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There was an intimacy having him here, and her body and mind just hadn’t allowed her to forget that he had been just across the hall from her in the guest room. Some parts of her body and mind had wanted to go to him. To fall right into his arms and experience, well, everything Presley was capable of doling out in the pleasure department.
In other words—a lot.
The sexual pull had given her some amazing dreams. Thankfully though, those dreams and nudges of heat had been tempered with the reality of what Presley and she were facing.
And had faced.
Having the kidnappers demand they do the ransom exchange. Sending them on a wild goose chase to the murder house. Then, the long, miserable wait to learn Victoria’s fate.
Along with that waiting, there’d been the bombshells, including the one about Jesep’s will. But that one had been a drop in the proverbial bucket compared to yesterday’s other shocker.
Presley had been shaken to the core learning that Victoria was his bio-mother. Shaken once again when the lab had triple-checked and confirmed it. DNA didn’t lie, but apparently Victoria had by keeping the secret of her motherhood from her son.
Maybe Victoria had done that because she didn’t know where to find Presley. And even if she found him, oh, what a scandal it would have caused. The socialite heiress and wife of…an asshole had given birth at sixteen and abandoned her child. So, Victoria might have been afraid of her secret being revealed.
Was that because she’d been bullied by Jesep?
Or was there something rotten or wrong at Victoria’s core?
Billie couldn’t judge the woman for giving up her child, but she sure as hell could judge her for abandoning Presley. Victoria could have simply told her doctor that she wanted her child to be adopted, and it would have happened. Of course, maybe there was some underlying reason why Victoria hadn’t been able to do that.
The thorough background that Ruby had run on Victoria gave them some glimpses as to those possible underlying reasons. From what Billie had read, Victoria’s father had been much like Jesep. Rich, arrogant, and with amy way or the highwayattitude. Billie couldn’t see a man like that approving of his sixteen-year-old daughter having a baby.
And that had led Billie and Presley to yet more digging.
On his bio-father.
Because, hey, he could be at the center of this. He could want to get back at Victoria for discarding their child and presumably him as well. What better way to do that than to drag Presleyinto the ransom drop so there could be sort of a warped family reunion?
But that theory didn’t feel right to Billie.
Yes, it had to be considered, but she just couldn’t see a bio-dad having things play out this way. After all, Presley was being punished, too, by having the bombshell thrown at him, and to a bio-father, Presley would be innocent in what Victoria had done.
The problem was there was no DNA match for his bio-dad so the man couldn’t be definitively ruled out as a suspect. That meant more digging. More questions. And still no answers.
Including no answers about Victoria’s whereabouts.
The kidnappers hadn’t contacted them, and while Billie hated to read too much into that, it could mean that Victoria was dead. She had to shove that aside and get that steeling up in place though when she heard the footsteps and Presley came in.
Great.
Even with what had to be minimal sleep and a mountain of stress, the man still managed to look hot. A cross between his namesake rock star and a Greek god.
Yep, he had her hormonal number, all right.
Presley kept his gaze on her as he went to the coffeemaker and poured himself a cup. “You look…interested,” he said.
She figured he meant that in a sexual way, and Billie didn’t intend to touch it with a ten-foot pole. Apparently, he did though.
He leaned in and kissed her.
It was just a peck and barely qualified as a kiss. It packed a serious punch, and it took more of that steel for her not to move in and take his mouth as if it were hers for the taking. It wasn’t.
Was it?
Billie shoved that stupid question away and put her mind back on the work. Once this investigation was done, then shecould maybe do a test drive with Presley to see just where this heat could take them.
“Please tell me we have new information that’ll help us,” she threw out there. “Help us find Victoria,” she added.
