Page 14 of The Billionaire Bodyguard Next Door
Good.
CHAPTER5
Luna
I checked on Alice again,adjusting the blanket that had slipped down her little body as she tossed and turned on the couch.
The little girl had been a total surprise. Once we finally cleaned up the mess upstairs, we sat on the couch and ate our pizza. She suggested we watch some show I’d never heard of, and I insisted I introduce her to the world of Austen.
Turns out, seven-year-olds aren’t too interested in second-chance romances. Her little snores started up within fifteen minutes of me pressing play.
I paused the television and pulled out my laptop to take care of some emails. If Beck came back soon, I’d still be able to make the meeting with my designer. We agreed to meet at a coffee shop a block over, so it would be easy for me to slip out as long as the tiny human had some adult supervision.
Again, I checked the time. How much longer would he be?
Just then my phone chimed.
Speak of the devil.
Beck was checking in, asking about Alice. My goal was to give him heart palpitations.
Finally, he mentioned he was about ten minutes away.
I felt an odd catch in my chest. In the shock and confusion of being put in charge of his daughter, I hadn't fully processed the new reality:
Beck Bennet lived next door.
When the hell was he planning on telling me this? Sure, it's not like we didn't bicker like an old married couple whenever we were together. Or that he conveniently never called me after the best sex of my life even though I deliberately gave him my number.
Inevergave out my number.
One-night stands were one-night stands for a reason.
Except with Beck, it had felt different from the jump. From the second he knocked into me at that party, there was the invisible string tying us together.
But then invisible strings were the stuff of fairytales.
After that night with Beck, I swore off bad boys. Turned off the neon sign on my forehead that drew guys like Beck to me like a moth to the flame. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop thatotherman from trying to…
I pushed thoughts ofthatnight to the side.Thatnight that made me avoid intimacy
Since then, I’ve datedniceguys. Clean cut, polo shirt and khaki wearing guys who’d fit in seamlessly at a country club. There was a string of them: Connor, Noah, Daniel, Carter.
Ohh Carter. He was the most recent of my failed relationships.
All part of my attempt to erase the best night of my life from my memory.
A motion detector alert flashed on my phone, bringing me back to the present.
Beck was back.
I set my laptop on the coffee table and got to my feet. I smoothed out the skirt I’d kept on despite the change of plans.
Beck knocked on the door. I opened the door quickly, not bothering to greet him, before turning on my heel back to the living room.
“You have some nerve just dropping your daughter off.” I glanced over my shoulder to glare at him.
“It's not like I had a lot of options, trust me,” he grumbled.
