Love and War with the Billionaire

Mila held his stare with one to match. In the dim light by the door, he could make out the fire behind them. He’d never miscalculated this badly. He did mean he liked a challenge. On the other hand, he hated wasting time.

Maddox finally let go of a smile mostly because he wasn’t sure how else to handle this. He could walk away and let this go. After all, he’d given it his best shot. Mila was just determined to not like him.

Mila gave him a humorless smile in return. “Are we done here?” she asked.

Maddox rubbed his lips together. “I think so.”

Mila nodded. “Then I’ll say goodnight.”

Before he could reply, she shut the door.

Maddox ran a hand down his face. Now that he’d failed miserably, it was probably time to go home.

Mila stomped back inside–now fuming. Before Maddox showed up, she’d been in a daze over Jackson’s kiss. And not so much the kiss itself as the shock that he had kissed her.

She’d never known what Jackson wanted and she’d never known what she wanted either. And that had now only become worse. She never expected him to kiss her tonight. He’d never ventured in that direction before.

But Maddox had slapped the confusion right out of her. Did he really expect her to fall for his flattery? He seemed confident that she would and then puzzled when it didn’t work. Mila took that to mean it usually did work, which was frightening.

As she crashed on her bed trying to calm down, her mother called again.

Mila stared at the phone screen. Her mother was the last person she wanted to talk to right now. Especially after talking to her earlier.

After letting it ring a couple more times, Mila finally broke down and answered. “Hello?” she said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster.

“Pack,” her mother commanded.

Mila sighed. “I’m not in the mood for games tonight.” Was that why Jackson suddenly kissed her? Was he playing games?

“This isn’t a game,” her mother snapped. “I’m telling you to pack.”

“Pack for what?” Mila asked indifferently as she stared at her chipped ceiling. She was used to her mother’s whims, but her patience was running thin that night.

“Danny is taking us to Hawaii!” her mother exclaimed.

“Surely he’s just taking you.” Right then, Mila wasn’t in the mood to even think about such a thing.

Her mother tsked. “Of course you’re invited. You’re my daughter. Now pack your best clothes. We’re staying in a resort owned by Maddox’s company.”

A jolt of panic shot through her body. “Why there?”

“Why not? Danny tells me it’s one of the most luxurious resorts there. And who knows? Maybe the CEO himself will make an appearance!” Her mother practically twittered in excitement.

That’s what Mila was afraid of. But she couldn’t tell her mother how she’d blown off Maddox Cross minutes ago. “Sounds delightful.”

“It will be. Especially if you adjust that mood of yours.” She clicked her tongue. “You’ll scare off any decent catch with that mouth.”

Mila pressed her lips tight. Part of her desperately wanted to shout that that mouth of hers had been kissed that night by a young, handsome, wealthy man. But that wasn’t a great idea.

“I’ll start packing immediately, okay?” Mila said.

And she meant it. Packing distracted her from bouncing between confusion over Jackson’s kiss to irritation at Maddox’s assumption that she would fall into his arms without a second thought.

Then she would panic that she’d run into Maddox Cross in Hawaii.

But that was absurd. Maddox Cross was in New York now. And there was no reason to think he’d be in Hawaii at the same time.

That weekend they flew to Honolulu on Danny’s private jet. Her mother excitedly gave her a tour and Mila pretended to care. It was impressive despite her best efforts not to be impressed. But she still wasn’t as thrilled as her mother.

And this is why Danny’s kids hate us,Mila thought.

Danny sat back and laughed as her mother dragged her to see the bedroom. But Mila only felt uncomfortable riding on Danny’s money.

The long flight was more pleasant though. Once they settled down, it gave Mila a lot of time to mull over Jackson’s kiss. She’d been too busy to worry about it much since it happened. She had no way to contact Jackson and he hadn’t contacted her since then. And she was worried that she was doing a lot of thinking for nothing.

After a couple of days at the resort, Mila relaxed. There was nothing she could do about Jackson, and she quickly forgot about Maddox Cross.

As she walked back into the hotel with her mother and Danny that afternoon though, Danny exclaimed at seeing someone he knew.

It took a second before Mila saw him, but then Maddox Cross came into view.