Dirty Rumor: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance(16)

Carolyn’s mouth opens like she wants to correct the woman, but she’s already halfway through the lobby. She’s missed her opportunity.

I step into the elevator and hold the door for her.

Carolyn doesn’t hesitate. She steps in beside me like she owns every piece of this building, and her confidence takes my breath away.

I shouldn’t be worried about awkwardness on her account. Only mine.

“Six,” she says, her voice clipped, emotionless.

“Got it.”

I press the button for the sixth floor, and then the button for the penthouse. Her eyes flick over to see which are lighted, and then she looks back above the door at the floor indicator as the elevator rises.

I swallow. Time is f*cking short.

“That was shitty—how things ended on Saturday.” It’s not an apology. It’s not admitting I was wrong. And it’s the closest I’m going to come.

Carolyn shrugs, a small movement. “It’s nothing that hasn’t happened before.”

Pain cuts through my chest. I don’t want to be a man like all other men. I want to be someone f*cking incredible. For her. For Elisa. But I don’t know why, and I don’t know how, to describe it.

“Well, it could have been better.”

She glances across at me, then turns her head to look into my eyes. Her dark eyes are bottomless, deep, as she assesses me. “Yes, it could have.”

The air between us is hot, charged. Does she feel it, too? Does she want to touch me as much as I want to get my hands on her? The elevator is too small by half.

I take the leap.

“Friday night, though…,” I let my voice trail off, an open door.

A smile quirks Carolyn’s lips, and her eyes dance. She sucks in a breath, then lets her gaze travel slowly down the length of my body, then back up to my face.

The elevator dings, and the door slides open. We’re at her floor.

“You’re right,” she says as she steps off. “I’m damn good.”





Chapter 15

Carolyn





Damn it.

I run into Ace Kingsley one time in the elevator—one time—and he’s back under my skin.

What was that, anyway? Some kind of half-assed apology? Of course ‘it could have ended better’, if you hadn’t been such a prick.

That’s what I should have said to him.

But when he stepped up next to me in front of the elevator, my mind went completely blank. His scent mingled in the air with every breath I took. My first instinct? To take his lapels in my fists and kiss him silly until we both collapsed from lack of oxygen.

My second instinct? To slap his face for the way he brushed me off.

In the end, I had no choice but to join him on to the elevator. I’m not going to let him make me feel displaced in my own damn building. Not a chance.

And then, “That was shitty—how things ended on Saturday.”

Okay…no duh, Einstein.

At least I had something cutting to say. “It’s nothing that hasn’t happened before.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him flinch a little. Men don’t like being told they’re not one of a kind, and Ace Kingsley is no exception. He sucked in a breath. The elevator hurtled upward.

There was a heavy silence.

Then….

“Friday night, though….”

I almost laughed out loud. This * is unstoppable. He dismisses me like some coldhearted bastard and then has the nerve to reminisce about the intense sex we had.

And he’s right.

That’s the thing that cut off the laughter. Friday night was…like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. Ever. And no matter how pissed I am at him, I still want more of it. More of him.

Jess’s voice floated up in my memory. “Now you can show him what he’s missing…and maybe even seduce him again.”

It’s an option, but how? I only had seconds left in this elevator with him, and who knows when it’ll happen again? I’m definitely not going to go up and knock on his door. I’m not going to hang around in the lobby waiting for him to make an appearance.

The real truth? I don’t want this to be a game. Maybe I’m naive, or maybe I’ve been alone too long, but I don’t want to toy with Ace’s emotions.

The elevator’s ding announced that we had arrived at my floor. Now or never. Cut him off forever with a harsh remark or leave the door open, even if it’s just an inch.

The door slid open.

“You’re right,” I said, as I stepped onto the carpeting in my hallway. “I’m damn good.”

Nailed it.

Of course, now my hands are trembling trying to unlock the door to my place. I’m glad for the solitude, for my current lack of a roommate, so I don’t have to explain why my cheeks are burning red, why there’s an odd smile on my face that I can’t seem to wipe off.

What is it about Ace Kingsley that makes me feel this way?

His handsome looks are part of it, that’s for damn sure. I thought Eli Pierce was one of the hottest men I’d ever seen until I saw the grown-up version of Ace Kingsley. He’s exactly the kind of man I’ve always pictured in my fantasies. His body is muscular and cut like a Greek god. And he even has tattoos decorating one arm and across his chest—invisible when he’s in one of his tailored suits, but fully on display when we’re in bed together, doing….