Page 133 of The Renegade Billionaire

A giant boulder settles in my throat, and my stomach turns with unease.

When I don’t answer, he bends his knees, putting his face in line with mine so all I can see is him.

He slides my shirt down my arms and tosses it into the laundry basket, then goes to work unbuttoning my jeans.

“The problem with that,” he says, kissing a line down my center until he’s on his knees. “Is that there are too many variables for me to tell you exactly what the future holds. I have to hear the reading of Ace’s will, figure out what to do with my family, and how that all unfolds is anyone’s guess.”

He leans back on his heels and stares up at me. “But the one thing I can tell you is I have no plans to leave you behind. However things play out, I will find a way to make us work. I can’t guarantee I’ll be a good lifetime partner. I’ve never had a good example of it, but I can promise you I’ll try. I can promise you that I feel more strongly for you than I’ve ever felt before. I’m falling in love with you, Madison, and that’s not something I ever expected, so I’ll need you to be patient with me.”

“You’re falling in love with me?” I stammer, disbelief making my voice wobbly and weak.

He holds his arms out wide. “Look at me. I think I might already be there.”

Wait. Does that mean he loves me?

“You are?”

He nods, then continues to drag my jeans down my legs, lifting one foot at a time to remove them.

“I want to be your full-time buffer, Madison. But we have some obstacles to get through first.”

“Like your mom?”

He told me the morning after Keela’s birth that his mother called to ask for money. But the shocking thing was she wasn’t asking for herself. She was asking for the women’s shelter, andGrey corroborated that the account info she sent for the wire transfer was sent directly to the director and anything extra would be used for a Thanksgiving Day meal.

He nods against my legs. “She did a good deed, but I’m not sure that erases a lifetime of selfishness.”

His hair tickles my thigh, so I run my fingers through it, massaging his scalp as I do, and he groans against my skin.

“I’m scared.” As soon as I say it, regret slams into me. Harry ruined parts of me I haven’t been able to heal—my confidence is one of them.

He lifts up onto his knees, and it puts his head right at my breasts.

“Of us?” he asks while emotion dampens my lashes.

Biting my lip, I nod, and a tear slips free. “Sorry, I’m just tired,” I say, wiping away the errant liquid I hadn’t wanted him to see.

He places a gentle kiss between my breasts but never breaks eye contact.

“I’m not going to leave you, Madison.” Another kiss, a few inches higher as he lifts himself to his feet. “And I’m not going to hurt you.” His lips land on my collarbone and he sucks hard enough to leave a mark.

“But your life is in California.” Why am I arguing this? Am I really that much of a glutton for punishment?

Braxton’s lips hover over mine. His breath is hot against my skin, and his tongue darts out to lick at my mouth until I release my bottom lip from my teeth.

“But my heart is here.” My head swims with his words.

His heart is here, with me. Emotions flood me, so many I can’t grab hold of just one.

“No matter where life takes us, my heart will be wherever you are. I don’t know how that works, or what we have to do, but I know in my soul that it’s true.”

I have no chance of stopping the tears now. I want to believe him. I want to believe in him, but there’s a piece of me that holds back.

Will the trauma of my past always keep me from fully moving forward?

“I—I want to believe that. So much I want to believe you—in you.”

“I know you do,” he says, then kisses along my jaw from one side of my head to the other. “And I’m going to show you that you can, no matter how long that takes.”