Page 40 of Forking the Billionaire

I couldn’t believe my ears. I mean, of course there was no way anyone could possibly not appreciate the perfection of this place. But I was still a little shocked, and relieved, and awed? Whatever I felt, it was lightness in my chest, and it required an itty bitty victory dance.

Morgan chuckled. I smiled back at her.

Then I glanced over at Jasper, who was staring at the wall like a weirdo. What was he doing? Why wasn’t he over here oohing and ahhing like the occasion called for?

Morgan led Layana and Gabe to the biggest, flattest area. She gestured with her arms. “We need to work out all the logistics. I’m thinking no chairs. Can you imagine having to carry them up and down the claustrophobic path here?”

“Agreed,” Layana said. “We should only bring what we can carry easily, maybe use backpacks.”

I left them to it. Even though it made my chest tight, I wandered over to see what Jasper was doing, because apparently I couldn’t help myself. I mean, clearly he’d found something incredibly interesting in the wall there. Maybe it was diamonds growing in the volcanic rock.

And I had to tell him I wasn’t going to hang out with him later.

He glanced over his shoulder at me and his lips turned up on one side in one of his stupid charming smiles.

I wanted to ask why Jules had come along to just stand by herself. I wanted to ask why he’d brought her at all. But my mouth went dry and I found myself wanting to smile back at him, which was of course super dumb.

So instead of asking about his girlfriend or smiling, I flattened my lips and said, “YouBlair Witch-ing it over here?”

“Snotting while I walk in circles and flashing a light in my own face?” He touched his upper lip, eyes twinkling. “I don’t feel any snot.”

Don’t smile. He’s not funny. He’s not cute. He’s Jasper the Disaster.

“I meant staring into a corner to be creepy, but now that you mention it, you do look a little snotty.” There was no snot. He looked extra masculine, actually, with the shadows and blue light highlighting the strong lines of his face. He had a jaw carved of stone. Plus, not having his razor meant he had a bit of stubble that I imagined would prickle just right under my touch.

“It’s not really a corner. The wall is smooth and flat,” he said. “But that’s not what I’m looking at. Here.”

He offered me a folded piece of paper. It looked old, and like it had been wet, then dried weird.

I shot him a questioning look. I had no idea if he could make out my expression in the darkness.

“Take it. It’s not a trap,” he said.

“I didn’t think it was a trap until you said that,” I teased as I took the paper and shined my flashlight on it. It was an old pamphlet advertising a resort that didn’t exist. It took a moment, but then it clicked. “This is for the ruins.”

“Ruins?”

“There’s an old resort not too far outside the one where you’re staying,” I said. “It’s a hot mess, like the owner just gave up on repairs one day and left it to rot.”

“So you don’t know why it was abandoned?”

“Nope.”

Jasper rubbed his chin between his thumb and forefinger, reminding me of last night when I’d teased him about pinching the locker’s nips. And all of a sudden, my nips were hard. Definitely from the cool underground chill. It couldn’t be anything more. My traitorous body couldn’t react tohim.And ifit did, it had to be my hormones’ fault. I’d heard pregnancy could cause horniness, so ifJasperwas affecting me, anything with a penis could. Probably even a sea cucumber. It meant nothing.

“A dilapidated resort sounds like the perfect place for ghosts to hide,” Jasper said.

This was my chance to shut him down. This was my chance to say no.

Instead, I said, “Maybe.”

He leaned closer, his warm breath tickling against the side of my neck. “Tonight, we hunt.”

The deep but gentle sound of his voice made my skin prickle. Awareness washed across my nerves, heating me from the soles of my feet to the base of my neck. Worse, his wild scent filled my lungs. He smelled like a tropical lumberjack, masculine and rough with a touch of the sea and a hint of freshly washed sheets drying on a clothesline in the sun back home. My breath caught. It was definitely the hormones. Stupid hormones.

“You guys coming?” Layana called.

Coming? Not yet. He’d have to touch me first.

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