Page 91 of The Thing About My Secret Billionaire

But then those few words crack my chest right open, sending all the pent-up frustrated butterflies trapped within it fluttering through my body.

“She’s fast asleep,” I whisper. “And the worst of the storm has passed, so yes, I think she’ll be fine.”

He lifts his gaze to the darkness outside the small window above us. “It’s still raining, though.”

“The thunder’s stopped. And that’s all that matters.”

He turns back to me. “How did you know it was bad?”

Slowly, he reaches up and, with just the very tip of his little finger, he does that thing he’s done before—something so simple and yet such a turn-on—he lifts the bedraggled strand of hair that’s fallen across my face and eases it behind my ear. The back of his finger teases my cheek en route, sending a shiver that could evaporate all the rain right off me straight to my core.

And that completely irrational fated mates feeling drowns out everyatom of my logic.

But how could this ever play out into being something?

It couldn’t.

Either I’d have to get a new job wherever he decides he wants to settle, or he’d have to move to Chicago, which seems very unlikely since he’s obviously seeking a better quality of life, not to just move from one city to another.

Fuck. What’s wrong with me that I’m thinking about where I might settle down with a man I’ve known for only seven days?

“My flight was delayed by an hour because of the weather.” I get to my feet. At least that puts a bit of distance between us. “And when I looked up the local forecast, it said there was a ninety percent chance of thunderstorms. I texted you to let you know Petunia would be frightened, but you must have already been out here by then. When I stopped in at the house I saw your phone on the kitchen table.”

He rubs his eyes and pushes his fingers through his own still-damp hair. “So you were worried that the house was empty and came out here to look for me?”

“Technically, I came to check on Petunia. I would have worried about you later.” He thrusts out his bottom lip in a pout so sexy it’s all I can do not to slam my lips against it. “But I’m glad I found you too.”

I offer him my hand as a help up.

“Thanks, but I’m too dirty to touch.” Realizing what he’s said, he wiggles his eyebrows.

“I bet you say that to all the girls.” And I bet all their lady bits do the same dance mine are doing.

“Only the ones who don’t mind getting dirty, too.”

“Well, let’s go inside and you canundirty yourself.”

Dammit, what’s wrong with me? I know I have to stop this pointless flirting. But then this man somehow reducesevery ounce of willpower I have to a puddle of goo with one flick of an eyebrow.

He gets up and turns to grab his jacket, giving me a rear view that makes me burst out laughing.

“What?” he says, looking over his shoulder.

“The entire back of your pants is solid mud.”

“Only partially correct.” He puts his jacket on and remains facing away from me so I can see that it also has a thick brown coating. “The entire back ofallof me is solid mud.”

“You fell?”

“Nope, not at all.” He turns to face me, doing up his jacket. “I didn’t have much to do, was kind of bored of being inside in the dry and the warm. So I thought, you know what, since there was a violent thunderstorm with more rain falling in the space of five minutes than the Amazon has seen in a decade, I’ll wander outside and lie down for a minute in a donkey field.”

My hand’s over my mouth, trying to hold in every instinct to let out a roaring guffaw. As self-deprecating as he is, it would be ungrateful to mock him. Particularly since he’s taken care of everything here for me for the last two days and isn’t even being paid.

“And while I was getting up from my little mud spa experience”—he tilts his head and raises his eyebrows—“Doris decided it was time for a belly rub.”

That’s it. It’s too much. I can’t hold it in. I double over, hands on my knees. “Oh, she didn’t.”

“Oh, she did. Totally tried to stand over me. Had to push her off. But at least she followed me inside. Up to that point I thought I was going to have to tie her to the tractorand drag her in.”