Alex turned to face me fully, his expression more open than I'd ever seen it. "When I was twelve, I got lost in the Blue Ridge Mountains during a family vacation. I wandered for hours in the dark, cold and scared. And then..." He hesitated. "A girl found me. She was young, probably around my age. She brought me to her cabin, gave me food, let me warm up. She saved my life."The chill spread through my entire body now. This couldn't be what it sounded like."Before I left the next morning, she gave me a bracelet," he continued. "Made of glass beads she'd created herself. For luck, she said."My mouth went dry. "A lot of people make glass beads.""Not like these." He reached into his pocket and pulled out something that caught the morning light, sending tiny rainbows dancing across the car's interior. A bracelet of familiar blue-green beads, the same unusual iridescence as the pendant I wore every day.My beads. My work. From a lifetime ago."That was you," he said softly, not a question
“Come here.”"I've been thinking about this for the last hour," he admitted, fingers already working at the button of my jeans. "You, just like this."I rocked against his hardened cock already evident beneath me. "You were supposed to be working.""Not with you biting your lip every time you read something challenging." His hands slipped inside my jeans, panties giving way, immediately finding my pussy like it was normal. "It's distracting.""Sorry," I said, with a slight shiver, but I wasn’t sorry at all."No, you're not." He squeezed, fingers digging into flesh in a way that made me gasp. "But you will be. Maya"The Mention of my name made something break loos
The rest of the morning passed in a strangely comfortable rhythm. I showered while he took calls in the living room. When I came out, hair still damp, he was back in full CEO mode—laptop open, phone pressed to his ear, focused and professional.I settled at the dining table with my own laptop, diving into the foundation emails. Across from me, Alex argued with someone about supply chain issues, his voice firm but reasonable. It should have been awkward, this domesticity. Instead, it felt oddly natural.Around noon, he closed his laptop and stretched. I tried not to stare at the strip of skin exposed as his shirt rode up, but failed miserably. He caught me looking and smiled, slow and deliberate."Are you hungry?" he asked."Starving." I hadn't eaten since Troy&rsqu
I woke to the smell of coffee and unfamiliar sounds in my kitchen. For a disorienting second, panic flared—someone was in my house—until the memory returned. Alex. Beach. Car. Couch. Bed. Floor at some point. Then bed again.My body ached in ways both foreign and familiar. My pussy was raw and swollen from fucking all night. It felt good. We had fucked again even after Alex came in me. I stopped at that thought. Alex had cummed in me multiple times last night. The thought of it somehow made my pussy ache again, I could feel it getting moist again. I snapped. Shit. I would need to sort that out later —getting backup.I stretched, taking inventory of what Alex had done to me. Purple marks dotted my inner thighs. Finger-shaped bruises colored my hips w
He pushed inside, one long, slow thrust that made me gasp. The sensation was different without the condom—It was warm. The feeling of his warm cock against the wall of my pussy made me squirm. I wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him deeper, urging him on."Fuck, Maya," he groaned, holding still for a moment. "You feel—""I know," I cut him off. "Move."“Fuck me!”He did, setting a pace that had me digging my nails into his shoulders. He wasn’t holding back this time like he had done initially on the beach. Each thrust hit somehow hit that sweet spot inside me that made the pleasure build up.“Go harder Alex!” I moaned, “Please don’t stop. Fuck me!”
The drive back to my apartment was torture. Good torture, but torture nonetheless. Every red light felt like it lasted an hour. Alex's hand rested high on my thigh, his thumb tracing small circles that made it nearly impossible to focus on the road."You're going to make me crash," I muttered as his fingers inched higher, slipping beneath the edge of my underwear."Then drive faster," he replied, voice rough in a way I'd never heard from him before.He didn't stop. His fingers slid lower, finding me still wet from the beach. I gasped, my foot instinctively pressing harder on the accelerator as he stroked me."Alex," I warned, gripping the steering wheel so tight my knuckles went white. "This isn't—""Keep your eyes on the road," he instructed, his other hand moving to my breast, thumb circling my nipple through my shirt.The speedometer crept higher as his fingers moved faster between my legs. My vision blurred at the edges, body torn between focusing on driving and surrendering to th
He kissed me with an urgency that matched my own, hands moving beneath my t-shirt to find skin. His palms were callused and warm against my ribs as they moved upward, thumbs brushing the undersides of my breasts. I arched into the touch, impatient for more.We were still awkwardly positioned against the post, and my shoulder blade dug painfully into the weathered wood. "Not here," I said against his mouth.He immediately stepped back, misunderstanding. "We can go—""No, I mean, not against this post. It's digging into my back." I took his hand, led him away from the post to where a dune created some shelter from the wind. I pulled him down with me onto the sand.The cold immediately seeped through my jeans, but the discomfort seemed irrelevant compared to the heat
I drove until the highway signs thinned out and the lights from the city faded in my rearview mirror. Alex didn't ask where we were going. He just sat silently, occasionally glancing at my profile, his fingers tapping a pattern on his knee that I couldn't decode.The turnoff appeared sooner than I'd expected—a narrow road that curved toward the coast. I'd passed it hundreds of times over the years, always thinking vaguely about stopping someday. Tonight, I finally did."We're trespassing," Alex said as I pulled into the darkened parking lot and cut the engine. A faded sign near the entrance clearly stated "Beach Closed After Sunset.""Are you going to report me?" I grabbed my jacket from the back seat."Just making an observation." There was something in his voice
The conversation drifted to other aspects of the launch—the press coverage, the surprising industry connections, the unexpected support from Giuseppe."I still can't believe he showed up in person," Olivia said. "His assistant told me last week he wasn't leaving the mansion.""The Kingstons' arrival seemed to energize him." I remembered Giuseppe's face when my mother approached him, the cold smile he'd given her. "I think he enjoyed watching them squirm.""Speaking of watching people squirm," Troy said, a mischievous glint in his eye, "let's talk about that moment at the glass station.""Let's not," I replied immediately."What moment?" Olivia asked."Oh you certainly haven't been paying attention. Design Weekly captured Maya giving Alex a very... hands-on demonstration." Troy pulled out his phone, scrolling through photos. "Look at this."He held up his screen, showing a photo of me standing behind Alex at the workbench, my arms wrapped around him. The picture looked like soft-core p
MayaI kicked my heels off the second my apartment door closed behind me. My aching feet sank into the carpet, and I let out an involuntary groan of relief. After twelve hours at the foundation launch, even breathing without a smile plastered on my face felt like luxury.The apartment was dark and quiet. I didn't bother with the lights, just dropped my bag on the counter and stood for a moment in the stillness. My place still had boxes stacked in corners and bare walls I hadn't gotten around to decorating. After Daniel had trashed my place, I had barely done anything with it. And now with everything going, I barely had the time.I peeled off my earrings and headed for the shower when my phone buzzed. Sarah's face appeared on the screen, and I flopped onto the couch to answer."I look like hell, just warning you," I said.Sarah's face appeared, hair piled messily on top of her head, glasses sliding down her nose. "You're alive! How was it?""Exhausting. Just got home.""Shit, sorry. I