Her Billionaire Heartthrob - Kaylee Baldwin Page 0,11

it.”

“Why are you doing this?” she asked him. What kind of person bought someone’s favorite building? Who did that?

He looked down at his hands and then up again. “Because I regret how things went down in Hawaii. Not you—” he said before she could get angry. “I loved every minute with you. But how I left like that, without saying anything.”

“You’ve had a year to say something. You had my email and phone number; you could have sent me a message at any point to tell me where you were.”

“You’re right,” he said. “I hurt you, so I want to do something to make it right.”

“By buying the theater and hiring me to restore it.”

“Pretty much.”

She leaned back in her chair, thoughts whirling too fast through her head to grab a hold of any single one. Had he really thought this was a good idea? Did he think he could throw a little money at her feelings, and she’d forgive him like it was nothing? That he would be absolved for not only standing her up, but completely ghosting her afterward. For months, she’d wondered if the entire thing had just been in her imagination.

But could she really say no to this, just on principle?

“I’m expensive,” she said.

“Money is not an issue.”

“And if I agreed to do this, it wouldn’t mean that I forgive you.”

“I wouldn’t expect it to,” he replied. “Seriously, no strings attached, other than, you know, the ones in your client contracts.”

“So I do this, and you have no expectations whatsoever.”

“Other than making you happy.”

“Nope, that’s an expectation, and I’ll say no.”

“Fine,” he replied. She could tell he was fighting a smile, and it only made her more resolved to set firm boundaries with him. “You may be happy or miserable while restoring the theater, but I do expect that you’ll do an amazing job, and that’s one expectation I’m not changing.”

They stared at each other, each one daring the other to look away first. Attraction buzzed through her, and her memory flashed back to the first night they’d met, how his lips had brushed against hers oh-so-gently just outside her room at the resort, the moonlight only giving her the barest glimpse of the outline of his face.

She tore her eyes away from his first. “Fine.”

“You’ll do it?”

“I’ll do it. But it’s not going to be cheap. And you’re lucky I’m even available at such short notice.” It wouldn’t hurt to take this job, and she couldn’t help the frisson of excitement that went through her. She’d been dying to get her hands on the theater her entire adult life. She wished it had come through anyone but Liam, but he would be so busy anyway, it wasn’t like she was going to have to see him very often at all. If ever again.

“I am lucky,” he replied with a large grin, but she shook her head sharply.

“We’re not friends,” she reminded him. “Business associates.”

“Business associates,” he repeated. “Now where do I sign?”

Chapter 7

Liam awoke in the middle of the night, gasping for breath. It didn’t happen every night but often enough that Liam did everything he could to work himself into complete exhaustion before going to bed.

Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.

He still hadn’t looked at a single work-related document since getting kicked out of Bentonville’s Pets and More, and he was growing antsier by the minute. The only thing that had helped keep his mind off of it was arranging to buy the theater, and swimming.

He sat up, his mind spinning in a million different directions.

You’re okay. You can breathe. It’s just a panic attack.

He stood and paced the room, feeling like if he didn’t get one good breath, he was going to die in that moment. He got onto his hands and knees and closed his eyes, willing his body to work like it should.

Sometimes it took thirty minutes for his breathing to return to normal, sometimes it was only a few seconds. Tonight was of the longer variety. When the band around his chest finally loosened and he collapsed to the floor, gulping in precious air, his entire body clammy, he knew he couldn’t keep going on like this.

He headed outside to his patio. It was cold but invigorating, and he leaned against the railing, inhaling the fresh night air. The stars overhead were visible between the trees, bright dots of light that reminded him he was a part of something bigger than himself.

Was the rest of his life going to be