Page 64 of Faking It with my Small Town Billionaire

“He,” he says pointedly, “is a buddy from university.”

My jaw drops as I gawk at him.

Orson full-on grins at me then. “Charlie Wells and I met up for dinner when your Mom was in the hospital. He was back in the city for some business. We don’t see each other very often. It’s an old joke. He started sending me texts and emails with his trademark ‘sloppy kiss’ remark years ago.”

“Oh, good Lord,” I breathe, feeling even more idiotic.

“That’s exactly what I say every time I see his emails,” Orson quips.

I can’t help but giggle at his comment.

He grins at me again. “It’s so good to hear your laugh again, Lily.”

My giggle fades and I gaze at him. “I’m sorry. Truly, I am.”

“I don’t care about any of that. I’m only here to ask if you’ll come back.”

25

Orson

It has been four blissfully happy weeks since I went to Lily’s lakeside cabin, and as we arrive at the family estate, I can see her nerves creeping in. I reach out and take hold of her hand.

“They’re just people, Lily. Besides, Mom and Dad are going to love you as much as I do.”

“How do you know?” she breathes, squeezing my hand like her life depends on it.

“Because you’re amazing,” I say simply.

That night at the cabin, we talked until the small hours of the morning. At some point, Lily went inside and brought out a big heavy blanket, which we both snuggled under. Neither of us wanted to go inside. The beautiful night sky was just too mesmerizing, and the soft lapping of the lake against the small pier made everything feel so serene.

In fact, we got a little merry on a second bottle of wine. I thought of Jake’s words about how a woman likes to know where she stands, and taking Lily’s hands in mine, I looked directly at her and said, “I love you, Lily. I don’t know when I started loving you, but I know I do.”

“Me too,” she gasped.

Her words caught me off guard. After everything that had happened, I imagined I would have to wait a while before I heard those words.

“Really? That’s not the wine talking?”

“I could ask the same of you,” she countered.

“I assure you, I don’t need alcohol to know what I feel.”

She nodded and smiled. “And nor do I. I mean, I have been crushing on you since high school. It can’t really come as that much of a surprise.”

I laughed at her then.

We also came to the joint decision that we were going to tell those closest to us that we’d lied to them about the fake marriage. I confessed that I had told Jake and relayed his reaction.

“He was pretty upset,” I said. “I can only imagine how Ellie or Martha might react.”

“They’ll get over it,” she said flippantly, which sent us both into fits of laughter.

Since meeting Lily, I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in my life. In fact, I know I haven’t. Our lives are never going to be boring; that’s for sure.

“But we’ll have to wait until we go to my birthday dinner.”

Lily looked confused, which was understandable given that I hadn’t had the chance to tell her about it, but when I did, she agreed. My grandfather could still pull this deal off the table, and neither of us wanted that.

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