Page 22 of The Return of Her Billionaire Husband

Or had Joe redecorated the room since she’d left? Had he stripped his villa of any record of her and the baby? The need to know was unbearable, even though she knew by opening the door she would be tearing open an already raw and seeping wound.

She took a deep breath and turned the handle and pushed the door open, reaching for the light switch on the wall. It was like a time capsule. Nothing had changed. The toys with their soft little bodies and sightless eyes were keeping watch over the empty cot. The hand-embroidered quilt was smoothly tucked in, the sheets neatly folded. The cross-stitched sampler she had made was framed above. Emilia.

Juliette’s throat closed, her heart gave a spasm, her eyes filled. Joe hadn’t changed a thing. Everything was the same. Everything. She walked further into the room and touched the mobile over the cot, sending it on a gentle rotation. She didn’t have the courage to turn on the nursery rhyme music. There was only so much heartache she could stand.

She brushed at her eyes with the back of her hand, stepping away from the cot to pick up one of the soft toys off the shelf. It was a floppy-eared white rabbit with a pink satin bow. She held it to her face, breathing in the still newish smell, wondering if there would ever be a time when she would be able to think of her baby and not have this aching weight pressing down on her chest.

Juliette put the rabbit back on the shelf and went to the chest of drawers next to the change table. She pulled the first one open and looked at the tiny vests and booties and onesies lying there. She picked up a pair of booties—booties she had knitted herself. She swallowed and put them back and closed the drawer, her eyes burning, chest aching, emotions smashing through her like brutal, punishing waves.

She walked back to the door and turned for one last look at the room. Could there be anything more heartbreaking than an empty nursery, never used?

And then, with a sigh, she switched off the light and softly closed the nursery door behind her.

* * *

Juliette went further along the wide corridor to the spare room furthest away from the master bedroom. She opened the door and switched on the light but stopped short when she saw Joe lying face down on the bed. Naked. Gulp. He was soundly asleep, his strongly muscled legs splayed across the mattress, his arms resting either side of his head.

She ran her hungry gaze over his toned back and shoulders, feasted on the taut shape of his buttocks, his hair-roughened legs. She came closer, reaching for the throw rug on the foot of the bed, gently easing it out from under his feet and laying it over him to keep him from being cold, even though it wasn’t a particularly cool night.

Why was he sleeping in one of the spare rooms? Why not in the master bedroom?

Juliette began to step backwards away from the bed to leave the room when he opened his eyes. He turned over onto his back, the throw rug slipping to barely cover his pelvis. Dark masculine hair arrowed down from his muscle-ridged abdomen, disappearing under the throw rug, but her memory filled in the rest of the picture for her. Hot colour rushed to her cheeks and her pulse flew off the starting blocks and raced and raced and raced.

‘I—I’m sorry...’ She backed further away from the bed. ‘I didn’t know you were sleeping in here.’

He sat up and pushed his hand through his sleep-tousled hair. ‘I sleep better in this room.’ He yawned and threw off the throw rug, stood and stretched, and her female hormones jumped for joy.

Juliette turned her back so quickly she became lightheaded. Or maybe that was because the sight of him naked was enough to make her faint. With desire. ‘Could you please cover yourself?’ She sounded like a prim spinster from another century but she couldn’t look at him without wanting him.

Joe came over to her and placed his hands on the tops of her shoulders. Juliette sucked in a ragged breath, her senses reeling at his closeness. She could feel his body heat—his naked body heat—behind her, tempting her to lean back to feel the deliciously hard ridge she was almost certain would be there.

He leaned down to place a kiss just below her left ear and she tilted her head sideways to allow him access, her will to resist evaporating. ‘Haven’t you heard that saying—let sleeping dogs lie?’ The soft movement of his lips against her skin, the waft of his warm breath, the deep rough burr of his voice was enough to make her legs fold beneath her like severed marionette strings.

‘I told you—I didn’t know you were in here. I was looking for somewhere to sleep and—’

He turned her to face him, his eyes sexily hooded and focused on her mouth. His thumb came up and brushed her lower lip, and something deep and low in her belly rolled over. ‘Sleep with me.’

It was a command rather than a request and for some reason she was fine with that. More than fine. She didn’t want to overthink why she was standing in the circle of his arms with her body burning with lust. But somehow, being back in this house with all the memories it contained shifted something in her—especially now she understood more about him. Things about his personality that made her see him in a totally different light. A light that drew her closer and closer like a storm-tossed dinghy towards the strong, steady glow of a lighthouse. Right now, all she wanted was to be in his arms, to feel the potent power of his body within hers, to feel nothing but passion, lust, longing and have those primal needs satisfied. By him.

Juliette placed her hands around his neck, pressing closer to the hard heat of his body, her body responding with humid heat of its own. She could feel the slick preparation of her inner core, the dew of arousal signalling her readiness, her eagerness, her wantonness. ‘Are you telling me or asking me?’ Her voice was just shy of a whisper but still managed to contain a spirited note.

He gave a crooked smile and drew her flush against him. ‘Right now, I’d get on my hands and knees and beg if that’s what you wanted me to do.’

She stepped up on tiptoe and brought her mouth to just a breath away from his. ‘This is what I want you to do.’ And then she closed the distance between their lips.

He made a desperate sound at the back of his throat and his arms tightened around her. His lips moved against hers in a series of hot presses, massages, nudges, teases. She opened to the commanding thrust of his tongue, the blatantly erotic movement sending lightning strikes of electricity straight to her core. Flickers and flames of want leapt through her body and she wondered how she had managed to survive so long without this conflagration of the senses. Her body was alive and wanting, aching with the need to have him deep within her.

Joe lifted his mouth off hers and started working on her clothes. ‘Let’s get rid of these. I want to look at you. All of you.’

Juliette tried to help him but her hands weren’t cooperating. Besides, they were already occupied exploring his muscled chest and toned abdomen on her journey down to his erection. She took him in her hand and stroked him the way she knew made him wild for her.

Joe groaned and pulled her hand away. ‘Let’s get you naked first.’ He continued to remove her clothes and each time a slip of fabric fell away from her body she shivered as his glittering gaze ran over her. ‘You’re so beautiful. So hot. I’m going crazy here.’ His fingers struggled with the fastening on her top. ‘Damn it. Why do you wear such complicated clothes?’

Juliette laughed and helped him with the fastening, leaving her in nothing but her bra and knickers. His hands cupped her breasts and even through the delicate barrier of lace her flesh leapt at his touch. Her nipples tight, her breasts tingling and sensitive, her inner core aching with need.

Joe placed his hands on her hips, his expression now gravely serious. ‘Are you sure about this, cara? We can’t undo this once it’s done.’

Juliette brushed her lips against his. ‘Totally sure. I want you. Don’t make me wait any longer.’

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