Page 149 of The Billion Heirs Boxed Set

I didn’t want to see him tonight. After my burger, I was going to head home, but Jake could tell I didn’t want to be alone with my thoughts, although I shared too many of them with him. I don’t know how he wrangled it, but he left his shift early to hang with me. Since Tracy couldn’t get off like he did, I’m thankful to hang with someone instead of crying through a pity party of one in my apartment.

Jake’s nice. Funny. And he’s the only guy I’ve met who understands the struggle with dating men. So I spilled it all to him and he told me to stop running. To face Miles head-on, because if I wanted something with him, I needed to put my big-girl panties on and deal with the issues.

Of course, he didn’t say big-girl panties. He said to grow a pair. Either way, I wasn’t planning to do it now.

I’m angry that Miles got a woman pregnant. The guy I slept with, who I thought I shared a connection with, has baby drama. I don’t want that. But the fling happened before I knew him. It didn’t even happen in this state. It was before me.

I can’t hold past encounters against him. I sure don’t want him holding mine against me.

Still, it hurts. And Jake’s right. I ran. I saw that text, heard Miles confirm it happened, and bolted.

The music switches to Stevie Ray Vaughan as Jake and I order drinks.

“Sadie.”

My heart skips a beat at the deep sound of Miles’s voice. I flick my gaze to Jake’s and turn around. There, almost too close, stands Miles.

I breathe in his scent. Take in the rasp of whiskers on his square jaw. His narrowed gaze burns into me.

“Hey,” I say. “This is Jake.”

Miles holds his hand out and Jake shakes it, a big grin splitting his face.

“Miles. How’s it hanging?”

Once Miles releases his grasp, he sets his hand on my waist and steers me down the long bar. He leans in and murmurs. “Want to tell me why the hell you’re here with another man? After I woke up in your bed this morning?”

My cheeks heat furiously. I step away from his touch. “Jake’s my friend. How’s the baby-naming going?”

His eyes narrow. “The baby’s not mine.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “Oh, yeah? Rhonda seems to think so.”

He runs a hand over his face. “She seems to think I’m an idiot, too. She heard about the will. About the inheritance. She wanted to cash in.”

I blink. “What?”

“The first but probably not the last of annoying people trying to use me for shit.” He pins me with his intense eyes. “Yes, I did sleep with her, Sadie. I admitted to that earlier.”

I blink. Listen.

“A one-night stand back in the winter. She consented and knew the score. That it wasn’t anything more than one time. Didn’t spend the night. Hell, I didn’t even know her last name. I still wouldn’t except she gave it to me in the text.”

“Just a release.” I roll my eyes.

I’m not really thrilled to know that Miles thinks so little of his bedmates, but it’s not wrong. I’ve had flings before–there was a time when I didn’t want a relationship, just some orgasms.

What I’m feeling is jealousy, plain and simple. Another woman got to sleep with him. To touch him. To know what it feels like to lie beneath him.

“Just a release,” he echoes.

His blue eyes sear into mine. I try to push down my jealousy. Rhonda is in New York—I think—and he clearly wants nothing to do with her.

“She said she was four months along. It’s been longer than that since we were together. So I told her I wanted a paternity test.”

“That didn’t go well, you telling her that?”

He shakes his head. “I’m not a mathematician, but clearly neither is she. The baby was probably made with a guy I employ. Used to employ. My guess is they got it in their heads to get me to pay her off using the billion I’m going to inherit.”