Page 43 of Quarantined with the Billionaire

Moving my hands from his back to his chest, I left them pressed against his body as if ready to push him away at a moment’s notice. “Sweet dreams, Maddox.”

My lips wouldn’t curl up in a smile. It was like they’d forgotten how. But I could feel my eyes smoldering, giving away the fire he’d ignited inside my body.

And if I didn’t go to my bedroom right this second, I wouldn’t win the battle, much less the war I was fighting with my heart.

“Sweet dreams, Bailey.”

As I closed the door, he was the last thing I saw.

* * *

I couldn’t sleep. Maddox had seen to that. Visions of him swirled through my brain while my body replayed the sensations aroused by the kiss.

Replayed them over and over and over.

Finally, I couldn’t ignore my cravings any longer. And any resistance I’d put up had long since dissolved.

I was a woman with needs and only Maddox could satisfy them.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I questioned myself one last time but picked myself up as if there had been no reluctance at all.

When I opened the door, I halfway expected to see him standing there, looking debonair and absolutely gorgeous, anything and everything I desired. Instead, outside my room was quiet and almost completely dark, the tiny lights that had shone on the floor the night before nowhere to be seen. I tiptoed along the path toward his door, feeling relief to see a little light shining out from underneath it.

If he’d lit a fire, that might have been what I was seeing. But I was hoping against hope that he wasn’t asleep.

I rapped on the door lightly—enough that, if he were awake, he’d know what he was hearing but, if he were asleep, it wouldn’t awaken him. I’d forgotten that he’d heard me yelling through the doors last night, so he was either a light sleeper or often stayed up fairly late.

“Come in.”

Gulping down a deep breath, I found hidden reserves buried deep inside, ones I’d forgotten I had. You don’t spend years of your childhood dodging predators without learning how to push through fear.

I opened the door, slowly at first. I don’t know what I’d expected to see.

But what I did see took my breath away. Maddox was lying in bed, sheet down to his waist, a hardcover book in one hand. His musculature made me almost want to cry. As beautiful as a sculpture, seeming as smooth as marble, his body made me want to touch it all over, feel that sinew and flesh with my fingertips, burning it into my sense memory.

I went mute as the enormity of my emotions took away my ability to do anything.

“Are you having nightmares again?”

I’d toyed with the idea of just stripping off my clothes right then and there, but I suddenly felt naked already. What would I have to offer this man that he hadn’t already had? He was a decade older than I, far more successful than I could ever be, owned more than I ever would.

I was just one of his lowly customer service workers, one of thousands of women who worshipped him when, just days ago, I’d despised him. What the hell was happening to me?

“Bailey, are you all right?”

Desperation does funny things to a person. It makes you skew your view of the world, causing you to see everything in black and white. And so, right now, Maddox had gone from enemy to knight. Being cooped up with him for just a day had caused me to look at him in a new light.

If I was smart, I’d tell him to never mind. I’d run to my room and do whatever it took to make myself fall asleep and forget this man.

But I couldn’t. I wanted him.

Needed him.

No one else would do. Nothing else would do.

When I found my voice, it was far too quiet. “No, I’m not okay.”

He sat up, and that only made it worse. His muscles were highlighted even further by the dimmed lighting in the room. “What’s wrong?”

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