Page 28 of Billionaire Dragon King’s Rejected Mate

It wasn’t that she planned to leave, not yet anyhow. But options mattered just as much as control. And that kiss had proven that neither of them had very much control. She had no idea how she was going to face him again.

A slap across the face would have been more appropriate than falling into the kiss and encouraging it along. She was ashamed of her own response, and she was just lucky that no one had been around to witness it.

She had stayed in a situation while away at college. It couldn’t even be called a relationship because it was simply her infatuation with the guy that gave him the permission to use her feelings like a boxing bag. She refused to be that version of herself again.

She wasn’t going to be the one who stayed too long or who hoped too much. She had packed her life and followed her sister to Stagholt with lessons she hadn’t wanted to learn. Now she needed to be firmly on her own two feet, so options needed to be available.

Before she could spiral too far into listings and logistics, or before she could replay the kiss for the millionth time, she grabbed her cell phone and hit one of her speed dials. If there was one person who could cut through her thoughts without making them worse, it was Bryn.

“Hey,” her sister answered, warm and immediate in a way that made Randi’s shoulders drop just a fraction. “You okay?”

Randi let out a breath that felt longer than it should have been. “Define okay.”

“That bad, huh?”

Randi leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling for a moment before answering. She needed a good starting point because saying it out loud was going to make it real in a way she hadn’t quite allowed yet.

“I think I might be falling for my boss,” she said flatly. “Who also happens to be the CEO. And also happens to be, well…” she stopped and ran her hand through her hair, “complicated.”

There was a pause on the other end.

“Okay,” Bryn said slowly. “That’s a situation.”

“That’s one word for it.”

Her sister snorted. “Men are usually pretty complicated at the best of times.”

“Well, this guy takes the cake.” Randi gave a play-by-play of their entire relationship, short as it may be. “And then he kissed me and I felt, I don’t know, alive and wanted. Just for him to tuck tail and run.”

“Randi,” Bryn continued with her gentle way, “you need to be careful.”

Randi let out a short, humorless laugh and turned her chair slightly as if movement might make the conversation easier.

“Too late,” she said, because there was no point pretending otherwise. “That ship sailed somewhere between a swaying lift and him laughing like a completely different person.”

Another pause. “Are you hurt?”

Randi hesitated, just for a second. “Yes,” she admitted. She told Bryn about her upcoming date with Josh.

“Don’t ignore the hurt,” Bryn said quietly. “That means that you care and that says a lot. And don’t try to fix it by grabbing onto the next thing that feels easier.”

Randi’s lips pressed together because that hit home closer than she wanted it to. She pushed back against it almost immediately.

“It’s not like that,” she said. “Josh is, well, he’s nice. He’s normal. I asked him out, he said yes, and I’m actually looking forward to it.”

“Okay,” Bryn said again, though there was a knowing note in her voice now that Randi didn’t entirely appreciate. “Just remember that love finds you. Not the other way around.”

Randi rolled her eyes, even though her sister couldn’t see it.

“I’m not looking for love,” she said.

“Mmhmm.”

“I’m not.”

“Right.”

“I just want one uncomplicated, good date,” Randi insisted and sat up straighter as if that alone could make it true. “That’s it.”