Page 16 of Marked By the Billionaire
Wilder
Reynolds leans back in the recliner next to the fireplace. He wears red flannel pajama bottoms and a black T-shirt, though his hair is still swept to the side as if he’s combed it perfectly into place.
“This is quite the wrench in your plans, sir.” He nods upstairs as the sound of footsteps rush back and forth through the hallways.
“Is it fucked up that I kind of like it?”
He tilts his head to the side as thunder rumbles in the distance. “How so?”
“The sounds, the life, the kids, the drama. It’s nice to do something real for a change.” I drag in a deep breath and let it out, slowly running over the way tonight unfolded. Lying in bed with her was incredible, feeling her explode in my arms even more so, but I want more. I want whatever this is.
“That mean you want a family after all?” Reynolds half laughs as he talks. He’s known me long enough to know a family has always been the furthest thing from my mind.
“I think that ship has sailed. Look at me. I don’t know what the hell I’d do with kids.”
“You’d learn.” He takes another sip of bourbon. “I didn’t know what the hell I was doing when you came to the house, but you turned out alright.” He looks away as he talks, then backagain. “Maybe you don’t see it like that, sir, but I always figured you as one of my own.” He sighs. “Truth be told, you’re the only family I’ve ever had.”
Reynolds’ words hang in the air like smoke. I stare at him, unsure what to say as the fire throws shadows on his face.
“I didn’t know you felt that way,” I say, my voice low.
He shrugs, but there’s weight behind it. “Didn’t think it needed saying.”
I nod slowly, letting that settle. “You’re all I’ve got too.”
“Which is why you should expand.” He grins, his eyebrows raised. “You saw something in this girl. What was it?”
“Her innocence.”Maybe that’s fucked up, but it’s true.“She’s real. She’s nervous, awkward, and she looks at me like I’m just a man. That, and at the end of the day, I think she’d have walked away from all this money to make sure her sisters felt safe tonight.”
Upstairs, the footsteps pause, replaced by muffled laughter. Her laugh. It’s light and real, and it does something to me I can’t describe. I close my eyes for a second, just to feel it.
“I don’t know what this is,” I admit. “She’s supposed to be here for a weekend. That’s it. No strings. No expectations.”
Reynolds smiles. “And yet here you are, talking about family.”
I huff a laugh. “Yeah. What the hell is wrong with me?”
“Nothing,” he says. “You’re just finally letting yourself want something.”
I glance at him, and for a moment, I see the man who took me in day after day when my parents were off in some foreign country doing God knows what. I see the man that listened, the man that held me up, the man that taught me right from wrong, and I feel like shit for not seeing it sooner.
“What if I don’t know how to be that guy,” I say, my stomach tightening. “Like you, the guy who stays. The guy who knows what to say.”
“You just have to show up. It matters more than you think.”
“I don’t want to screw this up.” A flash of lightning lights the night as rain picks up.
“Then don’t.”
“It’s not that simple.”
Reynolds stands and paces toward the doorway. “It is. You show up, you listen, you love her the way she deserves, and when you mess up, and you will, you apologize. You always keep trying.”
I watch him and the way his hands move, steady and sure. The way his shoulders relax is as if the answer is right there. It’s the same way he comforted me on holidays spent alone and on birthdays with no family around. He’s been my anchor for years. “Why didn’t you marry?”
He shakes his head, and all at once I know the answer. “I’m going to bed, sir. For once in your damn life, listen to your heart. It’ll do you good.”
I drag a hand over my face, lean back in the recliner, and stare into the flames. It’s funny how life turns. How the decision Reynolds made to take care of me changed his life. How I’ve been too distracted to notice it. How I hired this girl to entertain me. How I find purpose when she calls me daddy. How I need more. How I have no right to want any of it.
