Page 97 of The Rebel Billionaire

“I want to apologise,” I say, inhaling deeply while holding his gaze.

Here goes…

“I want to apologise for my inappropriate behaviour in Italy. I would appreciate it if you would not hold it against me. I promise it will never happen again.”

“Inappropriate behaviour?” he says, tilting his head and pursing his lips.

I grimace.

He’s clearly not going to make this easy on me.

I pinch the skin on the inside of my wrist.

“Are you really going to make me say it?” I ask, my stomach churning.

God, this is embarrassing.

I sit upright, smoothing out an imaginary wrinkle on my trouser leg.

I bite my lip.

“Fine,” I huff, staring at the paper on his desk. “I’m sorry I kissed you. It was an accident. I promise, it won’t happen again.”

He steeples his fingers in front of his mouth before lowering them slowly.

“Apology accepted.”

My shoulders sag as I exhale deeply. “Thank you.”

“Brooke, does this mean we can go back to normal?”

I open and then close my mouth.

“Absolutely,” I say, but the uncertainty in my voice must give me away.

Normal?

“I’m talking about looking me in the eye, not jumping every time I’m within a metre of you.”

“I didn’t realise I was,” I say.

He inclines his head, raising an eyebrow.

“Okay, so maybe I have, but… oh hell, I’ve been embarrassed. I didn’t want you to think…”

He gives me a blank look.

“Think what?”

“Think I was coming on to you,” I say, my cheeks heating.

I must look like a tomato.

This time he laughs, and I scowl.

“Oh, Brooke. This has gone far enough. I know it was an accident. If anyone should be apologising, it’s me. If I hadn’t turned my head, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.”

“I didn’t want you to get the wrong impression.”