One Night with the Rebel Billionaire. Trish Wylie

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СКАЧАТЬ his mouth. If he didn’t give a damn why had he come home at all? Why not stay as lost to his family as he’d been for the last twelve years?

      ‘Yes,’ Jake informed him.

      Roane blinked at her friend. What was going on?

      Adam apparently knew. ‘Gonna buy me out, are you?’

      ‘If I have to.’ Jake nodded once.

      Roane leaned her elbow on the arm of the wooden bench and rested her forefinger along the side of her face, hiding her mouth behind the rest of her fingers. Adam Bryant might be pretty amazing to look at, but he wasn’t much of a personality, was he? Didn’t he feel the least bit guilty that he’d left everything on his younger brother’s shoulders? She might not know much, but she knew Jake had been tense of late, preoccupied, older somehow… Running the Bryant empire alone had been taking its toll.

      As if he could sense her disapproval, Adam’s gaze flickered briefly towards her again, then back to Jake just as fast. Frankly it was starting to bug Roane. It felt as if he was dismissing her presence—as if he didn’t feel she should even be there. But if Jake thought that he wouldn’t have brought her in with him, would he? With the benefit of hindsight, she knew he’d probably felt the need for moral support.

      ‘I’ll take a look at the figures,’ Adam told Jake.

      ‘There’s a board meeting at three in Manhattan. Roane can fly you in, can’t you, Ro?’

      Did she have to? She smiled. ‘’Course I can.’

      Adam didn’t look at her. ‘I’ll drive.’

      ‘It’s at least five and a half hours by road—you’d need to leave in an hour,’ Roane pointed out. ‘It’s less than two hours by air; you wouldn’t have to leave til noon. I’m sure you’ll want to spend time with your dad before you go…’

      When he looked at her again she quirked her brows. Not that it had any effect on him. Instead he held her gaze steadily, as if to prove he could having spent so little time looking her directly in the eye.

      ‘You fly?’

      ‘Yes.’ Silently she willed him to make a comment about it being a step up from the chauffeur-cum-handyman position her father had held for most of his life.

      He didn’t. Instead he took a deep breath that expanded the material of his dark green T-shirt while his gaze shifted back to Jake. ‘When’s the next board meeting?’

      ‘Two weeks.’

      ‘Right.’ Adam looked out the windows, his jaw tensing while he thought, eyes narrowed against the bright light. Then he nodded briefly. ‘Fine. I’ll fly.’

      Roane lowered her hand and looked at Jake. ‘I’ll book the slot. You coming?’

      ‘No, I’ll go ahead. I already have a slot.’

      Which meant she got to fly down with Adam on her own. Fantastic. That should make for a chatty flight. Roane couldn’t remember ever spending time in close proximity to someone she found so intensely physically attractive yet didn’t like at the same time.

      Jake nudged her to indicate he wanted to slide out. ‘I’ll take Adam over to the house.’

      ‘I remember the way.’

      Roane pursed her lips at Adam’s reply as she slid off the bench and walked to the sink to toss her untouched coffee away, Jake’s voice calm behind her.

      ‘I’m going over anyway.’

      When he joined her at the sink she looked up at him, mouthing a concerned You okay?

      He winked and mouthed back, Fine.

      Automatically she took his mug and rinsed it out after she’d done her own, adding a plate and a couple of pieces of cultery that were lying on the side too and not noticing Jake had moved away until she turned—and walked straight into the solid wall of Adam’s chest. One large hand shot up to grasp her elbow as she staggered back, her spine bumping the edge of the counter as she looked down at his hand with wide eyes.

      Because it was like being touched by a live wire.

      A spark of electricity shot up her arm, under her skin and into her veins where it picked up speed with the rapid beat of her heart. The tingling then radiated outwards, licking over her bare shoulder and down over her chest where her nipples beaded into tight buds against the lace of her bra.

      Adam let go so suddenly her gaze shot upwards.

      When his eyes narrowed an almost imperceptible amount Roane blinked at him. He’d felt that? What in the name of heaven was that anyway? It couldn’t even be put down to static electricity—not when it was bare skin touching bare skin. Could it? Science had never been her thing, after all.

      ‘Ro? You coming?’ Jake’s familiar voice sounded from the open doorway.

      ‘Mmm-hmm, yeah.’ She frowned as she stepped around Adam, absent-mindedly rubbing where he had touched her as if to remove an invisible mark.

      Adam took a half step in her direction so that her shoulder brushed his upper arm, the rumble of his voice low and steeped with innuendo.

      ‘Be seeing you. Little girl.’

      She stopped and smiled sugary sweet. ‘How long did you say you were staying?’

      ‘I didn’t.’

      A quick glance at the doorway showed that Jake had already stepped outside. Suddenly Roane felt edgy without him there. Her hesitation didn’t help either, because when she looked up at Adam it was in time to see he’d noticed the same thing.

      ‘Finally caught him, did you?’

      What? She gaped when she realized what he meant, ‘I wasn’t ever—’ She frowned at the sudden need to defend herself. ‘My relationship with Jake is none of your business.’

      When she stepped away he reached out and grabbed her wrist, lifting her hand to study it. ‘No ring.’

      Roane tugged her arm. ‘Let go.’

      He held on. ‘How come?’

      Not that she had all that much experience with men, but Roane had never met such a Neanderthal. For goodness’ sake, the man practically grunted a conversation!

      She tugged again, harder this time, determined not to pay attention to the low thrumming of awareness in her abdomen. ‘That’s still none of your business.’

      Adam repositioned his fingers, his gaze studying her wrist for a moment before he looked sideways at her and a smile began to play with the corners of his mouth. The way the green in his eyes had darkened, the way that half a smile was forming—it threw rational thought clean out of her head. Until she realized what he was smiling about…

      He’d just felt her pulse jumping about in her wrist. He knew what he was doing to her disobedient body. More than that—he was pleased about it! The arrogant great—

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