Billionaire Boss by TS Layne

Author:TS Layne [Layne, TS]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781948526128
Publisher: Shady Layne Media

Chapter Thirteen

I’m not a ‘happy guy’ kind of laugher. Sure, I have a sense of humor, but it tends toward the dark, and I’m more often amused with sarcasm and irony. And I sure as fuck don’t laugh because I’m happy. I can’t even say I know what happiness feels like. The concept of happiness, of relaxing into a state of peace and contentment is as foreign to me as walking on Mars. So I’m surprised by the laughter that bubbles up from my belly at Roxi’s request for a do-over. And even more surprised by the lightness in my chest, the sensation of utter peace that’s descended upon me. The recognition of it makes my stomach do somersaults — like I’m standing at the edge of a high dive, or ready to jump out of a plane.

But as I roll to the side and she snuggles into my arm, resting her head on my chest, I push the fear away, because this feels so… good. “I like this,” she says with a happy sigh. She lifts her head, the corner of her mouth twitching. “Don’t get me wrong, I like the other stuff too, the naughty stuff, but this is… nice.”

Her eyes crinkle as she says it, and I can’t help but smile back at her. I nod my agreement. “We can be just as naughty in bed.”

“I’m counting on it,” she says with lift of her eyebrows.

Her enthusiasm is equal parts infectious and disconcerting. I trace a finger across her cheekbone. “You know what I admire most about you?”

“My hot bod?”

“Oh, I definitely admire that. But I admire your enthusiasm more. The way you jump into whatever’s at hand with both feet.”

Her gaze wavers and for a second her face crumples with something akin to grief. But I blink and it’s gone. “Thank you,” she says, voice dropping. I had a good teacher.”

“All I learned from the adults in my life was how to strike first and strike hard.”

Her gaze jerks to mine. “I can’t believe that. There’s too much good in you.”

I grunt my disagreement. “My great-grandfather was a notorious gangster who lived a double life. On the one hand, he was an upstanding citizen, with a wife and children and a big fancy house on Ward Parkway. On the other — he was a thug who would clip you at the knees, or worse, if you crossed him.”

“But that doesn’t mean that’s your destiny.”

“It’s hard to get away from.” A heavy sigh escapes me. How do I even begin to talk about the burden of carrying Tom’s name? “Kansas City… thinks of Tom as some kind of a modern-day Robin Hood who saved us from the Great Depression, who helped the immigrant and the orphan. Fuck, who built the city. But they don’t think about the cost — to his family, to the people who disagreed with him… how many innocent people were victimized while he built his empire?”

“But you’re doing your part to right those wrongs,” she says, laying her palm on my chest.

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