Page 7 of Burning for the Billionaire 8

Chapter 4

Grace

Halfway through dinner, Rowan finally brings up the energy between us lately. I’ve held my tongue, just chatting about trivial things because I want him to enjoy his meal before we get into anything heavy, and I know him. He’s usually one to silently process and gather his emotions before he says a word.

So, when he says, “Things haven’t been so great between us the last few weeks, have they?”, I just glance at him and shrug.

“I understand why.”

One corner of his mouth curves upward. “You always understand.”

“I understandyou.”

He turns to me with affection gleaming in his eyes. I’ve watched him become less guarded with me by the day, and I love it. “Thank you for taking the time to do that.”

My only response is a cool, “You’re welcome,” and he smiles. Just as I’ve watched him curb his natural tendency to close himself off, I’ve become much calmer and self-assured to match his energy.

“I shouldn’t have walked out earlier,” he says. “That was an asshole move.”

“Honestly, Rowan, I’m glad you left. You’ve been cooped up in here for days.”

“Are you saying you got tired of seeing my face every day?”

Grinning, I caress his cheek. “Never.” I snort inwardly. Who in their right mind would tire of seeing this handsome face? “But I worried about you tuning into a hermit.”

He laughs but sobers quickly to take on a solemn expression. “I want to turn into one. I don’t know how else to deal with the insane amount of publicity I’ve been getting.” He studies me closely. “You’ll tell me not to apologize, but I need to. I’m sorry that my personal problems have spilled over to affect our relationship—to affectyou. I know you hate the attention, too, and you don’t need to keep trying to hide it from me.”

My cheeks burn. “You caught on to that?”

“How many times have I told you you’re a terrible liar?”

“Plenty of times,” I grumble with a pout. I’ll never master the art of fibbing, and maybe that’s not a bad thing.

His eyes twinkle with amusement as he traces his thumb over my protruding lower lip. I flick my tongue out to run it over his finger, just to tease him. His gaze darkens and his nostrils flare, but my smug smirk makes his eyes narrow.

“Minx.”

I bat my eyelashes. I’m hoping he’ll lose control, throw me over his shoulder, and take me to bed. To my utter disappointment, he announces, “We’re not done talking.”

Tilting my head back, I groan out of sheer sexual frustration. Since he’s been reeling from the changes in his life, our sexy time has been minimal. I might suffer from Rowan withdrawal any day now. “We’re fine. I promise. All we have to do is put aside the tension we’ve experienced and move on.”

“True, but there’s still the problem of Rebecca.”

“Don’t let her get to you.”

“It isn’t me I’m worried about her getting to, Grace. I don’t care if she drags my name through the mud. But I don’t want her hurtingyoulike that.” He lets out an exasperated sigh. “She’s doing interviews now.”

“I know. I heard the latest one.”

Rowan’s horrified gaze swings to me. “I told you to stay off social media if you could.”

“I have been.” I’ve been following his lead, steering clear of media of all kinds because some of the lies make me want to tear my hair out. “I mean, until my sister alerted me to what Rebecca said.”

He eyes me warily. “I’ve been saying this a lot, but I’m sorry. You must be angry.”

Nibbling my lip, I confess, “I was livid. The comments were downright nasty, and a few assholes on campus have asked what it’s like having a billionaire sugar daddy.Sooffensive.”

He ducks his head and groans.

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