Marriage First, Love Second

"I want to hear it from you. I want to watch you look me in the eye and tell me they aren't mine… without looking away even once." I swallowed hard, because the game he was playing was cruel. I knew that the slightest flicker in my expression would feed his suspicions. I lifted my chin, met his gaze without blinking, and spoke slowly, "They. Are. Not. Yours." The muscle in Damian's jaw tightened, and his breath brushed my face, warm and steady. "You've gotten better at this, Harper," he murmured, using my last name like a provocation. "But you're still not that good." "Or maybe you're just hearing what you want to hear," I shot back, fighting the suffocating closeness. "You hate losing. But sometimes, losing is inevitable. Accept it and get out of my life." Stella was desperate. After dropping out of college to pay off the debts her father left behind, all she wanted was a fresh start, even if that meant forging a résumé and swallowing her pride to land a job as the secretary to the ruthless CEO Damian Winter. What she didn't expect was that her new boss would be as irresistible as he was dangerous. Or that a series of sharp provocations and intense encounters would lead to an indecent contract. A secret agreement ruled by power and desire, in which Stella committed to satisfying Damian's every whim, with one single condition: she could never get pregnant. But what would happen when Stella discovered she had broken that rule? Now pregnant and emotionally shattered, Stella learned from the news on TV that Damian was engaged to a wealthy heiress. Hiding the truth seemed like her only option. But secrets would never stay buried forever.