Page 14 of Her Big Fat Dreamy Billionaire Ex

Aiden rolled his eyes, but his lips twitched to hide a smile. “You’re not going to bring that up again, are you?”

“It was so funny. You, afraid of a penguin.”

“I thought it was going to peck me or something.”

Felicity laughed, thinking of how Aiden had scrambled to get away from it, and had fallen off the rock he was sitting on. The poor penguin had been more startled than he was.

“Go ahead, laugh,” he said, not trying to hide his smile anymore. “I have dirt on you too, if you remember.”

“Me?” Felicity tried to remember anything embarrassing she’d done at the zoo. “I don’t think so.”

“What about the time we went ice skating?” His face showed his delight as his eyes sparkled at her.

Felicity’s cheeks heated involuntarily. “Oh, my gosh, I told you to never bring that up again.”

He chuckled, the sound rumbling around his chest. “Sorry, it was just too cute.”

Cute. Right. Only the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to her. She’d been a senior in high school, and she and Aiden had just started dating. She’d thought ice skating would be fun. Turns out it was humiliating. She’d fallen down and her skates had caught on her jeans pocket, ripping a hole in the seat of her pants. “It was not cute! Those were my favorite jeans.”

“I meant your pink underwear.” He gave her a devilish grin.

Without thinking Felicity jumped up and swatted his shoulder. “You’re so bad.”

Aiden turned the wheel, the boat rocked and Felicity lost her balance. Aiden’s arm shot out and caught her before she fell. She pressed her hand on his chest, her heart going a zillion miles a minute. “Thanks,” she said, her voice sounding breathless.

Aiden didn’t speak. He looked down into her eyes. The moment seemed to stretch out, and she became hyper aware of her body pressed to his. He swallowed and let her go. “Sure.”

Felicity stumbled back to her seat. She turned to look at the river, her fingers trembling. She focused her camera at the trees and snapped some pictures. They weren’t very good. She was shaking. And there really wasn’t anything to take pictures of. She just had to do something to take her mind off the feelings that were swelling in her chest.

They’d had such good times together. She’d stuffed the memories away in her mind. Buried them and not allowed them to surface. But now they were coming back, and so were all the feelings she’d forced herself to forget as well.

Aiden cut the engine. “If you look out the right side over here, you’ll see an egret.” Aiden’s voice was low and husky.

Felicity moved to Aiden’s side of the boat and focused her camera. She took a few shots. “Thanks,” she said, forcing herself to sound nonchalant.

Aiden looked like he wanted to say something, but he just nodded and clenched his teeth. He cranked the engines again, and they made their way down the river.

“Monkey River Village is home to around two hundred people.” He continued his tour script, and Felicity tried to ignore all the crazy things her heart was doing in her chest.

Aiden was a good man. He just threw himself into his work. His work always came first, and she hadn’t been able to accept that. She didn’t want to spend the rest of her life as second fiddle. She deserved a man who could put her above everything.

And that’s why she had to start putting up a wall between them. She couldn’t let the old feelings in again. She knew it wouldn’t take much for her to fall back in love with Aiden. He was handsome and charming. And they fit well together. She could already feel herself slipping back. But falling back in love with him would only create more heartache down the road. He was too used to treating her like a doormat.

And she was not willing to spend the rest of her life allowing him to walk all over her.

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