Page 114 of Billionaire’s Ruin

My entire body went still.

No.

No. No. No.

Impossible.

“Kai?” The word scraped out of me.

But I didn’t need the answer.

I felt him before I even saw him—the way the air shifted, the sudden weight of his gaze anchoring itself to me like gravity had chosen a new center.

Dannie was talking—maybe explaining something, maybe offering context—but I didn’t hear a single word.

The second my eyes found Kai, I moved without thinking.

I surged toward him.

“Kai—”

His name tore out of me like a plea I’d been choking on for weeks.

Strong arms caught me before I collided into him, arms wrapping around me with a force that felt desperate, trembling. The closeness overwhelming—too familiar, too intoxicating, too much. His scent hit me, and I almost broke right there.

My grip fisted into his shirt.

His chin rested against the top of my head.

My heart raced with reckless, stupid hope.

We were inches apart.

Breath-level close.

Then I finally lifted my face, Kai was already watching me—dark, intense, searching.

Everything inside me tightened.

A magnetic pull, slow and helpless.

We drifted toward each other.

Dangerously close.

Not enough to kiss.

Not enough to run.

Just enough to blur the line between now and then, want and need, regret and fever.

His breath ghosted over my face.

His lips were right there.

One inch.

Half an inch.