Page 108 of Rival to the Billionaire

She pauses.

"You're smart, you're talented, and…and you're fearless. Maybe that's why you inspire me so much. You are the reason I wasn't afraid of falling. You are the reason I learned to love myself again. And you are the reason I realized that this is where I belong."

Her voice shakes.

"That there's no place else on Earth I'd rather be than right here, right now, with you."

I can feel the hotness of my cheeks, the burning in my eyes. The people in the room are silent. I can see Derek out of the corner of my eye, nodding at me encouragingly.

“Just one more question I have for you, Miss Forde," I say.

Jenny looks at me, her eyes wide with anticipation. "What's that?"

"Where do our plans for the app take us next?"

Jenny's eyes light up with excitement. "I don't know," she says. "But wherever it is, I'm sure it will be wonderful." She looks at me and smiles before turning to the crowd. "Thank you all so much," she says. "For your attention and for your support. I can't wait to see what the future holds for us both. For our company and for the world. Thank you."

My brother looks up at me from the table. "Well, Ryder," he says, "I guess we've got a lot to talk about now." He smiles. "If you'll excuse me?" He stands up and crosses the room to Jenny. She turns to him, nodding. And then they are engulfed by people, by questions, by admirers and well-wishers.

I stand there for a second, watching them, unable to believe what just happened. Soon after, the audience begins to spill out of the room, one by one, smiling over at me. Derek slaps me on the arm before reaching for the doors.

"Go to her," Derek says. "It's finally your turn."

With that, he exits, leaving me alone once again. I watch the last of our colleagues slip out of the room, and I turn towards the front of the room, to my Jenny.

Finally alone with her, I can give her the focus that she deserves.

I walk up to her, and she turns around, her eyes wide with expectation. I smile back at her, and she grins, her cheeks flushed.

"What a fantastic presentation," I say.

“I’m so glad you think so,” she agrees. "Thank you so much for giving it to me." Her smile becomes wider. "Wasn't sure I could do it."

"You did more than just do it. I'm glad the, uh, app finally won you over."

She bites her lip. "It did. It was a little rough around the edges at first," she admits, "but…it was all worth it to finally see the light. Turns out I was pretty crazy about the damn thing all along." She grins. "Who knew?"

I grin back. "I knew. I knew you'd get there eventually. It just took a while." I look into her eyes and feel the energy in the room. "I'm glad I didn't give up on trying to convince you."

"You didn't give up, Ryder. And you know what else?" She takes a step towards me, and my heart skips a beat at the thought of what she might say next. "It was worth the wait. It was worth the struggle." She bows her head. "It was all worth it."

I take a step closer, lifting her chin with my finger. "It was, wasn't it?" I whisper.

She looks up at me, her eyes shimmering. "It was."

"I love you," I say. Those three little words seem to tumble out of my mouth effortlessly. "I love you, Jenny."

There is an instant where we both fall silent, caught up in our own emotions. Then she smiles back at me. "I love you too."

There is so much I want to say at this moment, so many things that race through my mind. "I'm sorry," I mouth the words instead.

"For what?" she whispers back, her eyes full of questions. "There's nothing you've ever done that you need to be sorry for."

"I'm sorry for not telling you sooner," I say. "I'm sorry for the way I've treated you over the years. I shouldn't have pushed you away and pushed you away and pushed you away."

She reaches out her hand, slowly reaching for mine. "But that's all in the past now. We can look back at it…we can learn from the mistakes that were made, but we don't need to dwell on them anymore." She smiles. "It's time to move forward."

I lean over and kiss her.

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