Page 103 of Rosabel and the Billionaire Beast

The shopkeeper smiled encouragingly and handed the hat over to her. Rosabel took the hat and, using the small mirror on the desk beside the register, positioned it on her head.

She looked adorable. The shopkeeper was right—the hat really made her eyes pop.

“I will have Wesley provide you with a hat box for storage, ma chérie.”

The shopkeeper passed the second hat to Wesley, who took it through the door behind the register. Moments later, he returned with two glamorous, white boxes in hand, each tied off with a red bow.

“So good to see you,” Wesley said, angling around to walk us out of the store. “Seriously, hit me up while you’re in town. We could catch a ghost tour or something.”

“Ooo,” Rosabel said. “That sounds interesting.”

“We’ll see,” I said.

The last thing I wanted was to walk around fully exposed in Eureka Springs at night. I wasn’t sure why, but my uncertainty increased with every step we took to the door.

I still didn’t like that Wesley knew we were here. He didn’t have any connection with Ulrich that I knew of, but warning still settled into my gut.

“Trolley time?” I suggested, heavier hat box in hand while she carried her empty one.

“Sounds good,” she said, swinging the box at her side.

Alonetime was more like it. I wanted her away, far away out of the public eye, from pacts and past stupidity before it could come back to bite me.

Then again, after the day we’d had together, being alone with Rosabel was probably not the best idea, either.

TWENTY-SEVEN

rosabel

Duncan’s gazewhen he insisted on buying me the hat wouldn’t leave me alone. His eyes had been filled with both riddles and confessions. He’d given me that look before, in his office, when I’d had the sensation of being watched only to turn and find his attention on me.

Realization had dawned over me like a sunrise in that moment. As wrong as even he had admitted it had been, Duncan’s gruffness had been an effort toprotect mefrom the office gossip.

Now that we were back at the lake house, I lay on my cushy bed and stared at the white hat box on the dresser. The minute we’d returned, I’d placed the hat there for safekeeping and settled onto my bed, staring at the designs on the ceiling, needing time to process the befuddling, bewitching afternoon.

My pulse thrummed in my stomach. For me, knowing someone cared about me made me that much more aware of him in return. After his revelations earlier, and the way my mind recalled clues I’d previously ignored, I couldn’t deny the reality any longer:

Duncan Hawthorne, my beastly boss, was into me.

He had been for a while now, I’d guess. And I’d been completely oblivious.

Now that I knew? I wasn’t sure what I was going to do about it.

Living in the same house didn’t help. I had so many questions. I wanted to make it up to him for judging him so badly—but honestly, what was I supposed to think?

I’d thought he was heartless. To be fair, there had been times when he’d acted like Linus Larabee fromSabrina,the world’s only living heart donor.

But the truth was, I liked him, too.

I hadn’t wanted to. I’d fought my attraction to him on a daily basis. Being around him had been a constant struggle. I’d managed by closing myself off from him as much as I possibly could.

What was I going to do now?

I sighed and rolled over onto my side, snatching a second pillow to hug to my chest. The pillow’s fabric was cold, and I pressed my cheek against it, hoping that would cool the flush in my skin.

But memories cascaded in, bashing into me from all sides. Stolen glances, the heat of his body close to mine. Admissions and kind words. His quiet gestures.

I hugged the pillow tighter, fighting the realization storming in on all sides. My body trembled, and I sat up, staring out at the dark sky through my window.

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