Page 25 of The Renegade Billionaire

“What do you do?” Clover continues their line of questions.

“Ladies.” I attempt to interrupt, but Savvy speaks over me.

“How long are you staying?” she asks.

Braxton enters the kitchen, and the door swings shut behind him. I watch out of the corner of my eye as he sticks both hands in his pockets and rocks back on his heels.

“I’m not sure yet. I’m kind of on a…sabbatical.”

“How can you ‘kind of be on a sabbatical’?” Clover asks, but she’s more curious than anything. She can’t keep the edge to her voice in the same way Savvy can—she wasn’t built for it.

“You can do what you want when you own the company.” I can feel Braxton watching me. It’s not a completely unwelcome sensation, just…different. “Madison, can I help with anything?”

Instead of raising my head, I pretend to be focused on my pie crust and just shake my head.

“Good luck getting her to agree to help,” Savvy mutters.

I love the girl, but seriously, sometimes she is a giant pain. “No,” I say gently. “But thank you. Everything will be done in about ten minutes. If you want to tell Pops to get ready, that would be fine.”

“So, if you own the company, you can afford to take time off and stay here…indefinitely?” Savvy is so damn persistent.

“It wouldn’t be prudent of me to take off if I didn’t have my company and my finances under control, now would it?” He doesn’t seem the least bit bothered by my friends.

“Hmm,” Savvy hums.

“So, you could pay for a month’s stay in advance and still be comfortable?” Elle asks shyly, then stuffs a giant piece of chocolate into her mouth with an apologetic shrug.

“Elle,” I snap. I know where she’s going with this, and I don’t like it one bit.

Braxton seems to be taking us all in, as well as the kitchen and now the big boards of sheetrock laying against the back door.

“I’m happy to do that,” he finally says. “I’ll go settle up with Pops now.” The way his eyes crinkle at the corners makes me think he’s kind—a gentle soul maybe, but there’s an edge to him too that I haven’t figured out.

No one can give a command that makes my body melt the way he did and not have extra layers to him.

“You really don’t have to do that,” I blurt, but he’s already halfway out the door.

“No problem at all, Madison,” he says, waving over his shoulder.

“It’s Madi?—”

The door squeaks shut, cutting me off.

“Elle,” I say, spinning on my friend.

“Don’t ‘Elle’ her,” Savvy says, bumping me out of the way. “If you roll out this crust any more it’s going to be too thin to use. And you know if he pays up front, that would help a hell of a lot around here, and since you aren’t sure how long he’ll be staying, this gives you a little security that he won’t up and leave while stiffing you on the bill.”

“I don’t think he’s someone who would skip out on a bill, Sav.”

“You never know,” Elle says.

The doorbell rings, and we all stare at the closed door.

“Did you invite someone over?” Clover asks.

“No,” I say, then groan when I hear Pops welcoming someone in. “But I bet Pops did during his little escape into town this afternoon.”

Savvy laughs. “He must be so happy to have his social butterfly wings back now that he’s got Brax carting him all over town.”