Tempting the Billionaire (Love in the Balance 1)

Insecure and edgy, Crickitt rose to pour herself a cup of coffee she didn’t need. At least it would keep her hands busy. “So, what’s the plan for today?” The question was supposed to sound bright and cheery, but it came out a little loud and desperate.

“Stop by Gusty’s, check on Angel and Richie’s progress. I want to make sure they don’t need anything more from me,” Shane answered as he took a seat at the kitchen table.

Crickitt stirred soy milk into her mug, wondering if Shane requested it with her in mind or if it was part of his usual delivered foodstuffs. The idea that he bought it for her made her smile.

Moved by a container of non-dairy milk, really?

“We’ll head back tonight, then?” She returned the container to the fridge and spotted a can of whipped cream in the door. Frowning at it, she closed the door without adding it to her coffee.

“Or sooner. There’s no reason to stay.”

No reason to stay.

The inoffensive comment shouldn’t have stung, but it did. Soon they’d be on their way back to Osborn, back to work, back to whatever they were before they were lovers. Crickitt felt her shoulders curl forward, her stomach knot. She didn’t want to go back. She wanted to stay here, cocooned within the walls of his cabin, where clothing was optional and Shane made bone-melting love to her.

A clap of thunder shook the house and she jumped, slopping coffee onto the countertop. The sky split open, sheets of heavy rain spilling from the rip in the clouds. She mopped at the puddle of coffee, alternating her attention from the lightning-silhouetted trees against the black daytime sky to the incandescent lights overhead dimming and then brightening.

“Don’t worry,” Shane said. “There’s a generator.”

A phone on the wall rang and he rose to get it. She listened as his tone went from casual to tight.

Cordless phone to his ear, he walked a few steps closer to Crickitt and stared down at her, his eyebrows pinching.

She recognized the voice on the phone as Thomas’s and made out two words that had her pressing a palm to her chest. “Flash flood.”

Crickitt turned back to the window, the darkened sky looking more ominous than before.

Shane hung up the phone as he crossed into the living room, dropped onto the sofa, and flicked on the television. A weather map dotted with angry red and orange blotches filled the screen.

“Where are we on that map?” She still held the cloth she’d used to wipe up her coffee as he studied the screen. She wrung it between her hands.

“The middle.” In the center of the map, a small circle of magenta highlighted the worst of the weather. Crickitt felt the blood drain from her cheeks as she sank onto the couch next to him.

Shane reached over and took one of her hands to reassure her, the gesture so genuine it made her heart squeeze. “Guess we’re staying.”

He stood, flicking off the television, and walked to the kitchen. She couldn’t read his body language. Was he disappointed?

Shane rinsed his mug in the sink and tipped it upside down in the dish drainer. “The road to the cabin is flooded,” he said in the same indistinguishable tone.

“Is Thomas okay?”

“He’s fine.” Shane leaned on the counter, facing her. “The guesthouse is well stocked and runs on the same generator as the cabin.”

“Oh,” she said vacantly, striding over to the front windows. Being stuck in a cabin with Shane should be akin to a lottery win. But he’d been distant this morning, hard to read. Doubt riddled her like buckshot. Hugging herself with her arms, she watched the rain beat the ground outside, unsure how to react to him.

Shane surprised her by coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. “You okay?” he breathed into her ear, nearly buckling her knees. “Tell me you’re not regretting last night.”

She rested her head on his solid chest, eyes on their reflections in the pane. They looked good together, him bent around her, nuzzling her neck. She brought her hands over his at her waist, tempted to offer a half-truth.

“I don’t know how to act,” she confessed. “But no, I don’t regret it.”

Shane turned her in his arms until she was facing him. “What do you mean, you don’t know how to act?”

Not wanting to unload the pile of questions that had busily stacked themselves into one corner of her mind, she summarized. “I wasn’t sure what kind of…arrangement you had in mind.”

“Arrangement…I see.” He stared down at her, considering. “I guess we didn’t go into details before we”—he gestured between them—“you know.”