Page 34 of The Millionaire's Mechanic

She tried averting her eyes, but there was nowhere to hide.

Rainer cupped her cheek. “I want to know everything about you. But if I’m overstepping my bounds, you tell me.”

“I don’t want to know about your girlfriends,” she decided, not hiding the mulish twist of her lips.

He grinned suddenly. “Not what I would call most. I’ve only had one or two relationships of note. One in high school and the other in college.

“The high school one ended in the usual way,” he continued. “Lots of drama. Got things thrown at my head. The college break-up was calmer in its way. Gut-wrenching, but calmer.”

Her curiosity piqued, she couldn’t help but ask. “How so?”

He lifted a shoulder. “We were very much in love. She was beautiful, free-spirited, and a little wild.”

Georgia instantly hated her.

“She was also bisexual.”

Startled, she blinked. “Really?”

“Yeah. I knew beforehand. That we both liked women didn’t bother me.” He chuckled softly, probably at Georgia’s shocked expression. “We dated for a long while. Well, eight months, which felt like close to twenty years while in college. But she wasn’t happy in a monogamous relationship. She wanted to open it up, explore polyamory. I knew that lifestyle wasn’t for me, so we broke up.”

After the following silence turned to expectation, Georgia blurted out, “I’ve only had one lover…but he died.”

Rainer slid a soothing hand down her back. “I’m sorry, George—I mean, Georgia.”

She cuddled closer. “You can call me George. Ephraim and Diamond always did. Most of my girlfriends do, too.”

“Did your lover?”

“Not really. But you can use it if you feel like it.”

Because it sounded different coming from his mouth. And it was what the people she felt closest to called her.

His lips skated over her forehead. “Thank you,” he said. “And I’m sorry about your boyfriend.”

“It was a complicated relationship.”

“I get that. But to lose him and your foster brother—”

When she jerked violently at his comment, she felt him freeze. Knowing she’d given herself away, she averted her gaze.

“Georgia?” Rainer tipped her chin up.

Accurately reading the dismay in her expression, his lips parted in surprise when she didn’t deny it. “Oh.”

CHAPTERSIXTEEN

Several hours passed as he held her, stroking her skin and murmuring assurances that she didn’t have to tell him a damn thing. But it was clear he was dying to ask.

Georgia knew Rainer had secrets, too, ones he held onto tightly. She didn’t know if he would ever confide in her, because trust like that needed a base in which to grow. So, she decided to tell him about her past, hoping her trust might be the first step to building that foundation. Even if he never shared in return, it didn’t matter. Georgia realized she needed him to know her.

So late into the night, under a cover of darkness, she shared her secrets, starting at the beginning. “Mack never saw me as a sister, you know. He was in and out of the house too often to feel like we were his real family. His birth mother wanted him, you see—but she had a lot of problems. When those got bad, the state would step in. She’d lose custody, and they’d take him away from her.”

Rainer never stopped touching her, but it was easier to face away from him while she talked. It didn’t stop Rainer from wrapping himself around her, a six-foot-plus blanket of comfort. “But youdidsee him as a brother,” he said.

“I shouldn’t have,” she admitted. “He went to great pains to make sure we knew that he didn’t consider Diamond, Ephraim, or me family.”

His hand tightened on her shoulder. “That must have made things tense.”

---