Billionaire's Second Chance At Love

Chapter 114

Kissing Dan was not part of the plan. Not that there was a plan to begin with.

But how could she pretend it didn't matter? That it didn't break her heart to lose the one guy she had come to love so damn much?

It all felt like a nightmare, the one which refused to let her wake up to the reality where Dan wasn't a stranger and she wasn't so miserable. Willow swallowed and turned away from the window of her bedroom.

After Dan dropped her off so she could rejoin her family gathering—and be safe with her loved ones instead of wandering in the wild—he disappeared into the thick shadow of trees as if he was never there.

But Willow knew he was there. She had a sweet sensation and the taste of his lips on hers to prove that. Not that it made her any less miserable. A small taste of him was just not enough. She wanted more, and she wanted it bad.

Willow walked back to her bed and flopped down with a heavy sigh. She ran a hand through her dark hair and wondered what to do next. She might have saved Ronin's life from the fire and given them a future where her brother wasn't dead and Carmen wasn't raising their child alone, but something had obviously gone wrong. She still couldn't understand how Alice turned out to be the daughter of Molly and Jasper. That literally made no sense, and every time she thought about it, it made her absolutely furious.

Apparently, in the process of saving one family member, she ended up losing the other. Imagine her luck! But that was not even the worst part. She could still find something good to think of when it came to Alice.

For one, at least the little girl did get her wish granted. Call Willow sick or twisted or insane or whatever, but what Alice wanted was the love of both her parents. And she got that in this new reality, didn't she?

Willow groaned, burying her face in her hands. "I can't believe I'm saying this. What the hell is wrong with me? Alice belongs to this family. She belongs to Ronin and Carmen. And it's damn unfair for fate to play such a twisted game with them. God, what am I supposed to do now?" She lifted her head and stared at the wall. "Wait. Am I even supposed to do anything? Wait, wait, wait, is there anything that can be done?" But then her shoulders sagged, and she let out a sigh of defeat. "No. I can't possibly go back in the past and see where things actually went wrong, can I?"

She shook her head, standing up abruptly. She started pacing the room. "No, no, no, no, no, no. You need to get this stupid idea out of your head, Willow. And you need to do it right now. You possibly can't think of this insanity. You can't. You just can't. Besides, I don't even have the device on me, right? So, it's practically impossible to make it happen. Wait a sec. Why the hell am I still thinking about it? Get it out of your head, Willow. Stop thinking about it. Stop being so stupid."

"Yes, Willow. Stop being so stupid."

A voice came and froze Willow to the bones. No. Her fate couldn't be so bad, could it?

She turned on her heels, half terrified of what she had spoken out loud and half of what he had heard.

"Dan!" She gasped, finding him at the door of her balcony, leaning against the doorway. Hands crossed, as if he had all the time in the world and he hadn't just snuck into someone's room. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"The same that you seem to be doing," he said, tilting his head to the side, dark eyes fixed upon her.

Willow had no way of knowing how they could possibly have anything in common to do or think about. He obviously had his priorities set to find out what kind of wizardry happened on the day of the fire, and she obviously was hellbent on proving she had no idea what he was on about.

She shook her head, looking around the room, then outside the window. "Did you seriously just sneak into my room? Are you insane? What if someone saw you? They're gonna give me hell if that happened."

Amusement passed his handsome face. "Why would they give you hell for my actions? It's not like we are lovers sneaking around, are we?"

Blood rushed to Willow's face, and despite trying her best to not let it show, her voice trembled when she opened her mouth. "Of course, we are not lovers," she scoffed, crying inside, sweating too. "I mean, look at us. What do we have in common? Nothing, right? I don't even know why you would think that. Please stop talking bullshit."

Dan leaned forward slightly, his gaze unwavering. "Well, perhaps you're right. Maybe there's nothing between us." He straightened, a sly grin playing at the corners of his lips. "But then again, maybe there is."

Willow's heart pounded in her chest. She struggled to maintain her composure, to keep the tremor out of her voice. "Bullshit."

She turned to walk away but he grabbed her arm and pulled her to him.

She gasped, feeling her heart pick up the pace, and pound away with a force that threatened to break her ribs. "Look." She gulped, licking her lips. "I told you I don't know anything. I don't know what you're—"

"...talking about?" He finished the sentence for her.

Willow nodded furiously, anything to get out of this dangerous situation. "Se. All cleared up."

She tried to squirm her way out of his tight grasp, but of course, he didn't let her.

Instead, he yanked her even closer and surprised her by moving some stray curls out of her face. "Just so you know, I didn't risk my life to come here to talk about something that you're obviously going to deny."

Willow frowned, not able to understand. "I don't..."

"You don't know what I'm talking about," he finished once again for her, leaving her oddly amused and curious.

She swallowed hard, trying to gather her thoughts. "I really don't understand," she admitted, her voice shaky. "Why are you here then?"

Dan's gaze held hers, intense and unreadable. "About something else, obviously."

Even more puzzled, Willow pushed, "Like what?"

He released his grasp on her arm and sat down on the bed, clearly enjoying the confused look on her face. "We'll come to that later," he sighed, leaning back on the bed, eyes once again on her. "By the way, I heard your monologue. Pretty interesting stuff you had right there."

Willow turned ashen, or at least that's what she looked like when he uttered the obvious. Fuck. She suddenly felt so stupid. No. She felt more than just stupid. She felt...

"So, the device, what is that?" he asked, blinking up at her. "And before you say it's all in my head or some other shit like that, let me tell you, you aren't getting rid of me until you spill the whole truth."

And as if to prove his point, he kicked off his shoes and sprawled down on the bed, making sure she knew he had no intention of leaving until she gave him what he wanted.

The answers.

A/N: Do you ship these two? :P