Read Online Uncovering You: The Contract by Scarlett Edwards - Free Book Online Page B

pencil skirt, and Attilio Giusti Leombruni belt pumps. The meeting required a new wardrobe. This one set me back an entire grand.
    That’s why all the clothes have their sales tags expertly hidden in the seams.
    The doorman offers a smile as I enter. I smile back. My heels strike the shining terrazzo floor. Each stride sends a confident jolt through my body.
    I pretend to scan the building directory, but I already know my destination. Stonehart Industries owns this building, and has offices spanning the top three floors. I’m just biding for time.
    I have no idea what I’m doing here. There are multinational conglomerate leaders who would kill to be in my position. How often do you get to face the owner of one of the most secretive yet influential American companies to be formed in the last twenty years?
    What could he possibly want with me? I refuse to believe this is just an act of charity. Real life does not work that way.
    There is always a catch.
    A hand touches my elbow, surprising me. I start to turn, but the voice I hear stops me cold.
    “Lilly.”
    Oh God. It’s him . There’s no mistaking that rich, masculine treble.
    What’s he doing down here?
    “M-Mr. Stonehart,” I stutter, turning. I curse my inability to hide my surprise. He totally caught me off-guard. I have to look up to meet his eyes. Then up some more.
    The face that I find is so striking it should belong to a Greek god.
    He’s younger than I expected. Late thirties, maybe early forties.
    That means he started his company when he was younger than me!
    Dark scruff lines his angular cheeks. His jet-black hair is styled in long, natural waves. My fingers itch to run through it.
    Totally inappropriate.
    He has a prominent nose that might be too big on a less imposing man, but on him, it’s perfect.
    In short, he’s a package of the purest masculinity I’ve ever seen.
    And then there are his eyes. Oh my God. His eyes. They pierce into me like honing missiles. They are the deepest black I have ever seen. They would be frightening if they weren’t so beautiful. When the light reflects a certain way, you catch a glimpse of the purple underneath.
    They are like midnight sapphires. His eyes reveal a cunning intellect. Those eyes do not miss a thing.
    Add all that to his towering height, his wide shoulders, his confident-yet-at-ease posture… and Stonehart cuts an intimidating figure.
    My gaze darts to his left hand before I can stop it. No ring. He’s unmarried.
    He looks down at me, expectantly. His eyes narrow ever so slightly, and I feel like I’m being dissected, measured up, and tucked away in some small corner of his brain. I imagine this is what a gemstone feels like under the magnifying class of the most critical appraiser.
    Stonehart clears his throat. I come to with a start, realizing I haven’t said anything in ages. I open my mouth, but the capacity for speech seems like a foreign concept to my brain. “I—”
    Somebody bumps into me from behind. I stagger forward. I’m not used to these shoes, so my heel steps the wrong way. My ankle twists under me, and I start to fall.
    I don’t fall far. The hand still on my elbow tightens, and Stonehart pulls me into him.
    I plaster myself onto the solid steel wall the man has for a body. I catch a scent of his cologne. It’s a deep, musky smell with a hint of charred spruce that is all male. It scrambles my thoughts even more.
    “Sorry!” a rushed voice calls out. From the corner of my eye, I see the postman giving a hurried, apologetic wave.
    Although the sequence lasts less than a second, it feels like an eternity. Pressed up against him like that, I don’t want to move. I know that I couldn’t have made a worse first impression.
    Stonehart eases me off him with a firm yet gentle grip. Our eyes meet. I flush the most vibrant red. His fingers graze my forehead as he brushes a lock of hair out of my face.
    Any tenderness I may have imagined vanishes when Stonehart takes out his cell. He