"You're staring," Rowan said, his voice softer now, edged with something that sent a shiver down her spine.
Alex's jaw tightened, but she didn't deny it. She couldn't. Her body was betraying her, every inch of her buzzing with the kind of need she hadn't felt in years.
She didn't care that they were still in the middle of the river, that someone might be watching. She didn't care about the consequences. All she cared about was the way his hands had felt on her skin, the way his voice wrapped around her like a command she couldn't resist.
When Rowan reached out, brushing a strand of wet hair from her face, she didn't pull away. She leaned into his touch, her breath catching as his fingers lingered against her cheek.
"Alexandra," he murmured, her name rolling off his tongue like a caress.
The sound of it shattered her restraint.
Her hands found his chest, her fingers splaying over the hard planes of muscle as she pushed herself against him. His breath hitched, and for a moment, neither of them moved, the air between them thick and electric. Then his hands were on her waist, pulling her closer, his grip possessive in a way that made her wolf howl with approval.
When their lips met, it was fire-hot, consuming, desperate. His mouth claimed hers with a hunger that matched her own, his teeth grazing her lower lip in a way that sent a jolt of heat straight to her core. Her hands roamed his chest, and his shoulders, tangling in his hair as she gave in to the storm raging inside her.
She knew Rowan's beta must be around but didn't care who saw. She didn't care about anything except how he made her feel-alive, raw, and utterly untamed.
But just as she began to lose herself in the moment, snapping branches echoed through the air, pulling her back to reality.
Henley agrees to pretend to date millionaire Bennett Calloway for a fee, falling in love as she wonders - how is he involved in her brother's false conviction?
******
Henley Linden's brother is in jail for a crime he didn't commit, and she'll take any job to raise the money needed to free him. Soon, she's agreed to pretend to date millionaire Bennett Calloway for ten thousand dollars, so his mother will ease up the pressure on him to find a wife. But once Henley is enmeshed in Bennett's world, he falls for her, and she starts to have feelings for him as well. Despite her romance with Bennett, as she grows closer to the Calloways, Henley realizes they are somehow involved in her brother's conviction. Journeying deeper into a world of wealth and conspiracies, Henley is forced to rely on Bennett, though doing so could cost her everything.
[[word count: 200,000-250,000 words]]