Touching the Billionaire - Holly Jaymes Page 0,75
and simply looked at me.
“I’m not acting, Madeline. I’ve never acted with you. It kills me that you think I’d do that.” His fist thumped against his heart.
Guilt flooded through me, but I worked to push it away.
“I heard you talking with Corrine about seducing me to get me to perform.” Because I couldn’t bear to look at him, I continued on the path. “You didn’t deny what Corrine said. Instead, you said that you had to do what you had to do.”
“Fuck.”
I heard twigs breaking, so I figured he was following me.
“I didn’t correct her because to do so, I’d have to admit that it was real, which you were adamant you didn’t want.”
I whirled around. “So, it’s my fault?”
He looked so sad as he sighed. “No… Well…yes, sort of. All I’ve wanted since the moment I’ve met you, Madeline, is to be with you. I damn near told the entire world tonight that I was in love with you.”
My heart stuttered in my chest.
“But I didn’t because I knew you were worried about how it would look. When Corrine was under the assumption I was leading you on, what could I say? ‘Actually, Corrine, I’m in love with her’? No, I couldn’t if I was going to respect your wishes.”
My lips trembled as emotion crashed through me like a tidal wave. “You’re in love with me?”
He let out an exasperated breath. “Yes, Madeline. Maybe I should have told you sooner, although, I’m not sure it would have mattered. You seem to think I’m the type of man who’d fuck a woman to get a performance from her.”
Guilt washed through me again. I wanted to deny it, but couldn’t.
He stepped closer to me. “Tell me you don’t really think that.” His eyes were filled with such pain, that this time, the guilt nearly brought me to my knees.
There was so much to say, but it was all a jumble in my brain. So I said the one thing that was ringing clearly. “I love you.”
He gasped and jerked slightly. “You do?”
I nodded.
He moved closer but didn’t touch me. God, how I wished he’d touch me.
“I’ll be honest, Madeline, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I’ve never felt like this before. What I do know is that something has died since you left. Tell me what I need to do to prove to you that I’m not a man who’d hurt you.”
Since he wasn’t touching me, I reached out, cradling his face in my palms. “You’ve already done it.”
He sighed and dropped his forehead against mine.
“I’m sorry, Theo. I’m sorry I didn’t stick around to listen to you. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you… I didn’t even trust me.”
He lifted his head. “Do you trust me now?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
Relief washed over his face.
“Do you trust me?” I asked.
He took my hands and held them over his heart. “With everything I am.”
“Then you should kiss me. I’m tired of waiting for you to kiss me.”
He laughed and his arms wrapped around me, lifting and twirling me in a circle. When I came down, his lips were on mine, firm and thorough.
When he came up for air, he said, “I wish I could strip you and make love to you here. But I don’t want your grandfather shooting me.”
I grinned up at him. “Have you ever made love under the moonlight?”
“The bears won’t eat us?”
“The mosquitos might, but not the bears. Wait here.” I hurried back to the house and grabbed a blanket from the sun porch. “Come on,” I said when I got back to Theo. I took his hand and pulled him along the path to the pond. I spread the blanket out under the stars and stripped off my clothes.
He took his suit off and lay next to me. His hand caressed my face. “I want to tell the world how I love you. I won’t if that’s not what you want?”
“I do want that.”
“What about your concern that people will think you’re another notch on my bedpost or that you slept with me for the job?”
“I don’t care. I don’t care about anything but loving you, Theo.” I ran my fingers through his hair. I knew there would be issues and challenges in loving him, but I was willing to put in the work, and I believed he was too.
He smiled, and it lit up his face. “I love you.”
“Show me.”
After that, there were no words. Under the light of the moon, with the bullfrogs and