Chapter 1
Chapter One
The Gaze of a Stranger
The party was a typical Manhattan chaos, filled with people trying too hard to be seen. I was leaning against the bar, feeling out of place, when I felt a pair of eyes locked into mine. Not just a glance, but a heavy, confident stare that made my skin tingle.
He approached me with the kind of effortless grace that only a man who knows his power possesses. He was handsome—dangerously so—with a smirk that suggested he had never been told ‘no’ in his life. He didn't look at my dress or the crowd; he looked straight into me.
“You have incredible eyes,” he said, his voice a low, teasing drawl that cut through the loud
music. “They look like they're holding a thousand stories I haven't read yet.
I tried to keep my voice steady. “And you look like a man who's used to getting exactly what he wants.”
