Page 55 of Most Eligible Billionaire

“I have something to tell you,” I say. “I'm signing the company over to Henry.”

“Ex-cuuuuuse?” she says, outraged and dramatic.

“It’s not mine. It’s not right.”

“It belongs to poor Smuckers.”

“Come on,” I say. “It’s Henry’s birthright. I’m going to have Smuckers sign it over.”

“But…all the money!”

“It’s not ours.”

“He tried to trick you,” Carly says. “He tried to bully you. He had you detained!”

“And now all that ends.”

“So a rich, entitled asshole who thinks he can get his way all the time gets his way?”

The memory of the kiss washes over me. I would’ve given him anything. It’s dangerous. How far would he have gone? Seducing me out of sheer duty? “Decision made,” I say.

Carly narrows her eyes. “Hooooold on. This is a pretty major financial decision.”

I smile bitterly. “A multi-billion-dollar decision.”

“Well, are you forgetting something, perhaps? A certain cooling off period that we promised each other to honor?”

“This is different.”

“How? It’s a major financial decision. It affects us both—that’s our pact.”

I sit up.Shit. “I can’t—”

“We keep our word to each other,” she says. “Right?”

Nobody has a nose for hypocrisy quite like a teen. I look over at the calendar. Twenty-one days. “I have to at least tell him. He’s…”trying to seduce it out of me. “He’s in misery.”

“Oh, no, no, no, no, noooo!” Carly can see she’s got me and she’s enjoying it. “Making a commitment is a promise. If you’re good for your word, saying you’ll do a thing is like doing a thing.Sameas,” she adds. “We keep our word, us two. And Henry and the rest of the Worldwide Cocks, what with their do-the-right-thing bullshit and then they try to trick you? Please—”

“Okay, okay.” I hold up a hand. “But I’m giving it back.”

“If you so decide after your cooling off period, then yes.”

I look at her standing there, all on fire. “I don’t know if I hate you or love you more right now.”

She grins. “And you cannot verbally commit to it. NoI’m giving you your company back but I have to humor my sister.”

I toss a balled-up sock at her.

“Bird,” she says.

When April toldme a car was coming, I assumed it would be my own personal limo, as is the Locke Worldwide way, but when I step out onto the sidewalk with Smuckers in his fave riding purse, it’s Henry standing there, holding the door open.

He pulls off his aviator glasses. My soul lights up like a switchboard.

“Good morning,” he says. His brown suit fits perfectly over his broad shoulders as if to say,Oh, all of the places you will not go!But really, really want to!

“Hi,” I say, like I’m not awash in the Henry Locke magic. I slide into the limo, positioning Smuckers on the cock blocker side of me.

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