Page 4 of The Billionaire's Second Chance

…Except.

Except for that one night.

I hated to think of what she, a literary agent, would have to say about the metaphor, ablazing hotnight together. It was the worst sort of cliché. But it was the only way to explain why it had been seared into my memory, impossible to forget, even years later.

For me, at least.

I thought it’d been the same for her.

But now she was telling me she had been…disappointed?

I couldn’t just let that go.

I had areputationto protect.

“Just letting you know in advance,” I said, leaning against the wood-paneled wall of the elevator.Very casual.“I haven’t startedvibratingsince last time, so if that’s your thing–”

Ding.

The silvery sound of a bell signaled our arrival on the fifth floor. She raised an eyebrow at me and I held out my hand, holding the door open and gesturing for her to step out of the elevator. Instead, she stepped closer to me. We stood in the tight doorway, and she looked up at me through long, dark lashes.

“There’s still time for you to turn around,” she said.

“That’s right,” I breathed. “So why don’t you?”

She stepped out of the elevator and started down the carpeted hallway, then turned, looking over her shoulder at me and raising one perfect eyebrow.

“Shall we?” she asked.

I gritted my teeth and nodded, cocking my head to one side as I jogged down the corridor to catch up.

“So damn stubborn,” I said. “I like that about you.”

“It’s cute that you think I care what you like and don’t like,” she said, not looking back.

“In that case,” I said, “I won’t tell you what I think of your ass in that dress.”

“Fine,” she agreed, reaching the door, glancing at the lock, then back at me, expectantly.

I held the room key–a heavy brass thing, not an electronic card–up by its leather cord, letting it dangle between us for a moment before snatching it into my grip, bringing it to the entrance of the matching brass lock…

And hesitating.

“Are you sure, Sami?” I asked, one last time, and for a half second, I saw something in those dark, indecipherable eyes of hers.

Then her hand closed around mine.

She guided the key into the lock and twisted.

We were really doing this.

And Samantha…

Samantha was going to have thebest fucking night of her life.

I would make damn sure of it.

CHAPTER3