Page 74 of Her Billionaire Bargain (Kensington Square)

Oh, if he only knew how jealous I’d been of him his entire life.

“Not true anymore, so quit whining.”

His grin was entirely too knowing. “No indeed.”

I held up a hand. “Don’t start with your witchy sex business. Not in the mood.”

“Because you don’t know the magic of such.” He shrugged. “Your call. I don’t need to brag.”

Bishop smiled around his bottle as he tipped it back. “Yes, you do.”

Preston smiled back. “Yeah. I kind of do. I earned it, man. I had a hell of a dry spell before Ms. Moon. And Bishop did too before April. You gotta wait for the good sometimes.” He frowned at me. “You never had to wait. Ever. Your bedroom should’ve had a damn turnstile.”

“Thanks for the exaggeration. Not true. I was not nearly as indiscriminate as you think. And before Shelby,” I drank some of my water to cover my groan at accidentally admitting it aloud, “well, let’s just say it had been a damn long time.”

“Why her?” Bishop asked quietly. “I know you had a thing for her from the start, but why? She’s pretty, sure.”

“She’s a fucking knockout, but that’s not why. It’s not even the half.”

“Then?”

“She’s so damn strong for her and her child. Like she’d shut down everything she ever wanted or needed to take care of her kid and that just blows my mind. And Berry is a fucking miracle. She’s so smart and tough and takes zero crap, but she’s so interested in everything. She loves Bob and Bob adores her. Every time she comes over, we just run around like lunatics the entire time while Shelby works and—” I stopped talking, realizing both my brother and Bishop were staring at me as if I’d sprouted another head. “What?”

“Do you hear yourself?” Preston shook his head as if he was dazed. “You sound like…”

“Us,” Bishop finished.

“What? No. I definitely don’t sound like you two lovesick fools. How could I? I barely know her. Them. It takes a certain amount of time to—” I broke off and shoved away my glass to drop my head in my hands. “I’m fucking screwed.”

Bishop laughed and squeezed my shoulder. “I fell for April overnight. Sure, the kid makes it thornier, but it’s definitely possible. And your brother here fell over email.”

“Actually, hearing her voice on her podcast sealed the deal but it definitely started over email. She hated me. It was so fucking sexy.”

“You Shaws have some kind of deviant sadistic streak that becomes obsessed if a woman doesn’t seem to like you.”

I nodded miserably. “Yeah. That was the start for me. And the pink—”

Bishop held up a hand. “We don’t need those details, son.”

“Pantsuit,” I finished, laughing despite myself.

If these two clowns could find lasting love in such unbelievable ways, so could I. Even if I still wanted to throw up at the very idea.

“She isn’t ready to love me,” I said under my breath, picturing the look on her face when I’d said I was meeting a friend. Deliberately, hoping she got the wrong idea because I wanted to punish her for thinking I’d lied about Kate. I didn’t fucking lie. If I said I hadn’t touched her, that was because I hadn’t. I wasn’t a prick like Davenport.

But the idea of her thinking I had twisted a sharp blade right through my gut. I hated that wounded expression I’d seen in her beautiful eyes—the direct opposite of the free, joyful expression she’d worn the night before as we’d danced. That it was an expression I’d inadvertently put there by being a reformed manho just made it that much worse.

I was trying. Mostly, I was doing pretty good.

Okay, maybe I hadn’t fully come clean to Shelby about my semi-recent discovery her ex was friends with my asshole father. But I didn’t know how close they were. I’d never seen them together in the flesh. Hell, even my brief interaction with the man when he’d taunted me with the term nepo baby was in the distant past. I’d practically forgotten it.

I had no desire to remember anything about Davenport, period.

What consumed me was Shelby. Her happiness was like oxygen to me already. Absolutely vital.

I had to fix this messed-up situation somehow. She had to believe me.

I slammed my bottle down. “I have to figure out how to be the man she can be with. Maybe even,” I gulped, “love.”

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