Mad for the Billionaire by Charlotte DeCorte Read Free Book Online Page A

knows?
    “Can I have a bite?”
    “Sure.” I pushed the small plate towards him. He plucked the spoon out of my hand.
    “Gonna make me get it myself, huh?” Alexander grumbled as he stabbed into the pudding.
    It was too intimate, too familiar. Too painful. I grabbed his wrist before the spoon could enter his mouth. “What are you doing?”
    “Eating.”
    “No, what are you really doing here with me?”
    “Eating,” he drawled with a lilt suggesting I was asking the obvious.
    “Why aren’t you using your spoon?”
    “We shared utensils before. What difference does it make now? Unless you’ve become a germaphobe?”
    I couldn’t believe he was being that dense. Not someone as sharp as him. “Alexander, I haven’t seen you in almost ten years and now you come riding in with your posse and save the day.”
    “Most people would say ‘thank you’ and appreciate they didn’t have to pound the pavement looking for another job.”
    I let go of his wrist, feeling unaccountably guilty for not giving one word of thanks, before brushing it off. After all, it wasn’t as if Alexander had done it specifically for me.
    “Stop pretending you don’t know what I’m talking about!”
    “Then why don’t you speak clearly and stop dancing around the subject?”
    “Fine. Why single me out for lunch, Alexander?”
    He sighed and set the spoon down, food uneaten. “Maybe because I’m happy to see you again, Sophia. It seems it was just me though, huh?”
    I looked away from him and turned my distracted attention out the window. If I was smart, I’d get up and walk right out of the diner. “It wasn’t just you.”
    “Then what’s the problem? Do you still hate me that much?”
    My heart lurched in my chest. Bittersweet memories flooded my system. “No, Alexander. I don’t hate you at all. I never really did and that was the problem.”
    “Look at me.”
    I shook my head, irrationally afraid of what he would see in my face if I turned to look at him.
    Alexander leaned close, overwhelming my small body with his much larger frame. “ Look at me.”
    Something about his low whisper reached in and forced my compliance. My body halfway turned before I could stop it.
     
    Sadness glimmered in his gaze. He feathered his thumb along to the top of my cheekbone. “Little chick, how are we going to fix this?”
    I indulged my weaker side. I leaned into his caress, remembering it as one of his favorites. “You don’t have to fix me, Alexander. I’m not your burden or responsibility. Everything that happened between us was a long time ago, right? We were both so young and...”
    Young and stupid and I was so damned insecure the second time around that I ran away from you before you got a chance to run from me.
    I cleared my throat and found words to replace the ones I couldn’t say out loud. “And things happen. Besides, it’s in the past.”
    He rested his forehead on mine. “But it’s not in the past, is it? Nothing between us ever really was. And it’s not so long ago that I’ve forgotten what we meant to each other.”
    “Alexander…”
    His hand settled onto the back of my neck like a collar. “Ask me, Sophia. Go on—ask me.”
    I didn’t need clarification. I knew what he meant. Licking my dry lips, I whispered, “Are you seeing anybody?”
    “No,” he replied just as softly.
    “Oh, okay.”
    “Think about what that means,” he commanded before pulling away. “Your pie’s going to get runny and my ice cream’s just about melted. Let’s finish this up so we can be on our way.”
    I took a deep breath, lifted up my spoon, and held it out. “I stopped you. Here, try some.”
    Alexander looked at me and smiled, so sweet and tender that I had the sudden urge to lay my head down and cry.
    He took a bite and sighed, “It’s good. Very, very good.”
    We finished our dessert in silence. When it was time to go, Alexander stood up and held his hand out to help me out of the booth. I didn’t hesitate in