Twelve Nights with the Ruthless Billionaire: His Christmas Captive

Eleven

Lisa POV

Sleep was impossible.

I tossed and turned, staring at the shadows on the ceiling. The conversations from the day kept running through my head. Between the horror of Eliana taking her own life, the impending arrival of Omarion's mother, Benny's investigation, and my mother's health with her endless guilt trips, my mind refused to shut down.

I wrapped my plush robe over my nightgown and tied the sash around my waist. The robe kept the winter chill off my skin as I slipped out of my room and walked down the staircase.

The house was asleep, the lights dimmed, leaving the hallways lit by nightlights. I made my way toward the glass-enclosed indoor pool at the back of the West Wing.

The underwater lights cast ripples across the walls. I stepped onto the tiled apron surrounding the pool and paced along the water's edge. Cool air drifted through the glass panes. I hoped it would tire me enough to force sleep.

"Planning to freeze out here, Miss Bennett?"

The voice made me jump.

Omarion stood near the entrance, leaning against the doorframe with his hands in his trouser pockets. He raised both hands in a peaceful gesture.

"Sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to startle you. I wasn't expecting anyone to be up at this hour."

He stepped into the pool area, his eyes sweeping over me. "Couldn't sleep?"

"Something like that," I said, suddenly aware we were alone.

"Standing next to a freezing pool in the middle of the night isn't a cure for insomnia," Omarion said, amusement edging his voice. "It's an invitation for a fever."

I was caught off guard by the shift in his mood. It was dizzying how quickly he moved between extremes.

Before I'd asked him about his dead wife, he'd been intense and borderline flirty, watching me with those long stares. Then, after Patricia's lie, he'd turned cold and formal. Now, he was back to a softer version of himself.

"Come with me," Omarion said, motioning toward the corridor leading back to the main house. "A glass of milk does wonders."

The thought of being alone with him sent a pulse of electricity down my spine, especially with the memory of my dream from the night before.

"Thank you, Mr. Montgomery, but I should probably just go back upstairs," I said, trying to keep my distance.

Omarion didn't move from the doorway. "I insist."

He turned and headed down the hallway toward the kitchen, leaving me no real choice but to follow.

Omarion walked behind the stainless-steel island, poured a glass of milk, and placed it in the microwave to warm. I stood near the entrance, shifting my weight.

"Sit down," he said, gesturing toward the stools lined up along the island.

I walked over and sat on one, pulling my robe tighter around my knees. He took out the mug and set it on a marble coaster in front of me. He wasn't crowding me, but he was close enough for me to feel the heat from his body.

"I want to apologize again for leaving the estate yesterday afternoon," I said, looking down at the steam rising from the mug. "I wasn't out meeting a boyfriend, if that's what you thought. I'm not seeing anyone. I actually just got out of a long relationship."

Omarion rested his elbows on the counter, watching me. "Infidelity?"

I nodded.

"I caught him in bed with another man," I said flatly.

Omarion groaned. "That's messy."

I shrugged and took a sip of the warm milk.

"Did you know he was bisexual?"

"Nope. There were no signs at all. He was completely against anything unconventional. Anything beyond basic s*x was something he refused to discuss."

The memory of Tyler felt like a cruel joke. I'd chosen him because he seemed safe. He was decent, worked at a bank, and came from a responsible family.

I grew up on the opposite side of the tracks, a rough neighborhood where people rarely got out, where girls got pregnant young and guys ended up in prison or on drugs. I had no father, and my mother used her body to keep food on our table. My twin sister Linda had followed in Mom's footsteps, using wealthy men to fund her life until medical complications put her in an early grave. Benny had been sliding down the same slope before he got arrested.

I'd fought to break away from that cycle. I worked myself to the bone to earn my teaching degree and build a respectable life. But my mother used to laugh at me, telling me that seduction was coded into our genetics. I knew I had repressed desires, but I refused to turn my body into a business deal like my mother and sister had. I wanted intimacy tied to love and safety.

Tyler had seemed like the perfect solution, an anchor that kept me grounded and away from my family's chaotic history.

"Looking back on it now," I said aloud to Omarion, keeping my personal background locked inside my head, "I think he was probably more attracted to men than women the entire time we were together. I had to initiate almost every time."

Oh s**t.

"My apologies. I shouldn't be sharing that with my employer."

Omarion moved his stool closer.

"He was a coward. If a man has no desire for women, he has no business involving himself with one. And if he likes both, he should have the spine to be honest about it from the start."

I managed a rueful smile. "My best friend keeps reminding me that at least I walked away with a broken heart instead of an STD from his unfaithfulness."

Omarion didn't laugh. His gaze dropped to my lips before returning to my eyes. The silence between us turned charged, the kind that made my heart thud.

I managed to distract myself by chugging down my glass of milk.

"Him cheating on you sounds like a mental illness," Omarion said, his voice low.

I looked down at the milk in my glass, trying to regain my composure.

"Even the most beautiful women in the world get cheated on, Mr. Montgomery. There's no quality a woman can possess that will suddenly force a man to stay if he wants to leave."

"Don't shrink yourself like that, Lisa. And don't convince yourself that every man operates on the same weak wavelength as your ex. If I had a woman like you, breaking her heart would be the last thing on my mind. You hold every room you walk into without even trying."

A nervous laugh escaped me. His words pressed against my chest. "You're just flattering me."

"I don't flatter people," Omarion said. "I say what I mean. I'm holding back from saying what's actually on my mind right now."

Holy cow.

Those words made my toes curl.

The logical part of my brain warned me to step off the stool, thank him for the drink, and walk straight back to my room. That was boundary maintenance.

Instead, something else took over.

I needed to know if I was misreading the tension between us.