One Night With My Billionaire Boss

One Night With My Billionaire Boss.

NOVEL STATUS: ON GOING

PUBLISHED CHAPTERS: 200+ CHAPTERS

One Night With My Billionaire Boss – Sneak Peek

Pain was the first thing Hali Andrews registered: a sharp, rhythmic thudding behind her temples, the kind of hangover headache that promised a day of misery. She kept her eyes closed, unwilling to let the morning light assault her just yet.

She shifted, expecting the lumpy comfort of her old mattress in Brooklyn, but the sheets beneath her fingers felt wrong. Too smooth. Too cool. Silk.

She frowned, her fingers curling into the fabric. The air smelled different, too. Her apartment usually carried the scent of stale coffee and the vanilla candle she burned to mask the smell of the city. This air smelled expensive: a crisp blend of cedar, cool sandalwood, and something unmistakably masculine.

Hali reached blindly toward where her nightstand should have been, fumbling for her phone to check the time. Her hand found neither wood nor plastic. Instead, her palm landed on something warm. Something solid.

It moved with the slow rise and fall of a breath.

𝘑𝗈і𝗻 𝘰𝗎𝗿 𝘤𝘰𝘮m𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗍𝘆 on 𝗴𝗮𝗹nov𝗲𝘭𝘴.с𝘰m

Hali froze. Her heart hammered against her ribs like a frantic bird trapped in a cage. Her fingers registered the texture of skin, the firmness of muscle, the coarse hair of a man’s chest.

Her eyes snapped open.

The room was vast, bathed in the soft gray light of a Manhattan morning. But Hali didn’t look at the floor-to-ceiling windows or the modern art on the walls. Her gaze was locked on the man sleeping beside her.

Sleep had relaxed his face, softening the usually sharp line of his jaw, but there was no mistaking him. His dark hair, normally styled to perfection, lay tousled against the white pillowcase.

Ezra Gardner.

Her boss. The CEO of Gardner Holdings. The man who could fire her with a snap of his fingers.

The memories of the previous night crashed over her like a tidal wave. The charity gala. The endless flutes of champagne she had downed to numb the boredom. The elevator ride where the air had suddenly grown too thin. The heat of his hand on her waist. The quiet click of the penthouse door closing behind them, sealing her fate.

Panic, cold and sharp, flooded her veins. She stopped breathing. This was a catastrophe. This was the end of her career. If Irving found out…

Irving. She squeezed her eyes shut. She had called him three times last night, and he hadn’t answered. That was why she had drunk the champagne. That was why she was here.

She had to leave. Now, before he woke up.

Hali moved with painstaking slowness, inching away from the warmth of his body. Her limbs felt heavy and uncooperative. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed, her feet sinking into a plush carpet that probably cost more than her student loans.

She searched the room for her clothes. Her dress, a vintage piece she had altered herself to pass for a designer gown, lay in a heap near the door. It was ruined, the zipper torn and the fabric split at the seam. A visceral memory of Ezra’s hands tearing it off her flashed through her mind, and her face burned.

She couldn’t wear that. She was naked, stranded in the lion’s den without any armor.

A sound from across the room made her jump. The bathroom door clicked open.

Hali grabbed the silk sheet and yanked it up to her chin, scrambling backward until she hit the headboard. She felt like a cornered animal.

Ezra stepped out of the bathroom. He was awake. Alert. There was no trace of sleep in his eyes, only a terrifying clarity. A black towel rode low on his hips, and water droplets clung to his broad shoulders before tracking down the defined ridges of his abdomen. He moved with a stiff, controlled grace, the towel falling far enough to cover his upper legs entirely, leaving nothing on display but muscle. His presence filled the room and seemed to drain the oxygen from the air.

He looked at her. His expression was unreadable as his dark eyes swept over her, clutching the sheet. He didn’t look embarrassed. He didn’t look regretful. He looked like he was sitting in a boardroom meeting.

“Good morning, Hali.” His voice was a low rumble, rough from sleep but steady.

Hali opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She cleared her throat, and when she finally spoke, her voice trembled. “Mr. Gardner. I… this was… I need to leave.”

Ezra didn’t answer right away. He walked past the bed, his movements fluid yet careful, and headed toward the massive walk-in closet. He disappeared inside for a moment and returned carrying a garment bag and a box.

He set them at the foot of the bed.

“Wear these,” he said.

Hali stared at the logo on the box. Chanel. She looked back at him, confusion warring with panic.

Ezra leaned against the dresser and crossed his arms over his bare chest. “Given the events of last night, and my position, we need to discuss the path forward.”

Hali blinked. “What?”

“Marriage,” Ezra said.

The word hung in the air, heavy and absurd.

Hali let out a choked, hysterical laugh. “Excuse me?”

Ezra’s face remained impassive. “A scandal involving the CEO and a junior assistant would damage the stock price, especially while a vital, confidential brand acquisition is in a sensitive stage of negotiation. A sudden marriage, however, can be spun as a whirlwind romance. It stabilizes the board. It solves the PR crisis before it begins.”

Hali stared at him. He was discussing their night together, a night in which he had touched her in ways that made her burn just thinking about them, as if it were a line item on a quarterly report.

“That’s insane,” she whispered. “I’m not marrying you for a stock price.”

Ezra tilted his head slightly. “It’s a contract. A business arrangement. You’ll be compensated.”

“I have a boyfriend,” Hali blurted out.

– Continue in A One Night With My Billionaire Boss  chapter 1 –