An Accidental Date with a Billionaire

He swallowed hard, watching her profile. “Stunning.”

She turned to him, catching him staring. The smile froze on her lips, and she didn’t move. “Taylor…”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for coming with me tonight, and for this whole week with you on this date. It’s been…great. Really great.”

He reached for her slowly, pushing the hair out of her face. “You say that like this is goodbye.”

She pressed her hand into his cheek. “Maybe it should be, before things get bad. You know?”

Something a hell of a lot like denial settled in his throat, choking him, despite his mirroring worries he’d had earlier tonight. She kept talking about ending things, but he wasn’t ready, damn it. Not yet. He tightened his grip on her. “Why?”

“Because

things like this only go on for so long before they have to become something else, or end, and we know this can never be anything other than what it is.”

“It doesn’t have to be, though.” He ran his knuckles down her smooth cheek, his heart beating yet somehow hurting so much it seemed impossible for it to do so. “Not tonight.”

“Okay.” She cleared her throat. “But I just wanted to tell you here, under the stars, that I will never forget you, Taylor Jennings. Not even after we’ve moved on with our lives.”

Grief hit him hard in the chest at the same time as denial punched him in the stomach, making it twist into knots that threatened the s’more he’d just eaten. There was no way in hell he was ready to let go of her yet, but he’d have to soon. There was no other choice. Avoiding her gaze and the way her sad eyes made him want to promise things he couldn’t, he pulled her into his arms and rested her cheek on his chest.

Being out here in nature, with nothing but darkness and stars around him, prompted him to a blunt honesty he usually tried to avoid. Staring at the sky, he reluctantly said, “I won’t forget you either, Sammy. I think I couldn’t even if I tried.”

And once this was over…

He would try.

Chapter Fourteen

The next night, they lay in a real bed together, and Sam closed her eyes, perfectly content to be where she was, surrounded by Egyptian cotton and down pillows as fluffy as clouds, with Taylor’s hard arms wrapped around her tightly. No matter how many hours she spent in his bed as he brought her to heights she’d never seen before, she still ached for one more time before walking away—something she was smart enough to know she should have done long ago, but not smart enough to actually do.

Even now, as she lay there, naked and coated in a thin sheen of sweat, completely satisfied and weak, she wanted nothing more than to whisper her secrets to him, to open up to him in ways she never had to anyone else.

It was as dangerous as it was unwelcome.

They’d spent the day as planned, building houses together, making the world a better place one piece of wood at a time, and another night at the soup kitchen before eating at Fado Irish Pub. It would be so easy to fall into a routine with him, to let herself come to expect and rely on these weekends together—not to mention the weeknights—but she couldn’t fall into routines.

Not with him.

She should get up, dress herself, thank him for the fun time, and never return…before she did the unthinkable and actually fell for the guy. There were a million reasons why she couldn’t do that—his job, his social status, his money, her past, their agreement, their mutual unwillingness to fall in love, just to name a few—and she hadn’t forgotten a single one of them. As a matter of fact, they kept her awake at night, after his quiet, even breathing filled the night’s silence.

And yet…

She didn’t get up.

Didn’t walk away.

She needed to get her head on straight and focus on what really mattered. Volunteering in every possible way. Working hard to succeed at her job, with late nights at the office instead of cutting out at five to rush back to Taylor. Her goals. Saving companies…

“You’re being quiet,” he said, his voice rumbling in his chest, where her ear rested. His hand ran down her back, absentmindedly rubbing her. “Everything okay?”

She ran a finger through his crisp chest hair, drawing a circle. “Yeah, just…thinking.”

“Uh-oh,” he teased, the smile he undoubtedly wore audible in his voice. “Watch out, world. She’s thinking.”

She smacked his chest playfully.