Therese Beharrie - Second Chance With Her Billionaire

No, no, no, no, no.

Wyatt had not saved her from falling. He was not standing behind her, his hard, delicious body pressed against hers, his arm around her.

She was not remembering how many times he’d seduced her from this very position. Sliding an arm around her waist, pulling her against him, dipping his head to the nape of her neck, brushing his lips over the sensitive spot he knew was there.

She was not thinking about how she would lean her head back to give him better access. Or how she’d let out a sound that had been somewhere between a purr and a moan when he obliged her. When he’d started seducing her more earnestly, his hand would move from her waist over her breast, linger there while teasing the sensitive spot in her neck. She’d push back onto his—

Two seconds later she’d stepped out of her shoes and was facing him.

‘Thank you,’ she said, her face burning. She couldn’t command the embarrassment back now, though a part of her tried. She hoped he’d think it was because of her almost-fall rather than her overactive imagination.

He studied her for a moment, his expression unreadable, before bending down and removing her shoes from the ground. He placed them in front of her, looking up at her expectantly. She blinked. Then realised he wanted her to step back into them and felt the faint call of hysteria.

That was what this intense desire to laugh was, wasn’t it? And did he really think she wanted to touch him again after what her mind had put her through minutes before?

Oh, wait, she thought. He didn’t know what she was thinking. She also couldn’t keep acting like a lovestruck teenager. She was feeling attraction. She was attracted to him. Had been the moment she’d seen him at her father’s Christmas party three years before; would still be now, two years after their divorce. Attraction didn’t simply go away because they were no longer together. In fact, it had probably grown because she knew what it was like to be with him.

Yes, that was the perfectly logical explanation for why she was so overwhelmed by how sexy he was. Simple, biological attraction.

She took a breath and slid one foot into her shoe. When she was unable to think of a way to avoid it, she rested her hand on his shoulder and stepped into her other shoe. He waited to see if she was steady, then rose. Slowly, languidly, as if giving her a chance to grow accustomed to his new position.

He was still much taller than her; his shoulders broad, his torso and hips narrow, held up by powerful legs.

And suddenly simple biological attraction didn’t seem like the truth.

He lowered his head, meeting her eyes lazily.

‘Put your weight on the balls of your feet,’ he told her, before walking away.

She didn’t walk after him. Instead, she took a moment to regroup. She had known this would be hard. She had known seeing him would be hard.

Seeing him at a celebration for an occasion she didn’t quite believe in? Hard. Seeing him around her father? Hard.

But she hadn’t expected this. This attraction that awoke every part of her body. Or the sharp quips or any discussion, really. She’d thought she’d avoid him. Avoidance was the perfect solution to any problem, she found.

Up until the moment when she was forced to face what she was avoiding.

Like how steady her parents were even though her father had had an affair; and how unsteady she still felt because of it. She was still an outsider to her family. To their unit: her mother, her father, Autumn. She’d been outside that unit for years. But she hadn’t put herself there.

She couldn’t tell her mother or Autumn that. Not when they’d moved on and their family had recovered from her father’s affair. She couldn’t tell Wyatt either. He looked at their family with the kind of awe that came from not having a supportive one as a child. He looked to her father as the gold standard. Of being a businessman, a husband, a father. Unfortunately, he didn’t know that Trevor had put the first before the last two.

Or that he had done the same, and she’d ended up feeling like an outsider to their marriage, too.

She took a breath. Thought happy thoughts. Strangely, those thoughts were still of the times when she didn’t have to pretend to be a part of her family. They’d spent summers travelling the world; had almost daily family dinners. Her father’s phone had been glued to his hand the entire time, but at least he’d been there.

He’d been more involved when she’d expressed interest in the company though. She’d spent weeks following her father around the Bishop Enterprises building when she was younger. She’d looked at how Trevor had turned the business her grandfather had started into an empire, and she’d been proud. So proud she’d wanted to be a part of it.

Until she’d found out he’d cheated on her mother and it had all felt like a lie.

She shifted gears, but what was left in her bank of happy memories was of her and Wyatt. Of the dates where she’d fallen in love with his kindness, his wit. Where he’d listened to her, really listened, and she’d felt understood for the first time since…since her father had told her she couldn’t speak honestly to the two people she loved most.

As she thought it, it felt as if tar had been smeared all over her happy memories. They felt icky now. Messy. Shameful. No one could blame her for avoiding things when thinking about them turned out like this.

Not that she’d care if they did. Her plan was to stay on the outskirts of her parents’ celebrations as far as she could anyway. She’d wait until Autumn arrived and use her sister as a shield. Against Wyatt, too, she thought, reminding herself to stay away from him.

She turned then, putting her weight on the balls of her feet as instructed, and walked towards the patio. As soon as she got there, her parents’ guests started walking through the doors. She quickly stepped aside, keeping out of the way as she took in the scene.

The guests had blankets and picnic baskets, and were walking onto the grass in groups. Some of them nodded a head at her in greeting; she offered them one back. They spread out their blankets and began to relax on the grass, clearly preparing to watch the sun set.

She couldn’t fault the actual activity. Watching the sunset on a cliff overlooking an ocean was pretty great. Romantic, too, which she supposed her parents had intended. The weather was warm in that careless way summer had. The waiters were moving around taking drink orders so the warmth would soon be combatted by icy cocktails and cold beers.

‘The blankets and baskets are inside,’ Lynette Bishop told her, stopping in front of Summer.

‘Okay,’ Summer replied slowly, looking past her mother to where her father stood in the doorway with Wyatt. Both their stances were casual; they were obviously comfortable with each other. Resentment pushed up in her throat, and she told herself to shake it off. Deliberately, she looked back at her mother.

‘I think I’m going to go back to the cabin, Mom,’ she said with forced calm. ‘It’s been a difficult week and—’

‘I’m sure it has been,’ Lynette interrupted. ‘Running your own business must be so exhausting,’ she continued, as if she hadn’t spent her entire life running the Bishop social empire, which was pretty much its own business, ‘which means you have to find time to relax.’

‘I know.’ She smiled. ‘Like going to bed early so I can get some sleep.’

‘Or taking a blanket and watching the sun set with your parents, whom you love.’

Lynette’s smile was equal parts sweet, equal parts threatening. As if she were not only daring Summer to go back to the cabin, but daring Summer to contradict her statement, too.