The Billionaire's Fake Fiancee - Lauren Wood Page 0,39

better off alone and scribbled that note before running for the hills.

“Okay, so maybe she got under my skin a little,” I admitted. “But it’s over now. Like really over. I tied up all the loose ends with her boss and everything at her work. They bought the whole story. She’ll get her promotion. And soon enough, I’m sure she’ll meet the perfect guy. She’ll have the perfect job and husband and kids. Everything she wants.”

“And no part of you secretly wishes she wanted all of that with you?” Joey asked.

“Even if she did, that’s not where my life is headed. I tried my hand at all of that when we were young. It didn’t work out. I realized I dodged a bullet and none of it was really what I wanted.”

“Review the contracts,” Nick ordered. “And when you’re done moping around, bring them back to the office. I’m headed there now myself.”

Joey followed him out, leaving me alone with Damon. But he quickly got swept up in ordering his crew around for the lunch rush. I stared down at my briefcase and wondered why work had become so dissatisfying. It used to feel like it was all I needed to be happy. The challenge of it … the money … the status. Suddenly, none of it seemed like enough. And it was making it hard for me to focus.

As the place got more crowded and noisy, I snatched up my stuff and headed for the door. Stashing the briefcase away in my car, I decided to take a walk. I meandered through the park and figured I’d grab some coffee before finally going back to the office and forcing myself to get some work done. I’d stay until I got all caught up and I’d feel better.

It was a quiet day in the coffee shop, certainly quieter than Damon’s club in the afternoons. So I settled into the corner and pulled out all the overdue contracts. It was easier than I thought it would be to start making some progress. Before I knew it, a couple of hours had gone by and I was already almost finished reviewing everything.

While reviewing the last few lines of real estate legal jargon that needed my approval, I suddenly realized I was sitting at the same table where Kate, Olivia, and I sat after we first met. Looking back, I couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous it all was. Me lying about being a widowed single dad, then her turning around and lying about me being her fiancé. We sure did know how to get ourselves into some strange kinds of messes.

I thought back on that afternoon and wondered what had changed. Kate seemed so innocent and optimistic when it came to meeting some guy in the park. She still believed it all worked like it was supposed to. That you meet someone you’re attracted to, hit it off, and the rest is history. She looked at me like she really thought that kind of thing was possible.

I wished it was so easy for me. She looked so beautiful sitting across from me that day. I remembered catching some of the other guys staring at her, and I felt lucky that she was sitting there with me. Her eyes lit up when she talked about her job and all the plans she had for her life.

“Don’t you think it’d be exciting just to take off and travel the world?” she asked me. “I think all the time about working freelance so I’d have the freedom to go on adventures like that.” I remembered how she dropped her eyes to Olivia and looked a little embarrassed. “Oh, but I guess that kind of thing is harder to do when you’re a single parent.”

I realized it wasn’t Kate’s innocence … her way of taking things slow—coffee, then lunch, then maybe dinner before she’d even think about going to bed with me—or whatever crazy assumptions about her I made in my head that scared me off that day. What really scared me off, what terrified me the most, was the potential I saw. The warm feeling I got when she was around. The way she came alive when she talked about things that excited her.

Kate never hinted at wanting the white picket fence or trying to change anything about me. What frightened me was how I felt something with her I hadn’t felt since college. The only other time I had ever really been in love, right before my heart was