Page 91 of The Grumpy Billionaire
The only hang-up came when I asked him the big Whammy, the question that had sent him off the deep end during the first interview.
“What was your inspiration for starting your flagship company, StillYours dot com? I’m sure the site’s users and our viewers have imagined you as quite a romantic, a believer in true love.”
Reid returned my smile and opened his mouth as if to answer, but nothing came out. After a few awkward seconds, he said, “Can we cut?”
His hand went to his clipped-on microphone, not to rip it off this time, but to cover it.
“I don’t like this question. I don’t really have a good answer for it,” he whispered.
I turned around and motioned to Sheldon to stop down before speaking to Reid in a low voice. “What’s the problem? You know the answer to this one. I mean you have to know why you started the company.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“How can I do the story without this? It’s one of the most basic things. Just be honest.” I lowered my voice to a whisper. “You asked me to trust you—don’t you trust me?”
He whispered back. “Of course I do—but that doesn’t mean I feel like spilling my guts to the rest of the world.”
Sighing, he rubbed the back of his neck. “Let me just have some time to think about it. I’ve got to come up with something good to say—you said it’s the most important question, right?”
Now it was my turn to sigh. In defeat. “Right. Okay.”
I turned back to Sheldon. “Well, I guess we’re done with the sit-down. Want to gear up for outside?”
“Okay—let me check the batteries in both your wireless packs first, so we don’t run into any problems.”
As Sheldon filmed the two of us walking along the beach behind Reid’s house, I actually had to remind myself not to reach for his hand. He glanced over at me once and grimaced, showing me he was having the same struggle.
Weird that it felt unnaturalnotto hold hands—we’d slipped so quickly back into our high school sweetheart roles. Of course things now were much more complicated.
When filming at the mansion was complete, we drove to the marina and boarded the yacht.
As I’d predicted, Sheldon absolutely loved it. He got some great b-roll of Reid piloting the boat, deep-sea fishing, and looking every inch the avid New England outdoorsman. A few whales even cooperated, breaching for the camera.
Back on shore, Sheldon packed up his gear, preparing to take the news car back to Providence. I helped him carry a few things to the trunk.
When we were beyond Reid’s earshot and the trunk was lifted blocking his view of us, Sheldon gave me a goofy eyebrow-waggle.
“So?”
“So what?”
“So, it’s obvious you two kissed and made up,” he said. “Spill. What’s the deal?”
“There’s no deal. We just… did a lot of talking about the shoot, and he feels more comfortable now.”
My friend and co-worker rolled his eyes up toward his bushy brows. “Right. I just spent a whole day around you two. I think you guys have been doing awholelot more than talking.”
Sheldon pumped his hips in a ridiculous little dance.
“You look like a new woman—I’ve never seen you like that around anyone. And dude is totally whipped.”
Taking a step back, I shook my head and studied the gravel around our feet, trying to hide the deepening color of my face.
“Really, Shel. It’s nothing.”
“Okay, if that’s the way you wanna play it, secret romance and all that. But when you guys announce your engagement… let it be noted that Icalled it.”
His last two words were delivered in a high-pitched little sing-song, and his booty-dance resumed.
