Expecting the Billionaire's Heir - Chapter 4
Ellie struggled to control her rabbiting pulse as she watched Baz… no, Brody…stroll through the crowd of Friday night drinkers in the Talbot Arms toward the booth she’d secured.
Her breathing clogged, the melting spot between her thighs as embarrassing as her inability to control her heart rate.
He’d always been striking, even as a teenager. That shock of dark hair long enough now to curl around his collar, his cobalt blue eyes shadowed with secrets, and those chiselled features, which had only become more dramatic as he’d matured.
His long lanky frame had filled out too. His muscular physique was perfectly displayed in faded jeans, a black cotton T-shirt and biker boots. The confident way he moved—with an innate purpose—made it even clearer her teenage crush wasn’t a boy anymore, he was a man.
As he placed their drinks on the table, then slid into the booth beside her, she shifted along the bench.
‘Here’s to both of us getting out of the hole they put us in,’ he murmured, his gaze filled with mocking approval. But when he picked up his glass to toast her, she couldn’t hold back the guilt any longer.
‘I’m so sorry, Baz… I—I mean Brody.’
His eyes narrowed, the wary expression tying her insides into tight greasy knots. ‘What for?’ he murmured, making her realise he was going to make her say it.
‘For what I did that night.’ She forced the words out. Maybe he hadn’t come here to get his revenge, but she still owed him an apology. ‘I shouldn’t have told Wilson,’ she added, mentioning the home’s social worker. ‘I—I understand why you never replied to my letter, and I don’t blame you.’
Sickness rolled through her stomach on the wave of regret, as he stared back at her, the blank expression somehow worse than anger. Was he surprised by her apology, or simply indifferent?
She’d written to him, trying to explain why she’d done it, that she’d been terrified for him. She knew he’d been scared too, of what Clanton and his goons would do to him if he didn’t do what they told him to, because she’d seen what had happened when he had crossed them once before.
‘I thought if Wilson knew, he would help you to get free of them,’ she continued when he remained silent. ‘I didn’t know he’d tell the police. When I heard you’d been hurt trying to escape, that they’d arrested you, I was devastated. You were my best friend, my only friend and I made everything so much worse.’
‘I didn’t get any letter,’ he said, the rough tone brushing over her skin, the lack of judgement only sharpening her guilt. ‘What did it say?’
‘Just that I was sorry, for being so naive and stupid… And that I’d been trying to protect you.’ She sucked in a painful breath. ‘After the beating they’d given you the week before, I knew how much danger you were in. But it was still the wrong thing to do…’
He was still staring, his expression unreadable.
She inched to the other side of the booth.
‘I should go…’ she said, as the panic and regret consumed her. ‘I don’t know why I thought it was okay to come here, to let you buy me a drink after what I did…’
But before she could get away, he clamped a hand on her wrist.
‘Not so fast, Ellie. You don’t get to tell me all that, then run off.’