Tempting my Billionaire

On My Mind

★Nathan★

A week had passed since Cassandra’s big party, and I still could not make sense of her. She had smiled at Timothy, laughed with him, and greeted everyone else with that graceful charm that seemed to captivate the entire room. But with me? She had been polite, cool, and dismissive, as though I had been nothing more than a name on her guest list. I could not stop replaying it in my head. The way her hazel eyes had looked straight through me, sharp and steady, unbothered. It was late now. The city outside my office window pulsed with light. The towers of Seabrook Bay stood tall against the night. But inside, the silence pressed in. The hum of the air conditioning. The faint tick of the clock on the wall. My tie hung loose, and the last of the bourbon in my glass burned its way down my throat. I leaned back in my chair and stared up at the ceiling.

“Ugh,” I muttered under my breath. I was still thinking about Cassandra. Ten years had changed her. She was not the bold, opinionated teenager who once followed me around, with her silly laughter that had filled the air. Or how she had always blurted out whatever was on her mind. No. She had turned into someone else entirely. Poised. Confident. Untouchable. And colder than I remembered. The sound of the elevator doors broke the quiet, and I glanced over to see Timothy as he entered my office with a tired smile. His shirt was untucked, and his tie was missing.

“I knew I would find you here,” he said as he dropped into the leather chair opposite my desk. “It’s after nine already,”

“And what’s your point?” I shot back as I swirled what was left of my drink. “And what are you doing here?”

“Sienna dumped me again,” he informed me, and I raised an eyebrow.

“What is this now? The fourth time?”

“Sixth,” he corrected with a grin that made me shake my head. “But who is counting?” I sighed softly as I looked at my best friend.

“You should be. At some point, you have to decide that enough is enough,” I pointed out, but Timothy leaned back and folded his arms behind his head. He still had that silly smile on his face.

“But it is never enough. That woman drives me insane. I swear, half the reason I go back is because I enjoy the chase,”

“You enjoy the drama,” I said dryly. “Which is worse. She is not right for you, Tim. You know that,” he shrugged.

“Maybe. Maybe not. But I am not ready to quit,” he said, and this was a conversation we had had six times already. I already knew there was no changing his mind. Not tonight. Not ever. At least, not until he was ready to just let Sienna go. But he was right. Timothy enjoyed the chase. He thrived on the push and pull. He enjoyed the way she challenged him. I had a feeling they would either destroy each other or get married. “Anyway, enough about that,” he said as he stood up and went over to the cabinet to pour himself a drink.

“Pour me one too,” I said. Timothy poured us each a drink before he continued.

“So, Mother wanted me to remind you to be at the house on Sunday. You are still coming, right?”

“Of course,” I immediately answered.

“It will be just us. Family only. No clients, no outsiders, no noise. Cassandra will be there. My parents. Yours. Small and simple,” he grinned. “You know how Mother gets when she is in her hostess mood,” I smiled faintly.

“Yes. I know,” I said. Timothy’s grin softened into something more genuine.

“It will be good, Nathan. Like old times,” he said. Old times. My mind flickered back to dinners at Rosehaven Hall. Afternoons by the pool. And of course, Cassandra trailing behind us, begging to be included. I remembered how Timothy used to roll his eyes and how I pretended not to notice how smitten she had been with me. I swallowed hard as I pushed the memories aside.

“Are you sure you are ready for small and simple?” I asked, as I tried to deflect, and he laughed.

“Not really, but I am looking forward to it anyway. I want Cassandra to feel like she belongs again,”

“She does,” I said quietly. He looked at me for a moment, something unreadable in his eyes. Then he shook it off and finished his drink.

“All right, I am going home before you talk me out of chasing Sienna again. Try not to stay here all night,”

“Goodnight, Tim,” I said. He clapped me on the shoulder before he left, and the silence settled once more. I set my glass down and stood up. I walked over to the large window and looked out. The ocean shimmered in the distance, dark and endless under the stars. Cassandra’s face came to mind again. Her smile reserved for everyone but me, her laugh warm with Timothy but cool when I tried to draw her in. She had looked right through me at the party, as if I were nothing more than a ghost from her past. But I had seen the flicker in her eyes. The way her pulse jumped at her throat when I stepped too close. The slight tremor of her hand when she lifted her glass. She was not indifferent. She wanted me to believe she was, but I knew better. I could not let her slip away this time. Ten years ago, she had been too young, and I had been too blind to notice what was right in front of me. Now she was a woman who had built her own life, a woman who had returned not as someone’s sister, but as someone who owned every room she walked into. She wanted to keep me at a distance. That much was clear. But I suppose I was a bit like Timothy, I enjoyed the chase. Sunday lunch would be different. There would be no crowd, no noise, no endless line of people clamoring for her attention. Just family. Just us. I would find a way to corner her, to cut through that wall of ice she had wrapped around herself. I needed to know why she had changed so much. Why she looked at me like a stranger? Why she refused to let me close? I pressed my hand against the glass, and watched my own reflection stare back at me. Cassandra Lionel had returned to Seabrook Bay, but she had not come back to me. Not yet. But she would. And I would make sure of it.

★★★