CHAPTER ONE
Rose
Rain lashes across my body as I run. Lightning flashes, crisscrossing the dark sky.
The sidewalk is slippery under my sneakers, but I can’t stop. I have to get to the little building at the corner of Carlisle and Roe. Thunder rumbles, shaking the windows of the skyscrapers a few streets down. My clothes are dripping wet, and I’m soaked to the bone from the rain. I can hear my heart beating in my ears.
The building looks like something out of a horror movie.
My hands are slick as they grasp the cold handle, and I open the big wooden door with an ominous creak. It closes with a heavy thud, the noise making me cringe.
I wouldn’t have come if there was any other choice, but there isn’t one.
A woman dressed in a dark sweater points to the back of the room, where a door waits with an engraved, golden nameplate. Mr. Grey Kingston, Moneylender.
Inside, the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen waits for me behind a desk.
He’s tall and lean, but his shoulders are wide. He runs a long-fingered hand through his silver-flecked brown hair, and I stand in my dripping clothes. Sharp green eyes look me over, and I feel hyper-aware of my body.
There’s no way a man like him would ever be interested in a girl like me. I’m twenty-one, curvy, and I’m still a virgin. I can’t imagine he finds me pretty.
“You’re Rose Sinclair,” he says, in a deep voice that has my toes curling.
“Yes, that’s me,” I say, nodding. I can feel myself growing nervous.
Grey Kingston is twice my age, but one look at him and I want to be by his side forever. His muscles ripple under his expensive-looking white button-up, and his chest hair dark and curly, has my fingers itching to touch it and run my hand over his hard chest.
“Take a seat,” Grey says in his intoxicating voice. He’s a gorgeous man.
There’s a well-worn leather seat in front of the desk, and I do as he asks of me.
“I just wanted to…,” I begin. I’m unsure of what to say to sound serious enough.
“Here,” Grey says, handing me a towel from behind the desk. “You’re soaked.”
My cheeks heat. He probably doesn’t want me getting his pricey furniture wet because some random, overweight girl decided to forget her umbrella in the rain.
“It’s raining,” I say and immediately feel ridiculous. “I mean, that’s why I’m wet.”
“I gathered that much,” Grey answers. He raises an eyebrow, still looking me over.
I have never been so attracted to someone in my entire life, and I’m already under his spell. Grey is ridiculously manly and gorgeous. I run the towel he gave me quickly over my sundress and through my long, wavy strawberry blonde hair. When I look up, Grey is staring at me with intent, and I feel nervous in his gaze.
“I’m here on behalf of my father,” I tell him, raising my chin. “I talked to your secretary on the phone, and she said you could help me.”
“How old are you?” he asks me, watching me with those sharp green eyes.
I don’t know why he’s asking, but I don’t want to mess this up.