Ohmigod. Ohmigod. Ohmigod.

Running as if her ass was on fire, Halayna took the steps two at a time and burst into her bedroom suite, slamming the door behind her. Struggling to get air into her lungs, she paced the length of the room a couple of times before collapsing face first onto the king size bed.

What the heck had just happened?

One minute, she and Sloane were talking, laughing, and eating, and in the next minute, they were hugged up together kissing.

“Oh my God!” Halayna groaned into the mattress as the full weight of what they’d done hit her. He was her best friend’s brother. A man who was so far out of her league, it was laughable. Yet, he had kissed her, and it hadn’t been just any kiss, but a kiss that had her questioning her sanity.

Sloane kissed me… and I liked it… a lot.

Oh man, she more than liked it. She wanted a repeat. A repeat of his full, demanding mouth taking what he wanted from her. A repeat of the way he held her close to his big, hard, muscular body, and she wanted a repeat of how good it felt being held in his strong, unyielding arms.

For those few minutes, with their tongues tangling, all Halayna’s thoughts and worries had fallen away, and in their place had been a peace she hadn’t felt in months or maybe even years. Sloane had somehow made her feel more cherished than she’d ever felt by a man. Which was saying a lot since she’d been engaged to be married and supposedly crazy in love with Owen.

She snorted at the thought. Talk about her picker being off when it came to choosing men. It was a good thing her relationship with Owen had imploded. Marrying him would’ve been a huge mistake because kissing and being with him had felt nothing like what she had just experienced.

Kissing Sloane had felt like a dream. Like something straight out of a sexy fairy tale, an X-rated fairy tale. But this wasn’t a fantasy. His kiss and the way he’d held her had been very real. She still felt his lips covering hers and the taste of him lingered on her tongue.

How was that possible when it had been just one kiss? One soul-stirring, passionate kiss.

It was clear she and Owen hadn’t had a strong connection. Not like what she had felt a short while ago with Sloane, and that realization had her shook. She almost married a man she was sure she’d been in love with. Yet, she never felt the intense desire and passion swirling inside of her. Never felt that I-can’t-live-without-you vibe.

How was that even possible?

Halayna flipped onto her back, and as her heart rate slowly went back to normal, she stared at the ceiling, her mind reeling at these new realizations. The most shocking one was Sloane wanting her to agree to a marriage of convenience… with him.

She shook her head. Sloane Davidson, the wealthiest man she’d ever known, had asked her to marry him. He wanted her to be his fake wife. No, not fake. Just convenient. Wait. Not convenient. He wanted a marriage of convenience. But what the hell did that even mean?