Free The Bad Boy Billionaire's Girl Gone Wild by Maya Rodale

wanted to close that distance. “Wanted” wasn’t quite the right word, though. I had never really understood magnetism until this moment. I was helplessly drawn to him and it took all of my strength to fight the inevitable.
    “So it’s not working out like I planned,” he said.
    “That’s a bummer. I’ve found I sometimes need to delete a few pages.”
    “Same with code,” he replied. “But I mean you, Jane, and this.” He gestured vaguely to the distance between us and I understood.
    He was securing his fortune and his glory. I was writing another book that would cause another scandal when I published it. Professionally, we were both achieving more than we’d ever dreamed. This was exactly what we wanted, wasn’t it?
    “Too bad we can’t cut and rewrite in real life,” I said.
    “How much would you delete?”
    “Hmm . . . I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about it.”
    “God, I just want to touch you,” he said softly.
    “If you touch me now . . .” I said warningly.
    “Then everyone will start talking and tweeting about it and they’ll forget about that other thing you do.”
    “But if I walk away . . .”
    “Then I’ll be lonely tonight,” he said softly, with a sad smile. More than anything, I wanted to run my fingers through his dark, tousled hair and press my lips to his. “But I know, it’s for my own good. So see you later, Sweater Set.”
    This time, when he said the words, his voice sounded bittersweet. We both faded back into the crowds. I wandered around looking for Roxanna, but she must have left with that guy. It was a lovely night and I wasn’t quite ready to go home, so I got another drink. And just as I was stepping back from the bar, I bumped into Duke, spilling my drink.
    “If you spill on your shirt, you should probably remove said shirt,” he suggested with a naughty smile. “Right here. Right now.”
    “Or I’d have to go home immediately. Alone,” I replied.
    “And then take your shirt off,” Duke said. Relentless. “So let’s condense those lines of code and get to the end result. You, and your shirt off.”
    “You are ridiculous,” I said. But God, I missed him. And this is why it was dangerous for me to see him: because I forgot about love and thought only about lust. And really, I couldn’t give up on my career for a guy.
    For a moment we just stood there. Gazes locked. There was so much to say. All sorts of heartfelt feelings and intense, relentless longing for his touch. My gaze dropped to his mouth and then I only thought of one thing.
    “What were you thinking about?” Duke asked.
    “Oh, silly female thoughts about feelings.”
    “Is that all?” he asked, as if he could read my mind.
    “And kissing,” I answered softly. Even though I was thinking of more than that: I compared his kiss to Sam’s. There was no comparison. But Sam’s kiss was the last on my lips—again—and I wanted the memory of Duke’s touch instead.
    “Kissing is not a silly female thought,” Duke answered.
    “No?”
    “You should do it more often,” he said, his voice grave. “Do you know what’s even better than thinking about it?” the question was punctuated with a lift of his brow and a slight upturn of his lips.
    “Actually kissing.” When I answered my voice was breathless. His gaze dropped to my mouth.
    “Exactly,” he murmured.
    At that moment, someone stepped in to talk to Duke—that’s how it was being out with him. Everyone wanted to be his friend, pitch their startup, inquire about a job at Project-TK or ask his advice. I remembered the way he moved through the crowd at a party on the first night I saw him—everyone reached out to talk to him and he swaggered through like he was Someone. As always, he was generous with his time and thoughts, always willing to engage in conversation with new people. I admired that.
    It also gave me an excuse to wander away.
    To my surprise, I stumbled into Roxanna.
    “I thought you left. With that