Under His Billionaire Roof novel Chapter 17

Leighton woke to the smell of coffee.

She was still in Noah's bed. Gray morning light filtered through the curtains. His arm was draped over her waist, heavy and warm.

For a moment, everything felt right. Perfect.

Then he stirred beside her.

His arm tensed. Withdrew. The mattress shifted as he sat up.

She turned to look at him. He had his back to her, feet on the floor. His shoulders were rigid. Tense.

"Noah?"

He didn't turn around. "You should go back to your room."

The words hit like ice water. She sat up, pulling the sheet around her. "What?"

"Before Chloe wakes up. You need to go."

"That's it? That's all you're going to say?"

He stood up. Grabbed his boxers from the floor and pulled them on. Still wouldn't look at her.

"This was a mistake."

The words knocked the air from her lungs. "What?"

"Last night. This. All of it." He ran a hand through his hair. "It was a mistake."

She stared at his back. At the muscles bunched with tension. At the way he held himself like he was bracing for impact.

"A mistake," she repeated. Her voice came out flat. Dead.

"Yes."

"Look at me when you say that."

He turned. Finally. His expression was cold. Closed off. Nothing like the man who'd held her last night. Who'd told her he'd wanted her for years.

"It was a mistake," he said again. Slower. Like she was stupid and needed it spelled out.

Anger flared hot in her chest. "Didn't feel like a mistake."

"Well, it was."

"Really? Because last night you said you couldn't regret me. That you'd wanted me for so long. That..."

"I shouldn't have said any of that."

"But you did. You said it. You meant it."

"I was caught up in the moment."

She flinched. "Caught up in the moment."

"Leighton..."

"Don't." She threw off the sheet and grabbed her clothes from the floor. Started pulling them on with shaking hands. "Don't you dare Leighton me right now."

"I'm trying to do the right thing here."

"The right thing?" She yanked her shirt over her head. "The right thing would have been not sleeping with me if you were just going to act like this in the morning."

"You're right. I shouldn't have let it go that far."

"Let it? You're the one who texted me to come to your room. You're the one who kissed me. You're the one who said you wanted me."

"I know. And I'm saying it was wrong."

She shoved her feet into her shorts. Faced him. "Why? Give me one good reason why last night was wrong."

"I'll give you four." His jaw was set. Hard. "One. Chloe. She's my sister. You're her best friend. She has one rule and we broke it."

"That's her problem, not ours."

"Two. My past. I'm not good at this. At relationships. At being what someone needs. I told you that."

"I'm not asking you to be anything except honest."

"Three. Your inexperience. You deserve someone who can give you the romance and the feelings and all the things you should have for your first real time."

"That's not your decision to make."

"And four." He moved closer. His eyes were dark. Intense. "The power dynamic. You're living in my house. I offered you a job. There's an imbalance here that makes this inappropriate."

She laughed. Sharp and bitter. "Inappropriate. That's the word you're going with?"

"Yes."

"So last night when you were inside me, was that inappropriate? When you told me I was beautiful, was that inappropriate? When you said you couldn't regret me, was that just more inappropriate behavior?"

He flinched. "Don't."

"Don't what? Don't remind you that you wanted this as much as I did? That you practically begged me to come to your room?"

"I made a mistake. I'm trying to fix it."

"By what? Pretending it didn't happen? By treating me like I'm some mistake you need to erase?"

"That's not what I'm doing."

"That's exactly what you're doing." She grabbed her phone from his nightstand. "You know what? Fine. You want to pretend last night meant nothing? Go ahead. But don't expect me to stand here and take your bullshit reasons for why we can't do this."

"They're not bullshit. They're legitimate concerns."

"No. They're excuses. Excuses because you're scared."

"I'm not scared."

"Yes, you are. You're terrified that maybe, just maybe, this could be something real. Something you can't control or walk away from. So you're sabotaging it before it even has a chance."

His hands clenched into fists at his sides. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't I? Because from where I'm standing, you're doing exactly what you said you wouldn't do. You're running."

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