Page 112 of Grumpy Boss of the Year

"You don’t have to. What if I say I'd give him the money without you having to marry me?"

I turn around in shock and stare at him. "What? Why would you do that?"

"Because I don’t want to marry someone who obviously dislikes me so much and thinks I'm a pig."

"I don't think you're a pig. I just think that you're…" I bite down on my lower lip. "This is complicated."

"I know," he says as he leans forward and kisses me on the lips. "I never thought I'd meet a brown-eyed girl who'd have me acting all crazy."

"How do I have you acting crazy?"

"I mean, I'm offering to give your dad millions of dollars for nothing. I'd say that was crazy."

"True. That is kinda crazy. All just to sleep with me and all."

He chuckles. "Well, you know, you are a twenty-million-dollar beauty."

"Twenty million!" My voice shoots up. "That’s not… Oh my gosh, I don’t wanna know. Wait, you're gonna give my dad twenty million dollars?"

He stares at me for a couple of seconds. "I mean, I don't know the exact numbers, and I'm not gonna let your dad continue to run his businesses himself. He obviously has no clue what he's doing. I know that you care about your family and you wanna make sure that they're okay. And well, since I've known you, I've come to care about you, and I wanna make sure you're okay. I don't trust that your father can be in charge of the money."

"So wait, what?"

"I'll give him enough money to pay off his debts, and then I will handle the day-to-day runnings of whatever businesses he has left."

I stare at him in shock. "And my dad agreed to this?"

"We haven't discussed everything in fine detail, but he will."

I shake my head. "My dad won't like that. His job is his whole life. It's how he's coped since my mother died."

Liam just stares at me and nods. "Sometimes life doesn't go as planned."

He looks away for a couple of seconds, grabs the back of my neck, and pulls me into him. I feel his lips against mine. "Sometimes we meet someone who sweeps us off of our feet, and it makes us believe in…"

My heart starts pounding. For a second, I think he's gonna say love. And as I wait for those words to come from his lips, I realize something that I should have known immediately. I'm falling for this man. That has to be the only reason why I didn'timmediately leave as soon as he told me that he was the one who was going to have my hand in marriage.

I want him. I want him to want me, not just for sex, but for a lifetime.You fucking idiot, a voice screams in my head.How could you feel this way?

I wait for him to say the words. If he does, I'm gonna scoff and laugh and pretend they mean nothing to me, but I know I'll tell him I feel the same way. I'll tell him that I knew he was someone special from the first moment I saw him, from the…

"So, big spoon or little spoon?" he says, and I blink.

"What?"

"What do you mean, what? I've asked you the question many times already."

"But you were just about to say something." I glare at him.

"I've said many somethings," he says, shrugging. "Why?"

"But you were just about to say that you knew?—"

"I knew what?" He shakes his head.

"Nothing," I say, wondering if I'd imagined it. Did he cut himself off? Did he say it and I didn't hear? Or am I just being an idiot, hoping and wishing for something that is never gonna happen?

"Well, I don't wanna be the little spoon."

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