He would’ve thought that he’d dreamed it if he weren’t naked.
Still, he had a difficult time believing it had actually happened.
He didn’t know her name. He didn’t know who she was.
She had given him the most singular moment of his life, and now she was gone.
And he was left to deal with the aftermath of a life that was in ruin.
Chapter Two
Birdie was terrifiedshe was going to lose her job. She had no idea what she’d been thinking. Well, sadly she actuallydidknow what she’d been thinking. Or at least, what she’d been feeling.
Onyx.
Oh, that man had a hold on her that surpassed reason and sense. He had from the first moment she’d seen him and then…
When she got up the next morning, and put on her pale blue uniform, she felt…different. Altered fundamentally. Changed.
She avoided her own reflection as she got ready. Didn’t even look herself full in the face when she brushed her teeth. Until she couldn’t stand it anymore.
She lifted her gaze and looked herself in the eyes.
Her blond hair was wild.
She looked… She did look different. Her cheeks had more color in them than she’d ever seen, her lips still looked bruised from kissing him.
Theking.
Terror, desire and grief clenched her heart in a fist.
What was going to happen when she walked in today?
She showered, trying to ignore how sensitive her body felt, then stepped out and dried her hair as straight as possible, and ruthlessly pinned it back into the bun she wore every day at work. Well, every day but yesterday, when the staff had been asked to look nicer for the funeral.
She borrowed one of her stepsister’s black dresses out of the back of her closet because she knew she’d never notice. Both of her stepsisters had so many different outfits from brand deals, and they usually only wore an outfit once.
She’d left her hair down and curly, and worn a dress much tighter and shorter than she normally would.
Now she was put back together. The woman she’d been last night successfully hidden beneath her loose-fitting uniform.
Still, she was very apparently her. What was he going to say?
There was really only one way to find out. But first, she had to run the gauntlet of her house.
This clattering old home, where she slept in the attic with one threadbare blanket and a mattress that could hardly be called that.
She sighed heavily and walked out the door, the noise of the day already blaring up the stairs.
“I’m filming a get-ready-with-me, get out of the frame.”
“I have more followers than you. It would help you if I was in your video.”
“Girls! Take turns filming.”
She did her best to paste a smile on her face, because she didn’t want to have a conversation with her stepmother, or her stepsisters. She just wanted to get to work. To her job, which paid for quite a lot of the bills around here, in spite of the fact that her stepsisters fancied themselves to be influencers.
It wasn’t that she’d ever been thrilled with her stepfamily, but she’d been content with them as long as she’d believed her father was happy.
