Page 15 of The Renegade Billionaire
I’ve never found a man blushing to be so freaking sexy before, but color me excited.
“Thanks.” He’s holding a MacBook still in the box in one hand and a Walmart bag in his other. It’s too far to walk from the Hideaway into town. Did he call Moe’s Taxi for a ride?
Why hadn’t he let me drop him off?
Braxton turns away from us to scan the Chug.
“Was there something I can help you with?” I ask.
“I was just driving back to the inn?—”
“The Hideaway,” Ethan interrupts. “The locals call it the Hideaway.”
That makes Braxton smirk, and it shouldn’t be so sexy. So when he does it, why the heck do my panties throw a party?
“The Hideaway, huh?” He chuckles, and I suppress a shiver. I need to talk to my friends because I’m not acting right around this guy. He can’t be so hot that he turns my brain to goo, it’s just not natural. “Then I definitely picked the right place,” he says, melting away my mental spiral.
Braxton’s stare sees right through me. “I was passing by and saw the sign for a coworking space.” He gestures with the brand-new laptop. “I’m loving the…Hideaway, but the Wi-Fi was a little spotty out there. I figured this would be a good place for me to spend the day.”
“What?” I choke out far too quickly. “What do you do?” I amend.
He averts his gaze. “Marketing,” he says, then rolls his shoulders back.
“Huh.” Come on, Madi. You can do better than that.
“Do you work here too?” Before I can answer, Blissy walks in.
She stares at the four of us, then gives me a troubling click of her tongue. “I heard we had a new friend in town. I’m Blissy. I’ll get your caffeine fix here in a minute, but think long and hard about what you choose. There are enemies on both sides.”
His brow furrows, and I even like this expression. Does he do anything that’s not attractive?
“I’m Brax.”
“Half the town thinks coffee is the best way to wake up, and the other half thinks it’s tea. It’s started all-out wars before,” Ethan says.
Braxton’s lips curl at the corners. “Wars, huh?”
“He’s not kidding,” I whisper.
The sparkle in his gaze dances with glee. “And you work here too?” he asks again.
“Pops has owned the train station since before I was born. A few years ago, he let me turn it into a coworking space.”
“And now it’s the heart of the town, right along with the Hideaway.” Blissy is full of maternal pride I don’t deserve. “It is,” she says when she catches my eye roll. “Madi here has given all of Happiness a place to belong. She’s the town treasure, that one.”
“Is that…right.” Braxton’s voice hitches strangely, almost as though he’s just learned a secret, but my biggest secret is that I can’t say no to anyone, ever—and it’s not exactly a secret to begin with—so that can’t be right.
Great, now I’m filling in his blanks with all kinds of made-up crap about myself.
“Okay.” I clap my hands a little too loudly. “So, let’s get you set up with an account, and then I’ll give you a tour.”
“Do you not take compliments easily, or is it that one in particular that makes you uncomfortable?” Braxton’s voice is pitched low, so I think he intends for only me to hear, but he’ll learn quickly that every wall in this town has ears.
“She can’t take a compliment to save her life,” Blissy huffs. The sound of coffee beans grinding drowns out any response I was going to make, so instead, I walk on wobbly knees to the desk hidden away in the corner.
“You can buy one session, a pack of ten, or a monthly unlimited pass.” At least those words manage to sound professional.
“How often are you here?” he asks to a chorus ofoohs andahs from my favorite football players.
