My fiancé was in bed with the girl I'd taken in and saved.

Amber's breathless moans drifted through the half-open bedroom door, accompanied by the rhythmic thud of the bed frame against the wall.

“Daniel... slow down. What if Cynthia comes home unexpectedly?”

“What's there to worry about?” Daniel chuckled lazily. “She's working late tonight.”

“So when are you going to break up with her? I don't want to sneak around anymore.”

“Be patient.” He paused. “You'll be Mrs. Scott sooner or later. Cynthia is just a woman I've gotten tired of. If she didn't have some talent for design, I'd have dumped her a long time ago.”

I stepped away from the door, only then realizing that I was trembling from head to toe, chilled to the bone.

Half an hour earlier, I'd finished work ahead of schedule. I'd spent seven revisions perfecting the joint parameters for a robotic arm in the latest design proposal.

I'd wanted to come home early to show Daniel my work and surprise him. Instead, that surprise had dealt me the cruelest blow of my life.

Clenching my teeth, I lifted my foot and kicked the bedroom door open.

BANG!

The door slammed against the wall.

Daniel was naked, scrambling to sit up, a bright red lipstick mark still smeared at the corner of his mouth.

Amber screamed and hurriedly pulled the covers over herself. Her cheeks were flushed, her chest rising and falling rapidly, and angry red marks covered her neck and collarbones.

Worse still, she was wearing my silk nightdress!

I'd bought it the day I won my first international design award and had never quite found the occasion to wear it. Now one strap had slipped off her shoulder, and the hem was bunched around her waist.

My stomach lurched at the sight.

“Cynthia?!” Daniel jerked his head up, his expression changing instantly.

My gaze swept over the disheveled sheets before settling on the silk nightdress that belonged to me.

“Amber Donovan, you've got some nerve. You sleep with my fiancé, and now you steal my clothes too?”

Tears instantly welled in her eyes. “Cynthia, please, let me explain! We just... couldn't help how we felt.”

“Really? You seem pretty good at controlling yourselves. You just make sure I'm not home first.”

Her face paled, but she still looked at me with wounded innocence.

“I didn't want this to happen either, but I really love him...”

“Then aren't you lucky?”

I let out a bitter laugh, though the pain in my chest was almost unbearable.

“Six months ago, you were crying outside my door, saying you had nowhere to go and no one to turn to. I gave you a place to stay, bought you clothes, and paid your bills.”

I glanced at Daniel.

“Looks like I even found you a boyfriend.”

“Cynthia, that's not what I meant...”

“Save the act, Amber.” I sneered. “You're much better at stealing men than pretending to be innocent.”

“Just listen to me!” Daniel grabbed his clothes and hurried toward me. “Amber and I are genuinely in love! All you ever do is work. You have no romance in you, and you don't know how to take care of a man!”

When he realized I wasn't buying it, Daniel's tone turned aggressive.

“Stop acting like you're the victim! Do you think your designs would have any reputation without me? I'm the one who built this company! Without me, you're nothing!”

A fresh stab of pain pierced my chest.

“Daniel, you're disgusting. You two really are made for each other. One of you is ungrateful, and the other repays kindness with betrayal. You belong together. At least that way, you won't have a chance to ruin anyone else's life.”

Daniel's expression darkened. “Cynthia, watch your mouth!”

I pulled the engagement ring off my finger and hurled it at him.

“The engagement is over. And one more thing—making a fortune off my designs? You don't deserve a single penny of it.”

He lunged forward and grabbed my wrist.

“Cynthia, calm down. Let's talk—”

SLAP!

I jerked my hand free and slapped him across the face.

His head snapped to the side, a red mark already spreading across his cheek.

My palm stung, but the satisfaction in my chest was worth it.

“Stay together forever. Daniel Scott, remember this: I'm the one who's dumping you!”

With that, I turned and walked out.

Daniel's furious roar followed me. “Cynthia! You'll regret this someday!”

Regret?

The only thing I regretted was not throwing him in the trash sooner.

I was alone in the elevator. I pressed the button for the ground floor, my trembling finger missing it twice before finally hitting the right one. The woman staring back at me in the mirror had half-ruined makeup and frighteningly red eyes.

Only then did the memories I'd kept buried beneath my anger come flooding back.

Daniel Scott. The man I'd loved since childhood, the man I'd once believed I'd spend the rest of my life with. When he needed money to start his business, I'd emptied my savings. When his company needed core designs, I'd stayed up night after night working on them. I'd thought we were building a future together.

All those nights I'd spent hunched over blueprints, he'd been plotting how to get rid of me. The girl I'd welcomed into my home and treated like family had been sleeping with him all along.

I'd given him the best years of my life and my most sincere trust. All he'd ever seen in me was a free designer.

Bastard! Liar! Ungrateful jerk!

Before I knew it, I'd wandered into a bar. The lights above the counter were dim. The bartender polished glasses while some meaningless sports game played on the TV.

The first glass of whiskey burned all the way down my throat. By the second, the suffocating knot in my chest had finally loosened a little.

But alcohol could numb my body, not erase those images. I leaned against the bar, staring at the ice cubes at the bottom of my glass.

Tonight, I didn't want to be the sensible, restrained Cynthia Harrison who always put everyone else's needs first.

“Another drink.”

“You've had enough.”

I looked up.

It wasn't the bartender. A stranger stood beside me.

He was dressed in a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up, revealing lean, well-defined forearms. Broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and a strikingly handsome face gave him an air of restrained authority and effortless sophistication. Two bodyguards in suits stood behind him, but he dismissed them with a single gesture. His presence seemed completely out of place in the noisy bar.

Finally, a little luck was on my side tonight.

“Hey, handsome. I'm Cynthia Harrison. What's your name?”

“Lyndon Blake. Just an ordinary office worker.”

“Lyndon...” I repeated his name, then suddenly smiled. “My fiancé cheated on me today.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Hurting yourself over an idiot is a terrible bargain.”

“Exactly.” I raised my glass and downed the rest.

The moment I set it down, a sudden wave of heat surged through my body, and my vision began to blur.

Lyndon noticed almost immediately. “Are you feeling all right?”

I waved a hand, my eyes still fixed on his face. Even through my blurred vision, I could tell he was ridiculously handsome. Far more attractive than Daniel could ever hope to be.

No femininity. No idea how to take care of a man.

To hell with him.

I'd already made a complete mess of myself tonight. What was wrong with doing something reckless for once?

I hooked a finger into Lyndon's shirt and asked, “Do you have a girlfriend or a wife?”

“Neither.”

“Good. How about spending the night with me?”

A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes.

At the same time, my vision suddenly spun, and my legs gave way beneath me.

Lyndon caught me before I could fall. “I think I should get you somewhere to rest first.”

He called a waiter and arranged a car and a hotel room. The moment the waiter heard his name, he visibly froze before bowing with almost excessive respect. I was too drunk to think much of it. I just assumed the waiter was unusually polite.

Once we reached the room, Lyndon poured me a glass of lemon water.

I took it, my fingertips burning so badly that I almost dropped the glass.

“Are you this considerate toward every drunk woman?”

“No.” He stood a few steps away, his voice cool. “Just you.”

Then he turned to leave.

“Lyndon...” I called after him, my voice softer than I'd intended. “Will you stay with me?”

He turned around, his gaze settling on my flushed face and uneven breathing. His brows drew together.

“Cynthia, something's not right with you.”

“I know.” I used the sofa to steady myself as I stood. “But I don't want to be alone.”

He remained where he was, watching me with a serious expression.

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. I know what I want.”

He was silent for two seconds before answering quietly, “All right.”

I was about to walk toward him when my legs suddenly buckled, sending me straight into his arms.

His hands caught me firmly around the waist, careful not to touch me anywhere else.

My palms landed against his chest.

Beneath the thin black shirt, I could feel the firm, taut muscles under my hands.

I tilted my head back to look at him.

The light accentuated his straight nose and deep-set eyes. His face was almost unfairly handsome.

“Nice body.” My fingertips moved slightly. “And a nice face.”

Lyndon's Adam's apple bobbed as he chuckled. “So I've passed the first round?”

“Don't get ahead of yourself. There's still a second round.”

“What are you testing?”

“Obviously. Your kissing skills and...”

I leaned forward and kissed him.

He didn't respond immediately, as though giving me one last chance to change my mind.

But I didn't pull away.

A few seconds later, his arms finally tightened around my waist, firm but controlled. The kiss quickly turned heated, and he only pulled back when my breathing grew uneven.

“Eighty points.”

He brushed his lips against mine. “What about the other twenty?”

“Depends on how you perform from here.”

He took my hand and placed it against his chest. Beneath my palm, his heartbeat was steady but noticeably faster.

“Lyndon, looks like you're not as calm as you pretend to be.”

“Not when it comes to you. Would you believe me if I said it was love at first sight?”

“Then why don't you try something even more challenging?”

Apparently convinced of my intentions, he slipped an arm around my waist and lifted me into his arms.

He unfastened my buttons one by one. His black shirt fell to the carpet, and my dress slipped down beside the bed.

He lowered me onto the mattress, his knuckles brushing my collarbone before slowly tracing the skin beneath it. The faint calluses on his fingertips grazed the hollow of my collarbone, sending a tingling sensation down my spine and straight into my stomach.

A moan nearly escaped me, but I refused to lose control in front of him. I caught his hand and glared at him.

“You can let yourself make a sound, Cynthia.” His eyes were already dark with desire.

“You're imagining things. It's just a little too warm in here,” I gritted out.

“Is that so? Then I guess I haven't been trying hard enough.” Lyndon smiled, clearly unconvinced.

His palm settled over my left breast, warm against my skin, his thumb brushing almost teasingly over the nipple that had already begun to harden.

My breath caught.

“Do you want me to keep going?” he whispered, his fingers beginning to knead slowly, drawing out every flicker of sensitivity.

“Focus.”

His fingertips continued to move over my nipple, alternating between gentle and firmer pressure. His other hand slid down my waist, across my stomach, then between my thighs. His fingers found my labia and slipped inside.

“Mm...” A muffled moan escaped my throat.

He smiled with satisfaction, his desire growing more intense. I clenched my jaw to keep from making a louder sound. Heat was already building in my lower abdomen, and I could feel moisture gathering between my thighs. My body was slipping out of control, but I had no desire to push him away. If anything, I wanted more.

My breathing grew completely ragged. Damn it! I was close to losing control. But when I looked up, I caught the smug expression on his face.

Daniel suddenly came to mind. He'd always seemed distracted when he kissed me, sometimes even answering work calls halfway through.

Lyndon, on the other hand, had kept his eyes on me the entire time.

Daniel had said I'd regret this.

I almost laughed.

I was Cynthia Harrison, twenty-three years old, and a rising star in the world of robotics design. The core designs for Daniel's company's most important project had almost entirely come from me. He'd used my work to secure investment and applause, yet somehow convinced himself I was a woman who couldn't live without him.

Without me, his real troubles were only just beginning.

Tonight, I didn't want to be the woman who'd been betrayed.

I just wanted to enjoy the passion this man was offering me.

...

The next morning, I woke with an ache in my lower back.

An unfamiliar ceiling hung above me. The sheets were tangled, and the air carried the scent of unfamiliar laundry detergent. Memories of the previous night came rushing back in fragments.

The bar. The whiskey. Lyndon's kisses. His black shirt lying on the carpet.

I closed my eyes, my ears burning.

Well, Cynthia, you certainly were bold last night.

Lyndon was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at his phone. Hearing me stir, he put it down and handed me a glass of water.

His phone was still unlocked, lying faceup beside him. He'd just ended a call, and through my half-awake haze, I caught the last part of what the other person had said.

“...Mr. Blake, your ten o'clock meeting has been postponed until this afternoon.”

“Morning.”

“Morning.”

After a few seconds of silence, I cleared my throat. “Let's just forget about last night. We don't owe each other anything.”

Lyndon looked at me, his expression serious. “But I want to take responsibility for you.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Marry me, Cynthia.”