Page 65 of Secret Billionaire

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“Faye can you hand me that wrench over there in my toolbox?” Jesse asked, as she passed by him on her way to her office.

“Sure.” She squatted down next to Jesse, who was on his back working on the drain under the large utility sink. He was shirtless as usual, and his jean-clad legs were bent for leverage as he wrestled with the locknut. Faye had to catch her breath when his muscular abs flexed as he tried to loosen it.

She bit her lip, as her eyes wandered down from his navel, following the path of his soft hair until it disappeared into his pants. It was the temptation of Eve for sure, and she was ready to bite into that apple.

“Anything else?”

“Nope. Thanks.”

“I’ll be in my office, just holler if I can do anything.”

His whiskey eyes looked penetratingly into hers… like he was reading her mind. Her cheeks grew warm and he grinned. Dang it! He had read her mind. He was like a drug. She jumped up and hurried away before she jumped on top of him and gave in to her desires.

So far, she’d managed to keep a tight rein on her feelings for Jesse. But it was getting harder every day. Kyle had hired a PI but the search for Julian had yet to turn up anything. Nothing else had happened. Julian appeared to have dropped from the face of the earth, but Faye wasn’t entirely convinced. She had a hard time believing he would give up that easily.

Faye disappeared into her office and got busy working on her bookkeeping.

“Knock knock.”

Faye glanced up to see Jesse at the door. “Hey, you never have to knock, come on in,” she said softly.

He perched on the edge of her desk. “So how’s it going for you?”

“How’s what going?”

“Our arrangement.”

She looked down, “Good, how about for you?”

“Terrible! I’m not going to lie, it’s driving me crazy.”

“Jess, I just can’t go there right now.”

“Are you sure about that, because I see the way you look at me…and it seems like you’re as miserable as I am.”

“That may be true, but it doesn’t change the circumstances. I’m sorry.”

“Well at least you’re not denying it.”

“No.”

“Faye all I can think about is you…us. I miss you. I miss touching you, you touching me. I miss kissing you, smelling you, I miss listening to your stories.”

“Don’t you think I miss all that too? I do Jess. With all my heart, but I can’t bear to go down that road with you again. Not now, I’m way too vulnerable. I can’t make any promises right now.”

“You know how good it is between us. No, it’s more than good—it’s phenomenal. We can’t just let this slip away.”

“It won’t. If it’s meant to be it will be. I truly believe that.”

“How can I restore your faith in me?”

“Don’t you see? It’s my faith in myself that needs restored. Jess, you didn’t do anything anyone else wouldn’t have done. Your reaction was normal. I was a coward and I lied to the one I care the deepest about.”

“If you cared that deeply, you’d put an end to this separation.”

She wrapped her arms around herself. “Maybe, but I’ve got to clean up my past and stand on my own two feet before I can be ready to dive in with you. I didn’t tell you who I was because I was ashamed. I was desperate to be loved for who I was.”

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