Page 54 of On His Knees

“Yes.”

“You...you lied to me?”

He rakes an agitated hand through his hair. “Yeah, but I want to be honest with you. I want to tell—”

“We slept together, Tate. Or is that your real name?”

“It’s my name. James is my middle name, and that’s what my grandfather calls me, and I know your name is Summer Love—”

My head rears back. “So you knew my last name all along.” I shake my head, and strands fall from the clip.

“Yes, but I didn’t know you were my granddad’s doctor. Granddad showed me this Polaroid of the two of you.” He tugs on his hair and takes a few fast breaths. “Look, he set this all up. He was matchmaking. Some weird twisted way of trying to get us together.”

A sound gurgles in my throat. “I guess it worked, because yeah, were we ever together.” I laugh and it sounds almost manic. “Over and over again.” My stomach knots, twists, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to be sick.

He reaches for me again, and I shake my head no. His hand drops and he drives it into his jeans.

“He told me he wanted to sign half his estate over to you. I thought you were conning him. My mother was a gold digger...”

“And you just assumed I was, too. That’s great, Tate,” I say, doing my best to stay calm, when tears are pressing hard against the backs of my eyes. “And after you met me, you still believed it?”

“I didn’t know what to believe, but I had to do what I had to do to protect my grandfather.”

“And sleeping with me? That was to protect him? Or was that just an added benefit?” I draw in a shaky breath. “Get a little action from the bad girl gold digger from the wrong side of the tracks. Because that’s who you thought I was, right?”

He pounds his forehead. “Yes, no...”

“You’re no better than the self-entitled rich boy who lied to me, tricked me into thinking he was something else. Yeah, I’m a real cliché, but maybe that’s better than being an asshole.” I give a humorless laugh. Why did I go and fall in love with him? “You’d think I would have learned my lesson the first time, but nope.”

“None of this is coming out right, Summer.”

I blink repeatedly to prevent the tears from spilling. Never in a million years did I think Tate had come here with an agenda that involved me.

“No, I pretty much have it all figured out,” I say.

“I’m so sorry, Summer.”

“So am I.”

He puts his hands in and out of his pockets, and paces. “Why didn’t you tell me you were a doctor? I wasn’t the only one keeping secrets.”

“No, you weren’t, and I do apologize for that. But I kept the truth about my career from you because I liked the way you looked at me. Most men are intimidated when I tell them what I do. I wasn’t being mean or malicious, Tate. Every other thing I told you was true. I was always honest and open during sex. I planned to tell you after we made love this afternoon. I mean after we fucked.” He winces at the cruelty in my voice. “But you got called into your fake job.”

“It wasn’t a fake job.”

“So the hotshot lawyer is a bartender now?”

“Why were you going to tell me, Summer?” He moves toward me, but I can’t be close to him right now, so I match his steps backward. “Why were you going to tell me this afternoon who you really were?”

“Because I thought we... Never mind, it doesn’t matter.”

“I wasn’t going to sleep with you that first night. I really wasn’t. But when you seduced me, you were so sexy and beautiful, it took me to my knees.”

“Well, that’s good to know. It thrills me that you couldn’t resist my body, while you were trying to prove I was a con. That obviously changes everything, and maybe I should get on my knees for you, as a thank-you.”

He pinches the bridge of his nose. “Wait, please, none of this is coming out right.”

“No, I get it. I really do.” I look him straight in the eyes and it takes everything in me not to run to my room and cry. I square my shoulders

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