“Well, I mean it’s not like you’re ugly. You have money, you have a job and a car. So pretty much everything that a girl would want in a boyfriend. So why aren’t you bringing a real girlfriend to meet your parents and family?”
“Because I don’t trust people.”
“What do you even mean by that?”
He looked away from me, and I bit my lip. I knew what I was about to do was wrong, but I didn’t care. “Look, man, you just had sex with me. Come on, is it going to kill you to open up to me a little? You just … I gave you something that is supposed to be special and … it was one of my secrets. Give me one of yours, please? We’ve already got secrets we need to keep together.”
Adam stared at me for longer than I was quite comfortable with, but I kept eye contact with him the entire time. I wasn’t going to back down.
He looked away from me, letting out a deep breath. “Let me guess, you want me to tell you about Kurt.”
“No.”
I could tell it shocked him. I let the words hang in the air for a little while.
The truth was, I didn’t care if he told me about Kurt or not. Of course, I wanted to know why he hated his cousin so much, but that wasn’t the point.
“I just want to know something. Like, why you asked me to be your pretend girlfriend instead of getting a girlfriend.”
“Because it was easier. A girlfriend, a real one, I would have to worry about getting hurt and being upset about everything my family says. I would also have to care about her, which isn’t very common for me.” He paused, and I watched his cheeks turn bright pink. “Um, not that I don’t care about you, I mean.”
“It’s cool.” I gave him a smile. “I get what you mean. So, you just don’t want to deal with this, basically?”
“I guess, yea.”
“But you’re willing to come over and make me food for two days while I’m sick?” It didn’t make sense. Didn’t he get that?
“I …” He looked away from me as he trailed off. I waited, but he just sat there. I kept waiting. And waiting. “I just wanted to make sure you’d be better before the weekend was over. I mean, I didn’t want to face my family on my own.”
“Ah.”
I won’t lie, it stung a little. I was willing to admit that. I was willing to admit that I was hurt by the fact that he didn’t actually care about me getting better. That all he cared about was not being alone with his family. And here I was thinking we were going to have a moment … thinking that, somehow, what had just happened had changed things for us. Clearly, it hadn’t.
He was still a dick. And I had found out why he cared so much about me when I was sick. “So …” I tailed off. I didn’t even want to ask why he had asked me about my childhood dreams. I didn’t care why he cared. I stared up at the roof as tears pressed against the corner of my eyes. I knew it was stupid to be upset over it, but I couldn’t help it. I should have known it was all selfish.
And I just had sex with him.
He hadn’t been selfish about that. No, he’d actually been really kind to me. He could have just ignored my pain, and I wouldn’t have judged him. I would have just assumed he was caught up in his own pleasure. Maybe he just didn’t want to be that much of a dick. That was possible, right?
I pushed myself up, suddenly not wanting to be anywhere near him.
“I’m going to hit the hay.”
68. Chapter Seventeen
I woke up the next morning with his arms around me, holding me tightly. I could feel him pressed against me, every inch of him. Last night … Everything came flooding back. Everything that we’d done together. Everything we’d talked about.
I bit my lip, rolled over and turned to face him. He was still asleep.
I carefully slipped out from his hold on me without waking him and rolled out of bed. I dressed in some clean clothes and headed for the kitchen. The clock on the stove said it as 8:00. I looked around the living room and kitchen, noting that our cell phones sat on the floor where we had left them last night. Adam’s was ringing. I rushed over to it and lifted it to my ear as I unlocked the screen.
“Hello?”
“Fiona?” Kathrine said from the other end. “How are you doing?”
“Not too bad, yourself?”
“Good. Good,” she didn’t sound it. “I hope I didn’t wake you.”
“No, you didn’t. Is everything alright?”
“I uh, was just calling to let you know we are on our way. We’ll be there in about two hours.”
“Sounds perfect. Look forward to seeing you.” I didn’t let onto the fact that I could tell how stressed she sounded.
“See you then.” She sighed as she hung up.
I reached for my phone. I had two text messages, each one from Matt. He had asked what I was up to, and if I had time to talk. I replied letting him know I did before returning to the bedroom, both cell phones in my hand.
“Adam.” I touched his shoulder.
“What?” he mumbled, rolling over to face me.
I opened my mouth to reply. Beep, Beep, Beep. Beep, Beep, Beep. My phone rang in my hand.
I glanced down at it. “Crap,” I muttered. I hadn’t expected him to call this quick. I flicked the screen up. “Hey, just give me one sec, ’kay?” Without waiting for his answer, I covered the mouthpiece and turned my attention back to Adam.
“Is that your brother?”
“No, why?”
“Good.” He reached out and grabbed my wrist, pulling me towards him. Our lips crashed together, and my heart did a backflip.
The kiss was over just as quickly as it had happened, and I was left speechless for a couple of seconds. “Um … your mom called, they are on their way.”
“Oh, okay.” He didn’t look happy.
I gave a single nod and lifted the phone to my ear. “Hi, sorry about that.”
“It’s fine,” Matt said from the other end of the phone, his tone of voice made it clear it was not fine, but I wasn’t going to mention that, “so I’m guessing you’re busy again this weekend?”
“I …” My cheeks burned. I didn’t want to say yes, but I knew there was no other answer I could give him.
“I should have guessed. I mean, you’ve been busy every weekend recently. Don’t worry, I won’t bother calling again.”
“Matt! You can call all you want. You don’t have to—”
“Don’t bother, Fiona. There was only one reason I was calling. It was to ask you out.”
I wasn’t sure if that was supposed to make me feel bad or flatter me, or what, but it made me mad.
“Only one reason, eh? So if I was otherwise engaged, I shouldn’t expect to hear from you?”
“Sounds to me like you are otherwise engaged.” I could hear the bitterness in his voice.
I nodded. “Right, let’s say I am. You’re not answering my question.”
Was I only worth calling if I was single? Because that was not the kind of friend I wanted in my life. I didn’t care how cute Matt was. Anyways, Adam’s cuter, I thought. I knew it was the wrong thing to think, but I didn’t care. It was true.
His silence was enough of an answer for me. “Hmmm. I see, well, in that case, don’t bother calling me—whether or not I am otherwise engaged.”
Without another word, I hung up my phone.
“Who was that?” Adam tried and failed to sound like it wasn’t a big deal.
“No one, just … an old friend.” I blew out a deep breath, frowning. Anger boiled up inside me. “I guess friend isn’t really the right word for it, considering he only called because he thought, er knew, I was single and wanted to ask me out.”
Adam’s brow furrowed. “That guy I saw flirting with you at work? What was his name? ... Mark?”
“Matt.” He shrugged, clearly his name didn’t matter that much to him. Either way, I nodded. “That was him, yea.”
His frown deepened. “Asshole. Too bad I already fired him.”
My jaw dropped. “You’re the re
ason Matt got fired?”
“No, Matt’s the reason Matt got fired.”
I stared with wide eyes as Adam padded over to the coffeemaker and started to get coffee ready. He didn’t say anything, but I was waiting for him to explain to me why he had fired Matt. Finally, he turned to face me and seemed to realize I was waiting.
Still he didn’t say anything.
I blew out a deep breath of frustration.
“Oh, what?” he snapped. “The guy was unprofessional. You know I caught him trying to walk into the women’s change rooms?”
My jaw dropped, forming a small o. “No, you did? Really? You’re not just making that up?”
“That would be a pretty assholey move of me, wouldn’t it? I mean, give me a little credit; I’m a dick, but I’m not that much of a dick.”
It was a pretty unfair thing to think about someone, and I knew it, but to think Matt had been …
“I’m guessing you don’t know he had a record?”
“What?”
“He had been arrested, twice. My father believes in giving people chances and that people can change. It’s worked for us a lot, but this time, it didn’t.”
I stared blankly as Adam went about making the coffee. How could I have not known?
“I went out drinking with him.” I felt sick knowing that I had.
“I’m glad you’re safe.”
He honestly sounded like he meant it.
I felt my stomach turn. I tried to shove the idea out of my head, but it didn’t matter. It was still there. “So,” I cleared my throat, “your mom said they were going to be here in a couple of hours.”
“Alright.”
“Do you think we should have something ready for them? I mean, should we make sure there is food or will they stop along the way?”
“I’ll text my mom to let her know we’ve got something waiting, then they won’t stop.”
I nodded, sauntering over to the fridge. What was there that I could toss into a bake and warm up in the oven? If there were a bunch of us, that would be the best route. I pulled out some eggs, bacon, and precut hash browns. The thing about the cottage, there was no freezer by the looks of it, so even the hash browns were in there.
It’s only a day and a half. I mean, we’d be leaving sometime Sunday, right? And we could probably make up an excuse to leave early. Maybe my brother has a cold or something, and I want to be there in time to make dinner? That could work, right? Or maybe I could be religious and want to get to church. I snorted at the idea of me being religious. It was crazy, and I knew it, but that didn’t matter. If it got me out of here, and Adam out of here.
“Maybe we could go on a date tonight.”
His words shocked me. “Uhh …” Then I got it. He meant we could pretend to go on one so we could get away from his family. “Yea, that sounds good. I didn’t bring any good date clothes, but that’s fine. Do you think your family will want to go on a hike or something? Are they much of walkers?”
“Not really. My sisters will probably spend most of their time at the lake, honestly.”
I guess that made sense. They were such water bugs! Spending the day with them while Adam was golfing with his dad had taught me that.
“Tell me about your grandma. What does she like?”
“Being a grumpy old lady, if that sounds.”
My brow furrowed. It didn’t give me any insight into what she was like, but whatever. At least I knew she wasn’t a bright and cheerful person, I guess.
Everyone arrived around 11:00, which was a little later than expected, but that was fine. The bake had been warming slowly in the oven.
My heart skipped a beat when I heard car doors close.
Adam and I both rushed to put shoes on. “I’ll let you say hi to your grandma. I’ll help unpack.”
“Oh, lucky me,” he muttered.
I smacked him lightly on the arm as we headed outside.
“Fiona!” Gabby jumped out of the car.
“Hey,” I was utterly shocked as the young girl ran over and pulled me into a hug. I hugged her lightly but had no clue how I was supposed to react, knowing that I was going to break this little girl’s heart sucked. “I’ll see you inside; I’m going to help your dad unload,” I said as I pulled away and headed for the truck, making sure to circle around the side that Adam’s grandma was not getting out of.
“Hi,” I gave Adam’s father a wide smile as I stopped beside him and grabbed a couple of bags.
“Oh, Fiona you don’t have to ...”
“Don’t be silly. I don’t mind helping.” I grabbed three backpacks and headed for the cottage doors. When I got inside, all the girls had made their way inside, including Adam’s grandma. “I’m not sure whose is whose, so I’m just going to put these all in the living room and out of the way,” I said as I did so. I turned to see everyone staring at me. “There is something to eat in the oven. It’s nothing fancy, but it should fill ya’ up.”
“Thank you, Fiona.” I could hear the relief in Kathrine’s voice as she gave me a smile.
“You must be Adam’s girlfriend.” The elderly woman stepped forward, and I turned to her.
She had short gray hair, but she dressed very stylishly.
“I am.” I extended my hand to her, “Fiona ...”
She shook my hand softly, but she didn’t look happy. “You can call me Eleanora.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Mhm.” She looked me up and down, and my heart skipped a beat. I knew she was judging me. The door closed, giving me something to turn my attention to.
“Are you guys done unloading already?”
“Yes, thank you for your help,” his dad said, and he and Adam stepped past Eleanora and me and placed the last of the bags in the living room. Even he seemed a little stressed by the fact that his mother was here. Well, I’ll just have to make sure I don’t let her get to me. She must be bad if the entire family wasn’t overly happy about it.
Eleanora made her way over to the table and took a slice of the bake that Kathrine handed her. I swear I could hear everyone hold their breath as she took a bite.
“It’s a bit bland,” she remarked.
I saw Adam roll his eyes.
“I know ...” I promised myself I wasn’t going to let her get to me, and I wasn’t, “I’m honestly not as much of a cook as I would like. What would you have seasoned it with if you’d cooked it? My parents were never around to teach me how to cook, so I’ve been figuring everything out on my own.”
She looked up at me, and I could feel all eyes fixed on us.
“Your parents weren’t around?” I could hear the judgment in her voice. It wasn’t something that I wasn’t already used to.
“Nope. It was mostly myself and my brother who handled all these things from a young age, but we’re not letting that be an excuse for us.” I’d found the perfect answer to her judgmental question ages ago, and I used it often, “My brother works three jobs, and I work as well, but on the weekends, I try to make time to try out new recipes, but of course, there’s other stuff I have to take care of. My brother only gets one day off every week, so I don’t want him to feel like he has to shoulder a lot of the to-do list on his day off, which means all the shopping and the cleaning is on me.”
It wasn’t a total lie, but it wasn’t the complete truth, and I was fine with that.
I wasn’t surprised to see her face soften a little bit. “I’d have added sage.”
“Sage? Interesting. Thank you! I know I have some from Christmas when I made stuffing.”
I turned to see Adam staring with wide eyes. Everyone, actually. They all stared at me with wide eyes.
I wasn’t sure what the big deal was. I mean, I’d just taken her suggestion. Was that a bad thing? Was I supposed to dispute her?
I bit my lip. I had no clue where to go from here. Adam, save me. I glanced at him, helplessly.
Adam cleared his throat, and as if reading my mind, he gave me a grin. �
�When you guys finish up, why don’t we head outside?” he asked his younger sisters.
“Okay!” They all said in unison.
It didn’t take long for the girls to finish their meal and the five of us to head outside. I sat down on the grass as Gabby begged Adam to play tag with her and Merissa. “Fine.” His eyes sparkled as he motioned towards Becky and me.
“I’m out; sorry, but I’ve always sucked at the game.” I grinned.
“Yea, I’m out, too. I’ll chill with Fiona.” Becky grinned widely.
“You two are no fun,” Adam teased.
I watched as the three of them played, and for a split second, I forgot about what an asshole Adam could be.
“Hey, Fiona, can I ask you something?” Becky sounded embarrassed.
“What’s up?”
“It’s just …” Her cheeks flushed. “At what age did you start having sex?”
It was my turn to blush. “Uh …” Should I lie? No. I couldn’t do that. “Honestly? Your brother was my first.” I felt so stupid saying it. I knew she didn’t want to know that, but it put things into perspective for her.
“Really?” She stared at me with wide eyes. “And you didn’t … I don’t know, wish …”
“That it happened sooner? Of course I did. All my friends in school were 14, 15, and 16 when they had these boyfriends that they thought they were going to spend the rest of their life with. And I couldn’t even get a boyfriend.” I laughed softly. When I was her age, I wished a guy would give me a second look. Judging by the look on Becky’s face, she felt the same. “But you know what I heard more often than not? That my friends hated it. Of course, they wouldn’t’ say it in front of everyone, so I had four friends that secretly hated it, but they’d all get together and pretend it was so great. I bet you can figure out how stupid they all would have felt if they knew the truth, right?”
“Yea, I bet they would have felt pretty dumb.”
“But, on the other hand, I had one friend who was 14, she was sure the guy was going to be her one and only and she loved it … and last I heard, they’d gotten married. Last I heard, they were still happy.”
“Really? Wow.”
I grinned, looking over at her. “You get what I’m trying to get at?”
Interview with a Billionaire: Billionaire Romance Box Set Page 46
