Page 36 of Suddenly Desired (APEX Billionaires’ Club #2)

ELLIE

“An emergency?” Ellie stood so fast her chair almost toppled over behind her. “What’s happened?”

Isla stood red-faced and panting in the doorway, like she’d just run a marathon. Sweat dampened her brow, her wild hair sticking up in all directions. She waved them over. “Hurry.” She ran out the door again.

Ellie started after her, Blake at her side.

They ran down the porch steps and across the large, neatly kept yard towards the small barn where the animals lived.

Blake charged ahead, his strides long and powerful despite his bare feet.

Isla had stopped by the open barn door, her hands on her knees as she fought for breath.

“What is it?” Ellie said as she reached her. She breathed in the scent of livestock, the smell reminding her of her childhood. “What’s going on?”

From the way her mum was acting there had to be a fire somewhere, an animal in distress, or maybe even a murder. Her stomach twisted in knots as she scanned the yard, but Isla just pointed through the barn door.

“The goats,” she cried. “They’ve escaped.”

“ What ?” Ellie held a hand to her chest. “Mum, that’s hardly an emergency. I thought something was really wrong.”

“Something is really wrong,” her mum answered. “Something must have spooked them. They’re in the vegetables. If I don’t get them back in the barn then everything will be eaten.”

Ellie blinked incredulously, and turned to share a look with Blake.

“The goats have escaped,” she said.

Blake’s lips twitched, his amusement clear, though he was trying hard to hide it.

“Well, we’d better go get them,” he replied, deadpan. “Where are they?”

“Through here.”

Isla led them into the barn and out of a door on the other side.

The farm’s impressive vegetable beds lay ahead, bigger than Ellie remembered because her mum had dug up another couple of potato patches since last time she’d been home.

It was an ocean of leafy greens, sweet peas and potatoes, cabbages and lettuces, courgettes and pumpkins, strawberries and gooseberries, and just about everything else you could imagine.

Currently five goats were tearing their way through the garden like children in a sweet shop, bleating with delight.

“Hurry!” cried her mum.

“I’m coming!” Ellie said, running through the gate. Blake was right next to her, slipping in the freshly watered earth.

“Is there a trick to this?” he asked, hesitating as he approached the group of wayward goats.

“Just grab them by the horns,” Ellie called back to him. “And try not to get butted. They are stronger than they look.”

Blake nodded slowly. “Noted,” he said, the word dripping with scepticism. He scanned the unruly group, eyes narrowing at a large, stubborn-looking white goat chomping on a patch of lettuce with alarming determination.

“I’ll go for the white one,” he announced.

“Bob,” Ellie said, barely hiding her amusement.

“Bob?” Blake turned to her with a questioning look.

“Bob,” she repeated.

“Hmm.”

“He reminded mum of her uncle,” she said. “He’s pretty angry. You sure you want Bob?”

Blake studied the goat, tilting his head as if assessing his opponent. Bob lifted his head and stared back, chewing slowly, his horns gleaming in the sunlight.

“How bad can he be?” Blake asked, his tone more confident than his expression.

Ellie burst out laughing, shaking her head. “Bad,” she said. “Really bad. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Blake set off, careful not to step on any of the plants.

Ellie ran the other way, clucking gently as she approached the little grey goat known as Dolly.

She was fairly docile and let Ellie steer her away, happily chewing on some rhubarb stalks.

Ellie led her into the barn where her mum was waiting, and together they wrangled the goat into her pen.

She bleated mournfully and Ellie laughed. “Sorry, Dolly.”

She ran back outside. Blake looked almost like he was wrestling with Bob, one hand on one of the goat’s horns, the other on his neck. But Bob wasn’t having any of it, and with a sudden lurch he broke free. Blake yelped, slipping in the dirt and falling on his face.

Ellie couldn’t help it — she burst out laughing. And when Blake stood up with mud smeared over his T-shirt and face, she laughed twice as hard. She had to slap her hands to her knees to stop herself falling over.

“I told you he was angry,” she called to him when she could speak again.

“I didn’t even know goats got angry,” he replied. He rubbed his hands down his T-shirt, making it even more filthy, then set off again, his arms outstretched as he chased down the goat.

Ellie left him to it, her sides aching. Betty was just up ahead and she led her back into the barn. Petunia was just as easy, and even Sir Ronald didn’t put up too much of a fight.

By the time she walked out of the barn again, Blake was struggling down the path between the beetroot plants, Bob’s horns grasped firmly in his hands.

The goat was resisting, and Blake’s arms bulged impressively as he fought to keep control.

He was covered in mud, his hair rucked up, his skin slick with sweat.

But he was grinning like an idiot, and when he saw her looking at him, he laughed.

“Why didn’t you tell me this would be so hard? ”

“Pretty sure I did?” she reminded him. She took one horn from him, both of them gently coaxing the old goat through the door and back into the pen. Her mum closed the gate and locked it, clapping her hands together.

“Thank you,” she said, smiling. “Thank you both so much. They would have torn through my crops in a heartbeat. And it’s not like they don’t have enough delicious grass to get through in their pens, and I give them all my kitchen scraps too. Ungrateful buggers.”

She looked Blake up and down, then winked at Ellie. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d have said he enjoyed it,” she went on. “You’re suited to this life, Blake.”

“I don’t know about that.” He looked at his mud-streaked clothes.

But he was suited to it — Ellie could tell by the way his cheeks glowed, the way his eyes seemed brighter. She waited until her mum had left the barn, then she took his hand.

“Sorry about your clothes,” she said. “I’ll wash them.”

He laughed. “It’s nothing. Honestly, I think it’s a good look. I always hated formal wear anyway.”

“Clean clothes aren’t exactly formal,” she teased, squeezing his hand. “But Mum was right, you do look like you’re suited to this.”

“The farm?” he asked, tilting his head as if considering it seriously. He nodded, the smile on his face deepening. “Yeah. I never would’ve thought it, but there’s something about it. The air, the freedom . . . it’s like I can actually breathe out here.”

He paused, his gaze softening as it lingered on her. “And maybe it’s not just the farm,” he added, his thumb tracing lazy circles over her knuckles. “Maybe it’s the company.”

Ellie felt her cheeks heat, the flutter in her chest impossible to ignore. She looked down at their joined hands, a smile playing at her lips.

Blake shifted closer, his free hand lifting to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. His touch was warm, and she shivered at the sensation. “I like this side of you,” he murmured. “Here, out of the city. You’re . . . glowing.”

“Glowing?” she repeated, laughing softly.

“Yes,” he said, his tone serious despite the teasing smile on his lips. “Glowing. And it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

Her breath caught, and for a moment, the barn seemed to shrink around them, the air between them charged and electric. She leaned into him slightly, her pulse racing as she caught the look in his eyes — a look that made her feel like she was the only thing in the world that mattered.

“And you,” she whispered, her voice trembling with honesty. “You’re not so bad yourself, city boy.”

Blake chuckled, the sound low and warm, then tilted his head towards her, his lips hovering just inches away.

“I could afford a nice place,” he murmured, his voice rough as he pulled her closer, their bodies barely a breath apart.

“Maybe something nearby. A few acres, some animals . . .” His fingers brushed against hers, their warmth igniting tiny sparks along her skin.

His lips quirked into a teasing smile. “But there’s just one condition. ”

“What?”

“No goats.”

Ellie burst into laughter. “No goats,” she agreed, her hand sliding up his muddy chest.

Blake leaned in, capturing her lips in another kiss that was anything but gentle. It was hard and possessive, filled with every ounce of desire. Ellie melted into him, her arms wrapping around his neck as she kissed him back with equal intensity.

“And one more thing,” Blake whispered against her lips, his voice ragged with need.

“Anything,” she breathed.

“I want you to be there with me.”

Her heart raced, her pulse thrumming in her ears as she tilted her head up and kissed him again.

This time it was slower, deeper, her body pressing against his like she wanted to memorise every line, every contour of him.

Blake groaned softly, his fingers tangling in her hair as he pulled her even closer.

“Deal,” she whispered against his lips. “We could leave the city, leave the smoke and the noise.”

It sounded like the best idea in the world, and she couldn’t believe it when he nodded.

“We could live out here,” he said. “Not just live, but live .”

She held him close, her head on his chest. His heart pounded, and she knew it was only partly to do with the fact that he’d just wrestled a goat. That was the drum beat of somebody who genuinely felt excited. She could have listened to it all day.

Except there was something else on the edge of her hearing, a strange thumping noise coming from outside the barn. She pulled away, cocking her head to hear it better.

“It’s back,” Isla said, storming into the barn. “That pesky thing is what spooked the goats.”

“What is it?” Ellie asked.

Blake pulled away, his expression dark. “It’s a helicopter.”

“It flew past a while ago,” Isla said. “It’s obviously looking for something.”

“Yeah.” Blake looked up to the sky. “It’s looking for me.”