Page 101 of Lace 'em Up

I don’t know it all, and he doesn’t know everything about me either.

But…we have these slender threads of understanding connecting us now—cactus to Prickly Princess to Cactus Queen, runaway bride to safe spot to land, cocky bachelor hockey player to wounded nice guy with a heart of gold.

And brusque billionaire to…

Fairy godmother.

So, I send out another thread to the man holding me, knowing that it’s going to strengthen our connection, knowing I’m playing with fire.

But I give into it anyway.

And I tell him the story of knowing Chrissy in high school, but not being all that close even though I liked her a lot (because Jean-Michel is the aforementioned scary). I tell him of our reconnecting later and my chance meeting with her dad during a presentation I was putting on with my former employer.

“If you think that Jean-Michel is brusque, you should have met Donovan. He was—and still is—the biggest asshole I’ve ever had the displeasure of knowing.”

“Where does he work?”

I freeze at the deadly tone, and then roll toward him, hand resting on his chest, able to feel his heart beating steadily below. And, yup, I was right. He’s scowling, eyes threatening murder.

Inexplicably, that has my mouth tipping up, warmth blooming in my belly.

I’ve seen that look on his face before, and probably, a man committing acts of violence on my behalf shouldn’t give me the warm fuzzies, but it does. The furious expression on his face settles me. In fact, half-expecting him to demand Donovan’s last name, social security number, and contact information amuses me.

“Don’t worry,” I say, touching his cheek, losing my battle to contain the rest of my smile.

He scowls.

I go on, “Jean-Michel took care of him.”

King’s scowl fades and the fury in his body softens.

Though, not by that much.

I want to laugh.

But I don’t.

Because…this man who would come to my defense in a heartbeat thinks that he’s not good, not worthy.

It makes absolutely no sense.

And it’s why my new mission is to make him see how much value he brings to the world, to the lives of those around him.

To…me.

So, I tell him the story of Jean-Michel stepping in when Donovan decided to berate me in front of a boardroom of higher-ups. I tell him about Jean-Michel taking a look at my work and poaching me from Donovan’s company on the spot.

I tell him about how Donovan’s company went bankrupt—somehow, because obviously my fairy godmother couldn’t have possibly (cough) have caused it to go under by becoming a direct competitor instead of a collaborator.

And then I tell him more.

About Chrissy and my friendship, and him funding my first rescues. I tell him about the dinners at his place with Chrissy and I cackling and taking over the TV, and how he’d never liked Phillip but had still helped my ex get his current job. I tell him about Jean-Michel going to bat for me when I pushed for a change in marketing and how he never made it feel like I couldn’t talk to him, no matter the hour.

I tell him how all of that made me miss my dad.

And how much I loved that I could have someone like him in my life.

And how I also hated it…because it hurts to remember what I lost.

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