Stranded with a Billionaire (Billionaire Boys Club #1)(38)

As Logan watched, Bront?’s lips thinned into a line.

Logan stood then, straightening his suit and casting a dispassionate look over all of them. “I’d like to meet with each of you individually so you have nothing to fear in regard to your job.” He picked up a clipboard and ignored the name on the top of the list, calling out the only one he was truly interested in. “I’ll start with Bront? Dawson.”

She got to her feet reluctantly, her jaw set firmly.

“Please follow me.” He gestured toward the kitchen.

She stomped through the door, letting it swing behind her, and he resisted the urge to smile.

Logan followed her in a moment later and gestured at the metal folding chair that had been set up in the center of the floor. “Please, have a seat.”

She glanced at the door and then moved in a few feet, as if making sure that no one could hear their conversation. “You can drop the charade, Logan. We both know why you’re here.”

“Oh?” He raised an eyebrow at her, keeping his expression cool.

“You’re doing this to get back at me.”

Get back at her? Nothing could have been further from the truth. But Logan kept his expression neutral. “Perhaps you are not aware that my business excels at purchasing small, failing companies and making them profitable?”

For a moment, she looked uncertain of herself. “Is that why you bought this one? Because it was failing?”

“No,” he said, keeping his voice light and playful. “I purchased this one because I knew it was the only way I could speak to you again.”

“So I was right. This is about me and you.” She gave him a sharp look. “It seemed like a bit too much of a coincidence that you showed up here.”

“You got me,” he said, and stepped a bit closer, wondering if she’d back down or hold her ground.

Bront? put her hands on her h*ps and stared up at him with a defiant look. “I did get you, didn’t I?” Her tone was half flirt, half challenge. “The problem is, you seem to think I want more of you.”

“I think you do,” he said in a low, seductive tone. She hadn’t back down when he’d moved closer. They were so close now he could reach out and touch her, but he wouldn’t until she indicated she wanted him. “I think the real problem here is that you’re mad at me.”

“Mad at you?” She gave a small, sharp laugh. “How can I be mad at you? I don’t even know who you are. Remember?”

She was mad at him. Interesting. “If you’re not mad at me, then why avoid my phone calls?”

Bront? ruined it by giggling. That high-pitched, nervous giggle told him volumes. “Because I went to that island to hook up with someone. You were nothing more than an island fling. I’m not interested in carrying on something off the island”

“You’re lying.”

“You should know what it’s like. You’re a liar.”

“Am I?”

“You didn’t tell me who you were.” She crossed her arms over her chest again. “You let me go on and on about the hotel, all because I thought you were the manager. Except you weren’t. You were the owner. And you never bothered to share that with me. You just kept it from me and laughed behind my back.”

“Is that what you think of me?” His voice was husky now. “That I lied to you because I was laughing at you? Truly?”

“I don’t know what to think of you,” she said in a soft voice that trembled just a little. “I don’t know you, remember? You made that very clear.”

“I had my reasons for keeping my identity a secret from you, Bront?, and none of my reasons involve laughing at you.”

She cast him another hurt look, and he began to realize just how much that secret had wounded her. Was it truly such a big deal to her? He’d been protecting himself, but it seemed that it had come at the expense of her feelings.

And he needed to fix that.

Logan stepped closer to her and brushed his fingers over her cheek. She slapped his hand away, but he supposed he deserved that.

“You know who I am now, don’t you?” he asked.

“The entire world seems to know who you are,” she said bitterly. “Stupid me was the only one that didn’t clue in to it.”

“You’re not stupid,” he told her. “Don’t speak of yourself like that. I doubt you’d be familiar with my face unless you read the Wall Street Journal or followed the business section in the papers. And I’m not even sure then. Just because you have a lot of money doesn’t mean you’re a celebrity.” He shrugged. “It does change how they react to you, though.”

The tension in her shoulders eased just a little. “Oh?”

“Most women I meet are more interested in my wallet than who I am. I thought I was going to be stuck in an elevator for God knows how long. I didn’t want it to be with someone who only saw dollar signs when she looked at me.”

She crossed her arms over her chest once more. “You should have had more faith in me.”

“I didn’t know you,” he corrected gently, throwing her words back in her face. “We spent days together, and I feel like we still don’t know enough about each other. The time we had? It wasn’t enough. I want more time with you, Bront?. I want to learn about you, and you to learn about me.”