Page 207 of The Rebel Billionaire

She gasps, her eyes glistening.

I smile.

“I can’t believe you remembered,” she says.

“I did,” I say, interlinking our fingers. “I can’t guarantee any of the exhibits will come to life, but I can promise a night of exploring the exhibits and sleeping under the blue whale.”

She looks at me and bites her bottom lip. “I…”

I squeeze her hand, pulling her into my side, as we enter through the side door and are greeted by the manager, a man I’ve had many conversations with over the past couple of days.

“Mr Bianchi, Ms Feldmann. Welcome to the American Museum of Natural History,” he says before stepping back and allowing us to enter. “Everything is prepared for you.”

CHAPTER 61

HARPER

“This is amazing,” I say as we visit yet another exhibit. “Being here at night. You’d think it would be creepy, but the silence. Being able to simply be…”

I stop myself. I’ve never done anything like this. Despite all our wealth, I’ve never had somewhere like this entirely to myself before, it’s an adrenaline rush.

“This way,” Alex says, with a smile.

Butterflies flutter in my chest as he clasps my hand in his, and I love the fact that we can hold hands and kiss with no fear of being exposed. Yes, there are security cameras, but Alex has promised me that all staff have signed NDAs, offering us a level of privacy only money can buy, and I find myself touched that he has done this for us… for me.

We turn the corner.

“Alessandro,” I cry, moving towards the intimate picnic that someone has laid out on the floor.

“Your dining companions await,” he says with a grin, as I spin on the spot, taking in the dinosaur skeletons surrounding us.

“I can’t believe you’ve done all this,” I say, wrapping my arms around his neck and placing my lips against his.

He pulls me against him, my curves moulding to his hardness, a sensation I’m getting used to. That’s when I realise this is the most relaxed I’ve been since we met, at least outside of my apartment or his.

“Thank you,” I say.

He leads me to one of the closest exhibits.

“And?”

I grin, reeling off facts and figures about the skeleton and its time on Earth.

I glance up at him, heat flooding my cheeks. His eyes sparkle as I talk.

“Sorry. Book nerd. I loved dinosaurs as a kid. Would bore the pants off my brothers and sister,” I admit.

“Don’t apologise, it’s cute,” he says, wrapping an arm around my shoulder before pulling me into his side and whispering in my ear. “And I admit, I was a bit of a dinosaur nerd myself. That and the stars and solar system.”

I rest my head against his shoulder, enjoying the banter and companionship. Since we started this, life has changed. I’m no longer the homesick woman I was. Instead, I’m embracing each day, enjoying every moment we’re together and even the time we spend apart, because the distance builds anticipation.

I look up to find Alex staring down at me.

“You amaze me,” he says, dropping a kiss on my nose.

My heart stutters in my chest at the look in his eyes.

He’s not the only one.