She's Mine To Claim

The hotel glittered with lights, music, and laughter.

Upstairs, elegantly dressed guests drank champagne and celebrated an engagement.

But Hailey Stewart had no reason to celebrate.

The man getting engaged tonight was her ex-boyfriend.

And the woman beside him was his new fiancée.

Hailey had come here ready to confront them. She had imagined walking into the banquet hall with her head held high and demanding the answers she deserved.

Instead, she had not even made it through the door.

How ironic.

With a bitter smile, Hailey looked at the blue rose in her hand. A young woman she had met in the bathroom had given it to her before disappearing.

Hailey had almost thrown it away, but the flower was beautiful.

At least something about tonight was.

She turned away from the celebration and headed for the elevator.

The doors opened.

Hailey stepped forward, then suddenly stopped.

A man dressed in black stood inside. The moment he noticed the blue rose in her hand, his expression changed.

“Ms. Belle?”

Hailey blinked.

“Our boss has been waiting for you. Why are you still down here?”

Before Hailey could understand what he meant, the man gestured for her to enter the elevator.

“You have the wrong person.”

But he glanced at the blue rose in her hand.

“Do you know where that wrapping came from?”

Hailey frowned.

What did that have to do with anything?

“You accepted the payment,” he continued. “You should honor the agreement.”

“Payment? What payment?”

Uneasiness settled in Hailey’s stomach.

“And who is Belle?”

The man clearly thought she was pretending.

When the elevator doors opened, he led her down the hallway toward a presidential suite.

Hailey should have turned around.

Instead, curiosity made her follow.

The suite doors opened.

Hailey froze.

A man sat on the sofa inside.

He was tall and broad-shouldered, dressed in an expensive shirt that fit his powerful frame perfectly. His face was striking enough to make Hailey stare for a second longer than she should have.

But there was nothing warm about him.

His eyes were cold.

Dangerously cold.

“You took my money, and now you want to back out?” he asked. “Is this how your boss trained you?”

Hailey stared at him.

Then everything clicked.

The blue rose was some kind of signal.

The woman in the bathroom must have been Belle.

And somehow, Hailey had walked straight into her place.

She should tell him the truth.

She should leave immediately.

Yet Hailey hesitated.

Tomorrow, she would be forced into a marriage she did not want, with a man everyone said was dying. Tonight, she had already watched the man she once loved celebrate his engagement to someone else.

Her whole life felt as though other people had already decided it for her.

For once, she wanted to make one reckless decision of her own.

Her gaze returned to the handsome stranger.

Maybe fate was laughing at her.

Or maybe tonight was her last chance to do something completely unexpected.

“Speak,” the man ordered.

His cold voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

Hailey lifted her chin.

She was not Belle. She had not accepted his money.

She could still walk away.

Instead, she made the most impulsive decision of her life.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “This is my first time. I don’t have much experience.”

The man’s expression changed.

His eyes narrowed.

“Come here.”

Hailey’s confidence almost disappeared.

Still, she forced herself to walk toward him.

If she was going to do something reckless, she refused to look terrified while doing it.

She stopped in front of him and lightly touched his cheek.

“Your skin is beautiful.”

For a moment, Travis Blake simply stared at her.

Then he caught her hand.

Hailey’s breath stopped.

“You’re nervous.”

It wasn’t a question.

Hailey quickly looked away.

“I told you. It’s my first time.”

Travis studied her face.

Something about her did not match the woman he had expected.

She looked bold one moment and ready to run the next.

“You can still leave,” he said.

Hailey looked toward the door.

She should.

Everything inside her told her this was foolish.

Tomorrow morning, she would probably regret even entering this room.

But then she remembered the engagement upstairs.

Her ex-boyfriend’s face.

Her own future waiting for her.

Hailey turned back to Travis.

“No.”

His gaze sharpened.

“Are you sure?”

Hailey swallowed.

Then she nodded.

For one night, she wanted to forget everything.

Travis stood.

The sudden difference in their height made Hailey’s heart race.

He was intimidating up close, but she refused to step backward.

“You’re strange,” he murmured.

Hailey gave him a nervous smile.

“I could say the same about you.”

For the first time, something almost like amusement appeared in his eyes.

But it vanished quickly.

The air between them changed.

Hailey’s earlier courage began to disappear as she realized what she had actually agreed to.

Her fingers tightened around her dress.

Travis noticed.

“Changed your mind?”

Hailey looked at him.

This was her chance to leave.

But after a long moment, she shook her head.

“No.”

That single answer changed everything.

Later, Hailey would wonder whether she had made the decision because she was angry, heartbroken, frightened of tomorrow, or simply desperate to feel that one choice in her life still belonged to her.

Maybe it was all of them.

The night passed in a blur of emotions she had never experienced before.

And when silence finally settled over the room, Hailey lay awake, staring into the darkness.

Reality slowly returned.

Tomorrow was still coming.

Her unwanted marriage was still waiting.

And the stranger beside her was still exactly that.

A stranger.

Hailey closed her eyes.

What had she done?

Then Travis moved beside her.

Still half asleep, he murmured something.

At first, Hailey could not understand him.

Then she heard it clearly.

A woman’s name.

Hailey’s eyes opened.

She went completely still.

After everything that had happened tonight, the man beside her was thinking about another woman.