Free Falling Hard (Billionaires in Disguise: Lizzy, #1) by Blair Babylon

a half an inch and asked,
“So long?”
    “I’m a busy girl. Why, do you want to give up
on me?”
    He smiled. “Give up on a woman who says that
she can see my soul? Not a chance.”

After the
Cocktail Party
    The limo rolled through the glittering city
and the cooling night, driving the three girls back to their dorm
and mundane college life. The sweaty tang from their warm bodies
rose above their floral perfumes and chemical antiperspirants, and
Lizzy’s nose twitched with the slightest salty musk of sex. Georgie
must have gotten some in one of those back rooms, the tramp, Lizzy thought fondly. Lucky tramp.
    Lizzy held her phone, staring at the
unidentified number glowing on the top of her recent calls list.
She had touched the number twice, almost adding Theo to her
contacts, but she had canceled the action both times. He wasn’t
really going to call.
    Georgie talked over Lizzy, who once again sat
in the middle, at Rae. “So? Spill it.”
    Rae watched out the window, distracted. “We
danced. He seemed nice.”
    “Nice?” Lizzy wanted to shake Rae. The Dom
wasn’t nice. Rae had had his attention, his full attention,
and all she got was nice?
    Rae said, “You guys didn’t tell me that blond
guy was Dom. I just thought he was some guy, but I guess everything
went okay.”
    Georgie rolled her eyes. “Did he talk to you
about The Devilhouse?”
    “Yeah.”
    “ All about it?”
    “I guess so. I’m still kind of processing. At
least it’s not selling drugs. I had drawn the line at selling
drugs.”
    Lizzy and Georgie glanced at each other. Rae
seemed closed off, like she was going to bunk this chance.
    Georgie asked, “Did you get an
interview?”
    Rae nodded. “Yep, I got an interview.
Tomorrow.”
    Lizzy asked her, “Are you willing to work at
The Devilhouse to stay in college?”
    Rae sighed. “I know you guys put yourselves
out there for me. I won’t screw it up. I’ve got that interview, but
that’s all.”
    Lizzy settled back in the deep car seat,
satisfied that she probably wasn’t going to be summarily fired for
even suggesting Rae to The Dom, but she was still sexed up from
dancing and necking with Theo. Her body felt like a live wire
sparking in the night.
    His lips had been so soft on hers, and she
touched his glowing number on her phone again.
    In the quiet of the night with the dark car
growling around them, while Rae and Georgie fell into drunken dozes
against their windows, Lizzy watched bright headlights veering past
them on the road ahead through the windshield.
    Theo was gorgeous, she knew.
    He had a rocking body under that suit and
crisp, white shirt.
    He smiled a lot, and he laughed at her stupid
jokes.
    He kissed better than most guys fucked.
    No matter what he quipped, he had a soul
behind those pretty caramel eyes.
    He seemed like a nice guy, maybe even a great
guy.
    Most women would be all over him.
    Theo was exactly the opposite of what Lizzy
needed.
    Lizzy needed The Dom, who could break her
until the cracks reached down past the scarring around her heart
and she felt something.
    As she fell asleep, The Dom’s cold, blue eyes
watched her, judged her, and a whip flicked out of the
darkness.

Riding to
The Devilhouse
    Two days later, Sunday afternoon, Georgie
drove Lizzy and Rae in her white Lexus through the crowded suburb
traffic to The Devilhouse. Lizzy rode shotgun, hogging the air
conditioning vents. The girls’ perfumes steamed in the heat
radiating from the windows like baking flowers.
    Rae rode in the back seat, still too quiet.
She was usually a bit of chatterbox, and yet she hadn’t said a
goddamn word about her interview with The Dom yesterday. Not a
single word.
    Jesus, Rae was going for an interview at The
Devilhouse two days in a row. She must not have fucked up her first
interview yesterday too badly.
    Lizzy waited for Rae to broach the subject,
even though she was dying to hear anything, anything, about
The Dom.
    She didn’t like this stalker side of