Page 54 of The Reluctant Billionaire

‘I’m pretty sure you objectified me, too,’ is all she has to say to that truth bomb. ‘I’m not sure you looked away from my boobs long enough to see much more.’

I flinch, because it’s not strictly inaccurate. ‘I was dazzled by them at first,’ I say, ‘and I fully admit I may have underestimated you at first. But I don’t now. I think you’re fucking spectacular in every way. Every single thing about you impresses me.’

She crosses her arms, but she shrugs like she’s dubious. Like she wants to believe me but can’t quite risk it.

‘Do you think,’ I say tentatively, ‘maybe we both underestimated each other at first? You saw a rough-and-ready builder, and I saw a spoilt princess, and we were both a little hasty?’

She nibbles on her scarlet lip as she takes in what I’m saying. I brave a step forward and put my hands on her bare upper arms. ‘Do you think if we took the time to get to know each other better, it would be worth it?’

Silence. Her deadly glare tells me I’ll have to work a lot harder to convince her.

I hesitate, choosing my words. ‘I know you think I deceived you, but quite honestly, the version of me you’ve got to know this week is the real me. It’s the part of me I keep hidden from most people, and it’s felt really fucking good to be on site with my old mates who know me as Aide and don’t fawn or do me any favours.

‘All this stuff is fine, and it’s fun, but I don’t do it for the money, and the money is a major issue for me. So forgive me if I don’t like bringing it up when I have a chance to forget it for a while.’

‘Most people wouldn’t want to forget they had four billion pounds,’ she says.

I laugh at that. ‘That’s a paper valuation. It could all be gone tomorrow if this thing blows up.’

‘It won’t,’ she says quietly. She uncrosses her arms and places her palms flat over my pecs, her eyes watchful. It feels like she’s astray I’m coaxing out into the open. Any adverse moves from me and she could flee.

Or bite.

Of that I have no doubt.

‘I have something to tell you,’ I say. I close my hands over hers.

She rolls her eyes again. ‘Now what.’

‘We’ve met before, you know.’

‘Oh, come—’ she starts to say, but stops when she sees my face.

‘We have.’

She frowns. ‘Where? I definitely would have remembered you.’ She accompanies that line with a squeeze of my pecs.

‘Thank you, but clearly not. I’ll let you off, though. You were only sixteen.’

I have her well and truly confounded now.‘What?’she asks in disbelief.

‘Your dad invited me for dinner.’ I laugh at the shock on her face.

‘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 goton 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.’