Page 76 of Love your Billionaire Boss

“Look, I don’t really care. I don’t need your excuses.”

“But—”

Cleo held up her hand and Kenny stopped talking. He bit his lip as if to stop the words from coming out. She glanced quickly at his mouth, but abruptly tore her gaze away. No. She would not let herself get swept up in him no matter how remorseful he seemed. She took a deep breath and looked down at her feet. Now was her chance to say thank you and be done.

“Look, I heard what you did. What happened with Kev,” she said softly.

“After you left the party so quickly, I kept trying to figure out why.”

“Oh, the party where you actively avoided me? I’m surprised you even noticed I was gone.”

He looked at her sadly. “I’m sorry. Okay?”

Cleo rolled her eyes and waited for him to continue.

“Well, I finally put it all together and Kev admitted it to me. I was so angry I couldn’t even think straight. I just saw red. And, well, you know the rest.”

“Thank you, but you didn’t have to do that.”

Kenny started to say something, but stopped. Instead, he stayed quiet and just looked sheepishly down at his hands. She saw that they were red and bruised, which made her stomach sick with concern, but she pushed it away. Anger replaced it. Here he was again not saying anything. She was growing tired of this. She was just tired in general.

Cleo stood slowly from the armchair and crossed her arms as she looked down at him on the couch. He looked so lost, but she reminded herself that it wasn’t her job to help find him.

“I think you should go.”

Kenny looked up at her with hurt in his eyes.

She hated to see him that way, so she looked away. “Please, just go. You people don’t get it.”

“Us people?”

“Yes! You, your boss, his wife. You just come in and out of my life as you please, even when I ask you not to. Well, I’m sick of it.” Cleo tried hard not to yell.

He looked up at her, his brow raised at her tone.

She ran her hands through her hair, trying to calm down. “I appreciate what you did. Okay? Now, can you please just go?” Her voice started to tremble.

Kenny gave her a single, slow nod and rose from the couch. He put his hands in his pockets and looked at her. This time, she didn’t look away, but she refused to let herself falter. After a silent moment, he took a step toward her. She wanted to take a step back, but remained steady where she was.

He reached his hand out and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. She flinched slightly and looked away, not because of him, but because of her memories of Kev. Kenny’s eyes looked like pools of sadness and anger as he quickly pulled his hand back in retreat. As if he understood.

“I’m sorry. I know I fucked up. You and me. Us. I’m sorry, Cleo.”

Cleo swallowed hard. This was all she had wanted, but it was too late now. It took everything in her to look up and into his big brown eyes.

“There was no us, Kenny. You got what you wanted from me. Why you chose me, I’ll never understand. We are from completely different worlds. Maybe I was just a funny little experiment to you. Whatever it was, I’m done. I’m done waiting for you.” She broke her gaze and turned away from him.

Chapter 28

Kenny

Kenny stood in silence in Cleo’s living room. He looked at her standing turned away from him, her shoulders slumped in defeat. As strong as she was being in putting him in his place, as she should, he could see how drained she was. He could see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice, and it was breaking him. What broke him most was how she had flinched at his touch. He knew better than to assume it was solely because of him. As much as he hated it, he knew it was because of what Kev did to her.

In this moment, this was not the girl he had met a few months ago. She was no longer the girl who served him drinks at the bar, with no interest in who he or his teammates were. She had just seen him for him. Everyone equal, as it should be. She was kind and shy, and not wary of anyone’s intentions. Now she was wary of everyone.

She was no longer the hopeful baker with dreams that seemed sky high to her because she didn’t give herself enough credit. She was humble in her work, even though everyone praised her. Now she was giving it all up.

She was no longer the girl who looked at him in that way. The way that made his insides feel like they were floating. The way that was unsure of herself and only made him want to prove just how worthy she was. Now she looked at him with hurt.

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