Page 97 of Filthy Hot Billionaire
“Em? What’s on your mind?”
Embarrassed that I was fantasizing, I shook off the thoughts, reached down deep to recall the anger and rage he’d set loose in me.
“Why did you do it?” I blurted, harnessing my nerve while I could. “Why did you touch me that night then walk away?”
His voice was warm yet hard when he said, “I didn’t intend to.”
Although I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, I asked, “Which part?”
Please, please, please don’t say—
“Touch you.”
The pain his words caused couldn’t have been worse if he’d delivered them with a spear to my chest.
I gestured to the room. “So what? Is this your way of making amends? You think buying me things’ll ease the pain of knowing you don’t think I’m good enough for you?”
Knox moved closer, one slow step at a time. He didn’t answer, nor did he take his eyes off me.
Not for the first time, I wished I was a mind reader. Wished I had the ability to know what was going on in his head.
“It won’t, you know. Make it better,” I rambled. “I don’t need your charity, don’t—”
I stopped breathing when he eliminated the distance between us, his hard body moving in close. Close enough I could’ve touched him.
When he brushed my jaw with his fingers, I expelled the air I’d held in my lungs.
“You won’t understand why I did it,” Knox said softly.
“Try me.”
His gaze bounced over my face as though he was assessing my ability to comprehend. A moment later, his palm glided over my jaw. His hand was smooth and warm, and it made my heart rate spike to dangerous levels.
“It was a balmy August morning,” he said.
I stared up at him, tried to comprehend. He could’ve been speaking another language for all the sense it made.
“I came to Texas because Kitty was threatening to come here if I didn’t. I figured I could swing through, give them shit, then depart like I usually do.”
I didn’t move, willing him to keep talking if for no other reason than so I could feel the rumble of his words as they reverberated through me.
“Then I saw you.” His thumb brushed my cheek. “You were standing on the balcony of your bedroom, looking out at the ocean.”
That was highly likely considering I had done that frequently when I lived with Rhett and Kitty. Being out there, the scent of the ocean on the breeze had always relaxed me, given me the peace of mind I’d craved.
Knox stepped closer, forcing me to look up at him. “You were the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen in my entire life. Still are.”
My heart slammed hard against my ribs. “What was wrong with that?”
His hand firmed against my skin. “You were fifteen fucking years old.”
I inhaled sharply.
“It was in that moment that I knew I wanted you, Em.”
Suddenly it all made sense. I’d always wondered why Knox’s already sparse visits had become all but nonexistent.
“That’s why you never came around. Because of me.”
