Page 39 of The Billionaire's Secret Kiss

I checked my phone. 4:45pm. Ella should be home. If she wasn’t, I was going to track her down. I wasn’t leaving Atlanta until we’d worked things out.

My phone rang just as I was parking my car a block from her front door.

Ella.

I answered, breathless with sudden nerves. “Ella?”

“Noah! Where are you? Have you left yet?” Her voice was thin and fast, like she was running.

“I’m almost at your front door,” I said.

The door swung open to reveal Ella, wearing loose-fitting cotton pajama pants and a red tank top, her dark hair wet and pulled back from her face with a clip.

“I was just going to look for you,” she said. I noticed her keys clutched in one hand.

Raising an eyebrow, I asked, “In that?”

She looked down at herself and flushed, slowly shaking her head. “I realized I needed to see you and I forgot what I was wearing.”

“Can I come in?”

“Yes. Please come in.” I followed her to the elevator, unable to take my eyes off her. She was jittery, her breath coming too fast, flags of pink in her cheeks.

“Why were you looking for me?” I asked.

Ella set her phone and keys on the kitchen island and turned to look at me. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she said, “I’m sorry about everything I said earlier. You were right; I was running away because I don’t want to get hurt again. I’m scared. But I want to try. I don’t want to give up on us.”

I thought about telling her how things had worked out with Vance and Maggie. In theory, giving up all that money for her should prove how serious I was. But I didn’t want her to know. I didn’t want her to be with me because of a big gesture.

Anyone could make a big gesture. Big gestures were a one-time thing. Trust took more than that. Trust was day-to-day. Trust was the little things. If this was going to work, we needed the time to build that.

Taking a step toward her, I took her hands in mine. “Ella, I love you. I know this isn’t going to be easy. You’ve got at least a year of school ahead of you, and we both know I have a problem with getting sucked into work.”

Ella let out an uneasy laugh. “I’m going to try to be more understanding about that, Noah. I know how important your company is to you.”

“Not as important as you. I promise. Nothing is more important than you.”

She looked up at me, her dark eyes serious as she framed my face with her hands. Drawing me down, she pressed her soft lips to mine. “I’m sorry I got scared,” she said against my mouth.

“I’m sorry the timing is so fucked up.”

I kissed her, pulling her body into mine and slanting my mouth over hers. She was mine. We were going to do this together. I kissed her until she was liquid heat in my arms, until the clothes between us were too much distance. Her lips swollen, Ella tipped her head back, studying me as if she wanted to memorize every nuance of my face.

“You have to go, don’t you?” she asked, dropping her head to rest on my shoulder.

I did. I couldn’t bring myself to say it. Instead, I said, “Not yet. I have a little time.”

Looking up at me with a glint in her eye, Ella asked, “How much time?”

“A few hours.”

"Do you want to talk?" she asked coyly.

I scooped her up and tossed her over my shoulder, striding toward her bedroom.

"We can talk on the phone."

I tossed her on her bed, stripping her loose cotton pajama pants down her legs. I had my own clothes off seconds later. I was already peeling Ella’s tank top up to reveal her gorgeous breasts and perfect, hard, pink nipples . . . when reality interrupted.