Page 150 of The Billionaire's Fake Fiancée

“You know how she feels about liars,” Rex says.

“But you saved her ass!” I say.

Rex shakes his head.

“Wait.” My mind whirls. “You lost the account because you told her about our fakery.”

“She doesn’t like deception. I don’t either. It was the right thing to do.”

“But you didn’t have to.” My heart pounds. “She never even cared about the article or your playboy thing—the whole review was because of Marvin. You could’ve had it all, but you told her. Wait.” I stare down at the little card. “You told her in order to get this, didn’t you?”

“She’s very interested in throwing all kinds of money at you. It’s a good sign. This could be big.”

“Rex. You threw away the account you always wanted?”

“Getting the account I always wanted with trickery was always the wrong thing,” he says.

“But…”

“It’s just another account,” he says over my protests. “She thinks your idea’s worthwhile. She wouldn’t waste her time otherwise. You know that, right?”

I clutch the little card so hard, it’s a miracle I’m not ripping it. “No more pathetically impoverished. Maybe.”

He smiles sadly.

“Sorry, it’s just…this is amazing. I didn’t mean to bring up the hate list,” I say.

“Don’t call it that. It wasn’t hate,” he says. “Clark always tells me I’m shit at feelings. You have no idea how right he is. Because the way you’ve been barging into my thoughts the past two years, I was too dense to know what that meant. The way I’d turn over the things you say in my mind, over and over from one Friday to the next. The image of how fucking beautiful you are and the way you blazed into my dim reality, I didn’t know.”

“Rex,” I say.

“No, listen,” he says. That little furrow forms between his eyebrows as he continues. “The way I’d obsess about you so much that I could barely enjoy being with other women, I didn’t know how to process it. You made me feel emotions I didn’t have a name for, and the feelings were so fucking strong, Tabitha, so strong that I thought they had to be hate, because what other feeling could disrupt my life? What other feeling could take over my mind, or make my heart race in the middle of the night? What else?”

Cars and shouts and sirens and other late-night sounds fade into the background. There’s just Rex. I swallow back the dryness in my mouth.

“All of those fierce, furious feelings…” His voice sounds hoarse. “That was the opposite of hate and I didn’t know.”

I clutch the paper. My pulse whooshes in my ears. “I—”

“Please.” He puts up a hand. “Let me finish. It was love, Tabitha. Your ridiculous soap operas and bubbly personality and sparkles and Hello Kitty shit and all that, those were things I love about you. I won’t stop loving you.”

I blink, at a loss.

“Also, that couples dynamic you decided on for us?” he continues. “Me as the alpha who shows his soft side only to you? It’s wrong. I’m the fuckup and the bully who’s not used to having other people to care for, who didn’t know his own heart until it was too late. I’m the guy who will do anything for you. The guy who’ll spend as long as it takes to make this up to you and never give up. And you don’t have to do anything back. You don’t have to be fun. You just have to be you. That’s enough. Because I’m the guy who’ll always love you no matter what.”

My throat is so clogged I can’t speak. Did he say he loves me?

“I get it,” he says. “I don’t deserve another chance, but I’m not done. I don’t expect you to say anything now, but I’m not going to stop trying. Okay?”

He comes to me and he kisses my forehead. The feeling of it whooshes through my heart. Before I know what’s happening, he’s walking off into the night, black coat flying after him.

Cold air hits my lips and tongue. That’s the only way I know I’m standing there slack-jawed.

Mouth just hanging open.

Rex gave up his most precious business goal for me.

He loves me.

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