Page 79 of The Billionaire's Secret
I pace back and forth in front of the bed… My bed. She is here, in my room, in my suite. Wrapped up in my sheets… My heart begins to thud. I’ve never brought any woman here. Prefer to restrict my liaisons to an impersonal hotel room that is permanently booked for me a few floors below in the hotel.
So why her? Why is she the first woman I’ve brought to this suite?
Maybe it’s because she’s going to be my wife.
Or maybe it is because of how pale she’d gone right before she’d crumpled. Her legs had gone out from under her and she’d collapsed. A dead weight. If I hadn’t been there to catch her, she’d have hurt herself. And I can’t have that. Not while I still have so much to unravel about this woman who’d appeared out of nowhere and entranced me. It’s only because I don’t know much about her…except for what I have uncovered, which has only fueled my fascination with her.
Thankfully she'd woken up enough for me to get some juice and crackers smeared with peanut butter into her. She'd refused everything else, preferring instead to sleep.
When was the last time I had taken care of anyone like this?Never.That’s the answer. I ball my fingers into fists.
"What the hell are you doing to me, Gigi?" I hear my words and realize I spoke them out loud. That’s what she’s reduced me to. I am mumbling to myself as I fret about the health of a woman I don’t give two fucks about. I don’t… I don’t have any emotions for her; no feelings. Nothing that could expose the person I once was…before... the kidnapping, before my mother died.Fuck.I shove my hand into my pocket.
Why did the submissive cross the road?
Because her master asked her to.
My heartbeat slows.
It runs and runs but can never flee… What is it?I snap my fingers.You know the answer, you know it.
Time.That’s it.
Present in the sun, but not in rain.
Doing no harm, and feeling no pain.
What is it?
My breathing evens out.
A shadow.
I had been a shadow of my former self… Until I met her.
I’m not going to let her get away, not until I have resolved the puzzle that she is. I walk closer and stand over her.
Sweat beads her forehead. She thrashes her head from side to side; her chest heaves. Her fingers dig into the sheets at her side. She moans and my heart squeezes. I cup her cheek and her eyes snap open. "No," she wheezes. "Don’t do it."
"Do what?" I frown.
She knocks my hand away, rolls over, then scuttles up against the head board.
"Gigi?"
She swallows. "Don’t…don’t come near me."
"Victoria?"
Her chin wobbles.
I switch on the lamp and light floods the room. She blinks at me. "Who…who are you?"
"Victoria, it’s me, Saint."
She draws in a breath. "Saint?"
I nod, walk around to stand at the foot of the bed.
