Touching the Billionaire - Holly Jaymes Page 0,51

woods, leaving me alone with Theo.

Unworthy

Theo

Driving up to Madeline’s childhood home seemed like a great idea until I actually pulled up in front of the house. I wasn’t generally a man prone to nerves, but as I parked and got ready to get out of the car, I was filled with them. Would she see through me to the desperate idiot who drove a hundred miles because he couldn’t go another day without her? Would she be angry that I came up here and interrupted her time with her family? Would she send me away with the reasoning that we both agreed that being together was a bad idea? Which it still was, except that for me, the desire to see her again far outweighed what any paparazzi might print in a tabloid.

The curtains in the window moved, and I knew that I’d been seen. Someone knew I was here, so I couldn’t very well turn around to leave and pretend like I never came. I got out of the car and walked up to the door, hoping I didn’t seem like an idiot or a jerk.

The older woman who answered the door was friendly. She invited me in and explained that Madeline and her sister had taken a walk to the pond, then she asked me to stay for dinner. I said I would, but in the back of my mind, knew that if Madeline didn’t want me here that I would find a reason to leave. The woman had her husband show me out the back and toward the path to the pond.

“Just stay on the trail ‘till you hit the pond, you can’t miss it.”

It was late afternoon and the sun was still warm, the humidity still fairly high as I trudged along the path and through the woods. Eventually, I could see that there was a clearing up ahead, and I determined I had to be close. My nerves picked up again, as I tried to unscramble my brain to think of what I’d say when I saw her. I stepped out from the woods and into an open meadow where there was a large pond.

There were two people in the pond but my eyes went only to Madeline. Seeing her stopped me in my tracks. She was so stunningly beautiful. She stood knee-deep in the pond. Her beautiful red hair was stacked on her head and the sun shone on it, giving it glorious gold streaks. Little tendrils of it hung around her face and neck. She looked like a fucking goddess.

And then there was the bikini. The man in me was instinctively drawn to her perfect female form. I wanted to strip myself bare and go to her, taking her into my arms, filling her with my body and pounding away this insatiable need for her.

I stood there for a moment, watching her like she was some kind of mirage. But then I reminded myself that she was real and I was here to talk to her. So I propelled myself forward again, walking toward the pond.

Her sister was the first to notice me. She stared at me with curiosity. Perhaps if it were any other man, she might’ve been concerned about a strange man approaching them, but I could see that she knew who I was. So mostly she stared at me with intrigue as she moved toward Madeline and whispered something to her.

Madeline whipped around, her eyes zeroing on me. I watched her reaction. If she was angry about my showing up like this, I didn’t know what I was going to do. Her sister got out of the pond and wrapped herself up in a towel, and then walked toward me, introducing herself. I did my best to find my manners and greeted her, but I couldn’t take my eyes away from Madeline.

And now we were alone. She took a couple of steps back in the water and my heart clenched in my chest that she wasn’t happy to see me.

“What are you doing here, Theo?”

I struggled to get my mouth to cooperate, but finally, I said, “We have new scripts.” Inwardly I slapped myself on the head because that was just a dumb answer.

Her brow furrowed. “You drove up here to bring me a new script?” Then she had an expression like something dawned on her. “How’d you even know where my grandparents’ home is?”

What I really should have told her was how much I missed her. How much I