Page 50 of Her Big Fat Hunky Billionaire Boss

“Look, I didn’t mean…”

“I know.” He understood. She didn’t feel that way about him. And he shouldn’t feel that way about her either. He was just emotional, from talking about his father and what had happened to Luke. Connecting like that with her made him forget who he was for a moment. He needed to get a grip.

Kat walked to the bed and pulled on her coat. “I should go.”

A sudden urge for her to stay spiked and he held out his hand. “Please don’t. I…I don’t want you to.” Wow, how lame did that sound? Desperate, much?

He almost took it back, but Kat nodded and stopped moving toward the door. She looked around the small hotel room. An awkwardness settled in. “Do you want to go for a drive?”

“Where would we go?” The town was sixteen blocks. It would be a quick drive.

“New Haven is only thirty minutes away.” She paused, then gave him a shy smile. “They have a Starbucks.”

“Are you freaking kidding me?” He opened the closet and brought out his coat. “Let’s go.” He couldn’t believe Kat was holding out on him like that. He wanted to throttle her and kiss her at the same time.

They left the hotel and paused at Kat’s car. He’d been in her passenger seat enough to know how she drove. “Let’s take my rental.”

She sighed. “Fine.”

He clicked the key FOB and the doors unlocked. Kat slid into the passenger seat. After he started the car, he turned to her. “Which direction is New Haven?”

“Just go west on Main Street and keep going.”

He pulled out of the parking lot. The silence in the car was awkward, and he felt odd after revealing so much of himself. He tapped the steering wheel. “Thanks for listening to me in there. I don’t know why I felt the urge to share all that with you. I’m not usually like that.”

Kat played with a large button on her coat. The awkwardness between them hadn’t lifted. “I didn’t mind.”

“I think finding out that I have a brother my father hid from me made me go a little crazy.”

Kat placed a hand on his leg. “You’re a good person. I meant it when I said that. You have a good heart.”

He swallowed and kept his eyes on the road. He didn’t want to get all wrapped up in Kat again. She was the kind of girl he could easily fall for. Or maybe he was already falling for her. That thought didn’t sit well with him. They had no future together. “Thanks,” he said, keeping his tone light.

“What are you going to do?”

“About Lydia?” He glanced at Kat and she nodded. “I don’t know yet. Something’s come up back home and I really should leave tomorrow. But things here feel unfinished.”

Kat seemed surprised. “I thought maybe you’d close things down once you found out. Mystery solved. End of story.”

He shook his head. “I have a brother I haven’t even met. I can’t just pretend he doesn’t exist like my father did. And I suppose my mother as well since she seemed to know about it too.” He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, unable to fathom how they could do that.

“Then you’re not closing things down?” Her voice sounded hopeful.

Clarity suddenly hit him, and he realized why Kat had wanted to spend time with him. Why she was showing him around the town. This was all about saving her job. His mouth grew dry. “Yeah. I’m not shutting it down.”

“Oh my gosh, I’m so relieved. I thought you were going to destroy the paper, and Lydia was going to kill me, then resurrect me and then kill me again.”

Of course, he should have known. It had to be Lydia’s idea all along. “So, Lydia put you up to this?”

“To what?”

He kind of didn’t want to know the truth, but his mouth asked anyway. “Spending time with me?”

“Well, yeah, she asked me to give you the royal treatment, but I didn’t think it was going to do any good. I was sure you were out to…” Kat stopped talking and looked at him. “What?”

He forced his gaze to the road. “Nothing.”

She had no interest in him at all. Everything that had happened was her trying to save her job. He tried not to let it bother him. He knew there couldn’t be anything more between them anyway. It just added to the rejection he felt after he lost control and kissed her, and she stopped him. He wouldn’t make that same mistake again.

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