Page 34 of Baby for My Billionaire Rival

Caroline pushes me away. “Jake, we should talk.”

Dammit. She felt my erection. That’s embarrassing. I glance down at the swell in my boxers and step back. “Sorry, I wasn’t trying to start anything, it just kind of happens.”

She hands me a cup of coffee. “It’s not about that.”

Though we both hold coffee mugs, neither of us drinks from them. I’m confused. Unsettled. “Okay. What’s wrong?”

Caroline’s lips purse. “I thought we were on the same page.”

“About…?”

She takes a deep breath in. Exhales. Her eyes won’t meet mine. Shit, I’ve done something wrong. “Last night was a one-time thing. Right?”

I don’t expect my heart to tremble the way that it does. “I mean, if that’s what you want,” I say.

Caroline licks her upper lip. “It was great. Like I don’t want you to think I didn’t have a good time.”

“That’s good,” I say, desperate to make sure the sound of my heart breaking doesn’t come through in my words.

“But, you know, business and pleasure.”

Storm clouds collect on the kitchen ceiling, threatening to downpour. “They’re not a good mix,” I say coolly, then take a sip of the coffee which burns going down.

“Right, exactly.”

We are both quiet. I don’t have anything to say. She’s expressed a boundary and I’m not willing to beg, not after one night in bed together. Okay, fine, I’msuppressingmy desire to beg. Because what I feel for Caroline isn’t just about the sex. It’s about the way she looks at me and treats me like an equal when I still get sidelong glances from our other classmates. The way she laughs at my jokes, even my stupid ones. The fact I can andhavetrusted her with things I don’t tell people who aren’t my family.

Fuck it, I’ve been falling for her.

“We’re finally friends, Jake.”

Slap me in the face, why don’t you?

“And I don’t want to ruin that. When we have to work together and… I mean, we’ve got companies to run.” She says that with a little laugh that stabs me with how cute it is. “CEOs don’t make a good match, I don’t think.”

I am quiet for a moment too long. Caroline’s friendly smile starts to fade. But I can save this, I can manage. I clear my throat. “I totally agree.”

She breathes a sigh of relief.Relief. I have never wanted to disappear more in my life. “Good.Good. I’m glad.”

I hold up my coffee mug. “Cheers to friends, then.”

Caroline’s mug clinks mine. The closest thing I will probably get to a touch from now on. “Cheers.”

I can do this. I have all of Christmas break to recover, to push her out of my mind, and reset us into the zone of friendship we once had. Except I’m not sure weeverhad it.

Before Caroline and I were paired together, we were practically enemies. The second we stepped out of that space was the moment I became doomed to fall for her.

Now, I’m smashed up on the ground.

I can put the pieces back together though. I know I can.

The next time I see Caroline, I’ll be done with her. Over her. And that’s a lie I’ll tell myself until I believe it.

Chapter 11

Caroline

Christmas Eve at Gram’s has always been like stepping into a Christmas song. Boughs of holly decorating all the rooms, a Christmas tree worth rockin’ around, auld lang syne, whatever that really means.

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