Breaker's Point Bad Boy Billionaires Boxset (30 page)

S
itting
on the edge of the bed, Holly buried her face in her hands. Why did she keep pushing Riley away, every time he tried to get closer to her? Every time he tried to make amends she found herself rejecting him, and she couldn’t wrap her head around the reason why.

There was a low knock on the door and Holly pushed slowly to her feet and scrubbed her hands across her face. Reaching the door, she tugged it open. Riley stood in the hall, a determined look on his face.

“We need to talk…”

“Riley, I’m exhausted and I don’t want to fight, not now.”

He pushed past her into the room and began pacing across the carpet.

Holly sighed and shut the door. Crossing back over to the bed, she perched against the side of it, her eyes never leaving him as he continued to pace.

“I realise I owe you an explanation for what happened all those years ago.”

“You don’t owe me anything—we broke up, that’s all there is to it.”

Riley shook his head and stopped in front of her.

“You couldn’t be more wrong. Holly. I loved you, loved you more than anything or anyone else on this earth, but I was such a fool and I allowed myself to be persuaded to let you go.”

“Then you didn’t really love me.” Holly fought to keep her voice calm but the emotion within her swelled and choked her words with unshed tears.

Riley dropped to his knees in front of her, his hands cupping her face before Holly could turn away from him, forcing her to look down into his eyes.

“Holly, I wanted to marry you.”

“Then why didn’t you?” Her voice shook and the urge to run from him was overwhelming, but she’d waited so long to hear the truth, the reason behind the sudden end to their relationship, that she stayed put.

“I killed someone.”

Holly stared at Riley, her mind reeling as she tried take in what he was trying to tell her.

“You killed someone?” She repeated the words back to him, certain she’d somehow managed to misunderstand what he was trying to tell her.

“As far as my parents were concerned, I did, or at least that’s what they led me to believe at the time.”

Holly shook her head. “Riley, I don’t understand. What do you mean you killed someone?”

“You remember my sister, Alison? She moved away shortly after we broke up.”

Holly nodded and chewed her lip nervously. “Yeah, she went to college abroad, and liked it so much she stayed away.”

“Well, Alison’s boyfriend was bad news. They were always fighting and it didn’t matter how many times we told her to dump him, she wouldn’t. She loved him, no matter what he did. The weekend before we broke up, my parents threw their big political dinner party, their way of trying to get the support of all the big families in Breaker’s Point.”

“I remember. They didn’t invite my dad and he was furious…” Holly said, a single tear rolling down her cheek as her father’s face filled her mind.

“I found Alison stumbling around the garden, her dress torn, bloodied mouth, and she couldn’t stop crying… I could barely understand her and when I realised what she was trying to tell me, that Zach had raped her, I lost it. She told me he was still out in the pool house. He’d sent her to get him some more beers after it happened like he’d done nothing wrong.”

“Oh God, Riley, that’s terrible…” Holly’s gut twisted painfully, remembering the fear and panic that had flooded her body as she fought against Victor. The weight of him across her, pinning her beneath his bulk.

She squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to block the memory from her mind and it took her a few seconds to realise that Riley was still speaking.

“I went out after him, I went looking for Zach, and I knew that when I found him… If I could just wrap my hands around his throat, that I would choke the life out of him for what he’d done to her.”

Riley fell silent and Holly wished she could brush her fingers against the side of his face in an attempt to pull him back from whatever memory he’d lost himself in.

“What happened?”

“I found him in the pool house sitting on the couch. He had his back to me so I didn’t see it straight away… I called out to him and I thought he was just ignoring me but when I took a step forward and kicked the knife out into the middle of the floor, I knew there was something wrong.

“I picked the knife up. I wasn’t thinking straight, but as soon as I saw him, the blood down his chest, I knew what Alison had done and that’s when my mother came in. Of course the last thing she wanted was a scandal and she had no interest in listening to me. I was holding the knife, after all, and I didn’t push it. Alison had been through enough.”

“You covered for your sister…”

Riley nodded and dropped his gaze to the floor.

“I never talked about it with her, still haven’t, and a couple of weeks later my parents sent her packing to Paris. Told everyone it was for college, when really it was rehab after she tried to overdose.”

“I don’t understand what that has to do with our breakup? You didn’t kill anyone and…” Holly trailed off, uncertain of what the next words out of her mouth should be.

“I didn’t kill him, but only because Alison got there before me. If he’d been alive then I know I would have killed him for what he did to her.”

“Riley, it just doesn’t make any sense…”

He pushed up from his position on the floor and Holly watched as he ran his hands back through his hair, a nervous and frustrated gesture.

“My parents decided to cover it all up. The last thing they wanted getting out was a story like that. They told me I had to lay low, drop off the social scene, and marrying you would be far too much exposure—especially with my father’s plans of becoming a political candidate. Proposing to you was going to invite far too much interest and they were convinced the press would keep digging until they found out what had happened…”

“But you didn’t do it.”

Riley nodded and turned his face back to Holly, his eyes stormy with emotion.

“I didn’t kill him but if I told the truth, then everyone would have found out about Alison. I couldn’t betray her. All she’d done was defend herself, and I couldn’t let her down. I wasn’t there for her when she needed me, but I could keep her secret.”

Holly stood, her legs shaky beneath her.

“So you finished with me, leaving me in the dark, making me feel as though I’d done something wrong.”

“What was I supposed to do, Holly? If the story had gotten out it would have destroyed us both. I finished with you to protect you. It was my choice to keep Alison’s secret. I couldn’t knowingly drag you into the mess and risk your future.”

Holly laughed, a short unpleasant sound.

“You were concerned for my future? That turned out great, didn’t it?” Holly tried to swallow back the bitterness that tinged her voice.

If what he was telling her was the truth, and she had no reason to believe it wasn’t, then what had happened hadn’t been his fault. And the life she’d fallen into wasn’t his fault. It was unfair to hold him responsible for trying to do the right thing.

“Why are you telling me this now?” she said, her voice dropping to a whisper.

She studied him, his face a mixture of emotions, and Holly knew he’d struggled to keep the truth from her.

“You deserve the truth. I know I screwed up, missed my opportunity with you, but I wanted you to know that I loved you, that I still love you. My feelings never changed.”

Holly’s heart skipped in her chest and she closed her eyes. She’d waited such a long time to hear him say those words to her, to hear him tell her he loved her.

The feel of his hand against her face made her jump and as she looked up into his eyes she felt all the hurt and anger she’d held towards him over the years begin to chip away.

Life wouldn’t ever be the same. They weren’t the same naive kids they’d been all those years ago, but that didn’t mean they had to turn their backs on an opportunity to be happy.

“I still love you, Riley. I never stopped loving you even though you broke my heart. You were my one and only, still are…”

Riley’s expression changed and Holly watched the first flicker of hope fill his eyes.

He dipped his face towards hers and Holly felt herself melt against him as his lips brushed hers. His tongue sought entry to her mouth and Holly instantly gave in, his arms tightening around her as he drew her body against his hard, warm chest.

The kiss left Holly dizzy and she clutched at the front of his shirt. Her breath came in tiny gasps as her body responded to his touch.

Riley broke the kiss first, pressing his forehead against hers as he sucked in several deep breaths.

“You do terrible things to me, Holly. You make me want to forget that I’ve just brought you here from the hospital.”

She smiled, a slow curling of her lips as she wrapped her arms up around his neck and drew his face down towards her.

“It’d be very easy to just forget…”

Riley laughed, the sound rumbling low in his chest and causing Holly’s legs to tremble with anticipation. She remembered his laugh, remembered the throaty sound that spoke of his desire for her.

She closed her eyes as his hands splayed out across her back and slid down to cup her ass, jamming her body against his a little more firmly.

“As much as I’d love to conveniently forget, I’m not going to put you at risk by giving in to my more base desires…”

He groaned as Holly ground her body against his and his voice grew huskier.

“You heard the doctor, you need to rest.”

He was trying so hard to be a gentleman that Holly fought the urge to keep on teasing him. He was right, of course. Her head was beginning to hammer and his kiss had been enough to make her dizzy.

“Fine, I’ll lie down…”

She turned to the bed and stared down at the cream bedspread, her stomach knotting suddenly with fear as an image of Victor and his dead weight hitting the floor filled her head.

Riley started to release her but Holly clutched his arm, holding him next to her.

“Don’t leave me.” It was childish but she had a sudden need to keep him nearby.

The night before, she’d lain curled in the bathroom next to her room as Victor’s blood dried into the bed sheets. And although she wasn’t really back in that room, she couldn’t shake the feeling that if Riley left her alone she’d spend the night fighting off the feeling of Victor’s dead hands grabbing at her body.

“Holly, what is it?” Riley’s voice was filled with concern as he turned her back to face him and tilted her chin upwards so he could look down into her eyes.

“Nothing, I…” she stammered, her mind faltering as she struggled to think of something, anything she could tell him that wasn’t the truth.

“It’s just this is the first night I’ve felt safe.”

Holly watched Riley’s face closely, searching for any signs in his expression that would signal his disbelief in her statement but found none.

“I’ll stay with you,” he said, guiding her over to the bed.

Holly let him move her, the touch of his hands on her back a warm comforting presence that spoke of tenderness and love. She climbed onto the bed and sighed contentedly as Riley’s weight dipped the mattress next to her.

His arms circled her, drawing her back against his chest and Holly was happy to lie with him as the late afternoon shadows spread across the room and she gave in to the exhaustion that made her bones ache.

T
he room was completely
dark when Holly woke with a start. Riley’s breathing was steady and even next to her as she shifted softly.

“What’s wrong?” he whispered, his voice in the darkness making her jump.

“I thought you were asleep?”

“The doctor said you might have a concussion, so I wanted to keep an eye on you, ensure you were alright.”

Holly turned in his arms until she could see the outline of his face in the dark.

“You didn’t need to do that, I’m fine…”

“I know…”

Holly could hear the smile in his voice and she couldn’t help but reach out to him, her fingers brushing against his strong jaw.

Riley’s arms shifted and he caught her hand in his, drawing her fingers to his lips and he kissed the tip of each one in the dark.

“I never thought we’d be back here,” Holly said, her voice little more than a whisper as Riley slowly released her hand.

She wriggled closer to him, until her body was pressed as close to his as she could possibly get without climbing on top of him.

Riley’s mouth found hers, the kiss gentle as his lips brushed over hers. But it only left Holly wanting more and she bit down softly on Riley’s lip, drawing a growl from deep within his chest.

The sound reverberated through her body, raising the hairs across her arms and down her neck as his hands slid down over the swell of her hip.

Holly gasped as Riley dug his fingers in against the soft flesh of her ass, jerking her in against him as he deepened the kiss.

Her eyes fluttered shut as Riley’s mouth left hers and travelled down over her neck. The feel of his teeth as they nipped against her skin had her moaning and throwing her head back, exposing her neck to him completely.

Riley shifted on the bed, drawing her beneath him as he climbed over her, his face in complete shadow. But she could feel the intensity in his gaze, the desire in his eyes burning through her clothes, scorching along her skin, stealing the air from the room.

His hands slid up over her waist to the hem of the T-shirt she wore and Holly sighed happily as his hands found her bare skin.

Riley pushed the shirt up, drawing her up from the bed as he tugged it off over her head, leaving her completely exposed to his gaze. The bra she had begun the day in had been lost in the fray of the hospital and Holly quickly realised she was naked from the waist up as the air danced across her skin.

Holly whimpered as Riley leaned over her, his mouth finding her breasts in the dark. She bit down on her lip as his tongue laved over her nipple, sucking and nibbling against the sensitive bud, his mouth coaxing tiny gasps of pleasure from her.

Riley’s hand slid against the waistband of her jeans, the button popping easily as he pushed his hand down between her legs.