Billionaire's Accidental Wife novel Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Dave sighed. Looking at Chelsea seemed like just a dream, and damn, she was even lovelier than he recalled. No longer the model sweetheart girl who’d been his sister’s best friend. No longer the little pretty girl next door who used to delight in racing through the male population of massive billboards, but a matured woman with a refined beauty that stirred everything male in him.

Not to mention his friend down there. What happened to them anyway? A year ago, after his sister’s wedding, he vanished into nothingness to avoid anyone tying Chelsea into his life just because he didn’t want to repeat what happened. He knew Alfonso wasn’t kidding when he told him that the woman he loved was under the bastard’s watch and anytime they could kidnap and hurt Chelsea in any way, he avoided her like the plague.

Memories of a night two years ago came to life in his mind in vivid, erotic detail. Her warm, naked skin against his. Her sweet, breathless cries as he tasted every virgin inch of her beautiful body. Her trusting, open-hearted gaze as he made love to her for the first-and only

-time.

How she must have hated him afterwards. Yes, he knew Chelsea wasn’t the commitment type of gal and she detested being in a relationship, but he hoped for something else, but fate intervened.

He’d despised himself enough for both of them. If he’d been in the least to blame for pushing Chelsea toward another man-especially one like Hermano-he would never forgive himself. And if he wanted to pretend he had forgotten her even for a moment during the past year, seeing her beside him now was as if all that time had simply evaporated.

He didn’t know what he was going to do with her now. She sure as fuck hadn’t been part of the equation when he’d set out on tonight’s mission, but seeing her again had changed everything. Once he had spotted her inside the mansion, nothing would have kept him from making sure she was safe.

Not even Chelsea herself could have stopped him. So much for a simple operation going according to plan. Dave forced his gaze away from her and put both hands back on the wheel. His eyes trained on the road, he buried the Ferrari’s accelerator and headed for the highway that would take them back to the nearest airport, back to London.

*****

Chelsea couldn’t wake from the sleep that cocooned her. Nor did she want to. Warm fingers stroked the side of her face as she slept, soothing her with a touch that was both sheltering and enticing. So strong. So infinitely gentle. Dave’s touch.

Wait, what?

Her senses knew it, even if her mind struggled to comprehend it. His caress felt like a dream, but it was real. As real as he was, seated close enough to her that his scent filled her lungs with each waking breath she drew. No, this was no dream. This was something deeper than sleep.

Her head felt heavy as if her mind were cushioned in cotton. Then she remembered. The shock

of seeing Dave inside his father’s mansion. Her dread at learning what he had come there to do. She remembered him insisting that she leave with him, go somewhere safe. When she refused, he reached up to touch her brow… He’d drugged her to sleep! How dare he!

Outrage speared through her. The sudden jolt of adrenaline and fury helped shake off the loose threads of the fading trance. She opened her eyes and found Dave glancing at her. His handsome face and solemn hazel eyes held her gaze in the dim light of the vehicle’s dashboard.

Beneath her, the low purr of an engine vibrated. “Are you okay?” he asked, drawing his hand away from her face now. She instantly missed the warmth, despite the alarm that was flooding her veins..

“What are you doing?” She dragged herself out of her slump in the soft leather seat. On the other side of the passenger window, the nighttime landscape was a blur. Jesus, Dave was driving like a bat out of hell. She swung an anxious look behind them. “Where’s Hermano?”

“Don’t worry about him. He was mine to deal with. And I did.”

Fresh horror swamped her. “You killed him?”

Dave looked at her, his expression was grim. “I hope so, but there wasn’t time to verify that.”

Oh, God. “Where are we going?”

A frown creased his brow. “I’m taking you to London, Chelsea. You’ll be safest at my command centre there. My comrades and I will make sure of that.”