Page 71 of The Elusive Billionaire
While he questions Clover, I sneak out to the side of the house to assess the damage to my windows.
It’s not as bad as it could have been, but they’ll all need to be replaced.
“Are you going to be able to handle this, Monroe?”
Freaking Grey.
“Are you?” I fire back.
“I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge.”
“And what? That’s what I am to you? A challenge?”
He nods, but the heat in his expression practically sears my clothing to smithereens.
“Since the day I met you at the Firefly Pub on October twelfth.”
Yeah, I’ll never forget our first encounter at that bar either, but I don’t remember the exact date.
“Stalker much?” The words taste bitter on my tongue. Still, I’d never instantly lusted after and loathed someone in the same breath as I did the moment I laid eyes on Grey.
Some meet-cute we have.
He glides closer as if he’s floating on air. “Is that why your handle on the surrogacy website was Firefly12?”
My throat itches as though I’ve just eaten something I’m allergic to.
“No, Grey. As I said before, I was Firefly12 well before you ever rolled into town.”
“Why Firefly then?”
He keeps his distance, but this thing he’s doing—communicating as though he cares—is unsettling, because regardless of my actions, I think we’re too volatile to ever truly be friends.
“Why ChasingColors?” I counter. Yes, I’m stubborn, but if he thinks he’s going to get all my secrets for free, he hasn’t been paying attention.
Surprise squeezes my chest when he fully invades my space. “Grey, Violet, and Sage. We were all named after colors, but my life has always been in black-and-white…gray, if you will. The only flashes of life happened in the colorful people around me. Violet, my sister, was full of life and curiosity. Sage, well, you see the calming effect he has on everyone around him. I guess me having a daughter is my way of chasing those colors that are fading as life moves on without me.”
It’s shockingly honest and raw, and it unsettles me more than his name-calling.
“Why are you telling me this?” I whisper, scanning his face for any signs of deceit, but he’s either a much better liar than I gave him credit for or he’s telling the truth.
I’m not sure which would be worse.
“Because I’ve made a decision, and I’m here to offer you a…deal.”
My eye roll causes the skin around his left eye to twitch.
“What decision and what kind of deal?”
“First, tell me why Firefly.”
In my periphery, I see Chief Rigsby loading the box into his car. That means the family will descend upon us soon.
“I know you’re a truth-optional type of person, Monroe, but don’t even think about lying to me right now. Trust me, I’ll know.” He steps forward, and I retreat, only for my back to hit the side of my house.
Then he leans in.
Cinnamon and blood orange fills my nostrils. It took me a long time to figure out what the citrus scent is that lingers on his skin, but once I did, I laughed out loud. There’s nothing more fitting for a man like Grey than smelling like blood anything—he’s a shark parading around as a demigod.
