Page 10 of Kinks of a Billionaire
“You’re resisting it,” I noted grumpily.
Willow laughed under her breath. “Ah, but we’re just friends.”
“We’re more than that,” I said instantly. “We’re best friends.”
We should be more than friends, I wanted to say, but it seemed like the wrong time. It might come across like I wanted her only because she was unavailable.
She sighed wistfully, then resumed chopping her vegetables, her eyes trained on the bowl in front of her. “Stuart proposed.”
My heart stopped. Full-fucking-stop.
“He… W-what?” Fuck, stuttering was a first.
“Stuart proposed,” Willow reiterated, bumping me softly with her hip as she blew a lock of auburn hair from her face. “And I accepted.”
I swallowed, then swallowed again. A knot was forming in my throat, and that same feeling that came over me in Byron’s office yesterday was ever-present.
“You… he… I…” I failed to find the words as my heart gave a painful thud. Ten years ago, I rejected her. I stood by it being the best thing for her, even now. She deserved better than what I had to offer back then. Was too pure for my sexual desires. Yet, as I stared at her now, I battled with the realization that I’d made the wrong decision.
For the first time ever, I wasn’t sure how to get what I wanted.Her.
Her beautiful eyes flicked to mine before she returned them to the spot in front of her.
“Don’t do it, Willow,” I finally whispered, my heart clenching. “You’re too good for him.”
“Royce, that sounds dangerously close to what you’ve said before, if you can remember that far back,” she warned with a groan, referring to the night she kissed me—the same night I relived over and over in my head. If only she knew. “I’m almost twenty-nine.”
I shrugged one shoulder. “And I’m thirty-nine. What’s your point?”
Acid ate at this organ in my chest, turning it into a corroded battery.
“Are you happy?” I forced myself to ask around the bitterness on my tongue.
Something flickered across her expression, but before I could zero in on it, she whispered a barely audible, “Yes. But I don’t want to lose you.”
I lowered my head and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Your happiness is all that matters. If you need me, I’ll be here. We might not see each other all the time, but you’ll always have me. From a distance. From the shadows. Forever.”
She lifted on her tiptoes and brushed her lips over my cheek, then whispered softly, “Thank you, Royce.”
Turning back to the counter, we worked silently for a bit, the scent of fresh vegetables, olive oil, and wintergreen perfuming the air around us. I wanted to open my heart and tell her not to marry Stuart. To give the idea of us a chance.
But deep down, I knew I was too late.
So I resolved to be the best friend I could possibly be. Once the salad was made, we turned at the same time, facing each other, and I took her in my arms, salad bowl and all.
“Husband or not… If he hurts you, I’ll end him,” I vowed, holding on to her just a bit longer.
Chapter 4
Royce
These nuptials would be the death of me.
Beer in hand, I stood off to the side and leaned against the window, watching people mingle across the large terrace that overlooked the Atlantic Ocean. The breeze carried the soft tones of Chopin through the air—Willow’s favorite composer. We always joked that beer and Chopin went perfectly together, yet she wasn’t drinking beer today. Since I’d arrived, she’d stuck only to sparkling water.
Her fiancé, on the other hand, was on his fourth glass of whiskey.
“Engagement party,” I muttered under my breath, scoffing.
