The Billionaire and the Runaway Bride by Nadia Lee

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Yuna

I don’t know how I’m walking so steadily toward Ivy and Tony’s mansion. Although I haven’t touched a drop of alcohol, I feel buzzed. My face and neck are too warm. Every so often, tingling sensations start from my crotch and streak outward, leaving my fingers and toes prickling.

Actually, I take that back. It is not just every so often. It’s every time I think about what happened between me and Declan at his house.

That kiss…

I put a hand over my still-throbbing mouth. What was I thinking when I kissed him? Such a stupid impulse! Argh. His lips looked so enticing, and I only wanted a taste.

Until it became more.

It’s some mad skill that a man can kiss you like you’re a fragile glass figurine, but also make it feel like super-dirty sex. The contrast was crazy hot, and I got lost in the moment.

I look down. Thank God my shoe fell off and interrupted things before we went too far.

Although… I wouldn’t have minded a longer kiss.

Oh, stop it!I tell myself as I walk into the brightly lit foyer. I ran like an idiot, and now what? I still don’t know why that was my first reaction when a sliver of logic entered my mind. But it was such an instinctive and natural response, like a rabbit dashing away from a fox.

Not that Declan is a predator. It’s just that…I behaved in a way that’s not normal. I don’t run. I face life. And Google things to throw at life when it’s not going the way I want.

My phone pings. A new text. My stomach does a weird backflip—and doesn’t land quite right. But it isn’t Declan.

Okay. My belly’s back to normal.

–Ivy: Wanna join me in the piano room when you get home? I’m bored and feeling blah, especially with Tony being out.

–Me: Of course!

I rush toward the room. With Tony away, it’s the perfect time to talk to Ivy about the kiss. If Declan says the NDA covers the kiss, I’m going to tell him to kiss my ass and talk to a lawyer. It’s gotta be illegal to not let a woman talk about a hot kiss with her friends. No female juror would ever find me guilty.

Ivy’s lying on a couch by her Bösendorfer Imperial concert grand piano, her phone on her chest, since her belly’s so big and rounded now. Her legs are dangling over the arm of the couch. Her feet are bare, her ankles swollen so badly I actually wince.

“Hey, girlfriend. Where’s Tony?” I ask. He should be here to rub her feet, even though that would mess up the girl talk.

“He’s at Z looking over some things. I told him he should go take care of his club before I pop the twins out, because I’m really going to need him then.”

“Good thinking.”

“Thank you. He disagreed,” Ivy says with a small pout.

I frown ferociously. “Doesn’t he know that all husbands must agree with their pregnant wives?”

“He missed the memo. But he probably doesn’t care that much. He knows he’s safe.” Ivy shifts and adjusts herself, so she can look at me better in comfort. “So. What’s up with your mouth?”

“What?” Feeling like a kid who got caught with donut jelly smeared all over her face, I put a hand over it, like that’s going to make Ivy forget what she saw.

Her eyes sparkle with a speculative gleam. “It looks slightly swollen. And you have a little mark on your bottom lip.”

Crap.Did Declan do that? My face is so hot. Like somebody doused it with lighter fluid and lit a match. But the rest of my body’s growing hot for reasons other than embarrassment. It’s the memory of the kiss. The way Declan’s gray eyes darkened, the way his mouth felt on mine. He has the kind of mouth that can make you forget everything.

“Are you dating someone behind my back?” Ivy asks, peering at me. “Trying to get a husband, so your family can’t ask you to marry one of the men they picked out?”

“Dating behind your back? Ha. How could I? You know I’ll spill everything the second I meet my destiny.”

She laughs. “That’s true. But I notice you aren’t denying the dating thing.”

“I’m not dating. I am really busy with work and stuff. It’s just…” I lean closer and lower my voice, even though we’re alone in the room. Ivy and I haven’t had this kind of talk in… Well, since our Curtis years. “I kissed Declan.”

Ivy inhales, her eyes widening. “Tell me everything! How did it happen? Was it good? Are you going to do it again?”

I laugh a little. “Slow down if you want answers.”

“I am all ears.” She makes a show of pressing her lips together and gives me a comically attentive look.

“Okay, so… We were just doing work stuff, you know, and he showed me some pictures of dogs.”

“That’s…really…” She frowns. “I mean, dogs? I thought you’d give him more of a challenge.”

I roll my eyes. “Please. You should know me better than that! I’m giving you a pass because you’re pregnant and probably just tired. Anyway, it’s not what you’re thinking. He sponsors a retirement center for seeing eye dogs that are too old to be in service anymore. So the center sends him updates and pictures. One happened to arrive today, and he showed it to me.”

“Aww…” Ivy sighs. “That’s super sweet. Sponsoring the dogs, I mean.”

“I know, right? It’s obvious he adores them. You can see it in his eyes.” And his demeanor. My heart feels like it’s full of gooey goodness.

There are men who brag about every good thing they do. Some guys even act like they should be praised for stuff like not hitting women. But not Declan. And it isn’t as if he hasn’t had a chance to let me know. He could’ve brought it up anytime.

Somehow the fact that he doesn’t want to publicize the good things he does to make the world a better place makes me like him more. And a man who loves dogs like that can’t possibly be the type to speak in a cold, detached manner about his wife’s car accident.

“So, was it good?” Ivy prompts me.

“Very.” I sigh dreamily as remembered pleasure runs through me. “The best.” Now I understand why my friends look so languidly happy when they talk about their husbands.

“And…?”

“Aaaand…then I sort of freaked out.” I can’t keep a secret from Ivy, not when it comes to something like this.

“How come?”

I try to think back on my reaction, because I still can’t quite pinpoint why. It wasn’t like I thought he’d force me into doing something I didn’t want. But…

“I think it was just kind of…shocking that we could have chemistry that hot.” Maybe talking will help me sort it out. “I’ve never had anything that amazing. I mean, like, ever. And then the next moment I was thinking, Holy shit, I’m kissing my boss, and I need to face him tomorrow!”

“And…?” Ivy says, giving me that I have no idea what the problem is look.

Faced with Ivy’s raised eyebrows, I can’t remember what the problem was either. What I felt was akin to fear, but…of what?

“It’s just…unprofessional.” My voice is low because even I know what I’m saying is ridiculous. Professionalism isn’t even on my list of concerns in life. And it isn’t like I’m going to continue working after the eight weeks are up.

She laughs. “Like Nate and Evie.”

I shake my head. “That’s different. Evie didn’t have her family pressuring her to get hitched.”

“It’s not different. And what does that have to do with professionalism?”

“Nothing. Ugh. I can’t think clearly right now.” I prop my chin in my hand and sigh. “If I’m going to have a relationship, I want something that can lead to more. Like marriage and a future, like what you and Tony have. Or Nate and Evie. As a matter of fact, what Court and Pascal, Edgar and Jo, and Kim and Wyatt all have.” I tick each couple off my fingers, then feel depressed that I’m the only one without somebody who loves me to pieces.

“Well… Maybe you can have that with Declan. He seems like a nice guy. Who, you know, also happens to be fantastically handsome and an amazing kisser.”

“I don’t know.” I sigh, hating how indecisive I feel. “I just wasn’t ready, you know? To be really vulnerable, I mean. When I look at you and Tony, you guys are totally defenseless against each other. It’s like that Star Trek show that Court and Pascal like so much. You’re like spaceships with no shields against each other. But when you’re together, you have this super shield against everyone else.” I make a circle with my hands. “Like this. With you two inside.”

“Couples do tend to be very open and vulnerable to each other,” Ivy says. “If they want to stay together, that is. It’s work.”

“It is, but do you know you’re supposed to be with a guy who loves you more than you love him?” It’s practically a mantra in K-romance novels.

Ivy looks at me like she doesn’t understand why anybody would want to do that.

I add, “Otherwise you’re going to have what my poor sister-in-law has.”

Ivy doesn’t probe. She knows my family can be complicated. “So you’re going to wait for him to lower his shields?”

“I…guess…?” There’s a huge amount of uncertainty running through me at the moment. “He has eight weeks to do it.”

“My God, Yuna, you have no clue what you want.” Ivy shifts to get more comfortable, putting a hand under her cheek. “What do you think is going to happen if you let yourself be open to…possibilities with Declan?”

I shrug helplessly. “I don’t know… Maybe my mom will try to pay him off…?”

Now Ivy’s staring at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Pay him off? To do what?”

“To leave me. She’s done it before,” I grumble, hugging myself. I usually laugh it off, because what else is there to do? But on very rare occasions—like now—it makes me depressed that men who claim to like me can be bought off to dump me instead.

Ivy’s jaw slackens. “She did?”

I nod, feeling slightly chilled. “And the guy took the money. It was humiliating.”

“That bastard.”

“No cussing!” I rush over and put my hands protectively over the baby bump. “The twins can hear you!”

“They can’t even say ‘mama’ yet. They don’t know what a bastard is.”

“That’s not the point! Babies feel everything the mother feels. Don’t you know you have to focus on…” I struggle for a word. “Okay, I can’t think of the word in English, but in Korea, we call it taegyo. When you’re pregnant, you’re only supposed to hear lovely things and think lovely thoughts, so that your babies can grow with love and goodness in your belly. Does that make sense?”

“Yes.” Ivy reaches over and squeezes my hand. “And I think it’s lovely that I’m angry on your behalf and want to kick the terrible human being’s as—um, butt. I wouldn’t want Katherine to meet some guy like that when she grows up, either.”

I sigh. I don’t think Ivy gets it, but then, most Westerners don’t seem to understand the importance of taegyo. My mom made sure Eugene’s wife heard nothing but soothing classical music and read wise words from old philosophers. Absolutely no news was allowed.

And Ivy doesn’t seem to sense my mood. “Back to the rat who took the money and left you. How come I never heard about that?”

I hesitate for a moment. I don’t want to bring back any bad memories for her, but I don’t want to lie about it, either. “It happened while we thought you were, you know…” The word I don’t say is dead.

“Oh,” Ivy says. That was nearly a decade of her life gone. And I’m sure it’s still disconcerting and infuriating to think about.

It’s absolutely fate that Tony found her again and they’re together when everything in their lives conspired to pull them apart.

I add, “And when you were back, you didn’t remember a lot of things, and it just…wasn’t something that came up. Or something I thought was important enough to share out of the blue.”

“I understand.” She sighs softly. “But why do you think Declan would take your mom’s money? It’s not like he needs it. Or does he?”

“Probably not,” I mumble. As far as I know, he doesn’t have a gambling problem or any outrageous spending habits.

“And the men you dated after that jerk didn’t all leave you for money, did they?”

I slump a little. “I didn’t really date seriously after that. It was pretty traumatic. And by the time I was old enough to be married off, I wasn’t going to meet up with some dossier bachelor.”

Maybe the incident meant more than I thought. I chalked it up to stuff that often happens in the chaebol circle. Okay, granted, it is more often done to women who aspire to wealth by marrying a rich guy, but still…

Since then, I’ve been looking for a guy who’ll never leave me. Who’ll always put me above everything and everyone else. Who my family can’t buy with their money and influence.

And I still haven’t found that guy.

“You’re probably right that I’m not open-minded enough about possibilities, but I just… I can’t let myself be that exposed. I don’t want to give a guy—any guy—the chance to hurt me like that again.” I can feel my shoulders droop.

“That’s a very human reaction. Like…” Ivy lowers her voice, like she’s about to confess to a crime when the statute of limitations hasn’t expired. “Tony taught me how to swim, and I know I’m not going to drown now. But when I see a large body of water, I still get that tightness in my chest.”

“Oh, sweetie.” As soon as I can access my funds again, I’m hiring ninjas to throw shuriken into Tony’s mom’s ass. She’s responsible for so many things that went wrong in Ivy and Tony’s lives, including Ivy’s fear of water. Sharp, pointy things in her ass is the least she deserves.

Ivy gives me a small smile. It’s a signal that she appreciates my reaction and that she’s okay…which still doesn’t do much to soothe my resentment toward Tony’s mom.

“I can’t prevent it from happening,” Ivy begins, “but as soon as I take a deep breath, it eases. So maybe you shouldn’t let your gut reaction stop you from exploring what could be something amazing. I’ve never seen you react this way with any guy before, not even Evgeny. And everybody adored him at Curtis.”

That’s true. He was the hottest violinist at the conservatory, and girls followed him around like flies. I liked him, but never felt any urge to be with him romantically, even though we went out a couple of times. “You think?”

“Yeah. It isn’t like you’re planning on making this job your career. You have your work at the Ivy Foundation. Plus you said it was only until your brother accepted that you’re serious about marrying who you want, not who your family wants.”

She’s right. I don’t have to take what happened today so seriously. And I can be maybe ten percent more open to things with Declan than I’ve been.

It’s like learning to play Chopin’s “Arpeggio” étude. Start slow, then increase the speed by ten percent each time until you can play it correctly at tempo. Why should a relationship be any different? “What would I do without you?”

“Same thing I’d do if you weren’t in my life.” She smiles. “You’re the best friend and sister anybody could hope for, and you’ve been my rock the moment we met. I’m on Team Yuna, and I suspect I’m not the only one.” She reaches over and squeezes my hand.

I squeeze back. “You’re the best.”