Page 4 of My Ex's Billionaire Brother

“Thank you, Tina. You’re a gem,” I said.

“Thanks . . . Caleb.”

“Say, if you’re free, maybe after you’re done, you can head back over here, and we could get some drinks,” I offered.

Tina hesitated. I could see that she wanted to. But then she sighed. “Sorry, I’ve got patients for the rest of the day,”

“See, and that’s why you should take a breather and—”

“After that, I’m going home. It’s been a long day. Have a good afternoon, Caleb.” Without another word, she opened the doorway.

But before she left, I spoke. “You know, you’re kind of cute when you’re upset like that. All mysterious. I guess I can see why you’d attract a moron like my brother.”

She held onto the doorknob, looking back at me. “Don’t compare yourself to your brother. There’s a reason why we don’t talk anymore.”

Then, without another word, she closed the door. I thought she was cute, but man, she did spend way too much time with a stick so far up her ass that it might come out of her mouth.

She was cute, but damn, I guess David really did do something to her back in the day. But, of course, it happened back when I was in college and David was in high school, so I wasn’t really around. But I remembered what David said about her.

Total bitch. She always acted like she was too serious for her own good. Someone I should avoid if I didn’t want to deal with someone so cranky and mean.

Honestly, my brother was right about that point, but he was also slightly wrong. Yes, Tina didn’t like me. Yes, she acted way too damn serious for her own good, but also, there was that part of me that wanted to talk to her more, even though I knew it might get my ass in trouble. To find out a little bit about what made her tick.

I was going to talk to her again, and I was going to learn more about it. I was sure she would start to crumble with the right words and the right amount of teasing. And with what happened, I would get in there, find out the little details about her, and make her mine.

That I was sure of, and she could continue to play those little games, and then, once she opened up, I would get to know the real her, the one deep down that she kept hidden, and I would find out the real sides of her.

Chapter 3: Tina

AsIclosedthedoor to Caleb’s place, I felt like an entire weight had been lifted off of me. It was as if I were carrying a hundred or so extra pounds, and then it disappeared.

In a way, I was grateful for that, but . . . I didn’t know what the hell I was going to do next.

Caleb was a douche. I saw him staring at me the entire time, leering as he looked at my body. The guy made it so pathetically evident that it was hard to hold back my desires—that urge to call him out for his shit.

I didn’t like him, but I had to stay for the horse. I was only there for him and nothing more.

Of course, when I got back to the office, I saw a message from Caleb, thanking me for the help, followed by him asking me if I wanted to go out and get some drinks this Friday.

Fuck that. I didn’t want anything to do with the Jackson brothers. After what happened with David, the last thing I wanted was to get my heart broken again by another one of these.

Still, Caleb seemed different and more mature, and I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. But also, I knew that the Jackson boys were known for being rich billionaires who only cared about women as property.

Caleb was probably the same. David cheated on me, and when I found out, I cussed him out, only to discover the next day he left with that whore in the next town over.

Now, he was off in Aruba somewhere with her. It shouldn’t have bothered me when Caleb said that, but that little inkling of annoyance came with this, and it upset me when I thought about it. I didn’t want to think about that part of my life.

And when Caleb looked at me, it differed from how David did. David only wanted to get in my pants, and he could do so, but with Caleb . . . it seemed like there might be potential.

No, I couldn’t just forgive Caleb. Not for what his shithead of a brother did.

Over the next week, I’d get texts and updates from Caleb about Blaze. Sometimes, they were small texts about him doing better. Others were more drawn out, telling me about the foods he ate and how he was doing.

Still, interspersed between them were little comments like “I hope your day brings you a ray of sunshine,” and “Smile a little. It’ll help.”

A man telling me to smile. As if that wasn’t a red flag at all. But, still, there was that small part of me that felt a little inkling of excitement when we stared at each other, and when it was time for me to come in to check on the horse, there were a few butterflies when I looked at Caleb.

“Hey there, Tina! You doing all right?”

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