Page 126 of Always

I chuckle. “No, Skye. I was never her territory. I’m talking about social media influencing.”

She scoffs. “I’ll never be where she is.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. You have something she doesn’t.”

“You?” She giggles.

“You’re incorrigible. No. You have you. You have Skye Manning, and Skye Manning is a real person. A person everyone relates to. Your gift is you.”

She is simply Skye, and if it takes me the rest of my life, I’m going to convince her that she’s truly special.

That she’s a gift.

The most precious gift I’ve ever been given.

“I’ll love you forever for saying that, Braden.” She wraps her arms around my neck.

“I’ll love you forever just because you’re you,” I say back.

Chapter Forty-Seven

“That’s how I know Addie isn’t over you. Because you’re you. You’re Braden. You’re not a construction worker. You’re not a billionaire. You’re just Braden Black, and you’re incredible.”

I smile. Really smile. Perhaps she gets that she’s a gift. And perhaps she feels the same way about me.

But my smile lasts only a moment. I’m still no longer a man of my word.

And she knows. She knows I had help getting to where I am today.

“What’s the matter?” she asks.

“You know my secret now.”

“About you and Addie. Yeah. I’m sorry she got hurt.”

“So am I, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I always wanted to be rich on my own terms, but I’m not. You know I had help setting up my company.”

“You mean Brock Ames’s money?”

I nod.

She laughs. She seriously laughs almost uncontrollably.

“I don’t see what’s funny about that from where I’m standing.”

“Aren’t you the one who told me that opportunity is opportunity? That I should use all resources available to me as I build my career? My God, I spent weeks thinking I wasn’t good enough. That I was only wanted because I was Braden Black’s girlfriend. Even that the contacts I had were from Addie.”

I can’t help a slight smirk. This woman forgets nothing.

And besides, my advice was sound.

“And besides, it wasn’t Brock Ames’s money. It was your money. You and he made a deal.”

“Which I just broke.”

“For me. For us. And you have my word that the story won’t leave this room. I swear on my mother’s life. On my father’s life. On my own life. On my love for you.”

I give a half smile.

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