IN LOVE WITH MY FATHER'S BILLONAIRE BESTFRIEND

AR

morn

een part of my world. I knew that voice. It was the voice I had heard countless ti

eathe. I just lay there, my eyes still closed

I wa

hair out of my face and opened my eyes,

here

yd

g in

t t

My.

thought it might explode. I sat up slowly, clutching the blanket tightl

hose deep, intense eyes I'd always loved-were wide with shock

up quickly. He ran a hand through his hair,

pieces, like shattered glass slicing through my thoughts. I re

,

ealization hit me. I had just sl

forty-six.

have

with him. Ever since I was a teenager, he had been my secret crush, the

out it. They used to tease me relentlessly

ould whisper, elbowing me as I stare

im one day," Clara would

a joke to me

er when I turned sixteen and suddenly realized that I wasn't a kid a

ew Zayden was coming over. I spent hours doing my

e dressing like that?" he had said, raisi

thing about fashion before rushing upstairs. But

k in front of him so I could bend down and pick it up, giving

ping he'd notice my pedicure. I'd heard somewhere that men had a thing

did, Zayden always

last

Zayden said, his voice br

had been staring at h

real," I whispered. "Te

s voice low and rough. "

e air like a dark cl

m your father's best friend, Scarlett. I'm way t

ce trembling. "And you can't

my words had phy

voice tight. "Don't make thi

[4/1/202

bling to the surface. "Admitting that you've

rlet

p. "You think I haven't noticed the way you've looked at me all these years?

looked away, like he cou

rising. "But I'm not a kid anymore. And you knew tha

ce inches from mine. "I was drunk," he sa

u saying it didn

dn't

hed between us, he

e barely above a whisper. "Admit

breath. When he opened them again, they were fi

nt," he said quietly. "It ca

, I thought I might cry. But I didn'

e cold. "If that's how

find something-some reason to stay, maybe. But then he nodded

for the handle, t

doorway, was the last per

fat