Page 24 of My Best Friend's CEO Dad

She turns away. With everything I have, I focus on staying in the chair.

CHAPTER 11

ETHAN

Imust be a genius or maybe just a highly effective predator. How did Kayla miss it? She’s beautiful and elegant but perhaps not as smart as me. Or maybe she’s too close to it? Whatever the case, I saw it, and I followed my hunch. Throughout dinner, the friend, Maci, was sneaking looks at Lukas, and Lukas was trying too hard not to look at Maci.

It was like he was making a point of it. It would’ve been less suspicious if he’d looked at her and talked to her occasionally. His behavior just made it more obvious.

Kayla walks with me to the main gate. When the security lights flicker on, I think she looks magnificent. I find myself, for a second, wondering if I could somehow make this work, but I’ve gone too far already. She’d never forgive me. I’ve got to see this through.

Brushing the hair from her face, I lean forward, then stop myself with a heavy sigh. I’m letting her know that everything in me wants to kiss her, but, like the respectful SOB that I apparently am… “I can’t kiss you in view of the house. That’s the sort of line an honest man knows not to cross.”

This lights her up. Guilt cuts into me. Instead of an ember, it’s a sharp blade. It slices up my middle. For some reason, I hear the crash of glass shatter against the wall. I’m trying to be tough inside, cruel in my mind, and tell myself I’m a predator. Talk about Kayla like she doesn’t matter. A good lay. Stuff like that. Hack my brain into hating her. I’m a sociopath, I tell myself—a psycho. I’ve got no feelings.

“I’ll see you soon?” she murmurs.

“Yeah,” I say, turning away, hoping I don’t have to see her again.

If my plan works, maybe I can get rid of them and find a new path in life. I’ve never had much time to think about what a person like me would do. I’ve had a series of dead-end jobs after dropping out of high school, reading as much as possible, and trying to improve. Maybe, just maybe, I can have something new, something better.

Or have I already crossed too many lines? Am I too much of a monster?

CHAPTER 12

MACI

Kayla spins around on the desk chair in my bedroom, her eyes beaming like two stars as she hugs a cushion to her chest. She holds the cushion as though she wishes it was Ethan.

“It went well, didn’t it?” she says.

“It seems so,” I reply, trying my best to smile.

After Kayla asked me if I was okay at dinner, I reminded myself that I had to pretend at least that I wasn’t being eaten up from the inside. I had to try to be normal, but it was so difficult sitting right next to her dad without any intimacy between us. I don’t know what I was thinking, wearing that dress. It was the only thing I packed that seemed appropriate for a formal dinner.

Maybe, deep down—or not so deep—I wanted him to notice me.

“He’s so romantic. He said he couldn’t kiss me when he left out of respect for Dad. How amazing, awesomely old-fashioned is that?”

I smile, nodding. She didn’t like it the last time I told her to be careful. Anyway, it’s not like I’m in the best position to give advice.

“I like old-fashioned,” I murmur.

Or, more accurately, I like “experienced.” I like salt-and-pepper hair, savage breaths, and bubbles popping like boiling water on the surface as my man stubbornly stays beneath the surface, refusing to emerge until he’s given me the most toe-curling orgasm of my life.

“Really?” Kayla says enthusiastically.

I laugh. Sure, it’s forced, but forced laughter seems better than sitting here with a glum look on my face, like the ghost at the feast.

“You don’t have to sound so surprised,” I say. I’ve made a mistake. I shouldn’t be telling her what I like or want because if I reveal even a shred of truth, it’ll lead to her dad.

I like tall billionaires with big muscles and big dicks, and it helps if their name is Lukas, too.

“I didn’t know you were dating anyone.”

“No, I mean, theoretically.” Another lie. Guilt twists in my belly. I yawn, covering my mouth. “Aren’t you tired?”

It’s past midnight. Kayla playfully tosses the cushion at me. “Not really, but I can take a hint. Don’t worry. There’s so much energy in me, buzzing around. It’s like it’s teasing me. I can’t stop thinking about him. Do you think I should text him?”

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