The Billionaire's Hidden Heir

#26 - His Kindness

Lily

It was bad enough I was doing the walk of shame, but doing it in the heat of the afternoon in my close-knit neighbourhood was downright mortifying and humiliating. Everyone would see it. Label me a tramp who couldn't keep her skirts down and jumped on the new neighbor. The said neighbour being my ex-husband and father to my son only made it worse. Everyone knew me as the sweet single mum they didn't have to worry would snatch their husband while they were not looking. At least I hoped that's how they saw me.

I could picture Courtney playing the victim and painting me in a light worse than she ever has. Homewrecker? Adulteress? Mistress? God, I sighed. Why did Adrian let me sleep in? Why did he bring me to his house, period?

"How hard can making one simple stop at my house and booting my drunk self from his car be?" I grumbled, squeezing the loud thumping in my temple. Hangovers were the worst. "Or better yet, why not have Benji or one of his trusted guards dump my wasted self at home?" Or maybe you shouldn't have gotten wasted in the first place, my mind shot back. It was a wonder it could do that with the worst kind of headache plaguing me. My mind was right though. I shouldn't have drunk. But having Adrian there, being aware of his intense gaze on me, had triggered a part of me I never even knew existed. I had simply let go, wanting to be free. The bar had faded and I was back in the forest I loved so much, dancing in the breeze, an image of a fascinated Adrian watching me. Only me. Stella had been wrong. I didn't want to make Adrian jealous; I wanted him to want me so much it hurt as much as it did me. And so I swayed, letting the music guide my movements like the wind caressing my curves, enchanting the only person whose touch I longed for on my body.

Ending up in his bed and spending hours there had not been part of that plan. I ignored all the burning questions floating in my head about how that had happened, my cheeks flaming at the memory of waking up in Adrian's bed dressed in what was undoubtedly his tee.

"Hi." I jolted at the sound of Adrian's deep rumble. He was here? I had woken to an empty house, or so I thought when I snuck out of the bedroom and was met with silence from every room. It seemed like the perfect chance for me to make my escape. That plan, though, went down the drain quickly when I spotted Margaret in their garden on my way out, and the option to use the front door revealed Marjorie doing some knitting on their porch.

Still standing in the kitchen, I peeked through the window at the garden and internally cursed when I spotted Margaret bent over a vegetable patch. I had no doubt Marjorie was still on their porch too. I couldn't help think this was a trap of some sort to catch me in the act. Why in God's name did they have to be twins?

I pivoted and decided to face Adrian instead. "Hi." I greeted, my breath hitching at the sight of him in the doorway. Shirtless! Was being naked going to be like his default setting whenever he was home? I quickly dragged my eyes back to his face, afraid they might linger too long and reveal just how much I liked what I saw. Although, holding gazes with those tempting green things staring back at me did not make my situation any better. "I'll be out of your hair soon," I blurted. "As soon as the coast is clear anyway." I sighed, looking away from him and focusing on Margaret. The Malone twin seemed as busy as ever, pulling out plants and whatnots.

I felt Adrian walk into the kitchen, and my body instantly tensed at the thought of being in the same space. "You should probably know that they are aware that you're here," he said.

I whirled on him and accused, "You told them?"

He stopped in his tracks, a slight frown on his face that morphed into an amused glance. "I get the feeling that Marjorie and Margaret just know everything." Adrian leaned on a counter, his hands gripping the countertop on either side of his hips. The movement drew my attention to his loose-fitting sweats and that tattoo. Seeing it up close, I realized it was a flower. Though, I couldn't tell what type as the bigger part of it was not visible. Nothing about it was bright either as everything was in dark ink. I wondered why.

I looked back up. "You are probably right, sorry." I offered a small smile, regret coating my words.

Adrian only stared at me, intensely. For a beat or two before he pushed off of the counter and walked over to the fridge and started pulling out stuff. "So what do you think of the house?" he asked out of the blues.

"I don't know what you mean." I answered, wondering where he was going with this knowing I didn't approve of the purchase. I did approve of him putting a shirt back on, however.

"Do you think it was worth it?"

I knew Beatrice's house like the back of my hand. It was so beautiful that I may have had some fantasies of living here while l walked it's floors on the countless visits I had made over the years. I wasn't about to tell Adrian any of that though. "Don't you think that's too late now? Besides, it's your house. It doesn't matter what I think." I folded my arms and that intense gaze fell on me again. What the hell was going on in his mind?

"Thanks for last night." I mumbled when the silence between us stretched to limits I couldn't bear. "My memories about it are a bit fuzzy, but I remember you standing up for me, so thanks for that." He nodded in acknowledgement and that was all. "Why didn't you drop me at my house, though?"

"Asher was there." Something flashed on his face—disapproval? Was he insinuating that I was a bad mother or a bad influence on our son after one drunken night? He must have read my thoughts because he added, "You needed to sleep it off. I didn't want the kid disturbing you."

Oh... I waved away the little fluttering in my stomach his words caused. Adrian didn't care.

The door bell rang, but before going to answer it, Adrian drew my attention to the counter. "I wasn't sure what you might be able to keep down after last night," he said, "so I made all these with a little bit of everything I could find."

I blinked at the sandwiches neatly arranged on a platter, my eyes stinging at the memory they stirred. A memory of me curled up in a blanket, nursing a cold with a young Adrian sitting beside me, a tray of different tiny bowls of soup he was begging me to try sat on his laps. "I'll be right back," he said when I looked back up at him, feeling overwhelmed.

"Okay," I watched him disappear out of the kitchen, a familiar ache making itself known in my chest at the thought that he didn't remember. I took the moment to calm myself, but it was useless for my little heart that remembered what else happened that day. I needed to get out of here.

"Thought you might need this too." Adrian walked back in with shopping bags before I could slip out of the door.

"What's that?" I eyed the bags warily.

"Clothes."

"I don't need them." I said looking down at my jeans and top I wore last night. They still looked fine to me.

"Maybe a change of clothes might get Marjorie and Margaret off your back," Adrian suggested. It wouldn't. Those two were too observant for their own good, but that he'd considered doing this for me eased a little of the ache in my chest.

"Thanks." I fished out a hoodie and put it on. Deciding it would do, I reached for one of the sandwiches and waved it at him. "Thanks for this too. I'll be going now." I didn't wait for his reply. Couldn't bear to see any more of his kindness that reminded me of things whose memory only scraped at my heart.