Page 43 of In Bed with Her Billionaire Bodyguard

‘What do you want, Simon?’ she bit out, not even bothering to suppress the rage she felt in that moment. She was almost certain she knew, but she needed him to say it.

‘Let’s not be coy about this,’ he snarled into the phone. ‘I know you have some kind of deal on the table in an attempt to woo the shareholders into voting for you in two days’ time. But I doubt any deal would trump another sex scandal from you.’

‘There hasn’t even been one sex scandal,’ she growled into the phone.

‘Oh, I’m sure your ex-fiancé has something up his sleeve, if this doesn’t do the trick. I want you to back out of the CEO vote, or I’ll start digging. Because though you may be egalitarian, you wouldn’t be sleeping with the help, Hope. So, while I don’t yet know who he is, it’s only a matter of time.’

Luca paused at the top of the stairs. He’d woken just as Hope slipped from the room and he’d worried when she hadn’t come back. He watched her pace the living room floor, whispering harshly into the phone. He couldn’t quite hear her, but it was clear something was wrong. He frowned, and debated whether to go to her, but he could tell from her body language that it might not be a good idea. The call wrapped up and she turned to stare at the darkness through the window.

Quietly, he returned to the room and the bed and waited.

When Hope tiptoed in about half an hour later, he lifted the cover for her.

‘Everything okay?’ he asked.

‘Absolutely,’ she said, smiling back at him, not realising that her one word had eviscerated him. And neither of them slept again that night.

The next morning Hope packed her things while Luca was in the shower, stomach churning and heart aching.

She knew what she had to do, and that it hurt so much to do it only served to make Hope even more convinced that it was the right thing. Time and time again she’d seen that she could only trust herself; look what had happened with Martin, and wasn’t she just making the same mistake in trying to rely on Luca? It wasn’t as if they had a future beyond Austria anyway.

Just until we return.

Had she said that? Or had it been Luca? She threw a jumper into the suitcase angrily. That she didn’t even remember, didn’t know, just went to prove how much being with Luca confused things for her. And she couldn’t afford to be confused right now. Her focushadto be on Harcourts, on beating Simon.

Yes, Simon had sent a photographer after her, butshewas the one who had drawn Luca into the mess of her family struggles. The least she could do was ensure that Luca and his mother didn’t get caught in the crossfire.

But if Luca knew what Simon had sent to her personal email, Hope knew that he’d try to find a way to protect her. He’d not stop until he’d protected her—whatever the cost to himself. And shecouldn’tallow that to happen. It was time that someone finally protected him for a change. Even if it broke both of them to do it.

She stopped pacing back and forth across the floor when she heard his footsteps on the staircase. She’d made them coffee and when he emerged she gestured to where it was on the counter. Luca closed the distance between them and reached for the coffee, his eyes flicking between her and her suitcase, his expression inscrutable.

‘I’ve been thinking about when I get back to London. The vote is in two days’ time and things will be crazy after that, if—when—I get the CEO position,’ she said, the words ash on her tongue. ‘It’s going to be a while until I might be able to see you again.’

That unfathomable gaze was locked on her, as if he knew she was lying. But she wasn’t, was she? That was the thing. She would be busy when she got back, no matter what happened with the vote. And nothing changed the fact that even if she could have a relationship with him, the press would still be there. They would still want to know about Luca, who he was, what he did, where he came from. Every single inch of his personal life would be scrutinised, and nothing could protect him and his mother from that.

‘I’ll wait.’

‘You can’t,’ she said, retreating into herself, pulling the layers of polite civility over her once again. It had been a mask that Luca had stripped from her, but to protect him—to protect herself—she needed to put it on once again.

‘Don’t do this,’ he commanded, and she struggled against the order, hating the anger in his eyes, barely masking the hurt that lay beneath it. ‘Don’t shut me out like she did.’ His words eviscerated her. Knowing how much that had not only cost him to say, but also to feel. She was rejecting him, just like his mother, and that cut something deep in her. A wound in her conscience and her soul that wouldn’t heal.

‘Hope,’ he said, her name on his lips so different to the way he’d said it last night. The night before that. No, this time it was pain. ‘You don’t have to do this,’ he said.

‘You’re right. I don’t have to. But it’s what I’m choosing to do, Luca. This stays here in Austria. Just like we agreed. And when I’m made CEO, I’ll honour the agreement my brother made with you too. But this,’ she said, gesturing between them, ‘this was never going to be anything more than a pleasant distraction.’

She saw it then, her words hit their target, striking dead centre, and it did something to her. No, they’d not shared words of love, and yes, she was pushing him away as hard as she could. But it was so desperately painful that he was able to believe her so easily.

Fury coursed through his veins, blotting out rational thought and reason. Blotting out the memory of her pacing back and forth on the phone the night before.

Fury, the lash end of the whip of pain that was racking his body in a way he’d not even begun to feel just yet. He was so angry he wanted to shake her. He knew that there was something wrong with her words, with the way she said them, but he could barely see past the fact that she was walking away from him, cutting the ties that had bound them so deeply he thought he’d lost his heart.

Fool. Bloody fool.

It was happening again. Another woman turning away from him. His mother couldn’t be seen with him, Hope didn’t want to. The walls came slamming down, cutting off everything but the ice that was forming around his heart.

‘You didn’t even give it a chance, did you?’ he bit out, shaking his head. Hurt and self-recrimination descended in a red haze. ‘Because that’s too scary for you, isn’t it, Hope?’ He tutted and turned away, bracing his hands on his hips. ‘Fine,’ he said to himself, nodding once before looking back to her. ‘This? It’s done. As you wish.’ His hand was a slash through the air, drawing an immovable line. ‘But Hope? Know that you will never be loved the way you need and want, until you’re ready to open yourself up to the possibility of being hurt.’

She flinched at his words and he couldn’t even bring himself to feel like the bastard he knew he was.

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