Page 30 of The Billionaire's Cinderella

He grimaces. “I thought you understood. I’m a grown man with enough money not to give a fuck about what anyone thinks about my personal life.”

Oh, how I wish I could be reassured by this information.

“You’re exactly like my ex,” I say flatly. “On paper, anyway.”

“Maybe,” he says without missing a beat. “But you said that he’s a man-boy. I’m a man. Big difference.”

I blink then stare at him while his words sink in, flummoxed.

I know how to deal with judgment and condemnation. I’m fine with whispers behind my back, raised brows and pointed looks. I’ve encountered those all my life.

But I have absolutely no idea how to deal with Ryker Black’s absolute indifference to my past and acceptance of me exactly as I am.

“I know you’re too good to be true,” I say helplessly. “I’m not planning to fall in love with you. I’m smarter than that.”

He absorbs my self-protective speech in silence before giving me what I’d describe as a pitying half-smile. As though he knows something I don’t know. As though he’s so far ahead of me in this game of three-dimensional chess that it’s statistically impossible for me to ever catch up.

“I’m not planning to give you any choice, sunshine,” he says. “It’s quickly becoming my mission in life to get you to fall in love with me.”

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