บททั้งหมดของ TAMING THE BILLIONAIRE; My Brother's Best Friend : บทที่ 51 - บทที่ 60

Ethan's pov I woke up, and the first thing I was aware of wasn't the headache.It was warmth.Something heavy and constant against my back, an arm—firm, warm, alive—draped over my stomach.I blinked, half-asleep, struggling to comprehend the unfamiliar ceiling above me. It wasn't mine. Neither was the carpet beneath me. My brain cycled through possibilities like a crashing computer frantically booting up again—hotel? office? dream?—until it all fell into place at once.Aaron's penthouse.The project.The drinks.The kiss.I sat up too fast and regretted it immediately. Pain burned through my head like a sledgehammer. I groaned and collapsed back onto the floor, clutching my head. Something clattered beside me—a glass, maybe—and rolled across the floor.Aaron stirred behind me, saying something indistinguishable. His voice was still rough with sleep, low and threatening in the quiet morning light."Ethan?"Panic. "What time is it?" I groped for my phone like a blind man, scraping my h

Ethan's POVThe waiting room seemed to shut in on me with every ticking second. My heart was stuck somewhere between my throat and stomach, and deep breathing couldn't possibly ease the pressure. The board members sat in the conference room behind the thick glass doors, deciding the fate. The presentation had gone by so fast I could barely remember half of what I'd said other than the way Aaron's eyes locked onto me when I walked in. Cold. Controlled. Impassive.He had this power to make me feel seen and unseen simultaneously."Ethan Banks," a voice said. My head snapped up. Cheryl stood in the doorway, tablet held tight in her hand, her face tense. "Can you come in for a minute?"The second I stepped inside, the mood shifted. Amanda Sterling stood off to the side, smiling properly. She appeared to be already in on the secret and I wasn't. My heart rate accelerated."The results are in," Cheryl said without fuss. "Amanda wins first place."My stomach dropped. "Wait, what?" I tried to

Aaron's POVI could barely focus all day.Everything anyone ever said to me just sort of became white noise. The only thing I could tune in, was Ethan's voice earlier—the gentle, cruel snap in it when he said, "You needed proof after everything?"That face. God, that face.It was worse than anything I could have ever imagined. It was like giving a child candy, watching him smile, then you take it away before he even gets a taste of it.Had he unconsciously started to trust me again? Had he, in that heart of his, started believing that I was going to change—that I was worthy of forgiveness—and did I just fucking break that with my silence?I ran a hand through my hair, the nape of my neck aching with annoyance. I couldn't remember when my chest had felt so constricted. Ethan didn't say much to me for the remainder of the day—not that he had said much previously—but now there was this chill. This reserve. A kind of coldness. Not angry. Not loud. Just quiet. Distant.It scared the hell o

Aaron's PovI'd read through all my permissions on my table—twice. Maybe three times. I wasn't reading anymore; my eyes were just running over the words as my head spun. The paper in front of me could have been blank. Nothing was clicking.I knew better. For Christ's sake, I did know better. I just let myself get riled up over him again—fool that I was. Some tenderfoot who couldn't draw a damn line."Goddamn it," I muttered, swiveling back in my chair and rubbing my palms against my face.I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know why I did what I'd done.That kiss.That absurd, intoxicated, unforgettable kiss.I shouldn't have. I was wrong. All professionalism lines, all boundaries I had set for myself—it all disintegrated the moment his lips touched mine. The same manner in which it had happened six years earlier, in an elevator. The same goddamn way. I had been a sex-starved teenager to him, and I hated it. I hated that he could do this to me, the kind I'd promised that I would

Aaron's POVThe man stood up.That was mistake number one."Something wrong?" he asked, strained voice, fake calm. He was faking not giving a damn, but I saw the flicker of tension in his jaw, the way his fingers wrapped around the edge of the table. Riley, or whatever his last name is, was mistaken for being possessive. Charming.Ethan was already between us, one hand half-up like that and what was already burning inside me might be chilled. "Guys, stop, please. You're making a scene."Too late.Riley stared at me like I was some intruder. "You can't just slide up next to him like that, man. We were having a conversation."I released a small laugh—low, piercing. "A conversation? That's what you call it?"He scowled. "Yeah. A conversation. May I?" Oh, I minded.Every molecule in my body was vibrating, outraged, possessive. Who the devil did he think he was, speaking to me that way? As if I were interrupting a date, when the reality was—he was having lunch with my husband.Ethan was t