Billionaire Best Friend [Complete]

26. Sutton

The villa was quiet without Gracie's energy. I tried time after time to get my head focused enough to read the email that was up on my screen. A briefing of what had all gone down back at home with business the past few days from my brothers. But I was having a shit go of it.

I didn't want to sit at this goddamn desk and try reading it a fourth time. I wanted to be out on the deck with the beautiful woman who had wormed her way deeper into my existence these past few days.

It was almost unnatural how much I wanted her. How much I looked forward to feeling her next to me when I opened my eyes in the morning. And how fast my blood traveled through my body the second I let my head, the both of them, wander.

I slammed my laptop shut and rose from my chair. I padded my way across the expansive living area and tucked my fingers into the handle of the sliding door. It whisked open and just like that, I was in the same space as her, though the air was tenser than I expected it to be.

"I don't know why we're having this conversation," said Gracie from a lounge chair over to the side. The sky had long since dimmed and an array of stars twinkled in the night. She was in her sleepwear, a matching turquoise silk set that showed me the exact location of her nipples.

I quietly stood by the door, unsure if I wanted to interrupt. I wasn't sure who was on the other side of that phone call. It could have been her mother, though Gracie wasn't usually so direct with her. It could have been Rosie, but I knew for a fact that she talked to her earlier in the day. That left one other person. The hair on my arms stood just thinking about saying his name.

"No," was what she said next. "I don't want to get into it again. I told you how I feel."

Seconds passed.

"You can give me all the space you want, Jason. It isn't going to change the fact that I'll never be able to trust you again." Another second. "How isn't that fair?" She sighed. It came out aggravated as she bent her knees and swiped her hand through her hair. "Listen, I can't do this right now. I'm not going to let you get in my head and ruin my trip. Yes. Fine. I'll let you know."

Her head fell back on the lounge chair as she ended the call and dropped the phone to her side.

"What the hell does he want?"

Startled, she gasped and took in my stance by the door. I moved out of the shadows and made myself sit on the lounger next to her when really, I would've loved to squeeze onto hers just to be closer.

Now wasn't the time to skate around the lines of our friendship. She was hurting. I could feel it from the door, and hell, maybe that's why I couldn't focus on my work. Because she needed me out here. With her.

"Jesus, Sutton. You scared me. How long have you been out here?"

"Long enough to know that wasn't your mom you were talking to."

She rested back again. "Oh, you missed that conversation by about three minutes."

"She ready to see you?"

"So she says but you know how she is once she's in the city. She'll complain about how inconvenient everything is."

We both knew how true that was, but her mom wasn't the one I was worried about. Not right now, anyway.

"What did Jason want?"

We looked up at the sky. So many tiny white dots sprinkled over the black backdrop. If I hadn't come out here in the midst of her conversation with Jason, I would've dared to call it romantic. My stomach was too twisted up to see it any other way than barren.