Page 47 of The Renegade Billionaire

The next time I make eye contact with him, Savvy is dancing in her chair next to Clover. They’re laughing and chatting, but Braxton’s oblivious to it all because his gaze is directed at me. Has he been staring at me this entire time? At least ten songs have played since the last time I looked his way.

He’s wearing a lazy smile on his face, but his expression is so intense, so heated, I swear I can feel the burn along my exposed skin.

This time when the song changes, I don’t look away. My body moves as if it’s laced with the song, but now I show him that I’m dancing for him, getting lost in how he reacts to me. It’s addicting. And it’s why I know the instant something’s wrong.

His face falls into hard lines, and his jaw clenches as he stands so suddenly, he nearly knocks Clover off her stool.

Then I feel the body behind me. The scent of old-man cologne makes me gag as my history threatens to invade the one night of freedom I’ve had in ages.

“Baby, you know what your moves do to me.” Harry’s wet, raspy words cause an involuntary shudder. Gone is the ashamed shell of a man who walked in here, and in his place is a man controlled by his demons.

I blink away tears that form from the reminder of his betrayal any time he gets this close, but I’m frozen to the spot, stuck in a memory that never fully releases me. Then Braxton is parting the sea of people and coming for me faster than a runaway train.

He reaches me just as Harry places a hand on my hip. Braxton’s gaze narrows with a possessiveness I’ve never experienced before. Has anyone ever looked at me the way he does?

“Harry,” he says as a curse. “Thanks for the truck.”

Before Harry can respond, Braxton’s arm slides around my back and he drags my body flush with his.

“May I have this dance?” he whispers against my neck, and my knees buckle, but I don’t fall—I have a feeling he’d never allow me to either.

“Hey,” Harry slurs. “Get your fucking hands off my girl.”

Braxton’s body stiffens beneath my fingers.

“It’s okay,” I whisper. “Just ignore him.”

“Is this how it is, Mads?” Harry slurs. “What are you going to do when he gets bored of this place, huh?”

I turn my head to glare at him, but all I can muster is sadness—sadness that I wasted so many years on this jerk. I hate that he can still make me freeze up and revert to that nineteen-year-old girl who hid from her life because of him, his choices, and the people he brought to my doorstep. He reaches for me, but Braxton is faster and moves me out of his reach.

“No, Harry, you’re not doing this to her tonight,” Braxton growls. With his hand cradling the back of my head, he holds my face to his chest while he angles his body away from my ex.

His heartbeat is strong and fast. I can’t see his expression, but I know he’s glaring at Harry. In my periphery, I see Savvy holding a beer bottle as though it’s a weapon at Harry’s side, and my entire body tenses.

My stomach waffles, swishing around all the alcohol, and I feel sick. I need to get out of here before Harry causes another scene.

Then Braxton’s palm slides down to my cheek and he tilts my face up, up, up until my gaze meets his. “Savvy has it handled. Whatever that jackass did to you, it’s in the past. He can’t hurt you now unless you allow him to. Stay here, with me, in this dance. That’s all that matters right now.”

When Braxton Mitchell stares at me this way, the rest of the world falls away, and I have no doubt I’m heading toward a heartbreak I may never recover from. Because as much as Harry hurt me, I never felt as safe with him as I do with this near stranger.

And I don’t think there’s enough Kevlar in the world to safeguard my heart—not when it starts beating after such a long hibernation the second I’m held in Braxton’s strong arms as though I matter.

11

BRAXTON

I sawthe change in her as soon as she recognized the scumbag who waltzed up behind her as if he had every right to be there—to touch her.

The worry lines that mar her beautiful face on a daily basis had finally disappeared. She looked free, and happy, and so fucking perfect my chest actually ached.

Then that Harry Turd slithered his way up against her and everything changed. Her expression nearly gutted me. In an instant, I saw that the pain, fear, and betrayal she carries is bone-deep, and I have no doubt that fucker was the one to cause it.

Savvy saw him before I did, but my body was propelled toward Madison as if by magic. And now that she’s in my arms, I wonder how I’ll ever let her go.

Me, the guy who has only ever trusted his best friend.

Me, the man who didn’t know what he was missing out on until she fell into his lap.