Page 72 of Her Big Fat Hunky Billionaire Boss

He stood. “I need to go.”

She turned to him, her arms falling to her sides, the movie in her hand. “Are you okay?”

“No.” He slipped into his coat. “I just found out you’ve been lying to me,Amelia.”

Chapter 25

All the blood drained from Kat’s face as she stared at Damian. He stood there, his jaw clenching and unclenching. Kat’s gaze flickered to her laptop. Her throat tightened. He’d found out, somehow. She’d let him use her laptop, and now she’d ruined everything.

“I can explain,” she said, her voice small. It sounded pathetic, even to her own ears.

“You don’t need to. I understand.” He tugged on his gloves. “You created a fake profile on Privileged Singles. You targeted me. You lied to me. You pretended to be someone else. You talked to me on the phone as someone else. You made me think you were a totally different person who lived in New York. Have I gotten anything wrong?”

Kat felt like scum. Worse than scum. She felt like the slime that aspired to be scum. Her mouth dried up, and she shook her head because no words would come out.

“Right. I didn’t think so.” He turned toward the door.

“Wait,” she said, the word sticking in her throat.

He faced her, his expression stoic.

She swallowed. What in the world would she say to him that would make this better? That it had been a harmless prank at first? That she never meant to really fall for him? That she’d done it to try to figure out if he was going to close down the newspaper? She tried to say something, but nothing would form on her lips except a lame, “I’m sorry,” which came out so quietly she wasn’t even sure if he heard her.

“Goodbye, Kat.” He left her standing there, holding the stupid DVD case and staring at the door.

She sank down onto the couch beside her closed laptop. Guilt and pain washed over her. He had every right to be angry. He’d talked to Amelia just last night. She should have told him. He was growing serious about their relationship. She should have known keeping up the pretense was a bad idea. She just didn’t know how to tell him. And with him wanting to end contact, she thought it would just resolve itself.

But, of course, he found out and it ruined everything.

Guilt for not wanting to tell him made her feel worse. He was right. She’d lied to him. She blinked as tears filled her eyes. She didn’t blame him for hating her. She would be horribly upset if he had done the same thing to her.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Maybe he’d cool down and she could talk to him tomorrow. She did a stupid thing, but it wasn’t as bad as hiding a secret husband or something. Things could be worse. He’d have to see that, right?

She got on her computer and logged into Privileged Singles. She deleted her account, something she should have done the moment she realized her feelings for Damian were growing into something tangible. Something more than just a crush.

A hollow feeling spread through her, and she closed her computer. Damian would forgive her, right? This wasn’t the end of things. I couldn’t be. She’d just have to call him tomorrow and beg forgiveness. Maybe spilling her side of the story would be enough. If she could get her words out, that is.

Kat went into the bathroom and filled up the old claw-footed tub with hot water. Usually soaking in the tub made everything better, but her heart was cold, even with the steam and heat enveloping her. She’d messed everything up.

After ten minutes, she gave up and drained the tub. She got ready for bed, her chest feeling like a large piece of it was missing. Tomorrow she would make things right between them. She had to, or she’d never be the same. She lay in bed, tears running spilling down the sides of her face as she stared up at the dark ceiling.

Kat awoke the next morning feeling like she’d been run over. Her eyes were swollen and puffy. Her nose was stuffed up so much she couldn’t breathe. The stricken look on Damian’s face kept flashing through her mind, making her feel worse.

She got up and showered, then put her hair up in a bun. She had work today. With things awkward between her and Damian, she wasn’t sure what would happen with the newspaper, so she might be stuck at the diner indefinitely. Dating the boss really was a stupid idea.

Harriet approached her when she got to work. “What’s up with your man? He was in here earlier and you’d have thought he had a baseball bat up his you-know-what. I think I heard him growl.”

Kat sighed. “I did something stupid.”

Harriet smoothed out her apron. “Oh, no, honey. What happened?”

She was tired of rehashing it over and over in her mind. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“Well, if you want to apologize, you’d better do it quick. He said something about changing plans and flying out today.”

Her heart plummeted. Of course, he did. Harriet frowned. “Call him, honey. You can take whatever time off you need.”

“Thanks, Harriet.”

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