Page 13 of The Billionaire in Her Bed

“What do you want?” The words came out on a puff of air, like he was stealing her breath with his nearness.

“I told you.” He braced a palm against the granite on one side of her, bringing his hard, hot body so close she could see the tiny steel-gray flecks in his blue eyes and the hint of razor burn under his chin. “To talk.”

“This doesn’t feel like talking.”

His low, husky laugh reverberated through her. “What does it feel like?”

Heaven.

“One night.” She stared at a spot over his shoulder, desperate for something to distract her from the overwhelming scent of him, soap and sandalwood and sweat. No dice. “It was supposed to be one night.”

“Do you believe in fate?” His warm breath danced across her cheek and tickled her ear. “Because it seems to be telling us otherwise.”

No, she didn’t. She believed in hard work and perseverance. Why else would she still be banging her head against the wall trying to get a top-drawer publisher interested in her novel?

She went for sarcastic, hoping it would scare him off. “Maybe it’s telling me you’re a stalker.”

“Who doesn’t know your last name yet somehow found out where you live and rented an apartment in your building?”

She gave a half-hearted shrug. “Could happen.”

“Or it could be when I met you that night at Flotsam and Jetsam I was apartment hunting, and I was as surprised to see you at the tenants’ meeting as you were to see me. Call it a happy coincidence.”

“I don’t believe in coincidence, either.”

“What do you believe in?” His baby blues, mysterious and mesmerizing, bored into hers. “Luck?”

She broke free from his spellbinding gaze, dragging her eyes down to his awe-inspiring chest and focusing on the fire-engine red “ALL” in the center of his Metallica T-shirt. “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.”

“Then it looks like this is my lucky day.”

“Why is that?”

“Because this is my opportunity to convince you the universe wants us to spend some time together.” He slid a finger under her chin and lifted her face to his. “And I’m prepared to stay right here until you agree.”

…

He was walking a tightrope across the Grand Canyon without a net.

When Brooke found out who he was and why he was there, she’d have his balls in a vice grip. Big time. Which was reason enough for him to back the fuck off.

So why couldn’t he?

It wasn’t a sexual thing, although it would be futile to deny that he wanted her. But he wasn’t some teenager, unable to control his primal urges. He’d resisted plenty of beautiful women in his day.

No, it wasn’t Brooke’s obvious physical assets that made her irresistible. It was the fact that, no matter how much the lady did protest, her body language shouted loud and clear that she was attracted to him. Eli Ward, regular Joe. Not Eli Ward, billionaire developer. That was a heady prospect, one he hadn’t experienced since hitting it big.

Add to that everything he’d learned about her from the other residents in the two short days he’d been at Candy Court. Unlike Brooke, they’d welcomed him with open arms and hadn’t hesitated to tell him all about their favorite neighbor. How she was the driving force behind the community garden and had been the one to sit with Mrs. Feingold at the hospital when her husband fell and broke his hip. How she’d helped Charise out in a pinch by babysitting her little boy after pulling an eight-hour shift at the bar.

Bottom line: this woman was someone he wanted—no, needed—to get to know better. And if that meant engaging in a slight deception for a short time, until he was on surer footing with her, then that was what he had to do. He only hoped the end would justify the means.

“So.” He tilted his head to study her, looking for some sign she was on the verge of giving in to him. “What will it take for you to give me a second chance?”

Brooke opened her mouth to answer, but her response was swallowed up by a chirpy, assertive voice from the door.

“Brooke, dear. I forgot my key, and Morty locked me out again when he went to his tai chi class at the Y.”

Eli stepped aside to let Brooke push past him. Their elderly neighbor stood in the doorway with a sly smile and a twinkle in her watchful eyes.