Page 59 of The Thing About My Secret Billionaire
He just shot right off the end of the hotness scale. It might be impossible to find a fault with a man who is thoughtful enough to come up with this idea, and good enough at organizing things to make it happen.
But as I gaze at him and the newly revealed parts of his life story, the reality of what this project means smacks me in the head like a plank of wood.
“I’m afraid I don’t have the budget for any of these repairs,” I say to his dad and brothers. “So I’m sorry if you’ve come all this way, and I’m very sorry if you’ve been put out, but I really just can’t afford?—”
At the squeeze of Miller’s hand on my shoulder again, I turn to look at him.
He holds my eyes for a second before stroking his thumb across the end of my collarbone. “It’s on me.”
“What?”Let’s toss embarrassment onto the fire of emotions burning inside me. “Oh, I couldn’t poss?—”
“Yes, you possibly could,” he says. “When they’ve finished this, they’ll take a look at the stables. Then that shitty developer won’t have anything to threaten you with anymore.”
“Yeah, can’t stand those money-grabbing developer bastards,” Ethan says.
Luke coughs into his fist.
I hate the thought of accepting charity—even though we are, of course, an actual charity. But it would get Skinner off my back. And the McSweeneys have already traveled all the way from Boston.
“Please, let me do this.” The look in Miller’s eye is similar to the one right before he kissed me yesterday. The look that says there’s something here, something between us, a connection, that we’re on the same side.
“I want to,” he adds. “It will make me feel good. So, think of allowing me to do this as you giving a gift to me.”
He holds my eyes in that way that makes me feel like I’m sinking into them.
I close mine for a moment and take adeep breath to break the spell before glancing over at his dad and brothers who’re all standing there, smiling, and looking eager to get back to the job at hand.
“Well, since you’re already here and everything,” I say, “And if you really can fit it in to your schedule and don’t mind doing it?—”
“I wouldn’t saydon’t mind,” Ethan says. “Miller’s a really fucking picky client to work for.”
Russell and Luke laugh while Miller glares at his brother.
“The timing was good,” Miller’s dad says. “The drywallers got delayed on the renovation we had lined up next. Or we wouldn’t have been able to fit this in until February.”
“Well, you might be used to doing intricate detailed work for expensive homes,” I reply, “but quick and dirty works just fine here. So please don’t feel you have to make everything perfect.”
“Great,” Russell says. “I looked everything over earlier. With the three of us, and if Miller can chip in too, I’d bet we can get everything done in three days, tops.”
“Wow, that’s amazing,” I say. “Where are you staying?”
“I’m going to put them up at the Park ’N’ Sleep,” Miller says.
“Oh, no. Absolutely not,” I insist. “You can stay here, in the house. I’ll move into Grandpa’s room and you can have mine. It has twin beds and there’s a rollout somewhere. And there’s a bathroom upstairs. The least I can do for the three of you is to put a roof over your heads and three meals in your belly while you’re doing all this work.”
They all look at each other with shrugs of agreement, then thank me.
“All right. I’ll let you all get back to work. Thank you so much.”
The three men return to whatever woodworky things they were doing behind the barn, leaving Miller and me alone.
The atmosphere between us changes like someone turned the dial fromperfectly normaltodamn, this is uncomfortable.
All I want to do is wrap my arms around his neck and let my mouth do all the thank-yous for such an incredibly thoughtful and big-hearted gesture.
But instead I say, “This is all very kind.”
“It’s nothing. This is easy for them. Plus, I’ve been too busy to see them for a while, so it’s a good opportunity for me to hang out with them for a few days.” He smiles on a shrug. “And a good opportunity for them to tell me what to do, which they all enjoy. So this is a gift for them too.”
