Free Tempted by the Billionaire: A Hometown Hero Series Novel by Clare Connelly

I stayed away a long time. Can’t say I gave her much say in the matter.”
    “It’s really not any of my business.” Willow’s fingers were tingling beneath his, but she didn’t move.
    He squeezed her hand. “It is, Willow. Because I’m hoping that you’ll agree to go on a date with me.” He frowned. His plans were so loose they were like spaghetti, but he heard himself speaking, and knew his suggestion was genuine. “That you’ll understand that I haven’t considered myself married in anything but name for a long time.”
    Her eyes flashed as they met his. “And your wife?”
    “Soon to be ex wife,” he corrected with a small smile. “Meghan isn’t a part of this picture.”
    Willow felt her stomach fill with butterflies. She stood, taking hold of her own hand to relieve the emptiness that flooded through her when she lost his touch. “It’s too complicated, Matt.” Her smile was tight, reminding him of the first time he’d met her. It was incredible, but she seemed to be erecting mental barriers before his very eyes. It was as though she was shrugging back into that cloak of coldness, and putting him at a distance to her. Incredible, and infuriating. “I’m sorry about your wife, but I’m not interested in distracting you, or whatever.” She moved away from him, back to the kitchen, without giving him another glance. Discarded on the bench, her coffee was still warm. She lifted it to her lips and drank it moodily.
    “I’m trying to explain that the way I feel about you has nothing to do with Meghan.” He said quietly, leaning against the kitchen door.
    Willow jumped. “God, you scared me half to death. I didn’t hear you come in here.”
    He nodded sardonically.
    He was so handsome. His looks were the kind that movie stars emulated but could never quite perfect. Rugged, outdoorsy, with an air of strength and fire. But his personal life was too messy. Too complicated. “I just don’t have any interest in getting in the middle of something like your marriage. Sorry.”
    He compressed his lips, trying to tamp down on his powerful sense of frustration. “And I’m telling you you’re not. That you won’t be. Meghan and I are completely over. From both sides, it’s done. Do you need to see divorce papers to grasp that?”
    She bit down on her lip. “No. It wouldn’t help.” She flashed him another tight, terse smile. “I think you should go now, Matt. I really don’t want Anna getting the wrong idea about us. Somehow I don’t think she’d approve of any of this.”
    He breathed out an angry sigh. “Can’t say I much care, right now.”
    “Maybe not, but I do. Ike and Anna have been really great to me.”
    “So? They’re nothing to do with how you and I feel.”
    Willow’s laugh was shaky. “How we feel? We hardly know each other! You’re on the rebound, Matt. You’re seeing romance ghosts that aren’t there. I’m just the girl next door to the place you’ve come to mend a broken heart. You need to wake up and realise that there’s nothing between us except the Berries’ fence.”
    “Damn it, Willow, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
    CHAPTER FIVE
    “Huh?” She had no clue what he was about to do. Until his lips touched hers, she couldn’t have guessed at his intention. But the second they connected, she groaned, as her whole body began to vibrate in time with a different beat. She had a fleeting sense that she was allowing something very, very stupid to happen, but it felt too good to resist.
    He kissed her hard, and he lifted a hand to her cheek to hold her head steady. His other arm he wrapped around her waist, to keep her body near his. Damn it, he wanted her.
    Willow lifted her arms, to wrap them around his neck. His body was warm and firm, and he smelled so impossibly good. In fact, everything about the kiss felt perfect. Like coming home, after a long, cold winter. She frowned as the analogy formed in her mind, but she didn’t pull away.
    If this were a scene