Page 51 of The Billionaire Who Saved My Cat From The Mafia

Is that what MacLaine has planned for me?Is that what I want?Do I evenknowwhat I want?

Oh, shit, this is getting way too complicated.I came here to hide.To be by myself, where no one would ever find me.

But Special K MacLaine found me, didn’t he?

I keep my gaze away from his and try to sound casual.“Does your start-up have a prospectus I could look at?I have a few tech investments.”

“We’re not public, unfortunately,” he says.

“That sucks.”I turn to him again.My heart is pounding, and my palms are sweating.I think I’m on the verge of doing something I’ll regret.Or not doing it, and then regretting that even more.

Trust your gut, Frank.

“Tell me more about the MacLaines.”

I’m stalling, but I’ve got to do something.I’m about three seconds away from standing, walking over there, and removing my cat so that I can lay some real pussy on his lap.

That’s how much I want him.Fuck reason and logic.Fuck the mess I’m in.

“I’ve been monopolizing the conversation,” he says.“How about you talk for a while?”

My mouth goes dry.“I… I love your stories.This will sound weird, but at first, I thought you were painfully shy.”

He lowers his jaw and peers at me, his violet eyes flashing.“The socially awkward forest ranger comment?”

I laugh.“Nothing gets past you, does it?”

“No, it does not.”

My heart thuds in my chest.That simple statement had a lot of power behind it.I think he just informed me that he sees far more than he’s letting on.That he’s got me rightfully pegged as someone who’s keeping secrets.He may have already guessed at what they are.

“The truth is, you were correct,” he says.“Iamshy.And ‘socially awkward’ is a totally legit way of describing me.I’m not usually like this, Boots.It usually takes a long, long time for me to drop my guard.”

You and me both, cowboy.

I nod.“Tell me more.About your family, I mean.”

He shrugs.“Sure.”

I sit back and listen as he tells me how Victoria put her white-collar-criminal father in prison and while she was at it, discovered that a longtime ranch accountant had been skimming off the MacLaine family for decades, and got him arrested, too.

I’m stunned.“Seriously?She sounds like a badass.”

He smiles.“Turns out all my sisters-in-law are badasses.”

“Spill the tea, then.”

He tells me that Evander and Phoebe almost died a few months ago in the blizzard that paralyzed much of the state.And after he and Declan pulled off a daring helicopter rescue, Phoebe had to take on her whole family to fight for the man she loves.

“Get it, girl,” I say, which makes MacLaine chuckle.

Next, he describes how Summer and Declan got drunk-married in Vegas on New Year’s Eve, only to find out that Summer was dying.Then they learned she’d been misdiagnosed and wasn’t actually dying but was definitely infertile.And then she immediately got pregnant.

I squint at him in disbelief.“This sounds like a bad cable movie.”

“There’s more.Next is Finn’s drama.You sure you want to hear it?”

“Are youkidding?Absolutely.”