Page 44 of Quarantined with the Billionaire

Taking two steps closer, I paused again. Even though he’d kissed me earlier, I expected him to toss me out of his room. Maddox Steel wasn’t the kind of man to let a woman make the moves. He’d take me when he was damned good and ready—and, I suspected, that would be after he’d completely fucked over my mind.

I knew where this was going—and yet I felt helpless to resist.

My mouth engaged before my brain could control anything else.

“The kiss earlier…”

When he cocked his head, I half expected him to smile. It was as if it was underneath the expression he wore right now. But there was no amusement on his face, no twinkle in his eyes. All I could see was a smoldering desire mirroring what was inside me.

But why? Where did it come from?

As he placed his book on the nightstand, I realized that none of those questions mattered—at least, not to my body.

I took another tentative step forward as he stood. Suddenly, he seemed to tower over me. I wanted to take him in from head to toe, but my peripheral vision registered the rest of him. He was wearing light gray pants. They were loose around him, and I wasn’t going to ogle his body, much as I wanted to.

His eyes were locked on mine as he took another step closer toward me. Unlike my moves, his weren’t tentative at all. Even though he approached me like one might a feral cat—so as not to scare me off—he moved with intent.

“Yes? What about the kiss?”

“Did you mean it?”

He closed the gap but still didn’t touch me. Although he was near enough that I could feel his body heat, my muscles began to tremble as if I’d been thrown out in the cold with nothing but the thin clothes I had on.

“It happened. Did you think it was a mistake?”

I swallowed, marveling at how I’d never felt this unsure about anything in my life before. “But did you mean it?”

When his hands touched my arms, I thought the heat would sear through my skin, leaving nothing left of me but ashes. Somehow, it felt cleansing.

“I thought you’d know at least that much about me now, Bailey.”

I swallowed a mouthful of saliva, biting down on my lower lip to keep it from trembling, forcing myself to look in his steely blue eyes.

They owned me.

“I never do anything half-assed. When I move, it is with intention. It’s the only way to live life.”

Was it his words or the way he’d said them that made my lips part as if gravity were pulling on the lower one? It was hard to draw the air down into my lungs, as if his presence created a vacuum.

“But you came in here for something. What was it?”

Somehow, his words—his damned philosophy, even—emboldened me…helped me find whatever it was I needed to push through.

“I came here for you.”

“Meaning?”

A small breath escaped my lips as I tried to find the words. I could never be as eloquent as this man, but maybe I didn’t need to be. He must have seen something in my heart, something that spoke to him, and if I couldn’t be open with him now, I would never figure out how. “I didn’t have a nightmare tonight. I’m not afraid. Not like last night.” Oh, I was afraid—of the feelings stirring inside me, of how this man had completely captivated me in such a short time.

How I’d fallen so far. This would be like sleeping with the enemy.

But I could no longer resist.

Closing my eyes, I drew in a long, deep breath, marveling at Maddox’s patience. When I blew the air out from between my lips, I stared into the two deep blue pools that had me mesmerized. “I came in here ready to strip myself naked.”

To offer him my body? As if I were a sacrifice?

No, it was more than that.

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