Kipp Llewellyn, the proverbial poor little rich boy, can have whatever he wants, except the one thing he wants most: his father’s love. When the opportunity arises to obtain it, Kipp jumps at the chance, even though it means breaking a date with “Ham,” the man he’s sure he’s falling in love with. However, the opportunity turns out to be an arranged marriage with his father’s biggest competitor. Even worse, Kipp discovers his proposed groom is Hyde Wyndham, the man of his dreams. Having lived in a gilded cage his entire twenty-one years, Kipp refuses to settle for anything less than love and walks away from both his father and his future husband. Hyde didn’t achieve his position in the financial world by taking no for an answer, however, and he’ll do whatever it takes to make Kipp realize he’s wanted for himself, including wooing the young man he intends to marry, prenuptial agreements be damned. He’s certain he’s succeeded, until Kipp learns something that puts an insurmountable barrier between them. Will Hyde be able to overcome Kipp’s doubts, and will Kipp realize that some things are worth the sacrifice?

Two Lips, Indifferent Red

Hunter paused in the doorway and beamed at me. He was a big man who looked like he should have been on the football field taking down offensive linemen rather than helping wealthy women change the décor of their living rooms, but he was also the sweetest-tempered person I’d ever met. And he was damned good at what he did. In fact, I wanted to be him when I grew up.


“Finish up those vases, all right?”


He took Ham into his office and closed the door, and I sighed again and went back to work.


And so it went: he’d come into the shop, greet me, and tease me. It almost felt as if he was flirting with me, but I couldn’t let myself even consider that someone as gorgeous as he would be interested in a sophomore at Armand U. Or a junior, as I was now.


Chapter 8