Page 17 of Baby for My Billionaire Rival

“Plus, you’re clearly already working together much better than you’ve given yourself credit for,” Fig says.

I suddenly deeply regret trying to cover for Caroline’s lie.Stupid, stupid, stupid.

“I suggest you two take this time before class to figure out how you’re going to sort things out between yourselves. This is an important project and you should both want to give yourself as good a shot at it as possible to really get this right,” Fig says. “I have faith in both of you.”

Neither Caroline nor I move a muscle.

“Now, go.”

Caroline and I both mutter profuse “thank yous” despite the fact we’ve just been handed a relative death sentence to our academic careers, and both head for the door at the same time. Our shoulders careen together and we both gasp.

Fig laughs. She must be some evil sorceress who enjoys our pain.

“After you,” I say with a tight jaw.

Caroline exits first and I follow, shutting the door behind me.

The two of us walk in silence, side by side. I keep thinking of things to say and then deciding against it.

Suddenly, Caroline stops. “Okay, we have to figure this out.”

“I agree,” I reply.

“Like immediately,” she says, a very serious expression on her face.

“Like, okay.”

Caroline looks at me with disgust. “Seriously? You’re going to make fun of me right now?”

“It was…” A poorly-timed joke. I sigh and click the heels of my work boots together. “I’m sorry. I haven’t gotten used to the idea we actually have to get along yet.”

“Yeah, well me either,” she grumbles before heading off down the hallway.

My eyes catch on the way her jeans cup her ass cheeks and that horniness I was trying to avoid earlier creeps up again.No, no, no, no,I chant to myself as I jog to catch up with her. “Okay, okay, truce.”

Caroline stops but doesn’t look at me.

“Truce. Seriously. “I hold my hand out to her.

She eyes it. “You’re not going to mean to me again, are you?”

I frown.

“The last time you gave me a handshake you said you weren’t here to make friends.”

“A handshake doesn’t mean we have to be friends. We have to bebusiness partners. That’s different.”

“What could be more intimate than being business partners?” Caroline asks, her loose waves bobbling like she just asked the most innocent question in the book.

I can think of several thingsmore intimatethan being business partners. I will my brain not to imagine her fingernails digging into my bare shoulders.

“That came out wrong.”

Came.

Oh my God, I have to get laid. Soon. “Just shake my damn hand, Gladstone.”

She huffs, lips pouting, but grabs my hand eventually. We shake. “No more being assholes to each other.”

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