Page 6 of Billion-Dollar Dating Game

Of all the people to startle her into a completely humiliating position... All she could hope now was that he’d not recognise her. The odds had to be in her favour given it had been years since the last time they’d crossed paths, and right now she was out of context, what with her heavy make-up and a slinkier-than-usual dress and please, please, please let him be so sated with so many women they’d all merged into one and he’d never remember the girl he’d once kissed in a cold stairwell early on a Saturday morning...

‘You know the cherries aren’t anywhere near ripe.’ He stood three feet away, taking her in with a sweeping, sardonic gaze that went from her tangled hair to her silver-sandaled feet.

His attention made her very aware of her vulnerability—her raised arms made her dress cling even more to parts of her figure. Parts that all of a sudden tightened with pure chemical awareness. She dropped her hands to her sides with a slap and glared at him.

‘What are you doing out here?’ he repeated softly. ‘Were you trying to find me?’

‘Of course not,’ she snapped. Even though she was here to doexactlythat, it was still so arrogant of him to assume. ‘I had no idea anyone was out here. I was just—’ She broke off as she realised he was still looking her over in that slow, deliberate way, and it felt toointimate. Suddenly it didn’t matter what she was doing or why she was here; she just needed to escape. ASAP. ‘Are you going to help me or just stand there being entertained by my suffering?’

He moved closer. The light stubble on his jaw didn’t mask the honed angles beneath and while his mouth was curved in an annoying smirk, his pale blue eyes gleamed with rapier-sharp scrutiny.

Skylar could meet that intense gaze for only so long before she had to lower her lashes. He was wearing black tailored trousers and a white dress shirt, which was unbuttoned at both the collar and sleeves. Indeed, those sleeves were rolled back, revealing strong, sinewy forearms. She gritted her teeth but still her traitorous pulse skipped every other beat as she remembered the strength in his arms. He was a jerk but her stupid body didn’t seem to care. It was almost a decade ago, for heaven’s sake. It wasnotyesterday.

‘You’re actually, seriously caught?’ he asked sceptically.

‘Obviously, or I’d have run away the second you appeared,’ she muttered.

‘Really?’ He looked arrogantly disbelieving.

‘Yes, really.’

‘And somehow it’s all my fault?’ he murmured.

Quite. She’d seriously underestimated the impact of seeing him again, and now here she was—stuck—but feeling that same insanity she’d felt every time she’d been in his presence. Her tongue was tied, her mind was mince and prickly heat spread across her skin.

Summon anger.

Unfortunately, anger didn’t show up. She simply stared into his striking eyes while thoughts of fallen angels and devilish temptations flitted in and out of her scattered brain. Seconds became centuries. Everything slowed as deep inside something fizzed, bubbling higher and higher and hotter and hotter. She had to be ill. Surely. Sudden onset of a strange virus.

‘Are you going to help me?’ She eventually croaked out another request, because all he seemed to be doing was staring right back at her and standing as still as she was.

‘I’m working out the best strategy to extract you from this disaster.’

‘I thought you were meant to be a genius.’

His pale blue eyes lit and that was almost the end of her—spontaneous combustion imminent. She closed her eyes. Shecouldn’tbe feeling this. Nope. Not over Zane. Not again. She wasnotsixteen and full of impossible fantasy now.

Sheknewhim—remember? She knew how cold he really was inside. How quickly, how easily he could walk away. He did not care about anything or anyone—

She dragged in a breath but was further intoxicated by the subtle scents of salt and musk and something a touch rougher. Whisky. Every sense ignited. Desperately she stood stock-still, held her breath and kept her eyes screwed shut.

‘Skylar?’ he murmured huskily. ‘You still with me?’

Oh,hell. Her eyes flashed open. So did her jaw. Of course her hope that he wouldn’t remember her would be futile. He probably had one of those eidetic memories with every minuscule detail of his life stored inside his annoyingly intelligent brain.

‘What, did you think I didn’t recognise you?’ His eyes widened—almost revealing pique. ‘Of course I recognised you...’

He raked his gaze down her yet again, taking in the delicate ribbon straps at the base of her neck. The halter-neck style meant she was unable to wear a bra beneath it—though to be fair she didn’t really need a bra. But as his gaze swept down her, she felt her breasts respond again as if his glance were actually a stroke. Infuriated with herself, she willed her gaze to be more of a slap back. But when he lifted his focus back to her eyes, his smile merely widened from smirk to blindingly gorgeous.

‘Just as you recognise me,’ he added.

Well duh, of course she did. He was currently wallpapering the internet—one billionaire catch of the day. But okay, yes, it was because she’d spent most of her adult life trying to forget him.

Such things were impossible.

‘We lived in the same apartment complex as kids,’ he said conversationally as he stepped closer.

She struggled to retain her composure, glad he’d opted for that detail, not the fact they’d once been smashed together, frantically kissing against the wall of said apartment complex. Maybe he’d forgotten that had even happened. She could only hope. ‘That’s a long time ago now.’

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