Page 39 of Suddenly Desired (APEX Billionaires’ Club #2)

ELLIE

It had captured everything so perfectly that it was as if the camera had been set up to do exactly that.

The beautiful irony of it all, Ellie thought, was that when David had pushed the laptop across the table, he’d positioned it in a way that framed the place where they had all been standing.

David and Michelle were in the middle of the movie, their smug expressions captured as if by a master director of photography.

Josh was there, too, just sneaking into the frame.

Blake and Ellie were on the edge of the shot, and Ellie blushed when she saw herself march forward and slap Josh around the face.

“That was so cool.” Blake put his arm around her and held her tight, and she leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder.

“You should have hit him with a closed fist, though,” said her mum, leaning over with a grin on her face. “Or a hammer. We need to celebrate, but first I need to go feed the zoo.”

She walked away, and they watched the rest of the video alone, Ellie barely able to keep the smile from her face. The old laptop had performed admirably, every piece of dialogue was audible — right up until the last few seconds when Blake and Ellie appeared on the screen.

“ You’re brilliant! ” Blake’s words filtered through the speakers. “ Absolutely brilliant .”

It went black. Ellie located the file on her laptop and duplicated it, then duplicated it again.

Then she dropped it into an email and sent it to herself just in case the computer decided to explode.

Only when she heard the bing of it landing in her inbox did she sit back.

Her head was spinning, the adrenaline in her veins making her feel tired and heavy.

The encounter with Josh had left her exhausted.

She looked over at Blake, with his elbows on the table, his head in his hands. His hair was mussed, his shirt still streaked with dirt from the yard. He looked every bit as drained as she felt, and something about that tugged at her chest.

Blake sighed and Ellie glanced at him again. He lifted his head, meeting her eyes with a faint, tired smile. “You okay?” he asked, his voice rough.

She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she studied him, noting the faint shadow of stubble on his jaw, the way his blue eyes still carried a flicker of determination despite the exhaustion in them.

This man, she thought, had given up everything for her.

He’d lost his company, his reputation, and now he was here, in her mum’s kitchen, fighting for a life he hadn’t even known he wanted until a few days ago.

“I don’t know,” she admitted finally. “Are you?”

He chuckled softly, shaking his head. “Not even close.”

That made her smile. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table and propping her chin on her hands. “What happens now? What does having this evidence mean in actual terms?”

“It means exactly what you think it means,” he said. “It means everything.”

“It means you’re in the clear. Everyone will know that you didn’t write those things.”

“It means any court in the world will deny Josh if he claims he wrote LifeWrite,” Blake said. “It would deny Michelle and David the copyright. It’s yours.”

Ellie nodded, relieved, but her mind was racing. “What happens to them? David and Michelle?”

“They’ll lose everything,” Blake replied. “The board will kick them out, no question. Jail isn’t off the table either, not with the evidence we have.”

“Would you want that?” she asked, testing the waters.

Blake met her gaze, his jaw tightening. “They deserve it,” he said bluntly.

“For what they’ve done, they deserve every consequence coming their way.

They didn’t just try to destroy me — they tried to destroy you, Ellie.

They went after something you built with your heart and soul.

People like that don’t get my sympathy.”

She studied his face, the sharp set of his jaw, the flicker of anger still simmering in his eyes. This wasn’t the Blake she had met days ago. This was someone hardened by betrayal, someone who had fought to keep his composure while everything he’d built was ripped apart.

But when he looked back at her, the tension in his face dissipated. “Maybe I don’t want them to go to jail,” he said, the corner of his mouth twitching into a smile. “But when this all comes out, can we just let them stew about it for a little while?”

“Deal.”

Blake grinned, the spark in his eyes returning.

“And you’ll get it all back?” she asked. “You’ll get your company back.”

He nodded, but the expression on his face was almost one of disappointment.

“ Do you want that?”

“I honestly don’t know anymore,” he said. “I thought I did, but so much has changed since yesterday. Right now, the only thing I want is this.” He looked around him, then he looked back at her. “The only thing I want is you. I love you, Ellie Mae Woodward.”

Her lips parted, but nothing came out. Her hands moved on instinct, reaching up to cup his face, her fingers trembling slightly against the rough stubble of his jaw.

“Blake . . .” she whispered, her voice breaking. She stared into his eyes, searching for any flicker of doubt but finding none. “You mean that?”

“I’ve never meant anything more,” he said, his hand coming up to cover hers. “It’s not just that I want you, Ellie. It’s that I need you. You’ve changed everything. You’ve made me see who I could be, what life could be.”

Her heart was pounding so hard she thought it might leap out of her chest. She closed her eyes for a moment, leaning her forehead against his as tears slipped free and traced warm paths down her cheeks.

“You’re not the only one who’s changed,” she murmured.

She felt his fingers under her chin, gently tilting her face up. When her eyes fluttered open, his gaze was so full of love it made her breath hitch. Before she could say anything else, his lips were on hers.

The kiss wasn’t urgent or hurried. It wasn’t about passion or desperation.

It was deeper than that. It was the kind of kiss that spoke of trust, of commitment, of for ever.

She melted into it, her hands sliding down to rest on his chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart beneath her fingertips.

He held her like she was the most precious thing in the world, and for the first time in a long time, she felt utterly safe.

When they finally pulled apart, her forehead rested against his, both of them breathing heavily. Blake reached up and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering against her cheek.

“You have no idea how much I love you,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Ellie laughed softly, her thumb brushing against his chest. “I might have an idea,” she replied, grinning through her tears. “And for the record, I love you too.”

They sat back, listening to the farmyard sounds through the open window.

The goats bleated and the cows lowed, and the world seemed alive with birdsong.

It was as if it was Ellie’s first time in the countryside and she wondered why she had never appreciated the full extent of its beauty before.

Why had she given this up for the smoke and bustle of the city?

Why hadn’t she moved back out here a long time ago?

Because she hadn’t met the right person to be here with.

Her laptop fan kicked into gear, reminding Ellie that she had an important job to do before she got too carried away with the good life.

“So we send it,” Ellie said, the excitement fizzing up inside her.

Blake nodded. “We send it. I’ll email it to the board, and then my APEX group chat. One of those guys will know how to make it blow up.”

“And I’ll email it to all the news outlets,” Ellie said.

“And I’ll make brownies,” added her mum as she kicked off her wellies and filled the kettle.

“Sounds like a plan, Mum,” said Ellie. She pulled the laptop to her and opened up a new email. “Strap in, Blake,” she said. “It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”

She fired off the file, passing the laptop to Blake. He typed a message, then emailed the video to the board. When it had sent, he closed the laptop lid.

“There’s no one I’d rather be on the journey with.”