Page 36 of Billionaire Devil

Colton’s quiet for a few seconds and I’m glad. Maybe for once he’ll let it go. But then: “How are you planning on seducing the fucker?”

His sudden low fury as he says the word catches me off-guard. It’s almost like he’s…jealous. But that would be ridiculous. “I have no intention of seducing anyone and I’d prefer to talk about something—anything—else. The sky is so clear,” I point out hopefully. “Look how many stars you can see.”

“What if you get to the wedding and he’s there and you find all those old feelings resurface? Then what?”

“Yay, we’re back to my least favorite topic.” I give him a look I hope will stop him from obsessing about this again. “I don’t have old feelings and I don’t want to talk about this.”

“If you don’t have feelings then why do you cry about him every time you get drunk?”

“Oh my god. Idon’t.”

“Well, you sure fucking did last night.”

I set my glass of champagne on the edge of the hot tub. I’m very close to getting out. I’ve explicitly asked him at least ten times not to keep fixating on this incessantly. The one thing stopping me from storming to the only bed that we still haven’t discussed who’s sleeping in is the fact that I’m not wearing any clothes. And Colton’s eyes definitely aren’t closed now.

“And now you’re driving clear across the country to see him again. You can’t tell me you’re over him.”

“Do we really have to do this again?God, Colton.” Here he goes again, getting under my skin like he’s so good at doing. “I’m completely over him, thank you very much, andallI’m doing is going to my best friend’s wedding, like I’ve already explained a gazillion times!”

“You blush whenever you talk about him.”

“I donotblush!” Fuck it, heislike a goddamn therapist—if the devil was a psychoanalyst. “You know what, fine, Colton. Let’s unpack the entire scenario in the excruciating detail you seem to crave.IfI get there andifall the old feelings resurface, which I highly doubt they will because it’s been a long time since I even thought about him and I’ve absolutely moved on, then…I’ll talk to him. I’ll gauge the situation with the information I have available to me and the emotions driving me in that moment—and I alreadyknowwhat the emotions will be because I’ve been feeling them for more than a year: that I’M. OVER. HIM. And I’ll confirm that when—if—I see him at the wedding and then I’ll get on with the rest ofmylife. Get it?Mylife.”

“What if he offers to take you back to his hotel after the wedding?”

“He won’t. He’s bringing a date.”

“What if he ditches the date and wants you instead?”

“I’d say no, of course.”

“I don’t think you would. Admit it. You’re still in lovewith him and you’d jump into bed with him at one click of his fucking fingers.”

I take my half-full glass of champagne and I throw it in his face.

In shock, I stand there in the hot tub for a few seconds. I can’t believe I just did that. I’ve never done anything like that in my life.

Colton blinks his eyes, his eyelashes spiked with moisture. Little jewel-drops drip down his face. He hasn’t moved. His grin isn’t exactly amused and it isn’t exactly dark but something in between. Like a lion who smiles before it’s about to devour its prey. “Good girl, Bailey. You just broke through one of your barriers. Reacting is good. It’s how you get over things.”

“I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry. I’m going to go out to the RV now.”

“Let’s finish our conversation first.”

“It’s already finished!”

“There’s nothing wrong with being in love with him.”Damn him. He’s absolutely relentless.“Maybe he’s changed his ways and this is the timeline that was meant to be all along.”

I roll my eyes. “I think we both know that’s not true.” Patiently: “I’m not in love with him. At all. I’d completely forgotten about him until Jessie called me. Last night’s gush was just a knee-jerk reaction to an old scar.”

“Exactly. A scar you never dealt with.”

I realize I’m standing, with my hands fisted on my hips, exactly where the level of the waterline is. Nice. I’m practicallyyelling at Colton Maddox with my barely-covered breasts on full display, no doubt bouncing with my indignation. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of watching me stomp away like he’s won, so instead I sit down into the water again, letting the jets attempt to soothe me. I sigh deeply, pretending he hasn’t affected me as much as he does.

Why do I always indulge him? And how is he able to dig out my deepest wounds and darkest confessions so easily?

I lean my head against the padded rim and let my eyes close.

“Maybe you just want to find out what it’s like, and he’s the only one you’ve ever thought of like that. So your subconscious is fixated on a ghost who never actually existed.”

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