One Night With the Billionaire (Men of the Zodiac) by Sarah Ballance

would have sufficed, but instead it wasn’t legal ? No sane person could let something like that go, let alone her—an attorney.
    Still, she’d killed her vibrator batteries thinking of his hands and mouth on her. Wracked her brain wondering what falling meant to him. Wondering how her life might have changed if she’d had the nerve to walk up to him a decade before and demand something for which she was still afraid to ask.
    Make me scream, Ryder .
    She missed him, the cloud of sex and seduction in which he seemed to exist. She gave herself every out. Tried to convince herself any man would do, that the fact she was too chicken to ask Aggie if there were any C batteries on the island was all that stood between Zoe and satisfaction. Tried to believe it had just been too long since anyone had truly wanted her. Coveted her. But the truth was, it had been far too long since she had wanted. Since her desires had had a face.
    And now that face was gone, along with the rest of him.
    It was going to be a long flight home. More and more, she wondered if she should take it.
    There was nothing about them that could last, but if she could toss aside her perfectly orchestrated—until recently, anyway—life and just feel , just for one night, she’d deal with the fallout later. She’d put the pieces back together when the resort and the white sand and the equatorial sun were all distant memories. Proof she’d for once taken a chance—a chance that would be her sustenance when she returned to her boring existence. Funny how back then she thought she had everything. A wildly successful career at a top law firm that was destined to be hers. Engagement to a powerful, highly-respected man. An enviable address in the best part of town. Prestigious friends…most of whom had turned their backs on her when her ex had been exposed.
    She blinked back an unexpected burn in her eyes. Since arriving at Latitude 13, she’d gained the unexpected. Getting over her ex had been easy—learning of multiple affairs had a way of quickly and effectively dousing the embers of a lukewarm attraction—but maybe the brunt of the impact just hadn’t hit her yet. She’d dodged a lot of reality by coming to the island, and Ryder’s being there swept her further from that world.
    But he didn’t want her. Not like she wanted him. His outrageous flirtations were probably just his normal way of relating to women who weren’t Aggie’s age. She should be grateful, but she couldn’t help but wonder what he meant by his claim that too many people depended on him. Mr. Straightforward Sagittarian wasn’t exactly living up to his sign, at least not when it came to her.
    Behind her, the door opened. The softest of whispers, but in the quiet, the sound was unmistakable. She turned.
    Ryder.
    Cargo shorts, faded tee shirt that matched his eyes, and a horse’s ass tattoo.
    Sweet Jesus.
    Every cell in her body demanded to close the distance between them, but she could do nothing but stare. She wouldn’t have imagined she could forget how incredibly sexy he was, but despite the nonstop replay of every moment he’d ever graced her vision, her breath caught and her heart stopped.
    “Where have you been?” she asked. She felt a little clingy, and that startled her. Maybe if he hadn’t made a mystery of himself, she wouldn’t be sitting there turning over the questions in her mind.
    His pale blue eyes intensified to a fiery hue. “Trying to wrap my head around what’s happening between us.” He stepped closer, lowered his voice. Wrecked her. “Trying to talk myself out of touching every inch of your body until I own it—until there isn’t a single piece of you that doesn’t crave what I can do. Trying not to imagine you in my bed, trembling and sweating and screaming for release. Trying not to want it so damn bad.”
    “But what?” she asked, managing a hefty dose of sarcasm despite the thrilling, terrifying impact of his words. “People are depending on