Page 48 of How to Win the Wild Billionaire

He was being a jerk, but she knew him... He wouldn’t jump from her bed to someone else’s. He might’ve been on a tear this week, but she could see how much pain he was in; it was there in his churning eyes, in his too-tight lips, reflected in the fact that his shoulders were halfway to his ears.

She’d learned to read him and could feel the confusion and hurt rolling off him in hot waves. He didn’t want to deal with the idea of having more family; he simply couldn’t bear it. He’d trained himself to keep isolated, to not allow any love into his life. He already worried about losing his brother, and the idea of having a sister had, she was sure, rocked his world. Digby’s biggest fear was loving and losing someone he loved, and having someone new in his life freaked him out.

And adding her and Liv to the equation was a sure way to make him panic and want to run.

“Talk to me, Dig,” she said, her anger dying and sadness rising.

“Nothing to say.” Digby whipped out the stinging words.

“So, you’re quite fine with the fact that you have a sister?”

“We might share some genes but, as far as I’m concerned, she’s just another Tempest-Vane employee. I don’t intend to have anything to do with her,” Digby said, his voice flat. But longing crossed his face and Bay knew he was lying through his teeth. “Radd is my family, my only family.”

Every time he said that it hurt a little more. But she couldn’t think of herself, she had to concentrate on trying to get Digby to move off the I’m-better-alone hill he was currently defending. Not for her but for Roisin, whom she adored and who wanted to have a relationship with her biological brother.

But mostly she wanted this for Digby. She understood that Roisin’s revelation was a lot for him to come to terms with, that her coming into his life was too much for him to deal with...

But Bay understood that Digby needed more people in his life who loved him. Family was a precious gift and not something to be easily dismissed. And family wasn’t confined to people with whom one shared DNA; after all, it had been Mama B who held her hand during the custody battle, Mama B who led her and Olivia from the courtroom after the verdict.

It was Mama B who held her as she watched her parents walk away from their granddaughter without a word. Mama B remained in her life as her parents walked out of it.

Family wasn’t something to be so easily dismissed, Bay thought. Especially when that family was walking toward you. When they didn’t want anything from you but to be part of your life and, if you were brave enough, to love you.

“You are the reason why Roisin decided to come clean—she feels a connection to you,” Bay persisted.

“I. Don’t. Care,” Digby said, through gritted teeth.

Bay folded her arms across her chest and looked him in the eye. “This is all pretty overwhelming, isn’t it? You’ve fallen for me, and Liv, you have a new sister, Radd is engaged to Brin... For a guy who’s always felt alone, being surrounded by people who want a piece of you must be disconcerting.”

“I haven’t fallen for you,” Digby muttered, his tone harsh.

Oh, he so had. “You told me once that you craved attention and that you looked for it everywhere, that it fueled so many of your actions. Funny that now that you have a bunch of attention, from people who claim to love you, who want to spend their lives loving you, you are running from it. What’s up with that, Dig?”

“Will you pleasego?”

Not yet. Bay decided to push him some more. “Wait, I’m trying to understand this. So, you are happy to have the attention of strangers and the press and acquaintances, but you bolt when you are faced with real love, true love?”

Digby stared at a point past her shoulder. “Bay, I am tired and pissed off and I’m done with this conversation. Will you please leave?”

He roared the last sentence and Bay forced herself not to react, to keep her expression bland. He didn’t scare her; he never would.

“I’ll go, in a minute. I just have a few things to say first,” Bay said, her heart and stomach doing backflips.

“Get on with it,” Digby growled.

Bay was desperate to get through to him but knew she would only have one shot at this. She considered and discarded a couple of sentences and when Digby threw up his hands in annoyance at having to wait, she allowed the words to flow.

“I love you, Digby.”

And she always would. Sure, she’d been on the receiving end of conditional love but that didn’t mean she had to give it. She knew, somewhere deep in her soul where truth resided, that if Digby was capable of giving her what she needed, he would. He wasn’t doing this to hurt her, but because he’d been hurt, time and time again, by people and circumstances.

“I know that’s not something you want to hear but it’s something I want you to know.” She saw him jerk, clocked his deep frown. He wasn’t happy to hear her declaration and, knowing she had nothing more to lose, she carried on.

“Someday, I hope you realize that we could have something pretty wonderful,” Bay calmly stated. “But, if you decide that you want us, you’d better be prepared to give me whatIwant, Tempest-Vane.”

He lifted his chin, those blue eyes blazing. Digby didn’t like ultimatums; he far preferred to give them. Too damn bad.

She refused to be intimidated by him. “I know what it’s like to live with uncertainty, what it’s like to live with someone who is exceptionally good at giving and then withdrawing affection. I refuse to love someone like that again. In Mozambique, you gave Liv, and me, your love and affection but, the next day, you withdrew it and dropped out of our lives. That is not acceptable behavior.”

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