Breaking The Playboy's Rules (Wanted: A Billionaire, Book 2) Read online

  ‘Your mother has literacy issues.’

  Hearing him say it, knowing he had discovered it himself, gave Millie the freedom to nod her head. ‘My mother has serious dyslexia. She is functionally illiterate and innumerate.’

  ‘Right, well, it seems my concerns over her finances were well-founded.’ He released a long breath and added, ‘Look—I wish you’d given me the heads up on it. How does she feel about it? Is she comfortable talking about it?’

  Millie gave him a wry look. ‘If she was comfortable about it, I would have told you.’ She bit her lip and went on, ‘I’ve never told anyone about this before. She’s deeply ashamed and embarrassed, and I do everything I can to help her so she doesn’t have to feel bad about something she can’t help.’

  ‘That must have been tough on you growing up.’ His tone was disarmingly gentle, his expression full of empathy.

  Millie shrugged one shoulder. ‘I managed.’

  ‘Do you have any half-siblings?’

  ‘No, there’s just me.’

  ‘Hey. Look at me.’ His voice had a commanding edge, but it was tempered by a low, husky note that dismantled another piece of her emotional armour. She had told him the truth about her mother’s problem. Why not tell him how it impacted her? What had she got to lose?

  Millie inched her gaze back up to his. ‘I don’t expect you to understand. Most people have no idea what it’s like to have such a disability. They think she’s dumb, but she’s not. She’s got so much potential, but she can’t access it. The modern world isn’t set up for people with literacy and numeracy problems. It’s incredibly isolating for Mum and it’s largely why she’s in the financial mess she’s in. Everyone rips her off. She gets exploited by husbands, and even her housekeepers at times. I do everything I can to help her, but it’s not enough, not now my own business needs more and more of my time.’

  By saying it out loud for the first time to another adult, she suddenly realised how much of a burden she’d been carrying—alone. The weight of it was oppressive. It impacted every part of her life. She loved her mum. Would do anything for her mum. But her mum couldn’t always be a mum to her. Their places had switched a long time ago—Millie was the adult and her mother the child.

  ‘I know you probably think I can’t possibly understand but, believe me, I do,’ Hunter said. ‘I’ll do everything in my power to help your mother. People like her are particularly vulnerable to financial abuse.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Millie could barely get her voice to work.

  He reached across the table for her hand and, with only a moment’s hesitation, she slipped hers into the warm, strong cage of his. His eyes held hers in a lock that made something in her belly wobble. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. ‘It’s been a long day. Let’s get you home.’

  They didn’t speak much on the way back to Millie’s flat. She got the feeling he was mulling over what she had revealed to him. Every time she glanced at him, he was frowning in concentration. Perhaps he was planning his course of action for her mother’s divorce now he had this new information. Millie wished now that she had told him from the outset, but then what if he hadn’t offered to help her mother? She’d been walking a fine line with him anyway, given their blighted first date. She wasn’t used to being so open with someone. Even her two closest friends knew nothing about her mother’s problems. Why had she spilled all to Hunter Addison, of all people?

  You didn’t spill all. He worked it out for himself.

  That was all well and good, but what if his perpetual frown was because he was changing his mind about acting for her mother? Maybe he thought it was too difficult, given her mother’s disability. Too complicated and messy. Millie was already risking a lot financially—the divorce process could string out for months and months. How on earth could she ever afford to pay her mother’s legal bills?

  Hunter pulled up in a space in front of her flat and turned off the engine. He swivelled in his seat to look at Millie. ‘Given what you’ve told me tonight, I think—’

  ‘Don’t say it,’ Millie interjected, casting a cynical look in his direction before turning to face the front. ‘I get it, I really do.’

  ‘What did you think I was going to say?’ She could hear the frown in his voice.

  Millie glanced at him. ‘You think I should get another lawyer to act for my mother.’

  Hunter placed a gentle hand beneath her chin and turned her head to face him. He held her gaze for a pulsing moment. ‘And why would I want you to do that?’ The streetlight outside the car was reflected in his eyes, making them even more heart-stoppingly attractive.

  She ran the point of her tongue over her dry lips, her eyes drifting to his mouth. ‘Because...because...her situation is too difficult. And it’s going to cost a bomb to fix it—if it can be fixed, that is.’

  He bumped up her chin with one finger, meshing his gaze with hers. Something tumbled off a high shelf in her stomach and a whole flock of insects fluttered around her heart. ‘Something you need to know about me, sweetheart. I thrive on a challenge. The more difficult, the better.’ His voice contained a thread of steel, his gaze a glint of delight, his mouth a tempting curve. But somehow, right then, she didn’t think he was just talking about her mother’s situation.

  Millie couldn’t stop looking at his mouth, her gaze drawn to it with a magnetic force so powerful, it overruled her resolve to keep her distance. His evening shadow had thickened even in the couple of hours they had spent together.

  Spent together. The words were faintly shocking. She had spent the evening with a man she had only met a couple of times. A man she was fiercely attracted to in ways she had never been attracted to in anyone else before. Erotic, primal ways that pulsated in her body whenever she was with him.

  Hunter leaned closer, his head coming down as if in slow motion, his mouth so close to hers she could feel the soft waft of his breath against her lips. ‘I want to kiss you, but I’m not sure it’s worth the risk.’ His voice was both smooth and rough honey poured over gravel.

  ‘W-what do you think will happen?’ Millie was shocked at the sound of her own voice—whisper-soft, breathless with anticipatory excitement. Breathless with lust.

  He nudged one side of her mouth with his lips, just a gentle bump of flesh on flesh, and yet it created a storm of sensation. Tingles, fizzes, darts of need that travelled straight to her core. His lemony aftershave intoxicated her senses. She felt tipsy—no, flat-out drunk and out of control. ‘Well, let’s see... One—you might slap my face.’

  ‘I abhor violence of any type.’ Who was this person sitting in the car with him, almost kissing him? Acting coy and coquettish, as if she had written the handbook on flirting?

  ‘Two—you might kiss me back.’

  Millie double-blinked. ‘And th-that would be a problem?’

  He smiled against the side of her mouth and a wave of incendiary heat coursed through her body. The slight rasp of his stubble made every female hormone in her body throb with pleasure and she wondered what it would feel like against her more intimate flesh. ‘For me, yes.’

  ‘W-why?’ Her voice wobbled again, her senses reeling at his closeness, at his smell and touch and overwhelming maleness.

  His mouth hovered above hers once more, his warm breath mingling with hers. ‘I might not want to stop kissing you.’ He trailed his lips over her face to the highest point of her cheekbone, just below her left eye, her skin erupting in tingles of pleasure.

  ‘I—I’m sure you have much better self-control than that...’ Millie was surprised she could still get her voice to work, let alone string a reasonably cogent sentence together.

  He brushed his lips against her eyebrow and a shower of sensations shimmied down her spine. ‘It’s not my self-control I’m worried about.’ His tone was lightly teasing, so too the gleaming light in his eyes.

  Millie raised her eyebrows as t
hough she were auditioning for a role as an affronted spinster in a period drama. It was high time his monumental ego got a slap down. ‘What? You think I can’t resist you?’

  His lazy smile tilted even further. ‘There’s only one way to find out.’

  She hoisted her chin. ‘Is that a dare?’

  His eyes held hers, then dipped to her mouth. ‘Damn right it is.’

  Millie stared at his mouth with her heart thudding so loudly she was sure he would hear it. The desire to kiss him was so strong, so tempting, it overrode every reason why she shouldn’t feed his ego by proving him right.

  But then, what if she proved him wrong? What if she kissed him and didn’t respond at all? She could take her mind elsewhere, as she used to do sometimes with Julian.

  She met Hunter’s gaze with fortitude. ‘All right. One kiss, and I start it and I finish it. Okay?’

  Was that a glint of victory in his eyes or something else? Something much more dangerous to her self-control—raw, male desire. ‘Done deal.’

  Millie leaned closer, determined that only her lips would be in contact with his and no other part of his body. She placed her lips on his in a feather-soft touch before lifting off again. His drier lips clung to hers as she pulled away, as if calling her back, and she curled her hands into fists to stop herself pulling his head down to kiss him the way she really wanted to. The way her body was demanding she kiss him.

  ‘Is that the best you can do?’ He placed a fingertip on her lower lip, idly stroking it back and forth, back and forth, until every nerve was tingling. His tone was teasing, his look challenging, and her pulse went haywire.

  ‘We agreed on one kiss.’

  One of his hands slid up under her hair and cupped the back of her head, making her scalp prickle with delight. ‘That wasn’t a kiss according to my standards.’

  Millie could only imagine his standards. Sensual, scorching-hot, sexy. She knew she was drifting into dangerous territory by not pulling out of his hold but she couldn’t seem to get her self-control back on duty. The sensation of his large hand cupping the back of her head sent waves of pleasure through her body.

  ‘I’m not sure I’m ready for this...’ It was a coward’s way out, but she used it anyway. She was frightened of the passion he stirred in her. Passion she hadn’t experienced in her life before. Passion she wasn’t sure she could control if she allowed it off the leash even momentarily.

  Hunter picked up her left hand, his thumb slowly rolling over the diamond on her ring finger. ‘Because of your late fiancé?’

  Millie swallowed and looked down at their joined hands. ‘I’ve never kissed anyone but Julian...’

  He let go of her hand and inched up her chin, locking his gaze on hers. ‘You wouldn’t be betraying him, Millie. You have the right to move on with your life.’

  Millie half-lowered her lashes over her eyes, worried he would see the truth she was trying to hide. ‘Thank you for a nice evening. I’d better go in now.’ She made a move for the door, but he put a hand on her arm and turned her back to face him.

  ‘I want to see you again.’ It was a command rather than a request.

  ‘I guess you’ll see me at the next meeting in your office with my mother.’ Millie kept her tone cool and composed but inside she was trembling with excitement. Forbidden excitement she must and would control.

  He traced a fingertip around her mouth in a slow-motion movement that sent a shower of sparks through her tender flesh. ‘I didn’t tell you my number three.’

  Millie frowned in confusion. ‘Number three?’

  He gave a slanted smile. ‘My third risk-assessment reason for deciding whether or not to kiss you.’

  She glanced at his mouth before she could stop herself. ‘What is it?’

  He lightly tapped the end of her nose with his finger. ‘I’ll tell you when we next have dinner. I’ll pick you up on Friday night, same time.’

  ‘But what if I don’t want to have dinner with you?’ The truth was, she did want to have dinner with him again. He was the most intriguing and yet infuriating man she had ever met. Infuriatingly attractive.

  He cocked one sardonic eyebrow. ‘Then you’ll never know my third reason.’

  Millie gave him a quelling look. ‘You’re very smooth, aren’t you? Do you ever not get your way?’

  ‘Occasionally.’ He flashed her another smile and opened his door to get out of the car and walk her to the door, adding, ‘But it sure is fun when I meet a little resistance. Makes me all the more ruthlessly determined.’

  CHAPTER FIVE

  ZOEY, MILLIE’S OTHER FLATMATE, was curled up on the sofa watching a movie when Millie came in after Hunter had walked her to the door. He didn’t ask to come in, nor did she invite him, but she was seriously tempted. The only thing stopping her was seeing the light on, signalling her flatmate was home. Zoey clicked the pause button and got off the sofa. ‘How was your date with Hunter Addison? I hope it was an improvement on the last time.’

  Millie rolled her eyes. ‘It wasn’t a date. It was just dinner to discuss my mother’s divorce.’

  ‘Was your mother there too?’

  ‘No.’

  Zoey folded her arms and angled her right hip in an ‘I’m older and wiser than you’ pose. ‘Then it was a date. Did he kiss you?’

  Millie could feel her cheeks heating and turned away to the small kitchen to get a glass of water. ‘What makes you think that?’ She reached up for a glass and then took it to the sink to fill it from the tap.

  Zoey padded across the floor to join her. ‘Hello? You’re gorgeous and single, and he’s gorgeous and single, and you spent the evening together. And I took a peek out of the window and saw you practically sitting on his lap in his car.’

  Millie turned off the tap and faced her friend. ‘I was not!’

  Zoey’s eyes danced. ‘Look at you, getting all defensive. Did he kiss you? Go on, tell me.’

  Millie let out a long breath. ‘Actually, I kissed him. But only a little peck on the lips, nothing else.’

  Zoey’s eyes widened. ‘No way. Really? You made the first move? Good on you.’

  Millie took a sip of water and then put the glass down on the counter with a little thud. ‘He dared me to.’

  Zoey’s expression was a picture of intrigue. ‘Oh, really? Gosh, this is way better than that movie I was watching. Tell me everything.’

  Millie frowned and speared one of her hands through her hair and let out another sigh. ‘He’s the most infuriating men I’ve ever met. I can’t believe he got me to agree to another dinner date with him.’

  Zoey gave a tinkle of laughter. ‘You do look in the mirror occasionally, don’t you? No man worth his testosterone could resist asking you out. But I have to say, Hunter must be pretty damn good at the dating game if he got you to agree. Heaps of guys have been asking you for close on three years and you’ve always said no.’

  Millie bit down on her lower lip and picked at a chipped edge on the counter-top with one finger. ‘I’m not sure Hunter is the sort of man I should encourage.’

  ‘Why?’

  Her hand fell away from the counter-top. ‘He’s very...experienced.’

  ‘So? You don’t want to be in bed with someone who doesn’t know his way around a woman’s body. He might be just the thing you need to kick-start your dating life once more.’

  ‘But I never really had a dating life in the first place,’ Millie said, perching on one of the kitchen stools. ‘Jules and I kind of drifted together rather than dated. We were friends for years and then became lovers and, well, you know the rest.’

  Zoey came closer and touched Millie on the shoulder. ‘Hey, I know Jules getting sick like that really sucked. It was so unfair when you had your future together all planned. But he died while still loving you. You were by his bedside and holding his hand when he left this eart
h. It’s tragic but somehow special that he died feeling totally secure in your love.’

  But Millie hadn’t been in love with him. She had silently dreaded it as each day had drawn closer and closer to their wedding date. She had felt so trapped, so imprisoned by her inability to let Julian know she loved him as a friend, not as a life partner.

  And she was still imprisoned by her web of lies, unable to move on with her life, still trapped and feeling horribly claustrophobic.

  Millie couldn’t meet her friend’s gaze. ‘I know...’

  Zoey sighed and reached for a mug off a shelf above the counter. ‘At least most of your memories are good ones, I mean, before Jules got sick, that is. What do I have after Rupert did the dirty on me?’

  She put the mug down on the counter-top like she was slamming it down on her ex’s head, her expression so sour it could have curdled milk. Long-life milk. ‘What he did tainted every memory of our time together. I can’t even look at photos of us now without wondering how many other women he slept with behind my back. And, worse, how did I not know until I finally stumbled upon his latest squeeze in our bed? Urgh.’

  Millie grimaced in sympathy. ‘I can only imagine how devastated you must have felt. But not all men are like that. Maybe you’ll find someone who is loyal and fall madly in love with—’

  ‘Oh, no.’ Zoey waved her hands in front of her body in a criss-cross motion, in a no way is that ever going to happen gesture. ‘I am never going to fall in love again. It’s not worth the pain. From now on, I’m going to be head girl of the “single and loving it” club.’

  ‘And are you loving it? Being single, I mean?’

  Zoey gave her a hooded look and reached for a tea bag from a canister on the counter. ‘I’m working on it.’

  * * *

  Hunter drove home from Millie’s flat with a smile on his face. What was it about her that made him so energised? So turned on? If it had been one of his usual dates, he would have been in bed with her now. But nothing about Millie was run-of-the-mill. She was captivating, intriguing and so damn gorgeous, he wanted to break his three-date rule.