Page 87 of Billionaire Romance

It’s my mother.

“Hi, Mom,” I say, “are you okay?”

“I’m fine dear, I was just calling to check in. You left the party so early, I thought you might be sick. I wanted to make sure you’re all right.”

Sally is looking at me, and I can see the worry on her face. I sigh, sitting down on the edge of the bed and reach for her hand. She takes it. “You know that’s not why I left.”

There’s a long silence, and then, “I know.”

I take a breath. “Look Mom, I know that we’ve both been through a lot, and that we’ve dealt with it very differently. But please, you have to give me room to let go.”

“I know,” she says quickly. “Bianca and I had a long talk last night. I didn’t call just to find out if you were okay, I called to apologize. I just…I never want what happened to me to happen to you. I haven’t done a very good job of allowing that to happen.”

“I understand why you did it,” I say, squeezing Sally’s hand. She squeezes it back. “But I don’t think you have to worry about that anymore. You don’t have to think about me being happy or being able to find love.” I look over at Sally. “I am happy, and I think that I’m going to be happy for a very long time.”

Sally has frozen in shock, and I smile.

“It’s that girl,” my mother asks, “the one from last night?”

“Yeah. That’s her.”

“She seems nice. Took my bad behavior very well. I’d like to meet her again sometime.”

A sense of peace radiates through me, something I haven’t felt in a long time. “I’d like that too. We’ll make plans soon.”

I can hear her smile through the phone. “We can talk more about it, if you want,” she says. “I think we both have a lot we need to say.”

“Yeah,” I agree. “But not today.”

“Not today. I’ll talk to you soon?”

I nod, even though she can’t see me. “You will. I love you, Mom.”

“Love you.”

There’s an awed silence when I hang up the phone. I look at Sally. “That went better than I expected.”

“You mean what you said? That you’re happy? That we could be happy?”

I pull her across the bed toward me, and into my lap. “I do,” I say. “I thought that because we just met that there was no way that it could be true. That I would be just like my father if I was in love with someone so soon. But I can’t deny it anymore. I am very much falling for you, Sally Landing.”

She turns pink, and I kiss her, savoring the way she still tastes of chocolate and the way she turns sweet and melted against my body.

“Me too,” she says.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

I roll us back onto the bed. “I didn’t take just one day off from work,” I tell her. “I took three, and I intend to spend those days getting to know everything about you and every part of you.”

She laughs. “Not leaving the bed?”

“Not leaving the bed.”

“I’m going to need some clothes sooner or later.”

I raise an eyebrow. “That’s a problem for later. For the conceivable future, you’re not going to need any clothing.”

“Is that so,” Sally smirks at me. “Why?”

I run my hand down her side and that smirk fades into a look of lust. That’s a look that I could get used to on her face. “Because I plan on starting on the very long list of things that we have to do together. And each thing is dirtier than the last.”

She bites her lip and arches her hips into mine. “Okay.”

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