Read Online The Bad Boy Billionaire: What a Girl Wants by Maya Rodale - Free Book Online Page B

they’ll reopen the bridges and tunnels?”
    “No one is going in. And no one is going out,” Frank answered.
    Sam was still on this island. He was here, perhaps only blocks away. The thought of it made my skin crawl. But even worse was the thought that he might have gotten in his car to drive home in the storm when he’d been drunk beyond reason. Perhaps cops caught him trying to leave, gave him a sobriety test and put him jail for the duration of the storm. I had no idea what had happened. I only knew that he was out there, and angry and I was afraid to see him.
    I glanced at Duke as he chatted with Frank. He’d be pissed to know that I was actually worried about Sam after what he’d done to me—and what he tried to do. I was kind of pissed with myself for caring. But I was a nice person who cared about others, particularly people I had loved with my whole heart for twelve years. And I did not want to lose my ability to experience empathy because of one awful experience.
    I still didn’t want to see him. I still hated the idea that he was somewhere on this island.
    I tuned back into the conversation about all the ways in which the city was shut down or barely working but still carrying on.
    “Wait—if the power isn’t on and there’s no way out of the city, what are we going to do about your IPO day and my reunion?”
    “We’ll figure something out,” Duke said confidently—and too quickly. We hadn’t had that mature, logical conversation I was supposed to initiate. Now was as good a time as any, right?
    “But we should come up with a plan,” I said. Because that’s what I did—planned. Outlined. Prepared.
    “It’s too soon to plan,” Duke countered. “We don’t know if there will be power or if we can get out of the city. We might end up spending the night eating cereal and drinking warm beer in my apartment.”
    I made an unladylike face. And then persisted in making Duke share my worries.
    “But if the power comes back on,” I started, “your party is at the same time as mine.”
    “We’ll go to both,” he replied with an easy shrug.
    “How? Logistically, it’s practically impossible. Both events are from six to nine, with an hour and half drive in between them.”
    “I don’t know, Jane,” Duke answered, completely at ease and unconcerned by an issue that was kind of consuming me at the moment. “I’ll figure something out. Let’s not worry if we don’t have to and don’t imagine the worst-case scenarios.”
    “I’m writer. It’s my job to imagine worst-case scenarios,” I muttered. I also had a brain for imagining dramatic events, and hosting imaginary arguments and falling for the luscious fantasies I made up. What served me well in writing fiction could complicate things in real life.
    I knew it was a bit ridiculous to worry about these two parties right now—or even at all. I mean really, what a fabulous problem to have! Do I go to the hottest party in Manhattan with my billionaire boyfriend? Or do I show up at my reunion, full of people who dumped me and fired me, with my billionaire boyfriend by my side? And let’s not forget my popular romance novels and the killer dress I would buy with my royalty money . . .
    What worried me was old issues between me and Duke resurfacing. I knew he had feelings for me. I knew I wasn’t just any other girl to him. But I didn’t know that, if he had to choose, he would pick me over his work. I wasn’t crazy to worry about that—it had already happened before.
    Somehow, we made it work. But sometimes I wondered if he thought his work and his stuff were more important than mine.
    After we finished our drinks and gleaned every last bit of info from the bartender, Duke and I headed out, holding hands as we walked toward the river.
    “Are you OK?” Duke asked. “You’ve been really quiet.”
    “What’s going to happen when Project-TK IPOs?”
    “I’ll be a billionaire in truth, so people can finally stop calling me the Bad