A Pregnancy Scandal Read Free

sort of be in the midst of things. Parties always reminded her of why she didn’t attend them. Social niceties were a confusing, complex set of rules that she could never seem to follow. Alex liked rules. But only when they made sense, like in finance. Numbers were the same yesterday and today as they would be tomorrow.
    Normally, she followed her own number one rule to the letter—stay out of the spotlight. But she’d developed a fierce attraction to Phillip and, well...parties seemed to be his natural habitat. Thus she had to attend one to see if things might heat up between them outside of Fyra. Because there were sparks between them, but he’d yet to make a move. She wanted to find out if his glacial pace had to do with lack of interest or something else.
    Cass had bullied her into a makeover and pried Alex’s credit card out of her fingers to purchase this dress. It all felt very surreal and a little like trying too hard. Alex didn’t have a glamorous bone in her body, but the resulting image in her mirror had turned out pretty good, if she did say so herself.
    And here she and Phillip were, flirting and having fun, and he’d just asked her to dance. This dress did have magical powers.
    Maybe she could dance with him. Just once. Then she’d slink back to her hiding spot before someone else tried to talk to her. Someone who wasn’t as understanding as Phillip about her permanent foot-in-mouth syndrome.
    Slowly, she reached out. It was almost harder to do that than it had been to walk through Phillip’s palatial double front doors, knowing he was on the other side, divinely, devastatingly handsome. Actually, just about everything she’d done in the name of advancing her relationship with Phillip had taken a huge amount of bravery.
    Maybe the stars had finally aligned to alleviate the loneliness Alex had been feeling lately—a by-product of both social awkwardness and a firm belief that romance was a myth perpetuated by the retail market. She dated here and there. Not often, for obvious reasons. But she liked companionship as much as the next girl, and Phillip was the first man in a long time that she couldn’t stop thinking about.
    Tonight was about seeing where things might go between them.
    Except, this hundred-year-old house was overwhelming—with a grand foyer the size of a public library, flanked by two curved staircases reaching toward the second floor. It was a visual reminder of his elite status and that men like him lived a whole different kind of existence, one that was ill-suited for a quiet wallflower like Alex.
    But when her flesh connected with Phillip’s, it was a shock to her system. Need lanced through her. Hello. Been a long time since those muscles had a workout, yes sirree.
    Their gazes collided and his hot blue eyes spoke to her, saying without words that he wanted her, too. Well, how about that?
    She let it sing through her because men never noticed her. Alex had perfected the art of fading into the background, but Phillip had never overlooked her. Her reaction was powerful and visceral.
    â€œAlex,” he murmured and tightened his grip on her hand. “We have to dance now. Otherwise, something very bad might happen.”
    â€œLike what?” she asked curiously. His gaze was on her lips as if he might lean forward at any moment and take her mouth with his.
    That sounded very good to her.
    Maybe he’d even back her up farther into the corner and do it properly. His hands were smooth and strong, and she’d fantasized about them as they’d sat through long meetings together.
    It wasn’t a crime. Just because she didn’t buy into the fantasy about love and romance didn’t mean she had an aversion to sex.
    She’d been dreaming of kissing him for weeks, ever since the first time he’d walked into Fyra. The sparks between them had been instant and deliciously hot. And their connection was more than just