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friction. On his body inside mine. “Oh, yes.”

I rocked my hips in tiny movements, adding just that bit more. The feelings now overwhelming.

The sensations pulling me under.

“Oh God. Oh my God. Oh—” Everything tightened up. My toes curled.

“Oh!” I blasted apart. Intense wave after wave rocked through me. The orgasm stole my breath as

Hunter quaked over me.

His hands slid down my arms. His fingers threaded through mine as we came down, panting over

the desk.

“I promised myself I’d be more careful with you,” he whispered.

I turned my face toward him until his lips were glancing off my cheek. “The human body isn’t that

fragile, Hunter.”

“Still. I don’t want anything to go wrong, Olivia. I don’t want you or the baby put in any kind of

danger.”

If I wasn’t mistaken, there was a tiny plea in his voice. His past was trying to encroach on this

conversation, I had no doubt.

I straightened up. I knew a moment of regret when his body left mine—something that never

seemed to go away—before I turned around and put my arms around his neck. “I’m good. I need a

little bump and grind every so often.”

He gave me a lingering kiss. “Okay, off you get.” He helped me straighten up my clothes. “I don’t

want you awake when I get home. You need your rest.”

“What time are you coming home?”

“A couple hours, I think.”

I gave him a flat look. “That’s more than a twelve-hour day, Hunter. I’m not the only one who

agreed to work less…”

He kissed me on the forehead. “Off you get.” He gently nudged me toward the door.

I should’ve argued, but those orgasms put me over the tired cliff and I still had work to do.

I dragged myself to my desk, packed everything up, and headed home. Once there, I grabbed the

dinner out of the oven, went to my office, and opened my personal laptop. Time for job number two.

I just hoped all this work was going to be worth it. Tomorrow would be the moment of truth on if

we’d wasted our time or not. Unfortunately, tomorrow would also be a deciding factor on my future

involvement. If this took off as Bruce said it would, I’d have some hard decisions to make, because

Hunter was right—I couldn’t keep this up. I had two full-time jobs. I’d have to choose, and I wasn’t sure that I was going to choose Hunter.

Chapter Two

My eyes were glued to the screen of my phone when Bert pulled up outside. I didn’t have any sales

numbers yet, but the game was live. People could download it, anywhere in the world.

But was anyone downloading it?

“Good morning,” Bert said as I climbed into the passenger seat.

“Hey, Bert. Did you download the game?”

“Yep.” He held up his phone for me to see. “Right there. I even played a couple levels—it’s pretty

fun.”

“Thanks.”

The car pulled away from the curb. “When will you know if it is doing well?”

I refreshed the app store and started scrolling through the ranking. “I think it takes a while. The

marketing campaign starts today. Bruce seems to think the strategy is genius, but he’s not a marketing guy. There’s no telling if his plans will work. He probably plastered up a few flyers on the corkboard at his local college thinking that was still how college kids got their news.”

“I thought he had a really profitable—get out of the way, you…” I grabbed the handle on the door

as Bert swerved. “What is it with Mercedes drivers? They think they own the road.”

“You are driving a Mercedes, Bert…”

“Exactly—why can’t they drive like me?”

I didn’t point out that they were.

Bert turned onto one of the busy streets that ran from one end of the city to the other. “Anyway, I

thought the owner had a really profitable business before this?”

“Yes, but he had no idea how it exploded. He’s really smart, but there’s a reason he sold to

Hunter.”

“Oh. Well, I’m sure he knows a thing or two. But how is he paying for ads? On his own dime?”

“No, he got investors. He incorporated his business. I own a bit of it, as well as some investors. I mostly just look after the code, though.”

“I still don’t know how you do it, Livy. I really don’t. Working for Mr. Carlisle, I wouldn’t have

the stamina to work for anyone else, and I mostly just sit around, waiting for someone to need a ride.”

“I’m tightly wound.”

He blew air out of his nostrils, his version of tsking. He pulled up in front of the office building.

“Okay, Livy. Text me if you hear anything.”

I thanked him for the ride and made my way in, gripping my phone the whole time. I dropped my

bag on the floor and checked my phone again. No change.

Brenda came down the hall as I received a text.

KIMBERLY: GOOD LUCK! I’M SO EXCITED!!!!

“WHY THE CONSTIPATED LOOK?” BRENDA ASKED AS SHE SET HUNTER’S COFFEE ON MY DESK.

“You’re a real gem, you know that?”

“Why yes I do.” She sipped her coffee, looking at me over the rim of the mug. “Well?”

“My game went live.”

“Oh, right.” She went back and settled in her desk. She fished her phone out of her purse. “I was

supposed to buy that.”

“It’s free. You just download it.”

“Right. And how do you make any money?”

“Jesus. Does no one play games on their phone?”

Brenda swiped at the screen. “You need friends your own age.”

“It’s free to play for a certain number of tries, but then you can buy more lives, and various other components to enhance the game. You buy them all in the app.”

“Ah. It’s that kind of racket, is it? Okay—oh, here it is. That’s a fun little picture. Oh crap…

what’s my password…”

I rolled my eyes and grabbed Hunter’s coffee. I wasn’t sure if her download was worth the

aggravation.

HALFWAY THROUGH THE DAY I SAT AT MY COMPUTER, SHOULDERS TENSE. THERE WAS A MOUNTAIN OF WORK TO

get through and I hadn’t been able to focus on any of it. My phone lay on the desk right next to my

keyboard, staring up at me.

I tried to resist.

Grunting in frustration, I swiped the screen and tapped into the app ranking. Bruce said we most

likely wouldn’t see anything for a couple of days as the game gained momentum, but I couldn’t help

myself. The dial spun, updating. I flicked my finger, watching the ranking upload as the numbers got bigger. I let out the breath I was holding as one hundred blazed by.

“Oh my God!” I jumped up. I snatched my phone and clutched it in both hands. “Yay! It’s at one-

thirty-five! That’s something.”

“Oh yeah?” Brenda got up to look. She wasn’t in the habit of checking her own phone for

anything. Her kids still called her work line.

I held the phone toward her and pointed.

“Cool. So you’ve got a few downloads.”

“Yeah… I wonder how.”

“How many friends you got?”

“Like…three.”

Brenda scoffed and grabbed her coffee cup. “Let me refill before you head in to Hunter. I’d hate

to have you make two trips.”

“I get the feeling you aren’t as excited as I am…” I scowled at her, but my smile came right back.

I logged out and called Bruce.

“What’s up?” he answered.

“Did you see? We’re in the ranking! On the first day!” My voice was so high I was squealing.

“Oh yeah?” Why did Bruce and Brenda sound exactly the same? “Looks like our marketing push

is working. I figured it would.”

I shook my head and blinked. “You need to be more excited.”

“It’s only day one, Olivia. As my kid would say, ‘slow your roll.’ We don’t want to be a flash in

the pan. We want longevity.”

“You sound like Hunter.”

“I take that as a compliment. Okay, gotta go. I have a list of things I still have to do, including take my wife to dinner.”

“Okay, well, I’ll keep—” I brought the phone away from my ear, realizing that the call had been

disconnected. “He
acts
like Hunter, too.”

“How?” Brenda put Hunter’s coffee on my desk and then sipped her own.

“He stopped saying bye when he hangs up.” I grabbed the mug and headed into Hunter’s office

with barely contained excitement. Bruce might not be fazed, but this was my first business venture. I was over the moon that it was at the tail end of the ranking. I’d take flash in the pan over mildly

sizzling into a fast death.

As I closed the distance to Hunter, my heart was racing and my smile was plastered over my face.

I took in his handsome face, then connected with his sexy, smoldering stare. “Guess what?”

His eyes started to twinkle as I set his cup in the corner of his desk. “What?”

“The game—” A horrible pinch in my abdomen assaulted me. It felt like a hard, fast cramp. I

reached for the edge of his desk, knocking the coffee forward and spilling some of the contents. I

didn’t notice. Pain radiated through my lower half, a more pronounced cramp now.

“Ow…” I put my hand to my lower abdomen.

“What’s happening?” Hunter was up immediately. He came around the desk and bent over me, his

hand gentle on my back. “What’s the matter?”

I took a deep breath. Ordinarily this wouldn’t be a big deal. I had cramps every month, often more

violent than this. But I shouldn’t be having cramps now. I didn’t think I should, anyway.

Another wave of pain radiated through me. Was the baby in trouble?

Fear pulsed. Tears came to my eyes.

“Something might be wrong,” I said in a quivering voice.

Hunter didn’t say another word. Neither did he panic, like I was about to. In a quick movement, he

scooped me up into his arms. We were walking toward the door a second later, his powerful strides

taking us from the room.

“Mrs. Jones, get a car out front. I’m taking Olivia home.”

“Yes, sir. Is she okay?”

Hunter didn’t answer. He held me like a fragile vase, completely cool. He might’ve been waiting

for the elevator on any normal day.

I put my head against his neck as another cramp vibrated through me.

“Try to relax,” Hunter said softly as he entered the elevator. His voice was a tranquil breeze.

“You’ve been very stressed lately, and along with excitement and today’s events, your body is

probably reacting. You just need to calm down. Take deep breaths.”

I did as he said, but as another burst of pain made me whimper, I couldn’t ease away from the fear

that something was wrong. That I might be miscarrying.

“Deep breaths, baby. It’s going to be okay.” Arms not even quivering from holding my weight all

this time, Hunter walked out through the lobby like a man on a mission. If there was anyone better in an emergency, I hadn’t met them.

The car waited outside, its flashing lights signaling that it planned to double-park for as long as

was necessary. Bert rushed forward when he saw us. “What happened? Do you need help?”

“Everything is fine, Mr. Ramous.” Hunter stopped next to the car with a white-faced and

concerned Bert looking over his shoulder. “Are you bleeding, Livy? Can you tell? I need to know if

we should go home, or to the hospital.”

“I don’t know,” I said, my hands shaking.

Hunter looked at me for a moment before bending to sit me into the car. “Take us to the emergency

room at California Pacific, Mr. Ramous.”

A moment later Hunter sat in beside me and took my hand. His eyes were deep and comforting.

“It’s going to be okay, Livy.” His voice took on that commanding edge, filled with power. “You need

to relax.”

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes and leaning toward him. He pulled me in tighter. His

strength and solidity wrapped around me, stilling the tremors. I trusted in his voice. In his presence.

“Okay.”

Hunter took out his phone. After tapping the face a few times, he lifted it to his ear. “Yes, Dr.

Cheung? Hello. I have an emergency. Are you on duty?”

Hunter had set me up with Dr. Cheung as soon as we heard I was pregnant. The man knew

someone important in every profession.

We pulled up outside the hospital a half-hour later, navigating through the San Francisco traffic as quickly as possible. “Should I wait, Mr. Carlisle?” Bert asked as he hustled to get my door open.

“Yes. I’ll text you if anything changes.”

“Yes, sir.”

Hunter helped me from the car and then scooped me up again.

“I can walk, Hunter,” I said as he began his purposeful stride.

“And I could just stand by and watch you go through a scary experience from a distance. I’d rather

be doing something.” He stalked toward a waiting room next to a store selling flowers and teddy

bears. He set me down gently.

“I’ll go to the restroom,” I said. “Just to check on what’s happening.”

Hunter was pulling out his phone again. “I’ll be right here if you need me.”

I made my way across the lobby, savoring his confidence that everything would be fine. Once in

the restroom, with hands still shaking, I locked myself into a stall and pulled up my skirt to assess the damage. My eyes filled with tears as I saw a bright spot of red. “Oh no.”

I did my business and lined my panties with toilet paper. I wasn’t bleeding that much, but I was

still bleeding. I didn’t know what that meant.

I walked slowly back to Hunter, trying not to break down. When his gaze found me, I saw a

glimmer of fear spark in his eyes, but then the power and confidence returned. He was completely in

control.

“The doctor is on her way. She’s getting everything set up.” He ushered me toward a chair. “Are

you still cramping?”

I let my hand drift to my stomach. “No. But I’m bleeding a little—” I cut off as a sob choked me.

“Hunter, I’m scared.”

“I know. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.” His arm tightened around me. “This is going to be fine,