Page 53 of Dating the Billionaire

“Hey,” Grant said, his hand tightening on Teo’s shoulder. “Don’t—”

“Don’t defend me,” Blair told her brother. “This isn’t your fight. Go home.”

But Grant didn’t release his shoulder. “You two shouldn’t be alone right now,” he said. “This has been a shock. And he’s been drinking.”

Teo wouldn’t hurt her. But he was so damn hurt himself...

Then Blair chuckled, as if amused at the thought of his being able to hurt her. Had she cared so little for him?

“I can take care of myself,” she told her brother. “You don’t have to defend me anymore. Go.”

Grant hesitated yet.

“Please,” Blair implored him.

And finally the man released his shoulder and stepped around him. He paused in the doorway and turned back. “You better not hurt her,” he warned Teo. “Or I will track you down and hurt you far worse.”

Teo nearly laughed. He was already hurting. His heart was aching as well. That was crazy, though. How could he have cared that much about someone who hadn’t really existed?

“Grant, stop being a Neanderthal,” she told her brother. “And leave us alone.”

With a heavy-sounding sigh, the big man finally turned and walked out.

Teo waited until he heard a door open and swing shut before he spoke. “I don’t know if that was a good idea,” he admitted. “I’m not sure that you should be alone with me right now.”

“I’m not afraid of what you might do,” she said.

“I am so mad at you,” he said. “So mad.”

But still so damn attracted to her.

Why was she so beautiful? So tempting?

She stepped closer to him, her blue eyes glistening as if she was fighting tears. He knew too many women who used tears for manipulation, though, so he steeled himself to not be moved by them.

By her.

She’d already manipulated him more than anyone else—his family included—ever had.

“I don’t even know who you are,” he reminded himself—more than her. She knew that she’d lied. And he...

He’d suspected she hadn’t been entirely honest with him. But that hadn’t stopped him from wanting her. Then. Or now.

He reached out and cupped the curve of her cheek in his palm. Now he realized why her skin wasn’t as silky as it had been when they’d first met. That damn beard.

She must have had to glue it on to her face to keep it from sliding off.

“I don’t understand why you lied, and the disguise...” he murmured. It made no sense to him.

“I’ll explain everything,” she said.

But he shook his head. “Why the hell would I believe anything you tell me? You’ve lied about everything.” Even her attraction to him?

Had her passion been faked like everything else?