Page 29 of A Billionaire Rebel

I still had those thoughts running around in my head when we pulled up in front of my building, and perhaps that was why, on impulse, I blurted out an invitation.

“Would you like to have dinner with me?” He looked surprised, but not put off, which prompted me to add, “Well, it wouldn’t be just me. Jamie and Kevin will be there too, but you’ve already met them.”

“I have.” He smiled. “If you’re sure…”

“I am.”

“Then I’d love to.” He moved the car into a parking space. “Your sister won’t mind?”

“I doubt it. We don’t have people over, so she’ll be surprised, but I don’t think she’ll mind.”

I knew my sister well. When we got to the apartment, and I invited Damon in, she reacted pretty much the way I’d imagined she would. Widened eyes and raised eyebrows, but she greeted Damon with a smile. When I walked by, though, she grabbed my arm.

“You and I are going to have a talk when the freaking lead singer of Holden leaves, starting with you answering the question of why you didn’t tell me you had sex with Damon freaking Holden?”

If Kevin hadn’t been in the living room, her language would’ve been a lot more colorful. Our conversation was going to be interesting, to say the least. I liked that she seemed to approve of Damon – she wouldn’t have let him anywhere near Kevin if she didn’t – but I hoped she wasn’t reading too much into it.

There was no need for both of us to be disappointed if this was as far as things would go.

Sixteen

Damon

I’d never spentmuch time with kids, but Kevin was easy to like. I hadn’t hesitated to accept Jae’s invitation, not ready for my time with her to be over, even if it wasn’t going to be just the two of us.

I’d liked my first interaction with Jamie, and my positive opinion of her grew the more I watched her with Jae and with Kevin. I knew she was younger than Jae, which meant she’d most likely been a teenager when she’d had her son. Even though Jae clearly loved her nephew and he listened to her, Jamie was the parent, and Jae didn’t interfere.

Watching the three of them interact made me realize that money wasn’t the only difference between our families, and I couldn’t help but be a little jealous of what they had.

As our night came to a close, I took Jae’s hand, and she walked me downstairs, still smiling at how Kevin had insisted he wasn’t tired even as his head had been nodding. I hadn’t wanted to make it harder for Jamie to put him to bed, so I’d been the one to suggest it was time for me to go, even if I wasn’t quite ready to leave Jae’s presence yet. She soothed me in a way no one else ever had.

“Are you working tomorrow?” I asked.

“Until six,” she said. “Starla’s going to be there the whole time since we have some inventory to go through, so you don’t need to worry about me being there alone.”

“Am I that obvious?”

“Sometimes.” She chuckled. “What about you? Plans for tomorrow?”

The weight of my almost-forgotten grief landed on my shoulders again. “I have to talk to some people about what’s going to happen with the band.”

“Do you have to be the one to do it?” She put her hand on my chest as we stopped by the front doors. “It doesn’t seem fair to expect you to do it all.”

“Thank you.” I put my hand over hers. “For caring. For helping me these last two days. I don’t know how I would’ve gotten through any of it without you.”

She blushed. “You would’ve been fine.”

I put a hand on her cheek. “I mean it, Jae. If I hadn’t gotten that card from you, I don’t know where I would’ve gone after the hospital yesterday. I know I wouldn’t have gotten any sleep. Being with you kept me sane.”

“You call or stop by anytime,” she said. “If you ever need to, you can reach out to me.”

I bent my head and brushed my lips across hers, a kiss far briefer and more chaste than I wished it to be. If I could do anything I wanted right now, it would be to take her home with me and pretend that the outside world didn’t exist.

I stepped back, unsettled by the strength of the desire to act on that impulse. Even when I’d dated in the past, I’d never felt an urge to spend that much time with a woman before.

“Have a good night,” I said as I forced myself to step outside.

The muggy heat had broken with yesterday’s storm, but this was still August in Texas, so it wasn’t exactly cool. The air-conditioning at home sounded good, but I wasn’t ready to be alone. At some point, I’d want to be alone to think, but I wasn’t there yet.

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