Page 47 of Heart of Stone (Dark Billionaires)

His mother, on the other hand, was eerily still, despite the rush and bustle of the nurses working around her.

Sarah had been a month shy of fifteen when she’d given birth to him. A baby herself. He hadn’t even needed to ask why he’d been given up for adoption. Warren would never forget her look of joy when they met again as adults.

“I thought about you every day,” she’d promised, wiping away her tears. “Every day.”

He believed it too.

Kate’s voice broke through the fog of the furious Googling he’d done since Dr Tripathi had departed. Every webpage had given him progressively shitter news. “With optimal treatment, patients with glioblastoma havea median survival of less than one year,” one academic journal had told him.

He swallowed away the lump in his throat.

His mother was going to die soon.

“Warren?”

“Mm?” he lifted his face away from his phone to find Kate and Mattie on their feet.

“The nurses say we need to leave for the night, but we can come back to visit tomorrow.” The two of them had packed up and were ready to leave.

“Right,” he said, stretching his muscles after being stuck in the least comfortable chair in existence for hours. He took Kate’s hand, suddenly desperate to be alone with the one person who held him together. “Do you want to come and stay with us, Mattie? Or would you prefer to go back home?”

“I’ll come with you, if you don’t mind. The lady next door—Charne—is looking after Leo. She was his breeder, so he can stay with Charne and his mum for a bit. Can we come back to the hospital tomorrow?”

“Of course. We can spend the whole day with her, just like today,” Warren assured him.We need to spend as much time as possible with her whilst we still can.

Mattie engulfed him in a tight hug, his head only coming up to Warren’s chest. “Thank you for being here.”

“I’ll always be here for you, Mattie. For you, and for Mum.”

9

Kate

WhenWarrendisappearedintothe en-suite in his dressing room, Kate followed.

She pushed open the bathroom door, and there he stood.

Water flowed over his broad shoulders in rivulets, following the path etched into his body by his muscles. Kate bit her lip at the sight, remembering thatthisman had been on his knees before her.

She’d dreamt of it last night, and had awoken to the pulsing breathlessness of her release.

Wordlessly, she let her clothes fall to the floor. The metallic buttons on her jeans clinked against the tiles, but Warren didn’t turn. The first tendrils of self-consciousness touched her, but she shook them off. He’d already seen her more intimately than she’d seen herself. There was no place for her fear between the two of them.

It was only when she opened the glass door to the shower that he turned, his eyes widening first at her face and then her body. “Kitten,” he growled, dragging his gaze back up to her own. “Why are you in here?”

“Because I want to care for you,” she answered simply, reaching up to stroke his cheek.

He hauled her up against him, skin to skin.

“Wait, I’m standing on your… uh, toes,” Kate looked down, embarrassed when she realised it was his prosthetic.

But his teeth flashed in a smile. The first one she’d seen today. “I’m sure they’ll recover.” He stroked his knuckles across her cheek, leaving a wet smudge behind. “My good girl,” he whispered softly.

The words warmed her to her core. “I am?”

Warren nodded. “My perfect kitten.”

Kate leant against him, gazing up at him like he held the answers to the universe.

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