Page 27 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 8
Oh thank God!“So how many women have you helped find love so far? If you’ve been at this for three centuries, you must be getting close to 1001.”
“Uh…421.”
“Are you for real? That’s like one a year, dude. At that rate you’ll be free in like 600 years.”
“I think it will actually be quite a bit faster. 200 of those matches have come in the last 8 years.”
So…25 a year? And he needs 580 more?I did some fast math. “That’s still gonna take 23 years.”
“It is. And I can’t ask you to wait that long. You’d be wasting the best years of your life with me. No sex. No real future. You’d be such a great mom, Ash.”
I swallowed hard. Did he really think I’d be a good mom? I wasn’t even sure if I would be. But I’d always imagined having the perfect little family - me, my husband, and two little goblins. I could picture it so well. We’d have a beautiful home on a perfect cul-de-sac. Kind of like Cole’s house, only I hoped all the men in my house wouldn’t be nearly as perverted as Cole and his pa.
Actually, I pictured raising my kids a lot like how my parents raised me and Rosalie. Almost like a do-over. Where one of us didn’t disappear. I felt the tears welling in my eyes. I’d protect my children fiercely. I’d never let anything bad happen to them. I wanted another chance to keep my family together.
“Are you willing to give all that up for me?” asked Tanner.
I stopped pulling on the duct tape and looked at him. Really looked at him. And I knew. Because I didn’t want to look away. My eyes always gravitated to him. He was it for me. Cole and Dr. Lyons and the sausage king were all intriguing. I’d had a magical night dancing with Cole at Kat’s party. But he wasn’t Tanner. Cole was cocky, but he didn’t have the pure confidence required to wear a pink and white polka dot tuxedo. He wasn’t my soul mate. But Tanner? He was. And together, we’d figure it all out.
“Yes,” I said. “Yes, I am willing to give that all up for you.”
“You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met. I love you.” He shook his head. “Which is why I can’t let you give all that up for me. You need to get out there and find your true love.”
“So what we have isn’t true love?”
“No, I believe it is. But it doesn’t mean you can’t find true love with someone else.”
“Bullshit. Everyone only has one true love. And you’re mine.”
“Well we can’t have sex, so there’s no way to be sure.”
“Huh?”
“That’s how it works.”
“True love isn’t all about sex, you weirdo. True love is about conversations and snuggles and binging TV together.”
“Maybe so. But my genie lamp only registers true love when I get someone to hook up with their soul mate.”
“Well I don’t need your lamp to tell me when I’ve found true love. Because I know I’ve found it.” It felt like my heart was beating in my throat. “With you.”
Tanner smiled at me. I’d never seen anyone look so happy.
“What?” I asked.
“It’s just been a really long time since I thought a girl would want to be with me. Especially with my curse.”
“Well, I do. And I have some other good news, too.”
“You do?”
“Well…maybe. Let me get this right. All you have to do is get two people to hook up, and if they’re soul mates, then what happens?”So freaking weird.Genies were perverts.
“If it’s true love, the women’s last name appears on my lamp.”
“And you’ve seriously only made 421 matches so far?”
“Yes.”
