Page 51 of Faking It with my Small Town Billionaire

She blushes and lowers her head with a smile. “No. You’re not.”

I didn’t think I was. I’ve seen her cheeks flush with excitement, I’ve noticed the soft gaze of her eyes, and I’m pretty certain I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the not one, but two kisses we’ve shared.

“When I was thinking earlier, my fears were that your feelings have only developed as a result of our circumstances, and—”

“That’s not true,” I cut across her.

She nods. “I kind of figured that out eventually. All the things you’ve done for me have far surpassed what you needed to do. Our business arrangement has definitely crossed some lines.” She smiles up at me.

I grin because that is true.

“I know things are kind of complicated, but I would really like us to start again. I mean, for real this time,” I say. “We’ve been so caught up in playing these parts that I haven’t really had the chance to get to know the real you.”

She looks at me with slight surprise. “You haven’t been shown anything else. The only pretense for me is the fact that we’re married.”

“You know what I mean, Lily.”

She nods, and then a beaming smile lights up her face at some thought that has clearly just run through her mind.

“What?”

“This is embarrassing,” she says, grinning even harder.

“Come on. It can’t be as bad as me wanting to join the circus.”

She giggles and shakes her head. “No. Not that bad.” But she hesitates again.

“Tell me. The suspense is killing me.”

“In high school, I had a massive crush on you.”

“Really?” I blurt, my eyes flying wide. I had no idea what she was going to say, but if I’d been made to guess, I would’ve been way off.

“Yep,” she says. “After school, I’d dream of what it might be like if we dated. I imagined what it might be like to kiss you, or hold your hand, or just be together.”

Ironically, my face is going as red as hers, and as the embarrassment mounts, I start laughing. Clearly, Lily’s feeling something similar, because she laughs along with me.

“Wow,” I say. “And me a little scrawny thing, too.”

“Oh, come on. You weren’t that scrawny,” she counters.

“Why did you never ask?”

“Ask you out?” she blurts. “Are you kidding? I could hardly look you in the eye.”

It’s the strangest experience when you look back and see things from a completely new perspective, and yet, with Lily’s disclosure, I can now remember the times she was kind to me through a different lens. Indeed, she always did seem a little coy or nervous. At the time, I just thought she was shy. How bizarre to learn she had liked me all those years ago.

“Then that’s settled,” I exclaim. “We have to give it a try now, just to fulfill your teenage fantasies.”

Lily goes bright red again, and I can’t help but chuckle.

“Oh, sure. That should be the only reason,” she giggles.

“All right then. I concede. I want to know what it feels like to kiss you, too.”

“Well, we’ve already ticked that box.”

I stop then and take hold of her hand. “Yes,” I say, “but this time, I want it to be for us.”

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