Breathless by Emily Snow, Heidi McLaughlin, Aleatha Romig, Tijan, Jessica Wood, Ilsa Madden-Mills, Skyla Madi, J.S. Cooper, Crystal Spears, K.A. Robinson, Kahlen Aymes, Sarah Dosher Page B

inclining his head politely. Noticing me, he tipped his head once more in my direction. When he lifted his chin and our eyes locked, a flash of lightning struck me full force—a current to my heart that stole the breath right from the flames consuming my body.
    Blue eyes.
    Somehow, the media hadn’t done his eyes—cornflower blue fringed with sooty black lashes—justice. They were set in an oval face, bisected with a slightly crooked nose, and rivaled only by lips that were—I hated to admit—distractingly pouty.
    It was a face that, paired with his godlike physique and ADHD dating habits, had magazines and entertainment networks calling him “ The Bad Boy Next Door.”
    As if he sensed my reaction to him, his grin widened roguishly. The stare I managed to return was full of forced indifference, raising his thick eyebrows.
    Because I didn’t think of him as the man from the magazines. The millionaire. Mr. Sex-In-A-Business-Suit. I only knew him as Oliver Manning.
    An obstacle.
    My stepbrother .

Chapter 2
    I was nine years old the only other time I’d seen Oliver Manning in person, but I remembered that day well. He was fifteen, and when he knelt by where my mom and I were huddled together on one end of the funeral home’s front pew, his movements tentative and shaky, I knew my father’s death had broken him too. Covering my much smaller hand with his, he’d given my fingers an encouraging squeeze.
    I’d looked up through the haze—through the tears—to see his soft smile.
    “I’m so sorry about your dad,” he said, his bright blue eyes red-rimmed. Despairing. He seemed to search for the right thing to say before his shoulders had drooped forward. “I’d give anything to fix this for you.”
    I released a hiccup, followed by a sob, and then my mom had gathered me close, consoling me quietly in Ukrainian. She said something to Oliver before he left to join his own mother, but I hadn’t heard it.
    All I heard was the finality of his words: My father was gone.
    Now, as he sauntered away like a man who carelessly held the world in the palms of his hands, everyone remaining in the HR lobby was left wordless, motionless—myself included. Ultimately, Stella cleared her throat. She came over to where I was still sitting, and with a chuckle, leaned down to whisper, “Like I said, you’ll want that drink. You’ve got my card now—let me know when you’re free.”
    My focus drifted over her shoulder, in the direction that Oliver had taken, and I nodded briskly. “Count on it.”
    “Good,” she purred. Shifting her hips, she stood upright and raced her hands down the front of her black pencil pants. The decadent scent of her jasmine perfume lingered behind her as she left. “I’m off to pimp fashion, but good luck today. If you need any help—and I do mean anything —you know where to find me,” she threw over her shoulder as she walked off.
    “Thanks,” I called after her, although she was already out of sight and likely out of earshot. Hell, she was possibly even already on an elevator—maybe with Oliver.
    Nope, don’t even go there.
    Still, an image of him nudged its way into my thought—his current panty-eating grin and not the wavering smile of a fifteen-year-old boy—and I closed my eyes. Before I received that call four months ago, I knew a handful of facts about the man who’d been my stepbrother. Even after, my sole focus had been on his mother, so I hadn’t gone out my way to research Oliver. Ivy League, notorious playboy, and sinfully good-looking, Oliver was the heir of a hotel magnate and a fashion mogul. Thanks to his former hard-partying habits and choice in women—he’d dated an actress or two—he was a media darling, known more for his personal exploits than his reputation as a businessman.
    That seemed about all anyone needed to comprehend about the man.
    That is all I need to know about that man.
    As if to serve as an additional warning, Dora appeared in the doorway to her