Tempted by the Billionaire: A Hometown Hero Series Novel by Clare Connelly Read Free Book Online Page B

turned over and she softened the question with a slightly sarcastic addendum. “Must be lots of old beach shacks that could do with a spruce up...”
    His eyes scanned her face. His expression was unreadable. “Do you think?”
    Her breath caught in her throat. She was so transfixed, she didn’t notice his neat evasion of her question. Willow looked away, guiltily and nervously. The web of desire was spinning around them though, and Willow had a sense that she was falling through a crack in the space and time continuum. She nodded, but her mouth was rendered mute by an overwhelming sense of desire. She swallowed, her eyes dragging to his and clinging there.
    He made a sound of frustrated impatience and lifted a hand to her cheek. “I had no idea I would meet someone like you, when I came here.”
    Her lips flickered with a frown. “Someone like me?”
    He nodded, padding his thumb across her cheek.
    Her heart was hammering against her chest. Her whole body felt like it was sagging with the weight of expectation and hope. Her lips parted on a swell of feeling, as she leaned forward imperceptibly. He smelled like cinnamon, pine needles and soap. She inhaled his scent headily.
    “Yeah, someone like you.”
    Why did he sound angry? She frowned, but her sluggish brain was being deluged by little rivers of need and hunger. Nothing else was punctuating her consciousness beyond the fact that she desperately, achingly, wanted him to kiss her.
    “And what am I like?”
    His other hand was by his side. He lifted it now, to her hair. He ran it down the length of dark strands, his eyes mesmerised as he felt the soft silkiness. His voice was gravelly. “You are…” He closed his eyes. “Distracting.”
    Her heart ached. “Distracting?”
    He laughed, and lowered his face, so that his lips were just a breath from hers. “Damn right. Can’t think of anything else since I met you, it seems.”
    Her stomach flipped like she’d just crested over a hill in a speed car. Hadn’t it been the same for her?
    She straightened her posture, bringing her mouth so close to his they were almost touching. “Well?” She said boldly. “What are you going to do about it?”
    “You guys out here?” Anna’s voice broke through the moment, and Willow quickly stepped backwards, clearing her throat and turning to face the ocean. She knew it was an incredibly obvious gesture, but for some reason, she shied away from the idea of her best friend knowing that she was completely taken by Matt.
    “What happened? I thought we were eating? Seriously, Isaac’s going to polish off that whole plate if you don’t get in here.”
    Willow composed her features before turning around. “Sure thing, Anna. We just came out to look at the deck.”
    “Oh, yeah, it’s great, isn’t it?” She linked an arm through Matt’s in an easy, companionable manner. Jealousy, unmistakable and forceful, speared through Willow, as she moved to follow them back to the table. How could Anna be so comfortable with Mattias? As though he weren’t some kind of hunky God brought to life? Back in the dining room, Anna slid into her seat, beside Isaac, and Matt held a chair out for Willow. As she sunk into it, his hand curled around her shoulder. For the briefest of moments, but long enough to make her body tingle.
    What was happening between them? And what did she want to happen? She shifted out of his way, placing her elbows onto the table to put some space between them. He sat beside her though, and there was no escaping his presence. For he was big, and burly; strong and with the gravitational pull of a moon. She ground her teeth together and desperately tried to ignore the rush of need that was spreading through her body.
    “This looks amazing,” Anna said with a smile, using tongs to place some fried chicken first on her plate, and then on Isaac’s. She passed the tongs to Willow, and Willow dutifully pressed a wing onto her plate. But her appetite had diminished