Page 26 of Her Billion Dollar Groom

There was nothing sordid, nothing exciting about that relationship or the way it ended, but all of a sudden, I find myselfweaving this tale of betrayal and heartbreak. “She would always be so bossy,” I say. “I did my best to make her happy, but nothing was ever enough. It was alwaysDo more, do better,andWhy don’t you pay more attention to me?But Eliza is nothing like that. Eliza is so thoughtful. She pays attention to me. It’s been a revelation.”

“Sounds like you found the perfect match,” says Antonio.

My heart twists when he says that because he’s right. I’ve been trying my best not to see Eliza as something other than a friend, and as a friend, she’s the best one I have. But sometimes my thoughts betray me, and my mind starts wandering to what it would be like if, instead of being stuck in the marriage arrangement, we were lovers. Married for real. How it would feel to hold her close to me. To call her mine and mean it.

The thought makes my heart race, and I have to kill it in its tracks before it gets out of hand. Because the fact is, she has no interest in me like that. That’s not what our relationship, such as it is, is about.

But what I’ve said about Eliza is true in a way. She is changing me. I would never have been confident enough to make up stuff like this before. Somehow, when I’m doing it for her, it’s easier. Somehow, when it’s not me trying to make myself look good but rather me trying to protect someone who I care about, anything seems possible.

Anything except the thing I’m trying not to want.

CHAPTER 16

ELIZA

I’m exhausted by the time we get home. The party was exactly as hard as I expected it to be, but having Jason there helped.

Actually, I don’t know what I would have done without him. For the first time in my life, a man speaking for me wasn’t irritating. I should have been furious that he kept speaking over me, interrupting, telling other people what I was thinking, but it was just what I needed. Someone to take the pressure off, to deflect people’s scrutiny.

Some way of handling people’s nosiness. That’s what people are - nosy.

They think that because I’m a celebrity, I’m a friend to them, and because we’re friends that means they’re entitled to know everything about me. They think that because I am in the public eye, they have a right to be in my business. I know it’s just the way that my industry works, but it’s so exhausting.

And it doesn’t help that my whole thing with Jason is a lie. It didn’t feel like a lie tonight, though. I could have believed every word he said about us.

Usually, he’s awkward and a bit weird. I’ve come to be fond of that, in its own way. He’s serious and thinks too much, but the more I get used to it, the more I see that’s just how he is. The second you dig just a little bit deeper, you discover that he’s thoughtful, perceptive. He saw that I was uncomfortable tonight, and he took action to try and stop that.

Even though he was doing the talking for the first time in my life, being with him, I felt truly listened to.

You can say what you want about Jason, but he’s honest. He’s real.

The last thing I expected out of all this was to actually start liking him. Not that he’s unlikable, it’s just that he’s not at all my type. He couldn’t be further from it. He’s an uptight kind of guy who cares about his work more than having fun. I’ve never been with someone like him before.

I’mnotwith someone like him.

We’re not together. Except when we are.

This is all getting a little too confusing.

We make our way inside and I kick off my shoes. He gives me a look that he thinks I don’t see, and without a word, I move my shoes to the rack, placing them neatly next to his.

“You must be tired,” he says.

“Yeah,” I agree, “I guess I am.” I reach out to touch his arm. “How are you doing?”

“I hate parties,” he says, followed by a grimace.

“Honestly, me too. They’re such hard work.”

“I think I’m getting too old for them,” he says ruefully, fiddling with the corner of his glasses.

I look him up and down and scoff. “You’re not that old.”

“Why, thank you very much. That means a lot coming from a beautiful, young pop singer.”

“I’m not that young anymore, either,” I say.

He gives me the kind of look that saysDon’t make me argue with you about that, and though usually I love our dumb bickering, right now I’m not in the mood. So I change the subject. “Thank you, by the way.”

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