Page 178 of The Billionaires

My heart squeezes painfully. It doesn’t like that idea even a little bit.

Must think of something else. For example, there was something that happened last night that was also not consistent with us being nemeses—Bruce seemed pretty upset at the idea of me getting hurt. Or was he just reluctant to get sued?

No. He’s got enough money to get sued by a million of me.

Okay, so if we’re not nemeses, what are we? A one-night stand? Probably. But, purely hypothetically, could we have more than an employee and boss relationship?

It’s scary how easy that is to imagine. I mean, I don’t trigger his misophonia, which seems huge. And the sex was out of this world—and I could tell he felt that too. We love the same dog and are crazy about The Witcher, even if in different formats. He’s brutally honest, and I hate lies—which works well. I can’t cook even under gunpoint, but he has a chef and likes to cook on top of that. Also?—

The loud ringing of a phone plunges me right back to earth.

Bruce wakes up and reaches for the annoying thing. “Hello?” His tone implies, “This had better be important.”

“Here?” he asks. “Already?”

Hanging up, he curses creatively, then turns to me. “For some unfathomable reason, my parents took a red-eye. They’ve just passed the security gate.”

Hmm… Does that mean now would be a bad time to ask him what last night meant to him? Assuming I can puzzle out what it meant to me first.

Bruce leaps off the bed and rushes to get dressed. I do the same. As I’m pulling on my nightie, it hits me. “I didn’t walk Colossus in the middle of the night,” I say guiltily. “He probably had an accident.”

“No. I walked him,” Bruce says as he buttons his shirt.

“You did?”

He nods. “I happened to wake up to go to the bathroom around three.”

“You should’ve woken me. It’s my job and all.”

He gives me an inscrutable look. “You were sleeping very soundly.”

“You watched me sleep?” And why is that hot instead of creepy?

“Anyway,” he says. “If you had taken him, he might’ve thought you were trying to keep him away from my room and gotten upset again.”

I bite my lip. “That’s pretty plausible.”

“I’m going to go greet my folks,” Bruce says and heads for the door. Over his shoulder, he adds, “You might want to be wearing more by the time you meet them.”

I blush. Wearing more—no shit. I turn to head to my room, but spot Colossus opening his eyes and wagging his tail.

“Hi,” I say to him. “How did you sleep?”

He turns on his back, demanding a belly scratch.

The honor of petting me will cost you a cookie. No, two cookies. Actually, three would be even better.

He follows me to my room and watches with curiosity as I make myself presentable enough to meet Bruce’s whole family. When I’m almost done, I notice Colossus sniffing the leg of my bed suspiciously.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” I say sternly and grab him. “Time for your walk.”

As we sneak to the garage, I overhear voices exclaiming their greetings to Bruce. I hurry out before the puppy has an accident. When we’re back, Colossus runs into the house and I follow—to the kitchen, as it turns out.

At the entrance to the kitchen, Colossus stops and cocks his head. I’m about to ask him what’s wrong when I hear Bruce say, “No, we’ll talk after breakfast. I have a meeting.”

“Is this about our loud chewing again?” a petulant feminine voice asks, causing the dog to look at me with a confused expression. “I thought that with your income, you’d have fixed your issue… somehow.”

“Your chewing isn’t loud,” Bruce says. “But I still can’t tolerate it.”

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