It was just one night – but Ellie’s steamy reunion with a bad boy billionaire from her past has a shocking consequence!
An Enemy Tycoons novella
Read all the Enemy Tycoons stories:
#0.5: Expecting the Billionaire’s Heir by Heidi Rice
#1: Enemies Until After Hours by Natalie Anderson
‘Ellie, you need to clock off! We have a surprise for you at the pub. A big, delicious surprise.’
Ellie Sullivan peered over the mountain of invoices she was trying to wrestle into some semblance of order. She sent a weary smile to Joss and Becca, Westwick Hall’s cleaners, who she’d dragooned to help spring clean the Hall before her boss, Tali, and her new husband, Dario Lorenti, Westwick’s billionaire owner, flew in from Italy tomorrow for a flying visit.
She’d been working her socks off for weeks, because being asked to act up as Westwick Hall’s estate manager—while Tali pursued her fairy tale romance with Lorenti—was her chance to prove she deserved Tali’s faith in her. Unfortunately, though, when Tali had mentioned in their daily video call catch-up that morning from Capri she was coming back in the middle of her honeymoon—and Mr Lorenti would be accompanying her—Ellie had gone into full-on panic mode. All the insecurities she’d kept under wraps, ever since she’d been the kid nobody wanted to keep, resurfacing to torpedo her confidence.
What if everything wasn’t perfect?
She glanced at the Everest of invoices again. ‘I really can’t…’
But then Joss and Becca marched over and grabbed her arms.
‘No way, Ellie, you deserve a break,’ Becca announced.
‘And we’ve got a surprise, remember,’ Joss added. ‘He’s waiting at the pub.’
‘H-he?’ Ellie was so shocked she allowed herself to be lifted out of her chair.
‘Yes, he—who is not only super fit, but said he knew you from way back,’ Joss continued.
‘Wait!’ Ellie jerked out of their hold. ‘Did he give you a name?’
‘He said you knew him as Baz…’ Becca offered.
The name ricochetted in Ellie’s head and reverberated in her heart, as heat flushed through her body—followed by the vicious wave of guilt.
Baz.
The brooding sixteen-year-old bad boy who everyone had idolised at the Summerville Group Home. Especially her, because she’d been thirteen and terrified and trying not to show it when her dad had kicked her into the system after her mum’s death.
‘What you crying about? So your dad didn’t want you. So what? People have kids all the time they don’t want. That’s why I’m never having kids. You’re better off alone. But you’ve got yourself, haven’t you? And now you’ve got me, too. I’ll look out for you.’
She could still remember Baz’s words to her the day she’d been dumped at Summerville, when he’d heard her hiding in a cupboard, crying. She’d been convinced he’d laugh at her, then tell the other kids what a sissy she was, but he hadn’t. He’d looked out for her, just like he’d said he would.
Baz had been her first ever crush… Not just because he was so hot, but because they’d formed a bond that day. He’d been her friend. He’d made her feel safe and seen. And then, in a misguided attempt to look out for him too, she’d ended up destroying his life…
Joss laughed. ‘Seriously? A hot guy asks after you, and you look as if you’ve seen a ghost.’
Becca wiggled her eyebrows mischievously. ‘You definitely need to get out more.’
Ellie nodded, the strange mixture of guilt and regret and tension and anticipation at the thought of seeing Baz again making her belly knot.
There could only be one reason he had tracked her down after all this time. He wanted payback, because she’d told the social worker—who’d told the police—he was being forced to rob a pharmacy by a local drug gang…
But didn’t she owe it to him to face up to what she’d done…? Because she’d almost got him killed, not to mention arrested. And she’d never seen him again since that terrible night.
‘Fine, give me half an hour to change,’ she murmured. ‘I’m coming.’
Boss’s Bride Price