The Billionaire’s Forbidden Desire(16)

She was the only one who cared. And even if she were to see him again, what was she going to do? What was she going to say?

“What?” Chad prompted, when she didn’t continue.

She shook her head. “Nothing. I must’ve just imagined it.”

He let out a sigh. “Let’s get this over with and get you dry. I don’t want you getting sick.”

“Okay.”

Even as she let him lead her back to the crowd, she couldn’t help but take another look over her shoulder, just in case.

But the only things there were the rain-soaked trees.





Chapter Nine


“Hey, listen. I have to leave.”

Sophia glanced up at Chad’s voice. She put the day’s mail down on the dining table. “Okay. You going to run some errands, or…?”

He was looking at her sorrowfully. “No. I mean leave leave.”

“What? You’re…quitting?”

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat, shifting his weight. “Just wanted to say goodbye before I took off.”

“But why?” She frowned, then suddenly a realization dawned on her. “Oh no. Is your sister okay?” His sister’s cancer had gone into remission a few years ago, but there was always the chance it could come back.

“Uh, no, she’s fine.” Chad cleared his throat again.

“Then…?”

“Can’t really talk about it.” A frown fleeted across his face, then a small smile replaced it. “Ask George.” Chad stepped forward and hugged her tightly. “Sorry. This is awkward, and I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable or anything, but I couldn’t leave without seeing you one last time.”

She hugged him back even as her internal alarm went off, the same one that had gone off when her doctors had hemmed and hawed before telling her she’d never compete again.

Brisk and efficient as always, Chad didn’t linger after they were finished with their hug. She watched him go, knowing that he’d never tell her anything. She’d have to talk to George.

The drive took about half an hour from her place. She parked her car haphazardly in front of George’s pricey mansion. He almost always telecommuted unless he had meetings, and he never scheduled a meeting for the afternoon.

The house was tastefully decorated with expensive leather furniture and dark wood. She inhaled beeswax and paper, and let her slippered feet sink into the thick rug as she marched into his home office. George had been helping her figure out her father’s estate since her mother wasn’t interested. Within a month of the funeral, Betsy had remarried, this time to a wealthy Russian businessman. They’d just finished their honeymoon in the south of France and gone to Moscow to start their new lives.

Sophia pushed down the familiar resentment bubbling inside her. Betsy was the official executor, and she knew the most about how things lay with the estate. But somehow it was too much for her to stay put for a few months to help out. Every time Sophia met with George, she couldn’t decide if she should cringe or try for a smile…even though it would probably come off as a horrible mixture of embarrassment and gratitude.

But still… If he’d had anything to do with dismissing Chad, she wasn’t going to sit back and pretend not to notice.

“Sophia. What a surprise,” George said, rising from behind his large desk. He looked good in a crisp white dress shirt and charcoal gray slacks.

“Hi. We need to talk.”

“I agree. Please.” George gestured at a couch in front of a huge bookcase full of heavy leather-bound tomes.

She perched at the edge of the soft cushion, her back straight. The heavy faux-bronze lamp on a table next to her cast a cool glow about the room. She adjusted her skirt and waited for him to retake his seat at the desk.

Instead, the couch dipped under his weight and she tensed slightly. He’d never done anything inappropriate, but her instincts had been tickling her with a warning every time he got too close over the past few weeks. She squashed the feeling. It was unfair to be skittish and stiff around a man who’d done so much to help. Besides, he was Libby’s older brother.

“What is it you’d like to talk about?” George said.

“Did you let Chad go?” she asked. “He said he had to leave and asked me to talk to you if I had any questions.”

He pursed his lips. “I did. But I had no choice.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Do you think he would stay without getting paid?”

“Why wouldn’t he get paid? Is there a problem?”

George watched her, his eyes hooded. “I’m sorry, but your father’s estate is broke.”