Page 31 of Saved By the Billionaire

“I hate it.”

“It’s just how it was. It was better than being on the streets. And it taught me to be tough. To look after myself.”

He grunted then. “But you’re here now,” he said, so gently, and so kindly, that her heart stammered and her insides twisted. “And for the next week and a half, I intend to look after you just how you deserve. Deal?”

It sounded perfect, and dangerous, all at once. Because Kate had never let herself be looked after. She’d never let herself admit she even wanted that, because it had felt like the impossible.

“Starting with coffee?”

He grinned. “Let’s do one better.” He reached for his phone and started scrolling through Uber, placing an order for breakfast before settling back and keeping Kate pressed to his chest.

“Do you keep in touch with any of them?”

“Who?”

“The people you live with. The foster families.”

She shook her head. “Once you get moved on, you aren’t really given that choice.”

She was alone. Unwanted. No one had bothered to try to keep her, to fight for her. She forced a smile. “It’s for the best. I don’t miss any of them.”

He made a guttural sound of disapproval.

“As soon as I aged out of the system, I rented a small bedroom in a uni house share. They were all studying, caught up in their own lives. No one really cared what I was doing, or who I was. It wasn’t hard to keep them at arm’s length. And I had a room of my own, with a door that locked.”

“Did you unpack?”

“I filled a drawer,” she said, smiling again. It showed how wary she’d been of commitment, even then. “Though I kept my bag beside it, ready to go at a moment’s notice.”

“Have you unpacked here?”

She pulled a face. “Obviously not.”

“Why don’t you?”

“Because I’m hardly going to be here much longer.”

“A week and a half.”

She lifted a hand to his chest, held it there, wishing she didn’t feel so vulnerable, forcing herself to ask, “What if you change your mind?”

He pulled a sceptical expression, waiting for her to continue. “Two weeks is a long time. You might get sick of me.”

“Hard to imagine.”

“Not for me.”

His face became deadly serious. “We have a deal, Kate. You’re here for two weeks. Nothing is going to change that.”

She wished she could believe him. She wished, more than anything, she could somehow trust that promise to be true.

She heard Garrett in the living area, and instinctively held the sheet up higher. “He’s not going to come in here,” Roman assured her.

“Does he just come and go like this?”

“He’ll have the food.”

“Why? Does he wait around for you to need something?”