Romancing the Billionaire by Jessica Clare

sobs died down and his breathing calmed, and he returned to sleep.
    Violet stared down at the man she thought she knew.
    She didn’t know what to do. For a long, painful moment, she wanted to turn and run right out of his room, out of the hotel, and keep running all the way back to Detroit. Pick up her nice, safe, quiet little life again and forget all about the billionaire who’d used her and hung her out to dry. Running away was sometimes a lot easier than staying and facing things, and she was a big fan of running.
    But she didn’t leave. Instead, she reached over and brushed the curls off of Jonathan’s brow and then sighed when he didn’t wake up. Well, shit.
    She spotted his phone on the other nightstand and got up, heading for it. It was a smartphone, and she slid her thumb across the button, wondering if it was password coded. Nope. Her heart thumping, she went to his list of recent contacts. Several businesses scrolled past the screen, and then she found a name. Cade.
    Chewing on her lip, she considered it for a moment, and then dialed.
    It took a few rings before someone answered. Then, a man’s cheerful voice came on the line. “Hey man, what’s up?”
    â€œI— Is this Cade?” Violet tried to keep her voice calm. “Are you a friend of Jonathan’s?”
    The man’s tone immediately became more guarded. “Who’s this?”
    â€œMy name is Violet—”
    â€œOh, damn. Violet, huh?”
    She frowned. “Yes. Why?”
    â€œ
That
Violet?”
    â€œThat Violet what?” she snapped at him, growing irritated. What did this man think he knew?
    â€œFrom a long time ago? The one who broke his heart?”
    She felt her cheeks heating. “That’s personal.”
    â€œThat’s also not a no.” The man’s voice grew kind. “What can I do for you, Violet? And why are you calling me on Jon’s phone?”
    She glanced over at the man sleeping in the bed, his brow furrowed as if his dreams still tormented him. “I think I broke him again,” she whispered.
    â€”
    Cade agreed to head to New Mexico, but he couldn’t get away for another day. In the meantime, Jonathan woke up, surly and dark, and headed right back to the bar. The front desk called Violet again—as if she could stop him!—and through more cajoling of a drunk man, she managed to get him back to his room to sleep it off again.
    She didn’t know if she could keep doing this. It was too hard on her heart. Her mother had drank herself into a stupor so many times that Violet felt herself mentally distancing every time someone picked up a bottle. Now, Jonathan was doing the same thing, and it made Violet’s soul ache. Jonathan was being impossible and refused to listen to reason when she tried to talk to him. It was like he was trying to shut everything and everyone out, and the bottle was the only way he could do so.
    Which was why she was ridiculously relieved when she got a text from Cade on her phone. I’m here. Shall we meet?
    Violet raced down to the lobby. She hoped desperately that Cade would know what to do with Jonathan, because she was running out of ideas—and he was starting to get frustrated with her bribes of chaste forehead kisses.
    The man waiting in the lobby for her was dressed in an elegant gray suit and had to be just about the prettiest man Violet had ever seen. He was angelic looking, from his blond hair to his shining blue eyes and his perfectly tanned skin. Good lord. “Um, Cade?”
    He strolled forward, extending his hand. “Cade Archer.”
    She shook it, giving him a nervous smile. “Violet DeWitt.”
    â€œYou look just as Jonathan described you.”
    She blinked in surprise. “He described me to you?”
    â€œIn glowing terms,” Cade said, tucking her arm into the crook of his and leading her toward the hotel’s elevator. Then he gave her a wry grin.