Free One White Lie: Barrington Billionaire's Series: Book One by Jeannette Winters

dreams.”
    Not sure what to say, she was so confused by everything. Trying to figure out one man was bad enough, adding a second in the mix wasn’t a good idea. Since when do I ever do the smart thing? “Goodnight, Rex.”
    The timing was off. He was a wonderful guy, but right now, it didn’t feel right. There were unresolved issues she had to address back in Boston before she would be totally free to love again.
    As she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, she had only one person on her mind. Brice . Thank you for turning back time far enough to screw my life up all over again.
    Thankfully the next day was uneventful. Her mother never mentioned Rex, and more surprisingly, she never even asked about her evening out. Before Lena knew it, they were back on the bus, heading to Boston. Her brother Gary was upset she wouldn’t allow him to drive her home, but she insisted they enjoyed the bus ride. The truth was she needed to unwind, to have some time to regroup and gather her thoughts before going to the office tomorrow. If she didn’t sort this all out, she knew she would be spending the entire night tossing and turning, and that wasn’t going to solve anything.
    This ride was different from the last. Nicholas didn’t close his eyes once. Instead, he kept saying one word over and over again until she thought she would pull out her hair. “Nana. Nana.” Mom, did you plan this? I wouldn’t put it past you.
    Her phone buzzed with a text message. They hadn’t been gone fifteen minutes, and she knew it had to be her mother, checking in on them. She was wrong.
    “Had a great time last night. Let’s do it again soon. Have a safe trip back to Boston. Rex.”
    She couldn’t respond. Part of her wanted to say she’d had a good time as well but another part of her couldn’t commit to doing it again. It wasn’t fair to either of them right now. Maybe one day, not now. How can I yearn for someone who doesn’t want me, yet have a great guy here who wants to be with me? What a hot mess. Lena did the only thing she could. She ignored his message.
    Finally the network was strong enough on her phone for her to download a cartoon to distract Nicholas. She hated being one of those parents who used an electronic device as a babysitter, but right now anything she could find to distract him was open game. How do people do it with more than one? Well, that wasn’t something she was going to waste another minute dwelling on. It was just the two of them, and that was fine with her. Her father might think she needed a man in her life, but that wasn’t true. She had Nicholas, and they made their own little family. Lena had wanted to tell her father there were things worse than being alone. Like being with a man who doesn’t love you.
    Love wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Look where it got her last time. Broken-hearted and alone. No thanks. She wasn’t going down that path again. What she needed to do was deny her physical needs. But the way he’d looked at her and made her feel when he’d touched her was like a flame she couldn’t resist. Her hand yearned to reach out and touch it, even though she knew she was going to get burned. Who would be able to resist that?
    She had two choices. She could quit her job now, walk away from all that money she desperately needed, or she could suck it up and fight the urge to kiss him again. That is not going to be easy, maybe totally impossible.
    It wasn’t love; it was lust, pure and simple. It’s just a normal reaction to someone who was sexy as hell and could light a fire in her with just one touch. She needed to look at it solely as a sexual need and nothing more. And it will never happen again . He’d obviously had something troubling him that afternoon and was looking for a distraction. It didn’t matter if it was her or some other woman. There was no reason they couldn’t go back to the way things were earlier in the week. He stayed in the lab, and she avoided all contact.