Mr. Bossy Devil (Alphalicious Billionaires Boss 2)

“All the bad things happen at night, hmm?”

“Not by a long shot. I don’t know. Maybe I watched something that scared the shit out of me when I was really little. I have no idea. I always just was. Kind of like how people are scared of spiders or snakes or things like that without having had anything bad happen to them.”

“But those are different. They’re creepy, slithery, and crawly. And even if they’re not poisonous, if they get on you, there’s a good chance they could kill you.”

“From a heart attack or hyperventilation?”

“Something like that. Or from just being so grossed out.”

“Maybe the dark is the same way.”

“Better hope the power doesn’t go out then,” Zoe says after another loud clap of thunder that is most definitely getting closer.

“It’s the middle of the day. It won’t be dark for hours yet.”

“Hmm.” Zoe turns her head back to the window. “I guess I should make a break for my cabin before it really starts pouring out there.”

“Yeah, I guess you should.”

“I’ll go then.”

“Alright.”

“Right now.”

“Okay.”

“Right this minute.”

“It’s your decision.”

“Hmm.”

Neither of us moves. Both of us just stand there, staring out the window, trying to pretend we don’t feel the storm gathering inside the same way we can see the one developing outside, and trying to pretend that from the first, we haven’t wanted each other. Okay, I mean the first time we saw each other again as adults. Or that there hasn’t been this strange pull towards one another. Maybe there are even forces out there stronger than just desire. Who knows, perhaps it’s more than that. And maybe this was the universe’s way of throwing us together. I never believed in destiny, and I didn’t even believe in soulmates. When you get used a couple of times, dumped a few more, and basically seen as just a dollar sign or as someone who can do something for someone else, that’s it. You get used to thinking you’re probably never going to have a meaningful experience with another person. Ever.

But what I feel with Zoe is different. It’s new. It’s not those butterflies you get with your first crush, and it’s not straight-up desire. It’s not just physical.

I felt it right away, and I most certainly feel it now.

I want to ask her if she feels it too, or point out that I think it’s obvious she at least feels something because we’ve done a few things on two separate occasions that would indicate she does, but I keep my mouth shut.

I don’t break the silence.

I just watch the rain.

Although it’s still not coming down hard enough that Zoe can’t leave. There’s still time for her to go.

But she doesn’t. Instead, she turns to me. Her eyes are round and luminous, and her face is a little flushed, but she could just be slightly overheated. It is hot in the cabin, and it’s also hot outside—sticky and humid.

“Maybe I’ll stay,” she whispers.

I give her a minute to change her mind in case what she said was mistakenly said, but when her eyes don’t stop shining, and it’s clear she isn’t going to follow it up with just kidding or got you, asshole, I brush my hand with hers. Gently. Just my index finger, gracing the silky back of her hand. She makes a wounded animal noise that I think is a good thing because right after, she folds into me. One hand splays out against my chest while the other goes to the back of my neck and tugs my face down to hers.CHAPTER 16ZoeI’m really starting to think there is something wrong with me. Because we’re here. Again. Doing this. Again. And it’s amazing. Again.

Now that my history of bad decisions—choosing the wrong person over and over, and not just the guys or even my friends who used me to get something, but the ones who didn’t even know Raiden as well—is out there, I keep waiting for it to sink in that this is an incredibly bad idea.

However, the realization never comes. Not when I first start kissing Raiden, not when I get so into it that I practically start ripping at his clothing, and not when my lips are ready to fall off, my chin is scraped raw, and everything feels swollen. The sensation of wrongness never settles in, and I can almost convince myself this is right. That it could be right in the future. That maybe it could be right for Raiden too. That we might not hurt, ruin, and wreck each other.

Perhaps I’m too optimistic. Maybe I’m making yet another terrible decision, or I’m just really horny at the moment, but I don’t care. I’m going with that one, because bad decision or not, I’m doing this.

“I’m sorry,” Raiden says thickly against my lips. It reminds me of just what he’s apologizing for. My eyes flick upwards, and the vulnerability in his eyes just about slays me.