Page 69 of Great Pretender
“Something in you must have liked her.”
“No.”
“So you really weren’t going to sleep with her?”
“I swear on my life. You have to know I’m telling you the truth.”
“How?” I ask.
“Because I have never lied to you.Not once, not even a little bit, and never been tempted to.Not even to stop you from leaving me.” He speaks with such fervor his words seep into me.I find I can’t refute because it’s true.Chad has never lied to me. “I would never cheat on you, Piper.Never.”
“When I saw you with her, I just… I thought you’d want her.”
“No, never. But it won't happen again. I’ve told her to stay away from me.That whole skinny dipping incident happened because Curtis was saying stuff about you that made me think about what I’d lost by not being with you.I drank too much. That’s no excuse, but I couldn’t do anything with her that night because she wasn’t you.”
“Really?” My voice waivers, and when he nods, goosebumps rush over my skin.
“Piper, I want you back.”
“Back to how it was before? Back to the plan?” I have to ask because I'm sure his father and Georgiou heard everything I said that night.
“No, not back to the plan. I quit working for my father.There is no more plan. No more fake anything.”
My mouth drops open. “What? No, you have to go back.”
He had his heart set on owning the team, andI can't imagine him not working for his father in some kind of way.
“Don’t worry about that. All I want is you.”
“You’d want me even without the plan?”
“Of course I do. Piper, right now, all I want is for you to come back to me."
“Me?” Tears sting the backs of my eyes as I take in his words.Hearing his words makes me feel like I’m enough.
“I love you, Piper,” he says as if I’m not stunned enough.“I think I’ve been in love with you my whole life.The craziness with my father was just craziness.I felt the way I did years before. I just never told you.”
And, now I’m shocked. “Why not?”
“Because I wanted better for you.Better than me. That was why we didn’t get together before.But I don’t think I could stand by and watch someone else have you and not try to be the man I want for you.”
I can’t help it now. Tears spill over my lids, and I dab at my cheeks.
“Oh, Chad. No one’s ever said anything like that tome.”
“Maybe because that was myjob.So, the next time I ask you to marry me, I’ll make sure I’m the kind of guy you’d say yesto.”
I smileat that. “Next time?”
“Next time. So, will you come back to me?”
I throw my arms around him, and he holdsme.“Yes, because I love you. I alwayshave.”
“I love youtoo.”
Those are the best words I’ve ever heard in my life.
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