Page 48 of The Renegade Billionaire

This can’t be healthy, the obsession I have over my innkeeper, but the longer I spend in Happiness, the more the parts of my life that I’ve felt drowning me loosen their grip.

“We all have a past, Madison. It’s okay to leave him there.”

She stares at me with watery eyes, and when a tear slips free, I catch it with my thumb. The drop melts into my skin, filling me with a desire to make sure she never cries again.

Jesus, maybe Savvy drugged me. That would make more sense than the shit flying through my mind.

Madison nods, sending an electric shock through my unsteady pulse. What did he do to her that turns my strong, stubborn woman into a meek, sad girl?

The song ends and a new one begins with a slower beat that has her relaxing into my hold. But when she rests her head against my chest, I think I might explode because nothing, and I mean nothing, has ever felt this right.

“Do you know how to dance?” she asks. When she tilts her head back to look up at me, my heart melts. Those goddamn lessons my mother made me take in high school might actually come in handy.

“I’m a fast learner.”

The smile she graces me with breaks the rest of the tension her ex caused.

She raises her brow and nods toward everyone else on the dance floor. People have partnered up and are moving in a circle to a song that it seems they all know.

“It’s ‘I’ll Be Your Small Town,’” she says as I sweep her into the circle of people.

Holding her hand, I spin her so her arms are outstretched until she gasps, then I pull her back into my chest and watch as the light reenters her face.

“I accept,” I say, using my hand pressed into her back to guide her around the dance floor.

I dip her low, with our faces only inches apart.

“You accept what?” She laughs.

“You can be my small town. I accept.”

Madison’s laughter rings out over the music, and I can’t be sure, but I’m willing to bet that every person in this bar is praying to hear that sound again.

Scooping her into my arms, I hold her close, loving how our bodies fit together.

“I meant that’s the name of the song.” The light, tinkling sound of her voice as she laughs at me is a drug, and I’m already searching for my next hit.

My hands fall to her hips, and I lift her into the air, so we’re face-to-face. “I know what you meant, and I meant what I said.” I slowly lower her to the floor and love that her face flushes red as I do.

The pulse in her throat explodes, and it hits me then—I’m happy. Not the kind of happy my parents expected of me. Not the kind of happy I thought I was when fulfilling my role as the heir to my grandfather’s fortune, but the kind of happy that is so pure nothing can taint it.

The song changes again, the beat faster, and everyone steps into lines as they hop and jump into a dance.

“You’re a fast learner, huh?” Madison laughs.

I take a moment to watch as she taps the toe of her boot behind her, stomps on the floorboards, hops twice, swings her hips in time with her hand in the air, and then spins to face the other wall.

I wait until she spins again so she can see me next to her, and I jump right into the line dance.

I’m terrible. Truly and embarrassingly horrid, but I throw my entire body into it just to hear her laugh.

The guy on my other side taps my shoulder, and when I face him, he’s laughing too. “Follow the person in front of you. It’s four steps. You’ll get it.”

Knowing that people are staring at me is something that would have sent me into hiding anywhere else, but here, I let goand laugh right along with them if for no other reason than I’m standing by Madison’s side.

Just when I get the dance down, the damn song changes, and so do the moves, but I stay by Madison’s side, dancing like an idiot until I’m a sweaty mess, and she’s so carefree you’d think I had harnessed all the shooting stars to make her wishes come true.

“I need a drink,” she says, falling into my side when the music slows and people pair off again.