Page 24 of The Billionaire's Beauty

“Yeah,” she says flatly. “He does.”

We consider each other for a moment in silence.

“He was acting like he might want to hook up again,” I confess. “This morning on the helicopter.”

“Really?” She claps her hands and hops up and down in what I consider an appropriate reaction to this momentous news. “So what’s the issue?”

“The issue is that I don’t want to get my heart smashed,” I say, annoyed that I need to explain this to her, of all people. “You know I’m not good at casual sex. Duh.”

“So get good. This is your chance to practice.”

I gape at her. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about you having a little fun. A summer fling before you leave for law school. You both enjoy yourselves while it lasts and get each other out of your systems. Then it ends when you leave. No harm, no foul.”

I frown. The idea does have some merit. I’ll give her that. My private lady parts are certainly excited about this plan.

“And you’re not worried about me getting my feelings all mixed up in this harebrained scheme of yours? Because, I gotta tell you, I am.”

“No,” Ella says with a laugh. “You’re going to separate them out. Sex over here. Feelings over there. Never the twain shall meet. Easy.”

“Easy for you to say,” I say darkly. “I’d better eat. I have to get back.”

“Think about what I said.”

“I will,” I say, and I do.

I think about it when I grab a quick plate of dinner and drink a furtive glass of wine. I think about it when I decide to take a few more quiet moments for myself, head back outside and wander over to the deserted and unlit gazebo. I think about it as the salty breeze cools my overheated face and ruffles my hair.

I especially think about it when Griffin silently joins me at the railing, his earthy scents of bergamot and cedar announcing his presence just before I feel the brush of his sleeve against my bare arm.

My heartbeat speeds up and seems to concentrate at the base of my throat.

“Hi,” he says quietly.

“Hi,” I say, keeping my attention fixed on the way the moonlight sparkles on the waves below.

“Nothing’s going on with me and, ah, that woman. There was, but not now.”

I feel a wild and inappropriate swoop of relief. Naturally, I try to put the kibosh on it as quickly as possible.

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me,” I say with as much nonchalance as I can manage, which is about a grain of sand’s worth. “Your personal life is none of my business.”

There’s a long pause, during which I can almost feel him weighing his words one by one and deciding which ones he wants to share.

“I’d like to change that.”

My heart stops as though it’s slammed into a brick wall. I make the mistake of turning to face him so I can gauge how serious he is, throwing myself into further turmoil. My gut feeling is that he’s serious enough to say or do anything that will get him laid again tonight, but not serious enough to want me to stick around for much longer than that. So I’m surprised to discover him watching me with this quiet intensity, the moonlight concentrating in his eyes.

I want to stand there forever, lost in the possibilities of this one arrested moment, but the jazz combo switches to an old song that’s always been a favorite of my father’s and, therefore, mine. Natalie Cole’s “I’ve Got Love on My Mind.”

Thanks, God. As if I needed anything to deepen my ambivalence or to make this scene any sexier.

He acts fast, probably sensing my weakness. Backing up a step, he extends his hand. I’d love to tell you that I did the smart and self-protective thing and went back to my duties at the party, but I’d be lying. I take his hand. Of course I do. He reels me all the way in. And the next thing I know, we’re dancing with our bodies pressed together without enough space between us for a shaft of moonlight to slip through as we sway. One of his arms wraps around my waist. One of my arms goes around his shoulders. The fingers of our free hands lace together. His lips rest against my temple as he murmurs to me.

“I can’t stop thinking about you, Bellamy. Does that make you happy?”

Like I’m gonna deny it.

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