Page 73 of Marrying the Billionaire

“So Dad’s on your back about that?”

“Yeah. And then he tells the project manager to go ahead and pay it anyway. I mean, just completely undermines my authority. He only cares that we meet the deadline, not how we make it happen. And apparently, he doesn’t care that bribery is illegal.”

Knowing Dad, no, he wouldn’t care about that little fact.

“Well, today we get served from the U.S. Department of Justice with a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and now Dad’s yelling at me on the phone an hour ago about how I need to clean up this mess. Even though it’s his fault.”

“Oh, shit, Connor. I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do?”

“No. It’s just been a clusterfuck of a day.”

Well, that must have been why Dad was in such a pissy mood.

“Tell me what he yelled at you about,” he requests. “Maybe that’ll make me feel better.”

A laugh escapes me, despite the seriousness of the situation. I explain to him what happened during my reconnaissance mission at Montague Media yesterday and how Dad wants me to distance myself from Serena, even though she has nothing to do with any business stuff.

“And now you don’t want to? You didn’t seem to care much about it at lunch last week.”

God, that seems like a lifetime ago. “A lot has changed since then. We’ve been getting along really well.” Scarily well. Almost like things between us are… real.

“That’s a good thing, right? I’ll be honest, the pictures you’ve been posting are convincing.”

“The PR team handles my profile.”

“Yeah, but you’re still in them. I, um- Okay, I have to know. Your last photo, the one from yesterday. She’s in your bedroom, right? Did you take that?”

My mind flashes to Serena giving me that secretive smile, my old t-shirt hanging off her slender frame, the waistband of my boxers rolled up several times to fit her. “Yeah.”

“Was that staged? The other ones I can see, but that one… there was something different about it.”

“It was real,” I admit. There’s that word again.

“So when you say things have changed, that you’re getting along well, you’re what? Actually married now?”

“No, we haven’t- We’ve never discussed…” The closest we’ve gotten to talking about anything like that was when I told her I was having trouble separating what was acting and what was real, but we never came to an answer. We kind of got distracted with touching each other. “I don’t know.”

“Uh, maybe you should talk about that? Even if she’s your fake wife.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Absolutely.” We’ll sit down and discuss it. Without touching this time. No getting distracted. By her sensuality. Her scent. Her smiles. Her massages. Her thoughtfulness. Her passion.

I swear to God, I’ve never thought so much about how I’mfeelingin my life, but this thing with her just feels… right.

We talk for another ten minutes or so until Tracy buzzes in, reminding me of a meeting at nine. I get back to work, something within me lighter after talking with him. I’ve spent too long apart from both my brothers-

It suddenly clicks. Dad has purposely kept us separated. How have I never realized that before? He had all of us go to different colleges. Never let Gabriel join the business. Shipped Connor off to work on international projects soon after he got his MBA.

But why? So we wouldn’t band against him or something?

I’ve never had cause to do that before, but there’s been no reason to go against him. I’ve done what he’s wanted, followed the path he’s set for me.

But how long am I going to keep doing that? When do I get to live the life I want?

Not that I’m even sure what that is exactly.

Well, there’s one thing I’m discovering I want more and more.

Serena.

And though he told me to distance myself, there’s no way I’m actually doing that. The situation’s reversed now. We’ll keep this budding relationship away from the public eye. But in private?

It’s only going to heat up.

---