Read Rocked by the Billionaire: A Billionaire's Club Story for Free Online Page B

impress them into silence. Girls had especially found his musical abilities swoon-worthy. Kayleigh hadn’t cared about any of that, though. She’d been his friend long before he’d ever picked up a guitar. And after they’d started dating, she’d made it clear that she loved him for himself and not because of his talent. Luke stopped strumming and grabbed his pencil, rearranging the hook and changing the chord to A minor. “I can get a room at the hotel if you want.”
    “Mom would have my ass if you did,” Ryder remarked with a laugh. “Besides, I’m just giving you shit. I don’t suppose this sudden surge of inspiration has anything to do with where you went after dinner last night?”
    “Maybe.” Not that it would take an investigative genius to figure out where he’d gone, but he didn’t feel like discussing Kayleigh with Ryder—or anyone else—right now.
    “You know I’ve got your back, Luke, but …”
    Oh great
. After their dad had left, Ryder had taken up the role as head of the household. A position he’d taken seriously. You’d think he was decades older than Luke, not just a few years, with his father-knows-best attitude. “I don’t need a lecture, Ryder. My shit is straight.”
    “Is it?” Ryder pinned him with a knowing gaze. “Because if you ask me, your shit is as far from straight as it can get.”
    Why did he have to be so goddamned parental? “I know what I’m doing.”
    “You
think
you do. And that’s what I’m worried about.”
    Luke stopped mid-strum and covered the strings with his palm, creating an abrupt halt to the melody he’d been working on. “What in the hell is that supposed to mean?”
    “Is this meltdown you’re having worth hurting her again? Spencer Jackson was going to propose to her. Did you know that?”
    Spencer Jackson?
Seriously?
That was the douchebag Kayleigh had been seeing? The dude had two first names for Christ’s sake. Good riddance. “What does that have to do with me?”
    “According to the local gossip, she interrupted him right in the middle of it last night to tell him that you were back in town.”
    Despite his effort, Luke could do nothing to hide the self-satisfied smirk that crept onto his face. He began to strum again and shut his eyes, picturing Kayleigh, soft and willing in his arms, her breath mingling with his as he swallowed her impassioned cries.
    “Luke.”
    Aaannndd … there it was. The stern, you’d-better-listen-to-me voice that Ryder had perfected over the years. He stopped playing and looked at his brother, his jaw clamped down tight.
    “I get that you needed time away to get your head on straight. But I’m warning you, don’t drag her down with you.”
    “Duly noted.”
    Luke returned to his guitar in earnest, effectively blocking his brother out. Ryder let out a long sigh and closed the door, leaving Luke to his thoughts. He didn’t want to drag Kayleigh anywhere but right on top of his stiff cock. And hurting her was the last thing on his mind. He simply needed a little bit of clarity and for some damned reason, the only place he’d ever been able to find it was with her.
    Fucking Ryder.
    Guilt twisted Luke’s gut, rose in his throat like bile, and choked the air from his lungs. Had he really hurt Kayleigh’s chance at happiness by inserting himself back into her life? Sure, they had history, but if she could so easily cast Spencer Douche-Canoe Jackson to the curb, then she hadn’t been truly happy with the loser. Right?
    He penciled in a revision to the bridge and played it over again. Much better. Kayleigh could never have been happy with a guy like Spencer. The dude had no soul. She deserved to be with a man who understood her. Who recognized her dark moods and could pull her out of them. A guy who realized that her supposed scatterbrain wasn’t a result of flakiness, but rather a quick, clever mind that was always thinking one step ahead. What Kayleigh needed was a man like …
    Him.
    There were worse