Going Down Hard (Billionaire Bad Boys 3)

He shook his head. Derek was all about protecting his family, and refusing interviews accomplished that. He didn’t think Cassie would be any more interested in digging into his humble beginnings than he was in disclosing them. Not when it meant revealing that her parents had been his parents’ employers.

The story was ugly for both of them, as he assumed she knew, and he doubted she’d want her parents’ names dragged into the article by revisiting the past. And though he knew he could get her to focus on his successes, once she published her piece, it was only a matter of time before another journalist dug deeper and discovered more. His father had been through enough.

“I’m sorry but I can’t.”

She rose to her feet and met his gaze head on. “So why agree to see me? Did you want to humiliate me in exchange for what I did to you when we were younger?”

“What? No. That wasn’t it at all.”

Her shoulders rolled inward. “I wouldn’t blame you any more than I blame you for not wanting to do an interview with me … but there is something I want to say before I go.”

He raised an eyebrow and waited.

“I’m sorry,” she blurted out.

He shook his head, certain he’d heard wrong. “Excuse me?”

“I’m sorry for what I said all those years ago.” Her cheeks burned not with embarrassment but shame.

He saw the regret in her eyes, and he could not have been more surprised.

She twisted her hands anxiously in front of her. “I have no

excuse except that I was young and susceptible to peer pressure. I didn’t mean what I said.”

“Didn’t you?” His voice came out harsher than he’d intended, and she flinched at his angry tone.

“What?” she asked.

“Didn’t you mean what you said? Or are you saying you would have been happy to take me home to your father?”

Her throat moved up and down. “No. He wouldn’t approve. But I never should have said as much in front of you. And you can believe me or not, but I am sorry. I’ve regretted that day for years.”

He softened toward her for the first time.

She shifted and picked her purse up from the floor by her chair. “I see now why the interview is a bad idea. Thank you for hearing me out.” She started for the door, her chin held high.

He reached out and grabbed her arm. “Cassie, wait,” he said, suddenly struggling between letting go of the anger toward the girl she’d been in the past and forgiving the woman she was now. That woman called to him on a primal, baser level. As a man, he wanted her.

She turned slowly and glanced down at where his hand remained. “We’re back on first names now?”

Her skin was so soft beneath his fingers, and he immediately released her. “We are. And I accept your apology.”

Because her admission humbled her and showed him a side he hadn’t anticipated existed. It gave him pause. Made him want to know more about this enigmatic woman who vacillated between discomfort and calm, embarrassment and confidence.

“Have dinner with me on Friday,” he said, the words tumbling out before he could think them through.

“I don’t think so,” she said, glancing down, not meeting his gaze.

“Why not?” He leaned forward, forcing her to glance up. “You can use the time to try and convince me to change my mind.” He was intrigued by her, her honesty he’d never seen coming. And he desired her too.

“Why the sudden change of heart?”

“You pique my interest,” he said honestly. “So what do you say?”

She sighed, a smile pulling at her full, sexy lips. “You’re persistent.”

“I can be … when I want something.” And he realized, despite the years that had passed, he still wanted her.