Page 24 of Her Billionaire Hero
Baldwyn
Carrying the bag from Giovani’s into Sloan’s apartment, I caught a whiff of something I hadn’t smelled when I had left earlier. “Men’s cologne?” Scanning the empty living room, I took the food to the kitchen, placing it on the table. “Sloan?”
The sound of soft crying caught my ear and I hurried, following the sound to her bedroom. She lay face first on the bed, crying into a pillow. My heart broke for her and all the suffering she’d been through and was still going through.
Moving slowly toward her, I watched her body shake, as sorrow had taken her over completely. “Oh, Sloan.” Lying down beside her, I pulled her to lie on my chest. As I did, I noticed something other than her tear-drenched dark eyes. Moving my fingers gently over her cheek, I couldn’t help but wonder how she’d bruised it so badly. “What happened?”
Sucking in her breath, she jumped up, her white robe gaping, nearly showing her bare breasts. Swiftly, she turned and ran to the bathroom. “God! No!”
Going in behind her, I guessed she hadn’t realized she’d given herself such a bad bruise. “What happened to you? Did you fall?”
Her hand trembled as she moved it over the large bruise. “That fucking bastard! Preston!”
“He was here?” My blood boiled in my veins, heating my entire body to something akin to an inferno.
“He saw my address on some report at the police station when they were questioning him. He came over unannounced. And he wanted me to get back together with him. I know it’s just to make us look like a rosy picture for the cops. Not that I even entertained the thought of getting back together with him.”
My fists throbbed from how tightly I clenched them. “Why did he hit you?”
“I said some harsh words about our relationship and he slapped me.” She moved the robe a bit to uncover her left hip. “Then I fell.” As the material slid away from her skin, a blue and black bruise came into view.
I’d never been so angry in my life. “He hit you hard enough to knock you on your ass?”The motherfucker will pay for this!
She turned on the water then splashed her face. Picking up a towel, she dried her face. “He’s never acted this way before. He’s never raised a hand to me at all—over anything. I think it’s all the pressure from the cops that has him acting so differently.”
“I think you’re trying to find an excuse for his inexcusable behavior.” But I understood why she thought she had to do that. Taking her by the shoulders, I turned her to face me. “I won’t be leaving you alone anymore. I won’t let anything happen to you. Come on, let’s pack you a bag. You’re going to come home with me.”
Shaking her head, she was still trying to be brave about things. “He doesn’t have the code to get into this house.”
“I don’t trust him.” I wasn’t going to let her say no to me—not when it came to her safety. “I’ve got the extra bedroom. You’ll feel right at home. And you’ll be able to sleep peacefully, knowing that I’m right there, watching over you, protecting you.”
Pulling her lips up on one side, I saw the wheels spinning in her head. “I don’t want anyone to feel as if they have to take care of me.”
“I know you don’t.” She didn’t want to be a kept woman—she’d told me that from the start. “But right now, you need help.” Taking her hands, I held them between us, my thumbs grazing her knuckles. “I care about you, and I can’t let anything happen to you. So, you’ve not only got a friend in me, you’ve got a bodyguard now too.” I wanted to be even more to her, but she was far too vulnerable at the moment to tell her about that.
With a slow nod, she reluctantly agreed. “I guess I do need someone to watch over me. It’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that Preston might actually be capable of something terrible. Until we know for sure though, I think I do need your help, Baldwyn.”
“Good.” I kissed her on the forehead. “I’d kill for you, girl.”
“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” she said with a chuckle.
“Me too.” Spending the rest of my life in prison for murdering her ex-husband wasn’t something I wanted to do. But I knew I’d kill that man if he ever laid a hand on her again.
Giving her privacy to put some clothes on and pack a few things, I went to the living room to wait. I didn’t want to leave her alone even for a short period of time, even if I was just next door. My anger at her ex still hadn’t subsided much at all, so I went to the fridge to grab a beer.
The cold suds slipped down my throat and into my belly, cooling it some from the insane heat that had filled me. As I stood there, drinking the beer, feeling the most anger I’d ever felt in my life, something became quite clear to me.
I love Sloan. I really, really love her.
A shiver ran through me as reality hit. I actually loved someone, and that someone’s life was in danger. Or it might be.
Sloan came out of her bedroom with makeup covering the bruise on her face. “I thought it might be better if I could look in the mirror without thinking about my ex.”
Nodding, I agreed. “Yeah, no reason to keep thinking about him.” Grabbing the bottle of wine I’d opened for her before I’d left, I got our dinner and we left her apartment.
She punched in the code to my place then we went inside. “I’m not hungry, Baldwyn. I’m sorry you went to so much trouble to get dinner.”
I wasn’t hungry either, but I knew we both had to eat something. “I’ll make it look too appetizing to turn down. We gotta eat. I can’t let you fade away on me.” I took the take-out to the kitchen then began plating up the food.
