Page 138 of The Billionaire's Wake-up-call Girl

I look over at Mia, unsure how much to divulge.

“I have history with somebody there,” she says. “My high school nemesis works there. And if he ever saw me delivering sandwiches in a cat suit?” She shakes her head, like it’s too horrible to comprehend.

“Or if he ordered one?” I add.

“Oh, my god,” she says. “And he would. If he learned that having me deliver a sandwich in a cat suit is a possibility in his life, he’d be all over it.”

“Can you switch territories?” I ask.

“I’m going to try. Because I would rather die. Literally die.”

“Would it be that bad?” Theo asks.

“Yes,” we say in unison.

Mia thanks Theo again for offering the subletter a temporary free apartment.

“Everything’s perfect,” I say.

“Except the conundrum window,” Mia says. “Beware, it’s almost summer.”

We explain the horrible dilemma of the window to Theo—too hot when it’s closed, too stinky when it’s open.

He goes over, but he doesn’t seem to be looking out the window. He’s looking at the part of the wall next to the window, studying one of Mia’s cross-stitches, hanging right next to it. “What is this?” He takes it off the hook.

Mia turns to me, jaw hanging open. It’s here I realize—that’s theSex with me is a dirty, savage affair. Utterly uncivilizedcross-stitch.

He turns, holding the thing up. “Care to explain?”

“Um, no?” I squeak.

He smiles his sexy, stern smile.

“Gotta go,” Mia says, getting out of there.

I lock up behind her, and Theo presses me to the door. “You are a totally impudent wake-up-call girl who needs to be taught a lesson,” he rumbles.

“Am I?” I start unbuttoning his shirt. “Am I, really?”

In fact, I am. All afternoon I am.

Epilogue

Theo

New Year’s Day; eight months later

Fargo, North Dakota

I stand at the front of the tiny prairie church, adjusting my cuff links. There’s a fiddler, a friend of the Cooper family, playing wedding songs in the corner.

I adjust my sleeve, trying to get it even with the other sleeve.

Willow pokes me in the back. “They’re fine! You’re perfect!”

I turn to face her.

Per-fect,she mouths.

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