Page 13 of Billion-Dollar Dating Game

He frowned and gave it a shake and frowned. ‘I don’t know how we got grass stains...’ He lifted it higher so he could see it more clearly in the fading light. ‘Not grass. Blood.’

Horrified, Skylar bent her head, letting her hair hide her face and half her super-sensitive body while she took a deep breath.

But Zane spoke again before she could. ‘You have your period? Do you need me to get you some—’

‘I’m fine. It’s fine. I’m not—I don’t need anything.’ Except a magic wand with which to vanish. Instantly. Only they didn’t exist so she was going to have to bone up and deal with the reality. Bluntly. Honestly. Matter-of-factly. The man was so comfortable around women that he thought nothing of discussing something she found deeply personal.

‘But—’

‘I was a virgin,’ she blurted. ‘Don’t worry about it.’

‘A what?’ He stared at her and crushed the dress in his hands. ‘Awhat?’

She licked her lips nervously. ‘First-timer. Let’s forget it.’

‘You were a virgin?’ He snatched a breath and repeated it again. ‘Avirgin?’

Her annoyance returned. Which was good. ‘Say it again, you might understand it next time.’

‘A... You...’ He drew in another breath. ‘I’ve never taken anyone’s virginity.’ He stared down at her grimly.

‘I guess there’s a first for everything.’ She winced.

He dropped her dress back to the ground and ran his hand through his hair a couple times. ‘You shouldn’t have—what were youthinking?’

‘I wasn’t. Obviously. Same as you.’ She cleared her throat. ‘If it’s such an issue, just forget it ever happened.’

‘Forget?’He threw her an astounded look, which morphed to furious in a nanosecond.

She wasn’t sure why he was suddenly so angry. But as he stalked towards her, Skylar held her stance, crossing her arms but wincing inwardly at her nudity. He stopped three feet away, shrugged off his shirt and held it out to her.

‘Put it on,’ he ordered after a moment.

At her continued hesitation he grew more grim. ‘Do you really want to walk back through that party with all those people in a crumpled, stained dress and have absolutely everyone know exactly what we’ve been doing?’

She snatched the shirt from his hand and slid her arms into the sleeves. It was still warm from his body and it hung to her mid-thigh and it smelt of him and she shivered again. His jaw sharpened but he said nothing more.

She bent and picked up her bag. ‘I’ll—’

‘Come with me.’ His grip on her wrist was firm.

‘Come with youwhere?’ she demanded curtly. ‘I’m not going through that party like thiseither.’

‘Come with me to a “where” with privacy. A shower. Food.Drink.’ He muttered beneath his breath. ‘And more damned clothes.’

He led her through that garden to a different gap in the hedge, then walked up the path to the palatial house next door.

‘We can’t just walk into someone else’s house,’ she whispered, scandalised as he boldly led her up the path.

‘We’re not. We’ve been on my property this whole time.’

‘What?’

‘That orchard is on my side of the boundary and this is my house.’

She yanked her arm free of his hold and whirled to stare at him. ‘Since when is thisyourhouse?’

He simply sidestepped around her. ‘Since a month ago.’

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