Page 54 of The Reluctant Billionaire

She ignores my comment, meeting my gaze, which I’ve managed to drag back to her beautiful face, defiantly.

‘You must think I’m really stupid,’ she says. The determined tilt of her jaw hints at vulnerability, which has me feeling even worse.

‘I don’t think you’re stupid in the slightest.’

‘Were you ever going to stop lying to me?’ she asks. ‘Or did you just feed me whatever you needed to feed me to get me into bed?’

That has my hackles rising. ‘Hang on a minute,’ I tell her. ‘I’ve never lied to you. Not once.’

She rolls her eyes. ‘You tell yourself that. Failing to mention something thisbig is a lie in my book. You let me believe you were someone very different.’

‘Carlotta,’ I say, attempting to keep my temper, ‘you took me at face value, and you saw exactly who you wanted to see. I’m not stupid. You actually told me in your bathroom the other night that you were sick of rich guys and wanted a quote-unquotereal man.

‘You’ve objectified me since the second you laid eyes on me, and I think I represented exactly what you wanted and needed in the moment. That’s fine by me, but don’t try to tell me any of that is my fault.’

‘I’m pretty sure you objectified me, too,’ is all she has to say to that truth bomb. ‘I’m not sure you looked away from my boobs long enough to see much more.’

I flinch, because it’s not strictly inaccurate. ‘I was dazzled by them at first,’ I say, ‘and I fully admit I may have underestimated you at first. But I don’t now. I think you’re fucking spectacular in every way. Every single thing about you impresses me.’

She crosses her arms, but she shrugs like she’s dubious. Like she wants to believe me but can’t quite risk it.

‘Do you think,’ I say tentatively, ‘maybe we both underestimated each other at first? You saw a rough-and-ready builder, and I saw a spoilt princess, and we were both a little hasty?’

She nibbles on her scarlet lip as she takes in what I’m saying. I brave a step forward and put my hands on her bare upper arms. ‘Do you think if we took the time to get to know each other better, it would be worth it?’

Silence. Her deadly glare tells me I’ll have to work a lot harder to convince her.

I hesitate, choosing my words. ‘I know you think I deceived you, but quite honestly, the version of me you’ve got to know this week is the real me. It’s the part of me I keep hidden from most people, and it’s felt really fucking good to be on site with my old mates who know me as Aide and don’t fawn or do me any favours.

‘All this stuff is fine, and it’s fun, but I don’t do it for the money, and the money is a major issue for me. So forgive me if I don’t like bringing it up when I have a chance to forget it for a while.’

‘Most people wouldn’t want to forget they had four billion pounds,’ she says.

I laugh at that. ‘That’s a paper valuation. It could all be gone tomorrow if this thing blows up.’

‘It won’t,’ she says quietly. She uncrosses her arms and places her palms flat over my pecs, her eyes watchful. It feels like she’s a stray I’m coaxing out into the open. Any adverse moves from me and she could flee.

Or bite.

Of that I have no doubt.

‘I have something to tell you,’ I say. I close my hands over hers.

She rolls her eyes again. ‘Now what.’

‘We’ve met before, you know.’

‘Oh, come—’ she starts to say, but stops when she sees my face.

‘We have.’

She frowns. ‘Where? I definitely would have remembered you.’ She accompanies that line with a squeeze of my pecs.

‘Thank you, but clearly not. I’ll let you off, though. You were only sixteen.’

I have her well and truly confounded now.‘What?’she asks in disbelief.

‘Your dad invited me for dinner.’ I laugh at the shock on her face.

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