Yield to Me

The only thing I ever wanted was to prove my father wrong by achieving my dreams—not by becoming a doctor like he was, but by becoming a successful artist, like my mother wanted to be. Even if I have to take care of my wine drenched mother, ace classes at the Foundation, mingle at gallery openings, and serve late night lattes on the Broadway Strip, all while working on my art—one way or another, I will be a successful sculptor. And I’ll do it by myself.
But then I met Owen Lowell, the irritatingly smart, charismatic, most wanted bachelor in San Francisco with a shady past. Not only is he a millionaire businessman—not my type—but he insists on helping me, as if I need his help. I kept declining his assistance and erotic invitations until he showed me a side of the city I had never seen before, deeply violent and sadistic facets that sparked my muse. His desire to manipulate me, to use my deepest fears against me, to find things I didn’t know about myself, became hard to resist. And then I looked into his dark green eyes and knew he saw everything inside of me.
I told myself that as long as we were never romantic, he would never hurt me.
As long as we kept to the rules.
As long as he didn’t get in the way of my dreams.