Iris arrives late to a job interview, mocked by glamorous women—until the cold, powerful CEO, Jared, takes sudden interest in her. He hires her instantly and drags her into a world of danger, desire, and cruel mind-games. Jared dresses her up, tests her pride, and pulls her closer with every dark secret he hides. Iris can’t tell if he wants her… or wants to break her.
He hummed, then lifted his hand and slid it over my jaw to curl around the side of my neck. The movement startled me so much I stopped talking and looked up at him. “I’m not going to fire you, Little,” he said, his voice warm and faintly amused. “You’re not?” “Why would I fire…
I shouldn’t have touched her. I was courting trouble. She was an employee, first of all. Touching her at all went against the explicit bounds of our contract. Not to mention the fact that we’d have to be spending time together for the next few months, and now I knew how her body felt pressed…
I arched a brow. “That’s a bit presumptuous, don’t you think? Maybe I dress for myself.” Jared’s finger traced the white piping on my lapel, across my chest, and down. I felt the barest brush of his touch against my breast and fought to keep my breathing steady. Something had changed between us, and the…
Her fingers curled around the edges of the box, and she nodded. “Okay. Thanks.” We didn’t mention the… What was it that had happened earlier? An almost kiss? A moment of insanity? A narrow miss? Whatever it was, it remained unspoken. Iris opened her door and put her foot on the pavement outside, as if…
The longer things dragged on, the more uncomfortable I became. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t him. I didn’t like it. Then a booming male voice called Jared’s name, and he put his fingers on my elbow to turn me toward the noise. His mother and father glided toward us, waving and nodding politely to the…
“What was he wrong about?” I sat down across from him, crossing my legs as I leaned back. A deep, unquenchable curiosity opened a pit inside me. I’d spent hours with this man at various events over the past week, but I knew precious little about him, other than the fact that he was great…
The flat look he gave me was answer enough. I shrugged, not wanting to protest too much. If he wanted to think the worst of me, that was his problem. Wanting to escape his incisive gaze, I rooted through my purse and pulled out a little plastic packet containing two chocolate chip cookies. “What are…
Iris reached for the volume knob on the center console, and I arched a brow. “What are you doing?” “I’m turning the stereo on,” she said, as if I were dense. “You don’t touch the stereo when someone else is driving.” Her laugh informed me just how intimidated she was by my rules. A song…
Of course, I couldn’t tell her about the specifics. If I told her about the companion job, who knew who she’d tell? I trusted her, but this was the kind of gossip that could not be contained. If I started telling my friends that I’d been hired to be my boss’s plus-one, I knew it…
Iris’s POV The next morning, bright and early, I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. Pawing at my nightstand, I squinted at the screen. An unlisted number, which meant one thing. “Hello, Branson,” I said, flopping onto my back. “It sounds like I woke you up.” I rubbed my eyes and huffed.…