Chapter 37: Taken Advantage Of

His kiss was confident and smooth, and for a moment, my mind just blanked out. I responded without thinking, completely caught in the moment. The air inside the car turned thick, filled with tension and something I didn't want to name. When he finally pulled away, I opened my eyes and looked into his. They were dark, steady, impossible to read. Like deep water you couldn't see the bottom of. Up close like this, it was easy to see how dangerous Arthur Sandlin was. Not just in the way he looked, but the way he carried himself. Julian Shepherd didn't even come close. He wasn't in the same league. I used to think Julian was everything. But after meeting Arthur, I realized how wrong I'd been. Still, none of it mattered. Arthur could be the most perfect man in the world, and it wouldn't change anything between us. We weren't dating. We weren't even friends. What we had was a cold, transactional thing. A deal. That was it. And I never saw myself marrying into wealth anyway. His world wasn't m