confident, curvaceous, cut-throat.no one would ever mistake polite poppy greer for one of the all-female agents in their covert branch of deadly operatives. she works with data, hidden behind a desk she hardly ever leaves for lunch -- let alone dangerous field work.but poppy is the only physical match for the girl intelligence needs someone to impersonate.going under cover in her first mission is intimidating enough, but to make matters worse, the event she's attending is billed as "an immersive experience for wealthy men with particular, intimate proclivities." to find their suspect, poppy's going up for auction. as a pretend submissive.so what on earth is her rival doing there amongst the bidders?the one man she hates. the colleague who constantly undermines her. the adversary who belittles her whenever he deigns to fly across the pond and grace the american offices with his presence...how cruel that he mysteriously emerges as the winning bidder. of her. for an entire week.now, he says they must not only work together to find their suspect, they must pretend to enjoy one another in this dark dynamic... both in front and behind closed doors.********summary: this is a slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance with pretend/fake dating. it is also a dark romance with steamy scenes beginning in part ii through the end. please be advised that, although this is primarily a romantic suspense, it is also a dark romance.