Page 46 of The Billionaires' Gamble

He purses his lips, pins me with ano-shit-Sherlocklook and then slowly nods his head. My brain screeches again, like locked-up tires on a semitrailer. Complete with smoke.

“She’s willing to give it up?” I ask. How much are we talking here?

“I don’t know, but would you want to give up five Bs?”

My eyes almost pop out of my head. The couple of sips of coffee in my stomach turn sour and slosh around. Holy shit. That’s so much money. Just handed down from one person to the next. Giving her the kind of leg up I could only dream of. And I can’t fault her for that. This is the family she was born into.

“No wonder her mom’s on her case.”

“Lucinda’s been pushing her at Tyler for months.”

All because Henry fucking Chanler decreed that she needed a man by her side.

“The whole situation is barbaric.”

He nods. “You said it.”

I glance back at the squirrels. For the moment, they’re digging holes and ignoring each other. Such simple little creatures. Not worried about anything beyond their next meal and staying out of a hawk’s talons.

“There’s not a part of you that’s upset that she kept this to herself for almost two weeks?”

“It’s two weeks. Out of fifty-two. Are you telling me I know all your secrets? The things you’re not ready to admit yet?”

Fuck. When did Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky get so wise?

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

“How’d you get so smart?”

“I hang out with smart people.” He wiggles his eyebrows in a way that saysmeaning you.

“I don’t feel very smart right now.” I snatch up the stick next to me and snap it in two.

“What are you feeling?”

“Like I messed up. Like I don’t know who to trust. Like I don’t trust myself. I fucking hate that my mind becomes this chaos monkey and I can’t see the bigger picture.”

“It’s because you care, man.”

The two twigs become four. Then I toss the lot to the side. He’s right. Because of course he is.

If I didn’t care about Katherine, I wouldn’t have been so fucked up at the idea that she’d been trying to ensnare me. And that’s not all he’s right about.

I take a deep breath and rub the ache beneath my breastbone.

Katherine has no reason to try to trap me into a marriage. Not even on the night of the auction. If all she wanted was her inheritance, she could easily marry anyone who’d say yes.

“I need to apologize.”

“No. You need to grovel.”

“That too.”

He drops his legs to the ground, spread apart, then positions his hands next to the insides of his thighs. Without a breath of hesitation, he presses down onto his hands and pushes up until his legs are hovering in midair. My jaw drops as his hips rotate up, up until he’s doing a handstand. Then, as easy as you please, he brings his feet back to the ground and stands.

“Showoff.”

He dusts off his hands, then holds one out to help me up. I’m not sure I deserve it. Because he’s right. I do have my own secrets. Things I don’t want to confess.