Page 46 of Grumpy Billionaire Seeking Wife (Billionaires Seeking Wives Club #1)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

W es

I watch Sabrina packing her stuff, and I can see Bruno looking nervous as she throws her clothes into a bag.

"Hey. Are you okay?" I ask her softly, and she nods.

"I'm okay."

She turns around to face me, walks over to me, and puts her hands on my shoulders.

"I was really mad the other day when you found my dad, and I'm still not really happy about the circumstances, but I'm okay.

I found a sister, and while I still don't know what happened or why my dad left, at least I'm on the way to sort of beginning to understand. And actually, I wanted to thank you."

"Thank me?" I stare at her in surprise. "You're joking, right? You were literally pissed that I?—"

"I don't necessarily want to thank you for searching for him without telling me because I think that was a really big thing, and you should've spoken to me about it, but I get it's your way. That's how some men act, I suppose."

"That doesn't sound like a good thing, Sabrina."

"I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing, but I do want to say that since I met Sadie, I realize that maybe I was actually better off with him having left.

All these years, I pictured him in my life and having a picture-perfect family, and that would've been amazing, but what if he stayed and he became a drunk with my mom and beat her? " She sighs.

"I don't think Sadie's had it easy, and while I haven't had it easy, I haven't had to deal with that shit.

You know? I've always had Erika and you and Miles and your family, and even though my mom was devastated and upset, she was still a good mom.

We were poor, yeah, but we weren't in the streets.

I always had a roof over my head, and no one ever hit me or her. "

She takes a deep breath.

"It sucks that he's like that. Are you going to meet her?"

"You mean my stepmom?"

I nod.

"I don't know. Maybe. I guess I have to figure out if I want to speak to my dad first. I asked Sadie not to tell him anything, and she promised she wouldn't. I want to speak to my mom first and see how she feels about the entire thing before I decide anything."

"I understand. Those are a lot of big decisions you have to make. I hope that you can start the road to closure and happiness, though."

"I think I will be able to." She nods. "Thank you."

"You already thanked me. There's nothing else you need to thank me for." I stare at her, my heart aching as I see the sadness in her eyes.

"I just thought that if he stayed, I would've had this picture-perfect life, you know?

Like The Brady Bunch or something, and that he'd be there for me, and my mom wouldn't struggle, and I wouldn't have all these loans from school, and I would've been able to focus on school alone, not having to work, but I was wrong.

My life could've been a lot worse, you know?

All these years, I felt sorry for myself.

I felt like I missed out. I felt like something was taken away from me, yet maybe it was a blessing in disguise. "

She sits on the edge of the bed and runs her fingers through her hair.

"I think sometimes in life, it's easy to look at what someone else has and think that their life is so much better, but if we really knew what they were going through, oftentimes we'd see that we didn't have it so bad after all. "

I nod slowly. "You're right. I think that myself sometimes."

"You do? But you have everything."

"You see? There you go again," I say, laughing.

"What do you mean?"

"You just said you weren't going to look at someone and assume that they had everything, but..."

"Oh, yeah. I guess I am judging your life based on appearances."

"I mean, yes, I've been blessed. I was born into a family with money, I have great siblings, I am not too shabby looking.

" I chuckle. "But with that comes expectations that you will always be happy and that nothing can ever go wrong in your life.

I have bad days. I have days when I don't feel like I'm good enough, where I'm tired, where I'm angry, but I'm always supposed to be on, you know?

I'm always supposed to be cool and fine because I have those things, but that's just not how life works.

You know? Don't get me wrong, I have it so much better than so many people, and I love that I'm able to help others.

In fact, I feel like maybe I haven't done that enough in my life, and this is a wake-up call to be a blessing to others, not just family members, but it doesn't mean that I don't still want things I can't have," I say, staring at her.

She nods slowly. "I guess I should get going. My mom said she's going to make dinner for me, and well, I don't want to keep her waiting."

"Are you finished packing?" I ask, and I hate that my voice sounds sad. I don't want her to leave. I want to make sure she stays, but I know I can't do that. I can’t be selfish anymore. I need to let her go. I need to let her fly free.

I watch as she packs her last couple of T-shirts. Bruno rushes over to her and nuzzles his nose into her leg. "Don't worry, Bruno, I'll see you soon, and I'll find a place for us. I love you."

"I have something for you,” I say.

She looks up at me in surprise. “You do? What?”

“Something that... Well, I got it for you a while ago, and well, I think I want to give it to you now. Don't think I'm doing it because I want you to feel obligated to me for any reason. I don't. I just want you to have it."

"What is it? If you say your big cock, I'm not going to be laughing."

"No. That's not it. But why wouldn't you laugh?"

"Wes."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about. You know the way I feel about you." She grins as she sashays over to me. "You know that I love being with you. You know that I'm glad that you are the one I lost my virginity to, and I am glad that you are the one..."

"Hey," I say. "You don't have to."

"I don't have to what?" she says.

"You don't have to give me a bunch of platitudes. It's okay. We had a good time, and I've enjoyed having you here."

"I've enjoyed being here. So what's my gift? Where is it?"

"Hold on." I go into the closet and open a drawer and stare at all the presents I've gotten for her.

My plan was to only give her the Tiffany's box, but I realize that I have nothing to lose.

I've gotten her all these gifts for a reason, and I want to give them to her.

I want her to know that even though her dad wasn't in her life, it doesn't mean that there aren't people in her life who have been looking out for her, so I take a deep breath. "I want you to have a seat."

"Okay. Why?"

"Because there are a couple of things that I have for you."

"Okay."

"So, you may not know this, but you've always been really important to me.

I mean, you've been Erika's best friend, but I've noticed that on your birthdays and Christmases, you were really sad when your dad wasn't there and wasn't able to give you presents, and I know your mom couldn't always do for you, and well, I just got you a couple of things. "

"What do you mean, you got me a couple of things?"

"I got you presents to make up for the presents that your dad wasn't around to give you, and I may or may not have wrapped them." I grab the blue Tiffany's box and hand it to her.

"Oh my gosh, what's this?" She opens it eagerly and pulls out the bracelet. "Oh my gosh, you got me a bracelet? Wes, you didn't have to. This is too much."

"I remember when you were sixteen and you watched Breakfast at Tiffany's , and then you and Erika went down to the Tiffany store, and you went on and on and on about how much you wanted a Tiffany bracelet.

I remember you said that you hoped that when you fell in love, it would be a Christmas present or a birthday gift that someone would give you. "

"You remember that?"

I nod. I pull out another box. "This one's a Barbie because I remember when you were ten, you wanted your mom to get you a special Barbie, but she wasn't able to, so you played with Erika's.

" And then I hand her a bunch of letters.

"These are letters I wrote to you on your birthday: 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21. "

"What?"

"Don't open them now," I say quickly. "I just wanted to create somewhat of a time capsule for you.

And then this," I say, "is a forever rose because you said to Erika that no one had ever given you roses, and I wanted to give you roses, but of course, I couldn't give you a real bouquet of roses because you'd wonder what was up.

And this is a down pillow—a really expensive down pillow from Australia, because I remember one year you said you weren't sleeping well, and you and Erika researched down pillows.

And then this is a personalized photo album of all the times that we spent together. "

She opens it and stares at photos of her and Erika, of her and Miles, me and her, my parents, her mom. "I need to get a photo of you and Bruno to add to it, though."

"This is so thoughtful."

"I have more gifts to give you," I say, grinning at her. "I just wanted you to feel special. I wanted you to know that just because your dad didn't care or wasn't around didn't mean that other people didn't care."

"Wes, I didn't know. Why did you do this? I'm just..."

"You still don't understand, Sabrina?" I get down on my knees in front of her and grab her hands.

"I don't know what you're saying."

"I love you."

"What?" She laughs nervously.

"I love you."

"Are there cameras around?" She looks around the room, and I sigh.

“I love you for real, for real, and I have for a long time. You are the most beautiful, wonderful, most intelligent, caring, funny, compassionate woman I’ve ever met, and last year, when you offered yourself up to me, you don't know how hard it was for me to say no, but you weren't ready.

I knew you were still in school. I wanted to see if you wanted to sow your wild oats because I knew that once I had you, once we were together, it was a forever thing, and I wanted to give you that opportunity to continue to grow, to make sure that I was what you wanted, who you needed.

And I don't know if I am, and that's okay, but I can't let you leave here…

I can't let you leave my place without telling you that I love you for real, for real.

Not because of the ad, not because of the newspaper, not because of the billion women who are calling me," I say, laughing.

"Because it's got nothing to do with that.

It's got to do with how you make me feel, how you've always made me feel.

How you listen, how you care. And it's okay if you don't love me because loving you is?—"

"I love you, you stupid idiot!" She jumps up and wraps her arms around me. "I've loved you for so long! Are you kidding me? You love me, love me?"

"I love you," I say, laughing as she kisses my mouth.

"Oh, my gosh. I love you, Wes! I thought..." She shakes her head. "I thought that this was just... I don't know, but—" She suddenly pauses. "It's not going to be like it was with my mom and dad. You know that, right?"

"I know," I say. "I'm not your dad, and you're not your mom. I don't know what happened in the relationship. I don't know how it started, but you and me, we're forever. I'm never going to leave you. I'm never going to let you go. You're stuck with me, Sabrina, forever. Forever, ever."

"And you're not going to try and tell me what to do and where I can go and what I can do and..."

"Well, you're not going on any more dates."

"You know I don't mean that. I don't want to go on any dates anyway."

"And you're definitely not going to wear sexy dresses out that show different body parts."

"Not even with you?" she teases, and I growl at her as I lift her up and drop her onto the bed. I kiss her softly, and she strokes the back of my neck. "You love me, love me, don't you?"

"I do," I say. "I love you, love you. And I want one more thing."

"What's that?" she asks.

"I want to ask you on a date."

"A date?" She giggles. "Oh my gosh. How are we saying we love each other and we've never even been on a date?"

"Because we do things backwards," I say. "But I have an idea."

"Ooh, what's that?"

"Maybe our first date can be in France?"

"No way. Really?"

"Yeah," I say, kissing her and pulling her close.

"I want to make all your dreams come true.

I want to be the man you've waited for. I want to be the man who shows you that there are some good ones left.

I love you, Sabrina Fillmore, and however slow or fast you want to take this, I'm okay with that. "

"So what if I said I wanted us to never have sex again?"

"What?" I still and glare at her.

"I mean, you wouldn't be celibate for me while you're wooing me?"

I stroke the side of her face. "It'll be hard, but if I cannot be inside of you again until we get married, then we will just have to get married quickly."

"Wes!" she says, giggling and shaking her head. "That's not what I'm saying."

"I don't care. Whatever you want, whatever you need, Sabrina, I'm here for you. I love you, and I'm never letting you go."