Page 15 of Accidental Fake Billionaire

I was living on my own, with a decent job, a couple of friends, and now what seemed to be an absolutely incredible new boyfriend. A giggle bubbled out of me as I pictured my sister seeing me with a hottie like Jared.

Jumping up, I made a cup of tea then sat down with my laptop. The first thing I did was look for the photos from the student fashion show.

I wasn’t going to tag myself in any of them, until I saw the photo of Jared holding me as I leaned back over his arm at the end of the runway.

Technically, it was a beautiful photo. My white dress against his black suit, with pink and purple lights behind us looked incredibly dramatic.

Zooming in, my breath grew uneven. I could see the hunger in his eyes. He wanted me before he even knew me.

I tagged myself, reposting it on my own page so that my sister and a few friends could see that I did something crazy and brave.

Closing the tab before I could get lost in endless scrolling, I spent an hour doing research on children’s supply websites.

It seemed that they were mostly divided into three categories. Toy stores, which only had toys and some books. All-purpose children’s stores, which had mostly clothing and bedding, with a few toys as an afterthought. And then there were the massive big box stores that had a children’s section that covered everything, but many of the products were extremely low quality.

Bouncing around between the different types, I got a feeling for what I wanted to create for Thompson’s Toddlers.

There were so many easy online website builders that I managed to find something with a template similar to what I had in mind.

My rumbling stomach demanded that I take a short break for a snack, but by dinner time, I had a reasonably good start to what I wanted to do. Grabbing my phone, I couldn’t wait to tell Jared.

Me: You were absolutely right. I need to go for what I want.

Jared: Awesome! What do you mean?

Me: I spent most of the day figuring out what kind of website my company needs. If I pitch it to my boss, she might see that I’m serious, and consider me for the manager’s job next season.

Jared: Baby, I’m so proud of you.

Me: Thank you for being so encouraging.

Jared: We all need a little help sometimes.

Jared: Well, not me. I’m supposed to be the big strong manly type who is there for everyone else.

Me: I know you’re joking, but that’s not fair. Tough guys need help too.

Jared: Sure – I do need help, actually. I need a date for a thing next week. I’ll tell you the details later.

Me: You’re just going to leave me stewing in curiosity?

Jared: You’re already stewing in beauty. I’ll tell you soon. xoxo

He was so charming it was almost too much. But I felt that he was being sincere. The important thing was that he was making more plans for us together.

I knew that it was too soon, and I didn’t quite trust it yet, but I was definitely falling in love with Jared.

It wasn’t just that he was a great man. I liked the way he made me feel about myself. From the very beginning, he treated me like he wanted to keep me. Like I was good enough for him, no matter how different we might be.

10

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Jared

Saturday night I almost popped by Tara’s apartment for a quick makeout session, but knew I would have been too tempted to bring her with me to Mark’s birthday party. He was one of the guys on my crew, and the place would have been full of great people, but I didn’t want Tara to see me in a bar yet.

Maybe it was silly, but she seemed to have such a high opinion of me. Even though it was likely misplaced, because she somehow thought I was ric

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