Page 22 of Billionaire Dragon King’s Rejected Mate

“Splash challenge,” another kid said and gestured toward a cluster of interactive water cannons and dumping buckets. “You versus us.”

Chance opened his mouth to decline because he had work to do and was still wearing his shoes, for God’s sake. But Randi glanced back at him with something mischievous lighting her expression in a way that made refusal feel cowardice.

“What do you think?” she asked.

He should have said no. He could feel the competitiveness oozing off her in waves.

“Fine,” he said instead, fully aware that this was a mistake but stepping into it anyway. “But don’t expect mercy.”

They took their spots and the game was chaotic from the start.

Water arced in unpredictable bursts, kids darted between levers and buttons with alarming speed, and Randi, whom he realized too late had absolutely no intention of playing fair, adapted almost instantly. Her laughter broke free as she redirected a stream toward him with ruthless precision.

“You said no mercy,” she called over the noise, her eyes bright with challenge.

He adjusted, countered, retaliated, and for a few minutes the world narrowed down to motion and instinct and the sharp energy of competition. He found himself matching her step for step, move for move, until the final splash came down in a decisive cascade that left him drenched and her victorious.

The kids cheered.

Randi threw her hands up in triumph, breathless and glowing in a way that had nothing to do with the Florida sun. Something undeniable in his chest shifted.

“Well,” he said and stepped closer despite himself. Water dripped from his hair into his eyes. “I suppose I’ll have to revise my assessment.”

“About?” she asked. Her chest heaved as she caught her breath.

“You.” The word came out quieter than he intended.

She stilled and the space between them changed.

It was charged with something that had been building since the lift when she had thrown her arms around him without thinking, and he found himself looking at her mouth before he could stop himself. The rest of the world faded in a way that felt both inevitable and completely out of control.

He shouldn’t, he knew that. He knew the complications, the risks, and the inevitable mess that would follow.

And yet, he leaned in. He could read the expectation in her eyes before she rose up to meet him.

“Eww, get a room.”

They both jerked back as the boys broke into tirades of giggles. They ran off and left them alone, but the moment had been broken.

Chance stepped back so abruptly that Randi almost stumbled forward. She blinked and the spark in her expression flickering with confusion.

“We should go.” The words came out more clipped than he intended.

“Right. We should.” The light in Randi’s eyes dimmed just enough to make something twist uncomfortably in his chest.

They left the splash zone without another word and the laughter and noise fading behind them as the weight of reality settled back into place, heavier now than it had been before.

And he left it there. The acknowledgment of what had almost happened, of allowing himself even a fraction of the honesty that pressed uncomfortably at the edges of his control, was too much. Chance did what he had always done best.

He shut it down. Completely.

“I’ll see you tomorrow at the office.” He barely gave her a wave before he got in his car and he didn’t look in his mirrors until he was positive he wouldn’t see her.

Chicken.

He wondered on the drive back if it was possible for dragons to suddenly sprout feathers. He managed to use the back entrances to his building so he could avoid anyone who would question his damp appearance, and he threw himself into work from his apartment office just to avoid everyone.

By the time they reached the team review the following afternoon, he had rebuilt his walls of distance, reinforced them with logic and the kind of cold precision that had made him successful long before Randi had walked into his world and disrupted everything.