Page 65 of Faking It with my Billionaire Grump

“What are you doing?” Jake frowns as he walks past me.

“Well, I… I…”

“Would you just get over here,” he says, waving a hand toward the porch.

Ten minutes later, we’re sitting on the porch with coffee in hand. Jake’s looking over at me with an inquisitive expression.

“What?” I say.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

He doesn’t have to elaborate. I know what he means.

I shrug. “I didn’t want to put such a big decision at your feet. I figured, if you wanted me to stay, you’d tell me.”

“Didn’t it occur to you—after what you told me about you worrying that I’d convince you to stay the first time—that the same thought might be in my mind?”

My eyes widen, and I can only look at him as I realize that what he’s saying makes total sense. But that thought hadn’t occurred to me at all. I just figured, if he wanted me to stay, he’d say so. What a fool I am.

“No.” I shake my head. “I didn’t think about that at all.”

He gazes at me, shaking his head with a half-smile. “It was the only reason I didn’t say anything, Tilly.” He reaches his hand across the table and takes hold of mine. “You have no idea how confused I was yesterday when you came and told me you were leaving. I thought things were going well between us.”

“As did I,” I reply, feeling a tingling sensation run up my arm as he brushes his thumb over my knuckles. “I suppose I was too scared to tell you how I felt. The very idea that you might not feel the same terrified me to death. I couldn’t bear to think about it.”

He looks me directly in the eye and says, “I love you, Tilly Collins. Deep down, I don’t think I ever stopped.”

My breath catches in my throat, and my mouth falls open.

Jake smiles. And then I remember the wedding rings.

“Joey told me about the rings.”

Jake’s eyebrows shoot up. “Oh, did he now?”

“He didn’t mean to. It just slipped out.”

“That man can’t hold his own water.”

I smile. “I think it’s sweet. I wish I’d have known back then.”

“Would you have stayed?” Jake asks, watching me closely.

I can’t lie to him. I don’t want us to start off like that, so I shake my head. “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

He nods. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being honest,” he says, “and not telling me what you think I want to hear.”

And then he shakes his head. “I’ve been a fool, Tilly, and I’m sorry. The idea of losing you again scared the heck out of me. Maybe that’s why I kept my mouth shut. But I should have just told you what I felt and let the chips fall where they may.”

“You’re not a fool, Jake. We both handled this badly. I was too scared to admit how I feel, too.”

He gazes at me and says, “And how do you feel?”

I can see him holding his breath, but he must know by now.

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