Page 84 of Billionaire Unexplained: Kaleb

Yeah, it was complicated, but I no longer gave a shit if she complicated my life to the point of madness.

As long as she was with me in all of that craziness.

I moved to the counter and gently sat her naked ass down on top of it, wrapping my arms protectively around her body as she recovered from her climax.

She lowered her forehead onto my shoulder. She continued to take deep breaths as both of our heart rates slowed back down to normal.

I’d been extremely rough with her, and I knew I should be apologizing, but I didn’t.

Something told me that she’d needed that as much as I had.

Hell, she’d actually initiated it in the first place, but I wondered if she’d known that she was unleashing a beast when she’d palmed my cock like that.

“Too rough?” I finally questioned hoarsely as I threaded my fingers into her silky hair and stroked her scalp.

I felt her shake her head adamantly against my shoulder.

Anna was rarely wordless, but if she was as affected by what had just happened as I was, maybe she wasn’t ready to speak.

“No,” she finally whispered wholeheartedly.

“Good,” I said, finally satisfied that she was okay. “Next time, it might be better if you text me or leave a note and let me know where you’re going.”

Anna

“Lauren said something to me at the river today,” I informed Kaleb as we drove back from town. “It has me wondering if it might be true.”

We’d gone to grab a burger for dinner since neither one of us felt like cooking after that crazy encounter in the kitchen.

“What did she say?” he asked as he expertly navigated the back roads to get to his house.

“She knew who I was almost immediately because she’s a fan of my music. She saw us one day in town at The Mug And Jug. She mentioned that maybe some of the other people in town know who I am, too, but they were keeping my secret. Do you think that’s true?”

“I’m almost sure that’s probably true,” Kaleb mused.

“You do?” I said in a surprised voice. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I don’t know that for a fact,” he replied. “But I know the people in this town. I was never worried about the majority of them recognizing you. I was more concerned that someone who didn’t care much about the people in Crystal Fork might. It’s a pretty tight community, but it’s gotten bigger over the years. A lot of the residents will gossip amongst themselves, but they’d still protect the subject of that gossip from anyone outside the community.”

“Do you think they feel like I’m one of them?”

I’d fallen in love with Crystal Fork and many of the people here, so I waited curiously for his answer.

“Absolutely,” he said like he didn’t have a doubt in his mind. “You were with me in the beginning, so that automatically made you someone worth protecting. Now, I think they feel like you’re one of their own because you’re so damn nice to all of them.”

I smiled. “They’re nice to me. I love it here.”

Crystal Fork had started to feel like home to me, and I hadn’t been this relaxed or comfortable in a long time.

I’d managed to write more songs than I could possibly produce in California, even though I’d been slacking off with Kaleb.

“Living in a small town has its problems, too,” Kaleb informed me. “Everyone usually knows your business, especially if you don’t make any effort to conceal your business. The amount of gossip flying around is ridiculous, and sometimes it’s not based on real facts.”

“But there’s so much good in this town that it can make you overlook the bad things,” I told him. “People treat you like extended family, and they go out of their way to be helpful.”

“That’s why I still live here,” Kaleb told me.

I leaned my head back against the headrest and released a long breath. “It’s hard to believe that there’s a place where people still try to protect their neighbors. It’s not like that in the city.”

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