Page 107 of The Thing About My Secret Billionaire

It’s a staggering concept.

The man I thought I’d gotten to know, who laughed with me, slept in the barn, bought chain saw-patterned undies from the Tractor Trunk, brought his loving family into my home, and who made me orgasm twice within minutes so hard I didn’t know who I was or where I was, turned out to be one of those shitty developers I’ve always hated. He’s one hell of a fucking actor.

“If all he was trying to do was make you think he was a walking saint, he could easily have made up some good works to tell you about,” Paige says in a very measured voice. “But he didn’t.”

I grunt, completely unwilling to listen to any defenseof his behavior.

“Could you consider,” she asks, “just for a second, like one second, and I know this is a big ask so don’t jump down my throat, just pause for a moment before you answer?—”

“If you’re asking me to consider something good about him, no. No, I will not.”

“Frankie, will you please stand still? You’re a blur across my screen.”

I stop pacing and rest my forearms on the back of the chair facing the laptop, my coffee cupped in both hands.

“Go on.” I let out a long, low sigh.

“Pause before you answer, remember?”

I give her a reluctant nod.

“Could you consider, just for one second, that perhaps both things are true?”

“Both what things?”

“That he lied to you, but also that he’s crazy about you and realizes he made a terrible mistake.”

“No, no, no.” I bolt upright. “This is one circumstance under which you are not allowed to do that.”

“Not allowed to do what?”

“That thing that you do. Where you try to make me see the other side. Not with this. No, I can not, absolu?—”

“So much for pausing for a second.” She rolls her eyes.

“Okay, well, even if both things are true, he still came here to lie to me or whoever it was he found here.” I resume the pacing because it’s either that or start throwing things around the room. “And even if he did end up really liking me, it doesn’t make his initial intentions okay. That plan to come here and deceive whoever the owner of this property was into selling to him still happened. He’s still the person who cooked that up. Still the person whothought that was a reasonable thing to do. And that still makes him a total asshole.”

But I guess it is possible he maybe did end up really liking me. Was that part actually the truth?

Ugh, what’s wrong with me? That’s too ridiculous to even consider.

“You said he was trying to get back at the other guy, though, right?” Paige says.

“So?” I glare at her and throw a hand to the ceiling.

“So, he was trying to get back at a guy who shat all over his family and made them virtually homeless.”

“Again, so?”

“Sooo.” That’s the same patient tone she used when she was trying to explain Excel formulas to me and I just couldn’t get them. Still can’t. “He was fired up about defending his family from how badly that asswipe had treated them. He was prepared to go to any lengths to get justice for them. In other circumstances you might consider that an admirable quality.”

“Standing up for your family isn’t a defense if it involves deceiving a stranger and then sleeping with them.”

“But isn’t that exactly what you’re doing? I mean, without the sleeping with someone part.” She pauses to think for a second. “Actually, also without the deceiving someone part.”

“Am I supposed to understand what you’re talking about?”

“I mean,” she says, “the whole reason you’re back in Warm Springs is to do the best for your grandpa, to look after the sanctuary while he gets better. And now you’re fighting to make the place solvent so you don’t have to sell it and also to keep your grandma’smemory alive. And you’ll stop at nothing to do all those things, right? You’ll fight as hard as it takes for your family, right?”