“I told you, it was love at first sight. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
She just stares at me trying to figure out if I’m a money-hungry scam artist or just an idiot. Unfortunately, it’s the latter.
The back door opens and Quinn comes into the kitchen with his father who’s talking about drill bits. Quinn’s face drops when he feels the tension hovering in the air. “What’s going on?”
“You’re abillionaire?” I ask, almost accusingly.
He steps back and puts his hands up. “I wasn’t aware that was a crime.”
“You could have told me!”
“Would it have made a difference in how you feel?”
“No… maybe… I don’t know.”
Willow is watching this whole interaction with interest. Mitch and Linda leave the room to give us some privacy, but Willow stays right where she is to watch this play out.
“You really didn’t know?” she says when she sees the range of emotions cycling through my face. I’m feeling all sorts of things—confusion, admiration, intimidation, disbelief, anger for some reason.
“No idea,” I say as I look at the cookie dough on the counter. “No one in my family has money, so the concept of having this much didn’t even occur to me. Billionaires are people in movies and on the news, not people you meet at the mall. What do you even do with a billion dollars? Is it in your chequing account?”
He laughs. “Not quite. And it’s six billion.”
“Six?” I grab onto the counter, feeling like I might faint.
“It’s okay,” Quinn says as he rubs my back. “It’s just money. It doesn’t change anything.”
I turn to him with watery eyes. “I’m not with you for that. I promise.”
His smile is so beautiful it makes me feel like I’m going to faint again. “I know.”
He kisses me and all those swirling emotions are replaced with euphoria. It doesn’t matter what’s in this man’s bank account, it’s what’s in his heart that I care about.
And what’s in his pants too if we’re being honest…
“I’m sorry,” Willow says, her face softening for the first time. “I was just being protective of my younger brother.”
“I understand. But I really didn’t know.”
“I believe you,” she says as Mitch and Linda return.
“Back to work,” Mitch says, pulling the trigger on his drill.
Quinn smiles warmly at me and then follows him out.
“I’ll help you with the dough,” Willow says, rolling her sleeves as she comes over. “Let’s put it in the fridge for a minute. It will make it easier to roll out.”
I take a breath of relief as the sister of the man I love helps me pick up the dough, wrap it in plastic wrap, and put it in the fridge. Her steely skeptical eyes have turned warm and she’s all smiles now.
I’m full of relief.
I don’t care about Quinn’s money. I just want his family to like me.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Jemma
“What do you think of this?” Willow asks as she comes out of her bathroom in a sexy black cocktail dress. She spins around, showing it off.