Page 16 of Saved By the Billionaire

“Except I want you off them.”

Her heartrate quickened and she sucked in a sharp breath.

“You heard the doc. You’ll recover faster if you rest.”

She fidgeted with her fingers, wishing her body wasn’t tingling the way it was. Wishing a thousand things, like that she hadn’t had a lifetime of knowing she was unwanted, of leaving before she could be asked to leave, which was colouring everything she felt now.

It seemed impossible that someone like Roman would want her to stay.

Impossible that he’d care.

Why would he?

She was missing something here, and Kate didn’t like that. But she had very few options besides taking up his generosity. She couldn’t work with her ankle like this, and without work, she had no money, even for the tiny hostel. She couldn’t even afford a flight home.

It had all seemed simple at first. An adventure, even. But her stubborn determination to find her father, to know finally that she wasn’t alone, had meant she’d taken stupid risks and was now utterly without a buffer of any kind. For the first time in her life, she’d been reckless, and if it weren’t for Roman, she hated to think where she’d be. On the streets?

The car approached a building she recognised—Roman’s penthouse was right at the top—and pulled over.

“Give me the address of your hostel.”

She was starting to realise that Roman didn’t ask questions when commands would do just as well. She pulled a face, wanting to say as much to him, but Garrett was watching them in the rear-view mirror.

She gave the address matter-of-factly. “Why?”

Roman threw her a dark glance. “Seriously?”

“What?”

A muscle throbbed in his jaw, as though he were forcing himself not to say whatever he was thinking. “We’ll talk inside.”

He stepped out of the car so Kate threw a confused glance at Garrett before Roman was at her side, one arm moving around her waist, the other unclipping her seatbelt. A shiver ran through her body at the way he seemed to envelop her. His ultra-masculine fragrance, all pine needles and outdoorsy, and his body, so big and strong with those hair-roughened arms and broad shoulders.

“I can use the crutches,” she said into the sweep of his neck, telling herself she should be more insistent even as she breathed in more deeply so she could taste him in the back of her throat.

“I’m sure you can.” Close like this, she could feel the growly roughness of his words, and it made her lips twitch with appreciation.

The doors opened automatically and a moment later, they were stepping into the elevator and being whooshed up to his apartment. There were more details in here she hadn’t been in the right frame of mind to realise before now, like the crystal chandelier in the elevator, and the fact it seemed to be twice the height of a normal lift.

Even the elevators were fancy in Roman’s world.

The doors opened and he strode out, still holding her pressed to his body as though she were special and precious, as though she were all his to protect—when none of that was true. They were virtual strangers. “Couch or bed?”

Her heart twisted at just the mention of bed. At the thought of Roman carrying her through his apartment and placing her down, just as he had the night before. What if she suggested his bed? The errant thought came to her out of nowhere and took a hold in a way that terrified her. She was too dependent on him to ruin it by making a pass. As if he’d look at her in that way…

Except, hadn’t he been looking?

Hadn’t he stared at her lips that morning as though he was fantasising about them? As though they were the beginning and end of what he wanted? She sucked in another sharp breath and tasted him all over again, her pulse fluttering in her veins.

“Couch or bed?” he repeated, as he stopped walking and stared down at her. The pulse that had been rioting went into absolute overdrive, rushing through her veins like a tsunami, so loud she could hear it.

“Couch.”

It felt safer, and the shift of his features showed he understood that. “Good choice.”

Flames seemed to lick the soles of her feet.

He placed her down with so much care it made her ache, because she’d never known anything like it, and that was a horrible thing to realise. Maybe her mother had cherished her like that? Kate couldn’t remember. All she’d known for a very long time was a combination of short-term foster care and paid carers.