he pads against her cheeks. Smooth skin. No gaping knife wound. No blistered, charred fles

d slip dress. The scratchy synthetic fabric bit into her thighs. The s

snort came from

head sna

r. His eyes dragged over her cheap dress with undisguised contempt, the kind of look a man gives a

down the sun visor. She fl

n star

ed black eyeliner ringed her eyes like a raccoon. Her lips were slathered in sticky, neon-pink lip

to her brain with the f

spent the night. The woman had painted this hideous mask onto her face and handed her this trashy dress, cooing that it was the height of high-society fashion. Ginny, desperate and naive, had believed her.

nward. Manicured nails drove so deep into her palms th

held it for three heartbeats, and let it hiss out through her teeth. She shoved the burning rage, the phantom h

he panic was gone. Her dark irise

her knuckles hard against the b

one mile ahead." Her voice w

rolled his eyes. "Can't do it. Madam An

eat. She let the presence she had cultivated over ten years of cutthroat corporate warfare ble

dropping into something low and

vy, and terrifyingly authoritative. It made no sense. A trailer-park rat shouldn't sound like a CEO who'd buried her enemies. A sudden, icy chill shot down his spine. The fine hairs on his neck stood rigid. He loo

out permission. The

r gravel as it pulled off the highway and rol

her toes as she stepped out into the blazing California sun, but she didn't stumble. She slam

eel and cursed under his breath, wondering wh

raight to the row of stainless-steel sinks, shoved her hands under the motion-sensor faucet, and let the cold water

rubbed. She dug her fingers into her pores, breaking down the thick, greasy foundation

times. Until the

and pressed it hard against her face, soaking up the moi

ed raw, slightly pink from the friction, but com