Page 33 of Accidentally Marrying the Billionaire

"I am so proud of you right now. You’re letting yourself live. This is what I wanted for you.”

“I don’t know, Fin. Dry humping my temporary husband seems like a recipe for a broken heart. I don’t want this to be a mistake.”

“A hot billionaire husband who apparently knows how to kiss. That's not a mistake. That's a blessing."

I set my mug down, the levity draining out of me. "Fin. He said things."

She pauses, reading the shift in my tone. "What kind of things?"

"Romantic things. Thoughtful things." I stare into my coffee like it might have answers. "Things that make absolutely no sense because he doesn't actually know me."

"Like what?"

I exhale slowly, trying to find the words.

"He said he sees me. Like—actually sees me. He figured out things about Kurt that I never explicitly told him. He just... observed. Listened. Drew conclusions." I shake my head. "He said he'd choose me every day. That if I was his—without a deadline, without an exit clause—that he'd treat me like I matter."

Finley is quiet for a long moment. Her expression has gone soft in a way that makes my throat tight.

"That's what's freaking you out," she says gently. "Not that he said it. That you want to believe it."

"Yes," I say immediately. "It's too fast, Fin. He can't possibly know me like that. What I'm like when I'm stressed or sick or having a bad day. He's seen the highlight reel—the brave, funny, rolling-with-the-punches version of me. What happens when he sees the rest?"

"What rest?"

"The anxious rest. The crazy part of me that works on fun science projects for her classes at three in the morning. The overly emotional, I-cry-at-Pixar-movies me.”

“I’m pretty sure everyone cries at Pixar movies, and if they don’t, well, they’re sociopaths.”

I bark out a laugh. “That escalated.”

“Well, I mean, really. The first fifteen minutes of UP is the sweetest love story ever told,” she says. She waves her hand dismissively. “Sorry, I interrupted. Continue.”

I pick at the sleeve of my sweater. “I stayed with Kurt for fourteen months even though I knew, somewhere deep down, that he didn't actually love me. Hell, I knew that I didn’t love him either. I just thought he was⁠—”

“The best you could do. Even though your best friend repeatedly told you otherwise.”

“So what does that say about me?” I ask.

“That you’re a survivor. You adapt. You roll with the punches, babe, because that’s who you are. It’s part of why you’re such an amazing teacher. You are completely unflappable.” She reaches across the table and squeezes my hand. “After you told me who you married, I went back and re-read that article I’d seen about him.”

“The one with him being crowned the most eligible bachelor in Austin?”

She cackles again. “Yes. They’ll be so disappointed.” She fake pouts.

“What did the article say?”

“It was actually an interview, and he talked a lot about a new foundation he’d started to help kids with AuDHD. He was diagnosed later in life and spent most of his childhood being considered “difficult”. He talked about the challenges of his two sides kind of warring with each other.”

I nod. “The impulsivity and the need for structure. I see it every day.” I blink rapidly, willing myself not to cry in a café full of strangers. “He started a foundation to help with that?”

“To help educate teachers on the signs to watch for, how to help parents find resources, that kind of thing.”

It makes me think of his tender words the night before, how certain he’d been. Certain and impulsive. I blow out a breath. "How long did it take you to know you wanted to marry Maddox?" I ask, deflecting like I always do.

She doesn't let me off the hook. "You already know the answer to that."

"You always say it was instant."