Page 32 of The Reluctant Billionaire

‘Jesus,’ Aidan curses under his breath. He looks as gutted as I feel, which is something, at least. ‘Give me five minutes,’ he shouts at the door. ‘I’m on a call.’

‘Okay,’ she sing-songs.

I look up at him.

He looks down at my bare boobs.

‘I need to go,’ he tells me.

‘I know,’ I say. ‘It’s cool.’

It’s stupid, but I feel bereft. Like this fragile intimacy between me and a man who otherwise refuses to give me the time of day has been snapped. Broken. Like we only got this tiny fragment of time, and it’s already dissipated, and he’ll be back to giving me the cold shoulder in the morning, and—

My thought process stops right there, because he’s gathering me up in his arms and kissing me again, smoothing my hair down my back in firm strokes. I lean into him. Into the hungry glides of his mouth. The decisive tautness of his tongue insidemymouth. Into this feeling of being tiny, and desirable, and bare, and completely engulfed in Aide’s huge arms.

Most of all, I lean into the heady relief of knowing that, right at this second, he has no regrets. That Sylvia’s abrupt interruption was as unwelcome to him as it was to me.

That he’s not leaping away from me in horror, or coming to his senses just yet.

I loop my hands lazily around his neck, fondling the clasp of his silver chain with my fingertips. ‘Do you want some help with the food?’ I ask, because I really, really don’t want to walk away from him.

He smiles lazily against my lips. To have made him smile, to have taken him out of his head for a few minutes, makes my heart happy. ‘Not a good idea,’ he murmurs. He nudges me gently with his erection. ‘Can’t serve the kids with a raging boner, and I can’t get rid of it if you and your tits are hanging around, can I?’

‘I see your point,’ I whisper, pleased that he’s admitting I affect him like that.

Pleased that I might continue to affect him after we leave this room. After I walk away.

I kiss him once more before extricating myself and hunting around for my bra. He gets to it first and holds it up for me like a gentleman helping a lady on with her coat. I put my arms out, and he slides it on me before moving behind me and scooping my hair over my shoulder.

‘Very pretty bra,’ he says against my ear, his fingers lingering against my back after he’s fastened it. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t think I’ve remotely finished with you.’

14

LOTTA

The distance between the centre and my flat is half a mile. Far too short to justify a cab, especially on a gorgeous evening like this. Even if my legs are threatening to give out on me after the manliest, gruffest, most rugged, most enigmatic man I’ve ever met has just now almost brought me to orgasm with the decadence of his tongue and the fire in those dangerous eyes and the filthily ominous threats in his parting words.

I can’t quite believe we just did that.

That is to say, I can totally believe that I just ripped my top off in front of Aide and got my boobs out for him. I’ve never done anything quite that shameless or brave before, but it’s not a massive step out of character for me.

No.

What I really mean is that I can’t believe Aide let me. Went along with it.And then some. He may have been full of warnings—or promises—yesterday of the things he wanted to do to me, but I wouldn’t have expected him to follow up on them. Not because he wasn’t as desperate as I was, but because he’s seemed so stoic and sensible and repressed all this week.

He’s one of those guys who takes the weight of every last thing, and every last person, on his shoulders.

What I didn’t see coming was that when that weight got too great, he’d snap. Break.

And he’d let me comfort him. Or distract him, more accurately.

I was as good as my word. I told him I’d give him something else to obsess over aside from poor Gaz’s accident.

Judging from the smile I put on his face and the bulge I put in his pants, I succeeded.

If he hadn’t said what he said as he left the room, I’d probably be feeling, not insecure, exactly, but pissed off. Wistful that something so good had been nipped in the bud so quickly.

But his gorgeous, growlydon’t think I’ve remotely finished with youwill go down in history as the sexiest thing any man has ever said to me, and it makes me think tomorrow will definitely be worth showing up for.

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