Page 60 of Billionaire Bad Boy Auction

“Oh yeah.” She nodded. “She wants Dean and the money. Seth is the consolation prize. She uses him to get close to Dean. And you’re here stealing away her cash cow.”

I couldn’t help but snarl. I was suddenly very protective of Dean. Like he was mine to protect.

I stabbed at my pancakes with more force than necessary. I shoved a bite of pancake into my mouth, chewing furiously as if the act could somehow burn off the agitation bubbling under my skin. “She’s delusional,” I said after swallowing. “Dean wouldn’t give her the time of day, let alone—ugh.” I shook my head, cutting myself off before I could spiral further.

Alexis raised an eyebrow, sipping her coffee with the kind of calm that only someone who wasn’t in the middle of a gossip storm could manage. “You sound awfully defensive of him.”

“I’m not defensive,” I snapped, then immediately cringed at how defensive I sounded. Alexis’s smirk told me she noticed it too. “Alright, fine. Maybe I am. But it’s not like that. Dean’s… complicated. And Lila’s article is just going to make everything worse.”

“Worse how?” Alexis asked, leaning forward again. “It’s not like you two are a secret anymore—or at least, according to Lila, you aren’t.”

“Exactly!” I groaned, gesturing wildly with my fork. “That’s the problem. Dean doesn’t do this kind of thing. He doesn’t like attention. He doesn’t like people poking into his business. And now? Now there’s an article about him being some kind of ‘Reluctant Romeo.’ Do you know how much he’s going to hate that?”

Alexis shrugged, unfazed. “Maybe he won’t care. Maybe he’ll just brush it off.”

I snorted. “I think I should introduce you to Dean Jackson.”

She laughed. “Okay, fair enough.”

“Seriously, this Lila bitch is starting to piss me off.”

“Spoken like a woman jealous of another woman trying to move in on her territory.”

“Stop,” I muttered.

“Oops, was that a little too close to the truth?”