Page 18 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 10
"Well, whatever he is, he sure seems to make you happy."
I thought back to my conversation with him on the bench. For those few minutes, I had forgotten about everything else. And right now I just wanted to forget.Damn it.I hated how Kristen always made so much sense. "Fine, I'll go."
I threw on the all black outfit she had picked out for me and added a little eye makeup and I was ready to go. I usually would have been concerned about going out with wet hair, but it was so hot out that having wet hair would probably just help cool me down.
A few minutes later we arrived at the village square. But Bryce wasn't anywhere to be seen. There was just a trio of guys in Canadian track suits sitting on the side of the fountain.Wait a second! That's Bryce.Is he really Canadian?I thought back to my brief conversation with him. He hadn't said "eh" a lot or been overly polite. And he hadn't mentioned maple syrup or hockey at all.
He and his two friends ran over to us. One had brown hair that was buzzed close to his scalp and the other had perfectly coiffeddark hair. They were both about the same height as Bryce, which was probably a foot taller than me.
"Hey, Alina!" said Bryce. "I'm glad you guys came. I was starting to think we'd have to start without you."
"What the heck is Operation Red Rip?" I asked.
"You'll see. Follow us." He pushed a Razor scooter toward Kristen.
"Where's mine?"
"Oh, we didn't realize your friend was going to come so we only brought one extra. You'll have to ride with me." He got on his scooter. "Hop on."
I raised an eyebrow.
"Come on. I won't bite."
Kristen gave me a shove to force me onto his scooter. He immediately kicked it into motion, giving me no choice but to wrap my arms around his waist to keep from falling off. My hands ended up on his abs, which felt as incredible as they looked when I had seen them in the locker room. I quickly moved my hands over to his hips. It seemed wrong to be feeling up Bryce an hour after breaking up with my asshole boyfriend. And it made me wonder what he was doing right now. The thought made my stomach churn.
The wind whipped my hair around as we zoomed past the dorm buildings. We had gone into an area of the village that I didn't recognize.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"Dorm 16."
"Why?"
"Sorry. Classified."
"Oh yeah? How about now?" I reached up with one hand and tickled his armpit. It seemed like a good idea. It wasn't.
He laughed and pulled his arm down to block me from tickling him, which in turn pulled the handlebars sharply to the right. As the front wheel turned at a 90 degree angle from where it should have been, the scooter stopped dead and Bryce and I flew over the handlebars.
I went airborne for a few seconds and then came to rest in a bush directly on top of Bryce. My face was an inch away from his.
"Ow," he muttered.
His minty breath wafted up to my nose. I locked eyes with him for a second. The twinkle in his baby blue eyes was enchanting. Even though I had just caused him to crash his scooter and flip into a bush, there wasn't a hint of anger in his eyes. Only amusement and a bit of desire.Shit, what am I doing?
I quickly crawled off of him and wiped the leaves off myself.
"Oh my God, Alina!" screamed Kristen as she pulled her scooter up next to me. "Are you okay?"
"Codenames only!" yelled one of Bryce's friends.
"Really, dude? They just flew into a bush and you're worried about code names?" Kristen scanned me for any major injuries. "It looks like you're okay."
"Yeah, I think I'm fine," I said. Nothing was in excruciating pain, so that meant no sprains or breaks. A quick glance confirmed that I had a few scratches on my arm, but that was about it. "No thanks to Bryce's driving..."
"My driving?" said Bryce. "Sorry, I must have missed the part in the scooter manual about how to deal with a spontaneous tickle attack."
I smiled and tried to look innocent. "I don't know what you're talking about."
