Page 102 of Married to My Grumpy Minotaur Boss

“Do go on.” Tabitha leans back in her seat, folding her arms across her chest.

Ronan tugs at the collar on his shirt. “Well, you see, I have a confession to make. Several actually. Starting with my relationship to Justine Delany.”

I reach out blindly and clutch Courtney’s hand. What’s he doing?

“You see, Justine wasn’t just my reality TV wife, she’s also my assistant. Or she was, until I had to fire her.”

There’s an outcry from the audience and Tabitha lets it go on and on, but she eventually waves her hands at them. “Shall we ask him why he had his assistant fake marry him or why he fired her first?”

Ronan coughs. “Well the two things are related unfortunately. It’s my fault. When the wife they cast for the show pulled out at the last minute, I bullied Justine into being my fake wife.”

More booing.

“Is that true?” Courtney whispers.

“I mean, bullied sounds so harsh.”

Tabitha shakes her head. “So, Justine only went on the show under duress?”

Ronan sighs. “That’s right. I do believe she was happy enough to be on the show. After all, the stuff about her being a fan was all true. That’s not an excuse, I know, and I don’t want to put words in her mouth.”

“Wise,” Tabitha says.

“Anyway, as soon as the show started filming, I realized I was in hot water. I hadn’t anticipated how I’d feel about Justine.”

There’s more jeering, but this time Tabitha hushes them. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I started to fall for her even then, I was just too stubborn to see it.”

No one speaks.

Beside me, Courtney draws in an audible breath.

“The truth is, she is so charming and endearing she’s hard not to like—to love. It crept up on me, bit by bit, until I was totally overwhelmed. And that scared me.”

My throat aches. My lower lip wobbles, but I can’t take my eyes off the screen. Not for a second.

“And then I went and ruined it,” he continues.

There’s an ooh from the audience.

“I crossed a line. Several lines. And she let me. In fact I’m pretty sure I stomped all over them. But when it became apparent she wanted to continue the relationship, I pulled away.”

“Cowardly,” Tabitha remarks.

Ronan nods. “It was. I was running scared. I didn’t know what I wanted. I wanted her, but without committing to her like she deserves. I’m afraid I fired her from her job, found her a different position, and made sure nobody found out about our prior relationship going into the show, then I went into hiding. I should have left well enough alone then, but I couldn’t.”

“Because you’re a jerk!” someone in the audience calls out.

“Bosshole I think is the term.” Tabitha smirks.

“Yeah. I am. I’m both those things. And more.” Then Ronan looks right into the camera. Right into me. “I still didn’t see it. She gave me every chance. She waited for me to realize, to be what she needed, and I couldn’t do it. It took the scare of her giving up on me and a trip to the hospital yesterday to make me see it.”

Again, there’s silence.

“Yesterday, I realized what an idiot I’d been and I proposed to Justine.”

Courtney gasps and nudges me. “You didn’t tell me that!”

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