Page 55 of The Reluctant Billionaire

‘You know my dad?’

‘And your mum—well, I’ve met her. And your brother.’

‘I know that after this weekend,’ she says in a way that makes me think there’s more to the story. ‘Go on. So you know my entire family, basically. Excellent.’

I release her hands and wrap my arms around her waist, drawing her into me. ‘I was twenty when I came over, and I’d just dropped out of uni because Totum was growing like crazy, and uni was costing my parents so much. I just wanted to get to the bit where I made some money and paid my way, you know?

‘Your dad was amazing about it all. I met him through a mentorship programme at uni. He was the first person beyond my professors who saw the potential in Totum and in me. He held my hand when I took the jump and dropped out. Even got on a call with Mum, who was hysterical—I was the first person in my family to do any kind of further education, so it was tough for her to see me walk.

‘Anyway, he talked her off the ledge, and he gave me my first chunk of seed capital. Introduced me to two of his friends who invested, too. I met them that night at your house.’

‘I have no recollection of this,’ she says, shaking her head in wonder. ‘Literally none. Were you a late bloomer? If you were this hot at twenty, there’s no way I would have forgotten.’

I smirk. ‘I did alright for myself.’

‘Ugh, of course you did,’ she groans. ‘Judy and Gaz told me that. But what was I doing at the dinner?’

I pause, choosing my words again. ‘Lotta, you wouldn’t have been interested in me. First, I was babbling about software as a service all night, which I doubt did anything for you. Second, I wasn’t your type.’

‘You’re everyone’s type,’ she counters, but I shake my head.

‘Nope. Not yours. I was this young guy who was scared shitless of being in your palatial home, and even more fucking terrified of blowing this massive chance your dad was giving me. I was totally intimidated. I wouldn’t have been on your radar at all. You were in the middle of your GCSEs, so I think you were preoccupied with those, too.’

I slide a hand around her neck, under that mass of hair, and stroke her skin with my thumb. ‘I was dazzled by you, you know.’

She smiles, embarrassed. ‘I’m sure I was an entitled little shit.’

‘You definitely were,’ I say teasingly, ‘but I think that was part of the impression you made on me. You were four years younger than me and so fucking confident. I’d never seen that kind of confidence. You sat there and talked about your studies and your friends and your social life, which sounded glittering, even then. Oh, and you were going to St Tropez after your GCSEs were done—I remember that very clearly, because I’d never even heard of the place.’

The memory is clear. The gulf I felt between myself and that beautiful, wealthy princess that evening was as wide as the Atlantic. She may as well have been a creature from another planet.

‘Clearly, I haven’t known how to read the room for a very long time,’ she says.

’Don’t say that. I told you, you were dazzling. And so fucking beautiful. But you didn’t give me the time of day, and even if you had, I wouldn’t have gone within a mile of Paul’s innocent, barely legal daughter.’

She smirks. ‘I was far from innocent. I popped my cherry that summer in France, actually, with some rich Parisian dude who was on holiday with his parents. And that kind of opened the floodgates.’

I groan. ‘I really didn’t need to know that. But basically, you can’t blame me for not introducing myself when I know your entire family and I’ve sat across a fucking dinner table from you. I couldn’t believe you didn’t know who I was when you rocked up last week—I kept waiting for you to put two and two together.’

‘As my brother tells me, I can be incredibly obtuse,’ she sighs.

I drag my thumb over her soft skin. ‘When did you work it out? Did Gabe spill the beans?’

She stiffens in my arms.

‘Lotta.’

‘In the pub on Friday night,’ she admits, meeting my eyes. ‘When Judy said your full name, bells started ringing, and I ran outside and googled you.’

I frown. That doesn’t make sense. ‘But we—’

‘Fucked? Yep.’

‘You didn’t say anything,’ I tell her.

‘Nor did you,’ she points out. ‘I let you inside my body and you still didn’t come clean, so I wasn’t about to. I was really, really fucked off, Aide. I was so fucking furious with you for lying to me, and I think I was even more furious that you’d just ruined the hot builder sex I had planned for the night.’ She shrugs. ‘So I ignored it and went ahead and dragged you home anyway.’

I stare at her in disbelief. This fucking woman. She was so unbelievably hot for me the other night, but she knew the truth and kept it to herself?

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