Page 38 of A Baby Surprise For My Billionaire Boss

She nodded wordlessly.

Eli took Charlie down to the front door and handed him off to Henry’s mother, giving him a quick hug goodbye and promising that he would be home the following day when Charlie returned. The whole time, his thoughts remained upstairs with Maddie.

When he returned to her, she was at the barre, going through a series of exercises. Eli stood in the doorway and watched her for a moment, noting how different it was from the way she’d danced in the living room. She was able to truly focus on her technique now, watching herself in the mirror, checking each of her moves and repeating them if they didn’t meet with her satisfaction.

She caught sight of him in the mirror. “This is wonderful,” she told him.

“You really like it?”

“I love it — but I can’t believe you did it,” she said. “It’s such an extravagant gift.”

“It really isn’t as big a deal as you think it is. I wasn’t using the space.”

“It is a big deal,” she countered. “You thought of something I would want, and it’s the perfect thing. No one could have come up with a better gift for me, Eli.” She left the barre and turned to face him, meeting his gaze. “Thank you,” she said earnestly. “This means everything to me.”

“I wanted to do something to repay you,” he explained.

“Repay me? You don’t have anything to repay me for.”

“Everything you’ve done for me and Charlie.”

“I’ve only done my job.”

“No,” he said. “You’ve done far more than that. I know how challenging it must be to speak up to me the way you have. I have hundreds of people who work for me, and they never seem to manage it. But you did. And I know why you did. It was because you saw that Charlie’s life could be better, and you were willing to take a risk to help my son. I couldn’t ask anything more from anybody.

“I care about him,” Maddie said quietly.

“I know you do. I’m grateful for that. I can’t tell you…” He trailed off. These were dangerous waters, and yet he wanted to say what was on his mind. Did he dare?

“What can’t you tell me?” she pressed.

He shook his head. “Maybe I should leave you alone.”

“No.”

To his surprise, she stepped closer to him. Her fingertips brushed his. Eli’s whole body felt electrified, and he sensed the precipice they were quickly approaching. If this didn’t stop now, he wouldn’t be able to stop it at all.

He didn’t want to stop it.

“I can’t tell you how much of a difference you’ve made to my life,” he said softly. “You’ll always be so important to me. It’s because of you that I’ve been able to fix my relationship with my son. There’s nothing on earth that would be too much for me to give to you as thanks for that.”

“Eli…” She breathed in, and he was deeply aware of every movement of her body. “This is just the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

He curled his fingers around hers without thinking about it, without taking the time to process what he was doing. He couldn’t hold back anymore and was tired of trying.

And when he pulled her close, she didn’t try to resist.

The moment before he finally kissed her seemed to stretch out forever. Eli had time to wonder whether he was going to go through with it and to question how he had ended up here. He had time to ponder whether this had always been his intention in creating a ballet studio for her.

But he didn’t have the strength to stop himself.

The sensation of release the moment their lips met was so powerful that Eli knew he was lost. There was no coming back from it. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close, feeling nothing but gratitude that the wall between them had finally come down. Regret might come later, and in some smallpart of his mind, he was aware of it. But right now, all that mattered was that the two of them were finally together.

She broke the kiss and looked up at him, her eyes full of desire.

“Bedroom?” he whispered, and when she nodded, Eli felt as if an explosion of pleasure had been set off inside his chest. He took her by the hand and led her out of the conservatory without looking back.

CHAPTER 15

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