Page 17 of The Billionaire's Secret Kiss

“Well,” I started, not sure how to explain, "after he kissed me, I kind of punched him. When I ran out, his nose was bleeding. Between that and the way I freaked when I saw him, Vance and Maggie knew something was up and I guess they dragged it out of him."

Both Holden and Tate gave a shout of laughter. Jo asked incredulously, “You punched him? You’re, like, the least violent person I know.”

“Yeah, well, the kiss got kind of . . . out of control. I was mad that he was back, and kind of embarrassed that I’d let it get that far, and he looked so smug I just . . ."

Tate had himself under control, but Holden was still laughing. "So he had to go back into a meeting with his investors with a bloody nose?" he asked.

I was starting to feel kind of bad about it. At the time, punching him had felt like vindication. After all the pain he'd put me through, he deserved a punch to the nose. Now that I knew what was on the line for his company, I was a lot less comfortable being in the middle of Noah's potential deal with Vance and Maggie.

"I need to apologize," I said mostly to myself. "Hitting him wasn't cool."

"He deserved it," Jo said loyally.

Maybe he did, but that didn't mean hitting him was okay. Dammit. I really was going to have to apologize.

"So Vance already talked to him? What did he say?" Tate asked.

"He didn't tell me, exactly," I said. "He just cornered me this morning when I came into work and told me to let him know if I was having any trouble with Noah and that he'd take care of it. He said he'd already told Noah that if I complained about him, the deal was off."

"Damn, Vance the hard ass. I would've expected that from Aidan or Jacob. Definitely from Gage. But Vance is usually chill," Tate said.

Holden sat back in his chair and picked up his wine, raising one eyebrow as he said, “True, but Genghis Khan would look laid-back next to Aidan, Jacob, or Gage. And since he got his shit together, Vance doesn't fuck around."

I only vaguely knew what Holden was talking about. I'd been working for Vance and Maggie since a few weeks after they got engaged, not long after Vance's surprise daughter, Rosalie, was dropped on his doorstep. I'd missed the drama of their courtship, though I'd heard bits and pieces from Jo and Emily. I'd also heard that before Rosie and Maggie, when Vance had still been with Rosie's mother, he'd had a drinking problem and was a functioning disaster.

I could barely imagine it. The Vance I knew definitely had his shit together.

"So how did coffee go?" Emily asked.

"We argued," I said. "He was pissed I didn't tell him about school. He actually expected me to call him and ask for tuition money when I had to drop out. Can you believe that?" I was getting mad all over again.

Half under his breath, Tate said, “Bet that went well."

He and Holden had offered to lend me the money I needed to go back to school. I'd accepted the freelance work they sent my way but turned down the loan. If I was bothered by how long it was taking me to pay back an anonymous bank for a semester's worth of tuition, I couldn't begin to imagine the humiliation of owing a friend.

"Someday, you have to learn that it's okay to accept help from the people who care about you," Holden said gently.

"Yes, I know," I said tartly. "And the next time I need a ride home from the doctor’s, I’ll call one of you. And by the way, don't think I'm fooled by Vance letting me use his loft rent-free or you guys sending me work. He could rent that place out in a second for a ton of money. And there are a lot of other people more qualified to do the work you're giving me. So Idoknow how to accept help, and I appreciate it."

"Hey, if you weren't doing the job well, we wouldn't give you the work," Tate said.

"I know that. If I didn't think I could do it, I wouldn't accept it. And I appreciate it. I really, really do. I'm just saying there's a big difference between accepting a place to stay or some freelance work and accepting a check for a huge amount of money. I have at least another year left of school, and I need tuition and living expenses. That's a ton of cash. You guys are my friends, and it means a lot that you want to help. It does. Can we not talk about this anymore?"

"Yeah, fine, but what I want to know is, did you punch him again? While you were getting coffee? Because if you did, we might be able to get the video off the security cameras," Jo asked.

"No, I didn't punch him. I ran away again."

"What are you going to do the next time he tracks you down?" Emily asked.

"I have no idea," I said.

There had to be a compromise somewhere in the middle of punching him, kissing him, and running away.

I just hadn't found it yet.

Chapter Six

Ella