Page 2 of Billionaire's Runaway

“I don’t need to be protected,” she argued. She straightened and blew out a sigh. “What I need is to be left the hell alone.”

She shoved past me, and I let her go, frustrated but knowing I’d just make the situation worse if I followed after her right now.I’d give her time to cool off then try to talk to her again after the reception.

Unfortunately, she managed to disappear again. When I went to her room later that night I found she’d switched cabins with someone else. And Laura obviously didn’t want to be found. I spent the rest of the cruise trying to locate the elusive woman, but she was in the wind, departing the ship early when we landed at one of the ports. And when I begged Emerson for Laura’s phone number, my relentless calls went to a full voicemail.

I flew home alone, angry at myself, angry at her. Suddenly, Fray’s insane stalking of Emerson made even more sense. I vowed I’d find Laura and set everything right if it was the last thing I’d ever do.

One

Laura

Fuck my life. Fuck my family. Fuck this credit card. Fuck this damn rain and this broken-down car. Just fuck, fuck, fuck!

My head dropped forward as I took deep breaths and tried to fight back my tears. I wasn’t usually a crier. I certainly wasn’t one to swear. Usually. But everything about this day was more than I could handle with calm and composure.

And here I was, all alone, in BFE—AKA Northern Michigan.

I leaned my head against the steering wheel, wishing some hot tow-truck driver would materialize and take away all my worries. If he looked like Luke Cassel, all the better.

And fuck my libido or whatever it was that wouldn’t let me forget that man. Even when I’d been engaged—albeitunwillinglyto a man I’d never met—everything in me had stood up and paid attention the first time I’d met Luke. My girlfriends and I were in a bar in NYC,Bradford’s, the day he’d irrevocably entered my awareness.He’d been there with his brothers, and we’d met them ten minutes before my group was supposed to leave for a show.

That ten minutes? Life changing.

The meeting was the proverbial straw that broke the camels back, making me feel things, spiking an awareness, I’d never experienced. It awakened me and drove me to put down my foot and refuse to marry the guy my parents arranged for me. Yeah, unfortunately, arranged marriages still existed, especially in old-school, totally religious-fanatical families like mine.

And fucking fuck that.

I grinned for the first time in an hour, enjoying my little bit of internal rebellion.

My refusal hadn’t gone well that day. My father had locked me up; I’d literally climbed out a window and run away. I’d been subsisting on my cash savings, but when my car had broken down, no one would help me without a credit card. Not that I had much cash left. I was down to my last couple hundred.

That was how I found out my dad canceled my Visa. Effectively stranding me. Now, it would be just my luck he had people watching the card. He was trying to force my hand with the credit card thing. Heck, he likely would have reported my car as stolen if it weren’t in my name—a technicality from a clerical mistake that had never been corrected. But without money to repair my vehicle, what could I do?

For about the millionth time, I questioned not getting a job as soon as I’d run, but I’d been afraid I’d be traced with my social. Not that I had experience of skills from doinganyjob. I had an Applied Arts degree with honors, but it was hard to get a gig designing people’s living rooms when you were on the run.

What I needed to do was call Emerson. My best friend would know how I should proceed.

Except she was on her honeymoon.

But I was stuck, and literally, she was all I had. Sure, I had other friends, but none were as close to me as Emerson was. Plus, I knew Em didn’t particularly care for my relatives, so she wasTeam Runawayall the way. She’d been less than thrilled over my engagement but determined to stick by my side and give me every bit of support I asked for. I hadn’t asked for anything.

At first, I’d resolve to just do what my parents wanted. It was the way in our family and in the families of all of my parents’ society friends. Heck, I was lucky I hadn’t ended up as a child bride. My mother had put down her foot on that and somehow kept my father from marrying me off, as she’d been when she was fifteen. My whole life, she’d put on a serene, all-is-good face, but I knew she wasn’t happy. She was totally stuck. For all my family’s wealth, she had very little freedom.

I would never be like her. I would never let someone rule over my life as she did.

What Em had with Fraser Cassel was nothing like that. Again, I thought of Luke and wondered what it would be like with him. Would he be like Fray or like my father? The prospect of loving him, then finding out and being stuck, scared me. It was why I’d avoided him, both at Christmastime and at Emerson’s wedding. God, that had been difficult. Because I was drawn to that man as I’d never been to another. He looked so similar to Fray, yet I had no interest in my friend’s husband, not even a flicker of attraction.

Luke, however…

That man set off all my alert systems and fired up all my pleasure centers.

And I needed to stop thinking of him, with his dark hair, chocolate-brown eyes, and lickable physique I wanted to climb like a—

Stop it, Laura!

I pulled out my phone. I had signal, thank God, but my battery was dangerously low. With my dead car, I couldn’t even charge it.

Emerson answered on nearly the first ring. “Laura, what’s wrong?”

---