Page 15 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 10

Kristen ordered a stupid salad, but I had to go for Bryce's favorite. A big juicy rib-eye. I couldn't resist. We were at a steakhouse after all.

"Nice choice," Bryce said. "I'll have the same." He put his menu down and then leaned in a little closer to me. "Couldn't pass up the opportunity for meat in your mouth?"

I laughed awkwardly. The restaurant suddenly seemed stifling.

Before I knew it, our wine glasses were being filled. Kristen took a sip of hers. She always could hold her alcohol better than I could. There was no way I was drinking before tomorrow's game, though. And the longer I sat here with Bryce so close in proximity, the more parched I got.

"Okay, my turn," Tim said when the waitress walked away with our order. He rubbed his hands together. "On a scale of one to ten, how attracted is Alina to Bryce?"

Bryce seemed to stiffen. "Dude. Ask a different..."

"An eleven," Kristen said and winked at me.

Holy shit. I could feel my cheeks turning red.

"Bryce thinks Alina is an eleven too," Tim said. "Stop looking at me like that. It's true."

Bryce cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you that my friends are the worst."

I was embarrassed that Kristen told the whole table I was attracted to Bryce. But I wasn't upset with his friends for getting him to confess that he was attracted to me. This was definitely a date. I avoided Bryce's gaze and fidgeted with my hands under the table.

"The worst?" Tim asked. "You know that you're in love with me."

"I don't know how many times we have to tell you this," Alex said. "There's a difference between loving someone and being in love with someone. Bryce and I love you like a brother. But we aren't in love with you, man."

Tim shrugged. "I really don't understand the difference."

"Do we need to draw you a picture?" Bryce asked and started laughing.

His laughter was infectious. Soon I was laughing and couldn't stop.

I thought that our friends announcing that we were attracted to each other would take the night on an awkward turn.

But who was I kidding? I thought Bryce was hot.

And sweet. And funny. It was nice to know that he was attracted to me too.

I was still laughing when I looked up at him.

There was that twinkle in his blue eyes again. It took my breath away. And I knew I was in trouble, because I didn't ever want to look away from those eyes.

"Can I steal you for a second?" Bryce asked.

Kristen gave me two thumbs up, not subtly at all.

"Um, yeah, sure." I slid out of the booth after him. "I was hoping to get some water from the bar."

"I noticed that you weren't drinking any wine." His hand fell onto my lower back again. Those really big, manly hands. Stop it.

"We have a game tomorrow. I really shouldn't be drinking."

He nodded. "My race is on Wednesday. I'm going to skip the wine too." His hand left my back and he waved down the bartender. He ordered two waters and leaned against the bar. "Where are you from?"

That wasn't what I was expecting him to ask me. "Wilmington, Delaware. You?"

"Pasadena most recently. I've moved a lot. Did you go to school in Delaware?"

"I went to the University of New Castle for the last three years. I just graduated."

"What about for freshman year?"

I felt that familiar lump forming in my throat. I tried to swallow it down. "NYCU."

"Why'd you transfer?"

Our waters had arrived, but Bryce made no movement to head back to our table. He was staring at me intently, waiting for me to respond.

"You don't have to..."

"No. It's fine. It was so long ago." I smiled, pretending it was nothing.

"It was silly, really. There was this girl who played the same position as me.

She wasn't happy that a freshman was competing for the same spot as her on the team.

And she didn't take it well. She hazed me. At least, that's how she put it."

Bryce lowered his eyebrows slightly. "How would you put it?"

"She bullied me until I broke and ran home. I don't know. Like I said, it was silly." I laughed awkwardly.

"It's not silly."

Something in my chest tightened. Chris had always told me it was stupid and that I should get over it.

That it shouldn't bother me anymore. But he didn't understand.

He didn't know what it felt like to be humiliated every day for months.

To dread leaving your dorm room each morning.

To always be on edge. Bryce wasn't looking at me like he thought I was ridiculous.

He was looking at me like he understood.

"And how would you know what it's like to be bullied?

Bullies don't pick on guys that look like you. "

"I didn't always look like this. I was a scrawny little kid."

"I can't picture you as scrawny or little."

He shrugged. "Let's just say that I run because I had something to run from."

He wasn't just handsome, sweet, and funny. He was real. And honest. I barely knew him, but I trusted him more than I had ever trusted Chris. I wanted to know what he was running from. Actually, I wanted to know everything about him. But before I could ask, he had another question.

"How complicated is it?"

I sat down on the stool beside him. "Complicated."

"Enlighten me."

I bit my lip. I wanted to know more about him. I didn't want to talk about Chris. Maybe it wasn't complicated at all. "He cheated on me."

"Then he must be an idiot."

I laughed. "Thanks for saying that."

"I don't really see the complication, though."

"We've been dating for two years. He made one mistake." That I know of. "I don't know if that means I should throw it all away. And you've seen what people do in the middle of the athlete's village..."

"Wait, he's here?"

"Yeah, he's on the swim team."

"What's his name?"

I didn't see why telling him that mattered. "Chris Hamilton."

His jaw seemed to tense.

"What, do you know him?"

"No, I've seen him around." He shrugged his shoulders like it didn't matter. But I had seen him clench his jaw. He had reacted to hearing Chris' name.

"I told him it was over right before Operation Red Rip. And I haven't heard from him since. I guess it really isn't that complicated. He seems perfectly happy with my decision."

"Are you happy with it?"

"I'm trying to focus on winning the rest of my games."

"Well, I personally think you made a great decision."

"You do?" My heart seemed to flutter.

"You deserve better than him."

"What, like you?"

He raised his eyebrow. "I never said that. Are you hitting on me?"

I laughed. "Like you aren't hitting on me."

"Let's just say that I wouldn't mind making things a little more complicated for you."

It took me a second to realize I had stopped breathing.

I wasn't sure if him liking me complicated things, or made them way less complicated.

Because from everything I knew about Bryce, he was worth taking a chance on.

He seemed to understand me. And I couldn't stop thinking about his hands on me and his perfectly sculpted torso.

Especially when his gaze was fixed on me like that. My whole body felt overheated.

He picked up both glasses of water. "I think our food is ready." He nodded toward our table.

Our dinner had just been served. Alex and Tim looked like they had both moved a little closer to Kristen. It seemed like she might be getting close to achieving that devil's threesome Tim wanted so badly.

"I know how much you're craving meat in your mouth," Bryce said. "I'm surprised you're not running over there."

I laughed and grabbed one of the glasses out of his hand so that one of his would be free. "I'm never going to live that down, am I?"

Bryce smiled. He placed his free hand on the small of my back, just like I hoped he would. This time I didn't try to justify the shivers that went down my spine. It wasn't just the sex ban. I liked Bryce. I really liked him.

"What's actually going on between Alina and her kind of boyfriend?" Alex asked as we sat down.

Apparently they had continued playing the game while we were away. Which didn't really make any sense, since I wasn't there to answer the questions for Kristen.

Kristen shrugged. "He cheated on her with her arch nemesis. And they're taking a break. Hopefully a permanent one."

I could feel Bryce's eyes on me. When I told him about Chris, I had left off the part about who he had cheated on me with. I didn't want him to pity me. But he wasn't looking at me like that. I couldn't really place the expression on his face. It almost looked protective.

I cut into my steak and took a big bite. Despite the teasing, I really did like meat in my mouth.

"On a scale of one to ten, how interested is Kristen in that devil's threesome?" Tim asked.

"At least an eight," I said when I finished chewing.

Kristen laughed.

"Whoa. No. I'm not your third," Alex said.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not gay."

Bryce and I both laughed.

"I'm not gay either," Tim said. "I fully appreciate the female body in all its grace and beauty." He was staring intently at Kristen.

She blushed.

How was Kristen attracted to this guy? Despite what he had just said, he was clearly gay.

I took another bite of my steak. For the first time since seeing those photos of Chris and Gabriela, I felt completely relaxed.

I hadn't laughed like this in such a long time.

Maybe things had been going south between me and Chris for longer than I had realized.

Or maybe I had been too focused on volleyball.

But how could I not be? This was the biggest competition of my life.

Chris wasn't allowed to make me feel guilty for caring so much.

He had put me second while he trained too. Stop thinking about him.

When I was upset, I tended to eat way more than usual. I was the first one done with my steak.

"You weren't kidding about liking meat in your mouth," Alex said.

I shrugged and looked at Bryce out of the corner of my eye. "I never joke about meat in my mouth."

He choked on the sip of water he had just taken and everyone at the table laughed.

"Do you think they have anything good for dessert?" Kristen asked.

"I'm completely stuffed," Tim said as he pulled his napkin off his lap with a flourish and placed it on the table.

"Me too. But Alina never goes anywhere without getting dessert and she always lets me steal one bite."

"How do you keep such a slim figure?" Tim asked me.

"I'm an athlete? Maybe they have some Brazilian delicacy I haven't tried."

"Have you tried a brigadeiro yet?" Bryce asked.

I turned toward him. "No. What is that?"

"They're these little chocolate balls that Bryce can't stop eating," Alex said with a laugh.

Bryce ignored him. "They're these sweet, gooey, absolutely delicious chocolate things with chocolate sprinkles. Or you can get coconut instead of sprinkles. You have to try them."

Chris had this way of making me feel guilty about ordering dessert.

"You don't need that," was something he said to me all the time.

I never knew if it was because he was being cheap, was in a rush, or if he was just calling me fat.

Either way, it always made me feel horrible.

I loved dessert. Was that really so bad?

And how was I supposed to own a bakery if I didn't taste other people's creations and scope out the competition?

And after one bite of a coconut covered brigadeiro, I realized that Bryce wasn't just a great guy. He also shared my taste in desserts. There wasn't a single thing about him that I didn't like. And the more time I spent with him, the more I realized how lacking my relationship was with Chris.