Therese Beharrie - Tempted By The Billionaire Next Door

Jess felt her face burn and quickly pulled back. But her balance was off and she landed on her butt. Her hand immediately went to her stomach, but she dropped it just as quickly. Not because his eyes had followed the gesture, and the way the interest there had cooled reminded her of the dismissive looks her parents had used to give her, but because she was fairly certain the baby was fine. She hadn’t fallen very hard. Though she really had to remember that pregnancy had made her clumsy.

‘I’m assuming that response means you didn’t knock your head on the way down.’ She debated not saying anything else, but she knew she would worry if she didn’t ask. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Yeah, I guess so. Well, as okay as you can be when someone witnesses a couple of logs trip you.’ He moved to push up to his forearms, but she crawled forward and set a hand on his chest, pushing him back down.

‘You should stay still until we’re sure you’re really fine.’

‘I am sure. I’m fine.’

Realising he was the stubborn sort, Jess pressed a hand against his hip and nodded when he winced. ‘You’re not fine. I’m calling an ambulance.’

Before she could move to her feet, he grabbed her wrist again. This time, she felt the heat of his hand on her arm. Felt the callused bumps at the base of his fingers rub against her skin. She wasn’t sure why it sent a flush through her body, but she stilled and then gently pulled her arm out of his grip.

His expression didn’t change, though something in his eyes flickered. ‘I really am fine. I’ll probably have a bruise on my hip tomorrow—and my ego will probably need to be resuscitated since it was murdered so cruelly—but I promise you, I’m fine.’

He sat up then, and she let him. ‘Besides,’ he continued with a smile that made the flush in her body go hotter, ‘if I’m not fine, maybe you’ll come to my rescue again.’

‘Unlikely,’ she replied, ignoring the way her lips wanted to curve at his words. ‘I just happened to be looking out of my window when you fell.’

It sounded legitimate, she thought, and almost patted herself on the back when she saw he’d bought her excuse. Good thing, too. She wasn’t sure how she could explain the real reason she’d seen him.

‘I appreciate you wanting to help me. Are you a doctor?’

‘No.’

‘Nurse?’

She shook her head.

‘So, you just ran over when you saw me fall without any medical skills whatsoever?’

‘I was a lifeguard when I was a teenager.’ A choice her parents had disapproved of heartily. Funny how they’d chosen to be interested in something so insignificant when they’d ignored everything else in her life. When they’d ignored her . ‘I have first-aid experience, and falls were the first thing they taught us to deal with.’

‘I stand corrected.’ His smile was more genuine now, less cocky, and yet it had the same effect on her body.

Or maybe it was the fact that he still didn’t have a shirt on, and she was being treated to her afternoon entertainment close-up.

She almost lifted a hand to check whether she was drooling.

‘Well, now that I know you’re okay I should probably be off.’ She took a long time to get to her feet, and cursed silently when she saw how smoothly he did it.

‘How can I repay you?’

She snorted. ‘For what? Rushing over here and embarrassing us both?’

‘Why would you be embarrassed?’

Good question. ‘Because clearly you were fine and I panicked over nothing?’

‘You panicked?’

She rolled her eyes. ‘It was a hard fall, okay? I was worried.’

She couldn’t tell what had changed on his face, but something had. And it made his already too perfect features seem even more appealing. ‘So, I’m repaying you for being worried. It’s not often that people care.’

‘No, it isn’t,’ she agreed, feeling the words hit a little too close to home. ‘But I don’t need to be repaid. You’re fine. Right?’ He nodded. ‘So, I’ll be seeing you.’

She turned to leave and managed to get a few steps away from the gate before his voice called out, ‘Which window?’

She turned back. ‘What?’

‘From which window did you see me fall?’

‘That one.’ She nodded to the window on the second level of the house next door, grateful that the chair she’d been sitting on—or the chips she’d been eating while watching him—wasn’t visible.

‘That’s my sister’s house.’

It took a moment for her mind to process the new information. ‘Your sister?’ she repeated. ‘ You’re Dylan?’

‘Yeah,’ he said, his forehead creasing. ‘Who are you? And why are you staying in my sister’s house?’

‘I’m Jess. Jessica,’ she added quickly. ‘I’m staying at the house while Anja and Chet are away.’

His features tightened. ‘Away where?’

‘Sydney. They wanted to get Anja’s new yoga studio up and running before the—’ She caught herself before it was too late. She couldn’t tell Dylan about the baby. Anja would kill her. And she didn’t need to upset one of the few people who cared about her. ‘Does she know you’re here?’

‘No.’

‘Oh.’

There was a long stretch of silence before either of them spoke again. And then she asked, ‘You’ve been back for at least a week. Why haven’t you come over? Or tried to call her?’

He frowned. ‘How do you know how long I’ve been back for?’

Jess felt her eyes widen, her cheeks heat, before she managed to reply with something other than I’ve been watching you . ‘I heard the garbage truck pick up your bin earlier this week.’ She held her breath and hoped he’d buy the somewhat lame excuse.

‘And how do you know that I haven’t tried to call her?’

‘She...would have told me.’

He studied her. ‘How exactly do you know Anja?’

Something about the way he asked it put her back up. ‘I’m her PA.’

‘She let her PA stay in her house?’ There was barely a pause before he continued. ‘She would tell her PA if her brother called her?’

Jess straightened. ‘Yes. Your sister and I are also friends. Good friends.’ She kept her hand from going to her stomach—to the proof of the bond that she and Anja shared—and forced herself to calm down when an inner voice questioned why she was responding so defensively. ‘I didn’t realise it was you when I came over.’

‘But you knew I lived next door?’

‘Yes,’ she replied, but it got her thinking about why it hadn’t occurred to her that Mr Sexy-Next-Door was actually Anja’s brother. ‘I knew you lived next door, but Anja didn’t tell me which next door you lived in.’

‘And you never asked?’

You’re not exactly a topic of conversation either of us readily bring up. ‘It didn’t matter.’

‘Because my sister doesn’t talk about me?’

‘Because you weren’t here.’

Though both answers were true, it seemed as if Dylan cared more about the option she’d offered. Because when he’d given his option his face hadn’t tightened the way it had after she’d spoken. Hurt hadn’t flashed across his face, quickly followed by a blankness she couldn’t help but feel was desperate.

‘Why are you here?’ she said after a moment, unable to help herself.

‘I live here.’ There was a beat of silence. ‘This is my home.’

‘It hasn’t been,’ she reminded him, still compelled by reasons she wasn’t quite sure of. ‘Not for the last two years.’

‘No, it has been,’ Dylan replied softly. ‘But even the best of us run away from home sometimes, don’t we?’

Her heart stalled, reminding her of the old car she’d seen just that morning, spluttering down the road in front of Anja’s house. Why did it feel as if he was talking about her ? To her? As if he instinctively knew that she’d turned her back on the place she’d once called home? As if he knew that she’d run from the parents who hadn’t cared enough to even try to make her believe that they wanted her to stay?