Chapter 2

Dani tried her best to act as if she were capable of functioning normally for the next hour.

It became increasingly difficult, as with each passing second, Dani knew Julian was around.

Not physically.

The awareness, the sort that crept inside her skin and refused to leave.

Investors joked loudly as he spoke confidently across the ballroom.

He appeared to be untouchable and effortless.

Yet Julian’s eyes kept coming back to her every so often.

Always back to her.

Dani fidgeted with the donor list, hands trembling.

She had to concentrate.

On anything other than Julian.

Or the pregnancy test in her purse.

Or Julian’s hands on her waist two months ago, his kisses on her neck as rain poured down outside the office windows. She looked down as she remembered he had tasted her that night and she had loved every second of him using his tongue and his fingers, and his...

“Miss Mitchell?”

She snapped out of it.

The hotel server stood beside her, holding out a glass of wine to her

“Mrs. Vance said you needed it. She said maybe it'll loosen you up a bit”

“Thank you.”

Dani pulled herself together and accepted the glass which she placed on a nearby table as soon as the server had walked off.

The lights in the ballroom suddenly became too hot.

Her stomach churned.

She gulped hard.

Not yet.

Please, no.

Before long, she found herself rushing towards the side hallway, away from the ballroom.

If she could just take a moment to—

"Leaving so soon?”

Dani stopped dead in her tracks.

Julian stood near the hallway’s entrance, both hands in his pocket, casually leaning against the wall. He looked somewhat normal, but not relaxed, never relaxed in any public space. and he was looking at her. He was always looking at her.

“I’m working.”

“And you’ve told me that.”

His voice remained even.

That somehow made him all the more intimidating.

“Stella will see—”

“She is busy.”

He answered too quickly. Like he was sure. Like he had made sure.

Julian moved closer.

Just enough for Dani to be able to smell the expensive cologne and whiskey on him.

Her quickened heartbeat gave her away.

“it's been two months, and you have been avoiding me," he accused.

Dani turned her back to him.

"That night never should have happened."

"You say that."

His voice softened.

"But you think about it. You can't stop thinking about it."

A burning sensation ran up her cheeks.

Because he was right.

She couldn't stop thinking about it.

The way he'd looked at her. The way everything had started was because his restraint broke. The way his voice cracked when he whispered her name. How good he felt inside her. He had brought her to the edge over and over using his hands, mouth and his beautifully thick, and long member.

Even afterwards...

He had been so sweet and gentle with her.

And that made her feel so so guilty. She was getting turned on over thoughts she shouldn't be having and night that never should have happened.

Julian Carter Vance was only gentle when it was just her.

No one else knew. Not even Stella. And he would never admit that out loud or show it to the vultures that surrounded him every day.

It all seemed too surreal whenever she let herself remember it.

Dani's arms tightened around herself.

"You're married," she muttered.

For the first time since she met him, something changed in Julian's face.

"Yes."

One little word that left a bad taste in her mouth.

Before she could respond, the sickness came—sudden and violent.

She turned away quickly.

Julian's posture shifted instantly with her.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Dani."

The sternness in his voice burned her skin.

She rested a palm against the wall behind her.

Breathe.

Julian was standing way too close now.

"Are you shaking?"

"I'm tired."

A lie.

He scrutinized her face, memorizing a map he had not intended for her to reveal.

“You look ill.”

“I told you, I am okay.”

“You are a horrible liar.”

This time his words were almost whispered.

And Dani loathed the power this gentleness held over her

The Cold, she could handle.

It was Predictable. Expected. Being sweet and gentle was dangerous.

Echoes of footsteps erupted in the hallway.

They both looked up.

Two executives walked by, their laughter bouncing off the walls.

Julian moved back, putting some distance between them. His soft features disappeared at once.

His cold mask descended; precise, calculating and untouchable.

It made her skin crawl.

One of the two executives nodded his recognition to Julian.

“Mr. Vance.”

And Julian responded. Then he waited a bit after they were gone, and turned back to Dani, she noted the difference in him yet again.

Focusing on her intently, he asked "what happened to you?" His whisper was almost inaudible.

Her breath caught.

Because somehow the question rang deeper than the nausea.

Deeper than the night itself.

Like asking what happened to her; what made her vanish. Stop meeting his gaze. Why did it all become meaningless?

She took a step backward.

"You need to go home Daniella."

This was a mistake. She couldn't let him treat her this way. He was married, it wasn't right. And it doesn't matter how many times she had touched herself in the shower to the images of that night, she needed to put a stop to this

"And you should go back to your wife"

Julian's demeanor hardened instantly.

There was something dangerous about him now.

"Plus, you can't tell me what to do, Mr. Vance."

Dani's heart pounded.

There was the danger.

The raw power that made everyone at Vance Holdings afraid of him.

But then he glanced at her shaky hand for just a moment.

And his voice calmed once more.

"Talk to me."

It almost melted her. If he had been holding her when he said it, she would have caved. She would have told him she touched herself to thoughts of him, rubbing her little clit hard as she screamed his name.

She had ordered a vibrator two weeks ago and still hadn't used it, but hoped he'd use it on her.

She tossed and turned at night, her pussy soft and wet, dripping while he pinned her down and pounded her in her dreams.

And she would have told him about the pregnancy test that was burning a hole through her purse.

Because nobody else would ever know the Julian Carter Vance who spoke in this way.

Not the heartless tycoon who haunted everyone's gossip sessions. Not the cold hearted man who was married to Stella.

Only Dani understood him this way.

And maybe that was the real trouble.

The music in the ballroom was suddenly louder.

Then Dani's phone started buzzing in her hand.

She reached into her bag automatically, glancing at the screen.

Doctors appointment confirmation email. Tomorrow. 9:30 AM.

Suddenly she felt cold inside.

Julian's expression shifted instantly.

"What is it?"

"Nothing."

He looked closer at her.

"Dani."

She stuffed the phone back into her purse quickly.

Too quickly.

Julian's attention was instantly on her face.

And then he saw her own hand covering her belly involuntarily.

Silence.

Utter, horrible silence.

Dani realized she had just made the greatest mistake of all.

Julian studied her for a second.

Slowly.

Carefully.

And then his voice lowered to a deadly whisper.

"What is wrong with you?"