Page 43 of Faking It with my Small Town Billionaire

With the presentation over, music starts, and people take to the dance floor. I’m about to excuse myself when an older man approaches us.

“Here we go,” Orson murmurs.

He stands, pulling me up to stand beside him, before slipping his arm around my waist and drawing me closer.

“Hello, Pops,” he says.

“Orson.” His grandfather returns a short greeting and then looks at me. “And this must be your beautiful new bride,” he says, smiling widely.

“Lily, I would like to introduce my grandfather, Mr. Arthur Donovan. Pops, this is Lily.”

I put my hand out to shake his. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. Donovan,” I say.

“Oh.” He smiles warmly. “Call me Arthur, please.” He takes my hand and bends to kiss it. “After all, you are family now.”

“Yes,” I say with more confidence than I feel. “Of course.”

“I wonder if I might have this dance,” Arthur says with the same smile.

“Um, I…” I glance at Orson, who nods almost imperceptibly, and then I look back to Arthur and agree.

Once on the dancefloor, Arthur tells me how beautiful I look and how he’s delighted that Orson and I made it tonight. He seems far sweeter than Orson has made him out to be, and I can’t help but feel a little conflicted.

“That was quite a whirlwind wedding,” he says, still smiling warmly.

“Well, Orson and I have known each other since school. But yes, I suppose it was rather quick by normal people’s standards.”

“Hmm,” he replies, making my nerves spike even further. “Do you know why I sent Orson back to Willow Creek?”

I’m a little shocked, but I swallow my reaction. Orson gave the impression that his return was his choice, which I always doubted, but I don’t have time to think about that now.

“No,” I reply, going along with it.

“He ran away when he was a child. Orson is a good man, but we do not tolerate cowards in the Donovan family.”

So Arthur sent Orson back to face his demons. How cruel. The old man was just as bad as Orson’s parents who left him at Willow Creek High to suffer.

“I have to disagree,” I say defiantly. “Orson was not a coward back then, and he certainly isn’t one now. He’s been forced to face all those people who made his life miserable throughout his school years, which I can assure you has not been easy for him.”

Arthur looks surprised at my reply, but I don’t care. What a horrible thing to do to your own grandson.

“You’re very protective of him, Lily.”

“Of course I am. He’s my husband.”

Weirdly enough, I don’t feel strange saying those words. I didn’t even have to think about them. They just spilled out.

17

Orson

I can’t help but watch her dance. Yes, there is a part of me that is wondering about the conversation they’re having, but honestly, it’s more the fact that I can’t keep my eyes off her.

When Lily walked into the living area earlier, every single cell of my body sparked, and a strange sensation hit me in the chest. I tried to be as courteous as I could, but telling her she looked beautiful was probably the understatement of the year. It took everything I had not to stride across the room and kiss her.

The dance comes to an end, and I can see Pops and Lily heading back toward me. Pops looks contemplative, but Lily looks peeved. I can feel anger rising.

What did he say to her?

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