Page 30 of Her Billion Dollar Groom

“You think?” I mumble, suddenly and unpleasantly flashing back to every girl I’ve ever loved, every girl who’s called me boring or too serious or unromantic. I guess I got called those things so much I started believing them.

“You’re a good guy,” she says.

“I’m glad someone thinks so.” I hesitate, then add, “Maybe one day I’ll find someone.”

“Well, right now, you’ve got me.” She grins, but before I can try and decode that statement any further, she leans in and kisses me again, pressing her body against mine in a way that makes it undeniable what she wants from me.

I can’t help it. I give in.

We roll over and as our bodies collide again, in the back of my mind, I tell myself that this will be great for our public image, that that’s all it needs to be, that that’s all it will ever be. By being closer, we’ll be able to trick everyone better. That’s the ultimate reason for doing this.

The fact that it feels good is a bonus. We have something to hide, and this helps. Anything else, I’m going to bury deep and never think about again.

And then Eliza moves her hips again, and I completely lose the very last shred of reason I was holding on to.

CHAPTER 18

ELIZA

Three weeks pass, and I spend almost every night in Jason’s bed.

He’s still grumpy and precise in his house. He still gets mad with me when I stay up too late or interrupt him when he’s working, but he flirts back with me now. It’s like I’ve broken through his chivalry, and he’s realized he’s allowed to see me as attractive.

Suddenly, instead of being the gentleman he always was, we’ll be at home hanging out in the evening, and he’ll wrap an arm around me, pull me in, kiss me. I can’t resist - I don’t say no.

When our time together is done, I think I am going to miss this.

Our friendship is getting deeper too. It’s like sleeping together has unlocked something inside us. We share inside jokes, we giggle in front of the press. We understand each other in a way we didn’t before. Even with how confusing and complicated our relationship is, I would probably call him my best friend.

It’s only right then that I use our newfound friendship to help him out.

Since we’ve been together, he’s developed this rush of confidence. He’s still awkward in front of interviewers, and weird around investors, but he doesn’t slouch anymore. He holds himself taller. He smiles more.

It’s a good look on him.

But I’ve hit a brick wall on my album. It’s so frustrating knowing the kind of sounds I want from it but not being able to find a way to make it a reality. And so I’ve been doing what I always do. Ignoring the problem.

The first time Jason took me to one of his business meetings, I had to beg him to let me go. I promised not to say a word, to sit there quietly and watch it all happening. Though he tried to hide it, the look he gave me was absolutely saying,Can you be quiet for more than two seconds?

I’d have found it hurtful if he wasn’t right.

I won eventually, of course. My signature pouting ground him down. And keeping to my promise, I went with him and didn’t say a word. Well, not until one of the men in the meeting decided to snidely call me stupid in a way he didn’t think I would understand.

“It’s good of you to have come along for moral support,” he had said.

I’ve handled enough men who have great faith in their own superiority to know that the best way to deal with them is to play stupid until you can absolutely and undeniably prove to them how wrong they are. “What do you mean?” I asked.

He chuckled, and the sound made my skin crawl before he finally said what was in his heart. “Well, for someone as prettyas you, you know, this must all be a bit… difficult. Your husband must be pleased you’re here to support him.”

“Yes,” I said pleasantly, smiling as I told him that the marketing plan had been my idea to begin with.

The blood had drained from his face, and I’d had to clench my fists until my nails left deep marks on my skin trying not to smile too much with self-satisfaction.

And it’s true. I have been helping out with his marketing plans and business ideas. I’m no pro at this and I don’t have a degree, but I do understand his market. I’m trying, and not completely failing, to modernize him.

When he asked me if I wanted to go on a scenic getaway, at first, I thought he was being romantic. And I guess in a way, for him, he was. But it turns out by scenic getaway, what he meant wasWill you come and help me at this networking weekend because I’m completely lost without you?

He’s not self-aware enough to have said that last part out loud.

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