Bad Billionaire (Bad Billionaires 1)

As always, he didn’t try to fob me off, just gave it to me straight. “Someone has pissed me off, put me in a bad position. I’m going to take care of it,” he said.

“So you admit it’s a problem.”

“A problem I’m going to solve.”

“How?”

He smiled lazily at me. “I’ll think of something.”

I slid my butt strategically over the crotch of his jeans, settling in just so. “I can get it out of you,” I warned.

That made him smile wider. “I want to see you try.”

I leaned forward, pressing my palms into his hard, warm chest, brushing my lips along his stubbled jaw. “Talk, prisoner.”

“No way.”

“If it’s important, you can tell me, you know.”

“It’s just a bunch of bullshit,” he said. “Someone is messing with me. I’m going to make it stop.”

I thought about that. If someone was messing with Devon and irritating him, it was probably someone from his former life. His illegal life. “Someone wants money?”

There was only the tiniest pause, the tiniest flinch, in the man beneath me. “Everyone wants money,” he said.

He hadn’t answered the question. But his body had. Someone wanted money, maybe. But they also wanted more than that. They wanted something he didn’t want to give, something that made him uneasy. “Don’t do it,” I said into his neck.

There was a beat of surprise. “Don’t do what?”

“Whatever it is this person is asking. Don’t do it.”

He was quiet for so long I thought he wouldn’t answer. I kept my face pressed lightly to his neck, feeling the heat from his skin, taking in his scent. I felt a flutter of panic, as if all of this was just for the moment—as if I could lose it. As if he could make a wrong move and be gone again, just like last time. Leaving me alone.

“You’re freaking psychic, you know that?” he said at last. “You see everything. It’s weird.”

“I don’t see anything,” I countered, pushing down on his chest so I could rise up again. “Because you don’t tell me.”

“And I’m not going to,” he said. He lifted a hand and brushed my cheek. “But I’m not going to do it. That much, I can say.”

My phone rang, and I blew out a breath, frustrated. I climbed off him and picked up the phone, which was sitting on a side table. “Hey, Gwen,” I said, answering it.

“Are you with Hot Dark and Handsome?” she asked.

Damn. I flinched and hoped Devon hadn’t heard that. “Yes. Why?”

“You might want to warn him that it’s hit the news.”

“What has?”

“Him. Devon Wilder. I’m looking at a local news website right now. ‘Ex-con goes from convicted felon to mega-heir overnight.’ That’s the headline.”

I blinked, surprised. I hadn’t thought the news would be interested in Devon. I hadn’t thought they’d have a reason. “Jesus.” I turned around and found that Devon had sat up on the sofa and was watching me. “Is there a picture?”

Gwen sighed. “Just his mug shot. And a shot of his house in Diablo. Jeez, Liv. It looks hella nice.”

“Oh, great,” I said. “Thanks for the warning.”

“You’re welcome. I hope you’re ready for some publicity. Because it looks like you’re about to get some.”