The Billionaire's Secret Read Online Free Page A

counter.
    He set his own bag down. “Let me look at you,” he said in a husky voice.
    When he held out his hands to her, she took them and simply gazed into his eyes. He’d worn a simple navy suit with a white shirt underneath. The combination was so sexy and so Paris.
    “You have the fashion here down to a T,” she told him.
    He chuckled. “I had lots of help, trust me. If you’d seen me before…”
    “Oh, do tell!” She wanted to know everything about him, everything from his past experiences to how he’d become the man he was today.
    “In a sec.” His gaze ran down her body, and she felt the heat in his eyes curl around her. “First, I need to tell you how ravishing you look.”
    “Ravishing? That seems a little thick.”
    “Don’t analyze my compliment.”
    He raised her hand to his lips again. Man, she could get used to that. Why had kissing a woman’s hand ever gone out of style? Someone needed to bring it back into fashion.
    “And you look ravishing too,” she said as he let her hand go. “Like you always do.” Her smile was as coy as she could make it.
    “I don’t think guys can be ravishing,” he said, taking out the vegetables, eggs, and cheese from the bag and putting them in the refrigerator. The baguette he set on the counter.
    She followed suit, squealing with delight when she saw the purple raspberries in her bag. “These are so awesome!”
    His smile was a mile long. “I thought you might like those. I’ll draw you a map so you can visit the best market to buy produce. It’s a bit more expensive than the Monoprix, but you can find special items there no one else carries.”
    “Like purple raspberries,” she said, clutching them to her heart. Then she dashed to the sink to wash them. “I have to try these.”
    “You’re going to ruin your dinner,” he chided, leaning against the kitchen counter after closing the refrigerator door.
    “I’m only going to have one,” she said and then popped it in her mouth. There was a lushness to the fruit and a floral taste that regular raspberries didn’t possess. “Okay, maybe not one. Thank you for getting these. For all of this. You’ll have to let me pay you.”
    His jaw locked. “No way. You’re in my town now. Anywhere we go together, I’ll pay. It’s not negotiable.”
    She set the raspberries aside, his stubbornness stealing some of her joy. “Don’t be silly. You’re—”
    “I’m not poor, Margie,” he said and kicked at the tile floor with his incredibly fashionable brown loafers. “I—I needed to get in touch with another part of myself in Dare Valley, and it suited me to spend my time there a little more…simply than usual.”
    “Kinda like the celibacy thing?” she asked.
    His lips twitched. “Leave it to you to remind me. Yes, it was kinda like that.”
    “So…you were essentially living like a monk in a communal home, working for barely an hourly wage.”
    This time his laugh was loud and deep, from his belly, and she found herself joining in.
    “My friend Chase called me Brother Evan.”
    His lakewater blue eyes were alight with warmth, and it gratified her to hear about his friend. In Dare Valley, he’d seemed so lonely. It was good to know there was someone looking out for him, someone in whom he could confide.
    “I hope Brother Evan is gone now,” she said in a husky voice.
    “Completely.” His stare curled her toes.
    “Then let’s put away these groceries so you can sweep me off for my first-ever kiss in Paris.” She grabbed the fabric of her dress and made a swishing motion like she imagined the belle of a ball would.
    “I thought we’d walk tonight,” he said, taking the rest of the groceries from her and putting them in the refrigerator. “Paris is the most beautiful city in the world to walk in.”
    She could feel the romance already. “I’d love that.”
    “And I plan to kiss you near the Pont Neuf,” he added in a husky tone. “It’s my favorite bridge in all of