Billionaire Protector - Alexa Hart Page 0,29

I was actually old enough to remember – in foster care. When I turned seventeen, I was officially on my own. How’s that for a fairy tale?” Anne did smile then, but it was a sad smile.

I felt awful. “Anne, I am so sorry. I had no idea. I just wanted to – you know, I just wanted to get to know you better. I didn’t mean to bring up anything painful or... I’m sorry.”

“Hey,” she grabbed my hand, “don’t be. It’s not your fault, and it’s not a big deal. I’m used to it, you know? I was used to it a long time ago.” Her eyes were doing their emerald green twinkle dance again.

I wanted to kiss her then, for many reasons – the biggest one being that she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in my entire life.

But it was more than that. Picturing Anne getting shuffled around in the system, only to end up completely alone at just seventeen years of age... There was a certain tragedy involved in that image that struck me deeply. I’d lost a lot and experienced my own pain, of course. But I’d always had family. A big family. I’d never actually had to be on my own, no matter how you looked at it.

I was beginning to understand the sorrow that lived in Anne’s eyes.

She wasn’t scared of new people – she was just used to being on her own. Sharing her story was probably the last thing she wanted to do – ever. I’d completely misread her.

“This is going to sound like a total come-on, but I promise you it’s not. I don’t mean it in like, ‘a way’. But how about we just ditch the party? My dad already saw me here, so I’m in the clear. I introduced you to all my brothers. There’s nobody else down there that I wanna see or would put you through meeting.” I waited for her response.

“Where would we go?” Anne asked me calmly.

“I dunno. Back home. Somewhere that isn’t swarming with people? I could drive you back to your place. We could just, be normal. And talk.” Everything about the night, outside of Anne’s sweetness, seemed overdone and ridiculous to me. I could only imagine what it looked like through her eyes.

“But the truck –”

“I’ll have it sent for.” I spoke the words before my brain could process the fact that normal people didn’t talk like that.

Anne’s eyes were wide for maybe the eight millionth time that night. “Sent for?”

“I’ll take care of it, okay?” I hoped I could slide past answering her actual question swiftly.

“It’s not even my truck, Penn. It’s Kate’s.”

“Your boss?”

“Yep.”

“Then I’ll have it returned to the store. It’ll be there before she even wakes up. No worries.” I waited, not knowing if I’d been successful in convincing Anne or not. It was possible I’d only freaked her out more.

“You don’t even know where I live.” Anne cocked her head and raised an eyebrow.

“So. Tell me where you live.”

It seemed simple enough, and Anne must have been softening because she grinned and said, “Just drive to the store. It’ll be close enough.”

I could handle mystery a lot easier when it surrounded a gorgeous girl with a smile on her face.

“Alright. I’m gonna get us out of here, but you have to follow me really closely if you wanna avoid all those people. And trust me, you want to avoid all those people.” I gave her a playful thumbs up, and we began our escape.

For the most part, it really was just sneaking out the back exit and running down a few alleys. I’d purposely driven my own shitty truck in protest of the event’s fanciness, and the sight of it seemed to calm Anne considerably.

“Did you drive this thing just to piss your dad off?” She asked when we were on the road. She looked highly amused.

“You know it.”

Anne rested her head against the cool glass of the window as we pulled onto I-70, and I tried to figure out how I was going to say all of the things that she needed to hear.

But I didn’t have to think very hard. When I glanced her way a few minutes later, she had fallen asleep.

She looked like a lost little angel – hitching a ride to anywhere. The highway lights twinkled on her bare shoulders and something inside of me ached to touch them.

6

Valerie

If I left now, I stood a chance. Randall had to be