The Billionaire Next Door(52)
“Of course. Wait, what exactly does he look like? I don’t watch football on TV.”
“He’s six-five, about 260 pounds. His hair’s blond like my mother’s was and he’s got a jaw like a slab of rock.”
“Sounds handsome.”
In a flash, a good old-fashioned shot of jealous-for-no-damned-good-reason went through Sean’s chest. Handsome?
“Ah, yeah, I guess he is,” Sean muttered. Actually, his brother was a total looker and women always loved the guy. The bastard.
“Well, I’ll watch out for him.”
Sean nodded and headed for the bathroom, hoping to get in and out of it fast. And not just because he didn’t want to keep his little brother waiting.
There was no reason to have Billy working out his charm on Lizzie.
***
Within moments of the shower starting, Lizzie heard the house’s front doorbell ring.
She got up and went to the blinds. Whoa… There was a Greek god out on the porch: Billy O’Banyon just about defined jock handsome in his blue jeans and his white muscle shirt and his blond hair.
Yeah…wow. Check out those tattooed biceps.
Although it was funny. In spite of his obvious attributes, he couldn’t hold a candle to Sean in her eyes.
She went out into the hall and opened the duplex’s front door. “Hi, you must be Billy?”
The Adonis smiled, showing a row of white, even teeth. “I am. And you’re Lizzie?” As she nodded, he stuck out his hand. “Nice to meet you. How’s the patient?”
“Up and around. In the shower, actually.” She stepped back and swept her arm toward her apartment. “He’ll be right out.”
When Billy stepped into the hallway, his demeanor changed completely. As his eyes drifted up the stairs, his face and his body stiffened, his charisma draining out of him.
He didn’t move. Just stood there fixated.
“Um…he’s in my shower,” she prompted quietly.
“W-w-w-w.” Billy shook his head. “I mean, what?”
“Sean…He’s in my place.”
“Oh. Yeah.” Billy’s eyes didn’t leave the stairs. “H-how.” More with the head shaking, as if he was trying to unstick his mouth. “H-h-how…Damnit, how is he?”
“Better. Much better.”
“Good.” Billy’s massive chest expanded and then he looked at her. All at once, his face settled into a flashing smile that had about as much depth as water spilled on a counter. “I’m glad to hear it. He give you much trouble?”
“No.” As Billy went into her apartment, she asked, “Would you like something to drink?”
“No, I hydrated before I came, but thanks.” He looked around. “Nice place. Been here long?”
“Two years.”
“Nice.”
Standard social conversation, she thought, and she appreciated him making the effort, but she wished she could ask his what was wrong. The man who was standing in her living room was not the guy she’d opened the door to.
Down the hall, the shower shut off and there was the sound of a towel flapping around.
“Yo, Sean,” Billy called out. “How you be?”
The door to the bathroom opened and Sean stuck his head out. His hair was sticking straight up like un-mowed grass and there was water dripping off his nose.
He looked fantastic. Until she got a gander at his eyes. They were locked on his brother and clearly worried.
“You okay?” Sean asked. Even though he’d been the one down for the count with that headache.
Billy nodded. “Y-y-yeah.”
“Stay down here. You don’t go up the stairs, okay?”
Billy nodded again as if he preferred not to trust his voice.
As Sean shut the door, there was an awkward silence.
Then Billy looked up to the ceiling. “You know my father at all?”
“Yes. We were friends.”
His eyes shot to hers. As if he’d never expected to hear that word associated with the man. “Really. Huh. What was he like? As a friend?”
“He was good to me. I was grateful I knew him.”
“Really. Huh.” Same words, same inflection. As if his brain was multiprocessing and that was just what happened to spit out to fill conversational space. “He treat you good?”
“Yes.”
“Really.”
She waited for thehuh, but it didn’t come. “He looked after me in a way.”
“Funny, I always thought he didn’t care about people. Well, except for my mother. He loved her. But then she died and he changed. Everything changed. Forever.”