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Maybe it did. Maybe she needed him to know, to pass judgment, too.
“He said I was nothing but a con woman who only cared about money and didn’t care who I stomped on to get what I wanted.”
Twenty-Five
Jeremy
It was lucky that he’d already sat up, already removed his hands from her.
Otherwise, he might have dumped her from his lap when he lurched to his feet. “He fuckingwhat?”
Yeah, it was a bellow.
Luckily, there was no one around.
“He said you—” Jer clenched his teeth, grinding them together. A breath. Two.Three.Christ, none of them helped.
“Jeremy.”
Another breath. Another two. Three.Four.
Only then did he manage to make himself sit down.
“Honey,” she whispered, covering his hand. “I’m okay.”
“No”—he leaned in, brushed lightly beneath each eye—“he put those shadows in here. He shit on your dream, the one you worked your ass off for.”
“Jer.”
“And parents sacrifice for their kids; that’s what they do!” He fisted a hand, pounded it against his thigh. “They’re not supposed to hold it over their kids’ heads.”
“No,” she said softly. “They’re not.”
“And your app is a great idea. You know it is, otherwise all those investors wouldn’t have wanted to get a piece of it, a piece of you.” He touched her cheek. “Plus, you’ve been working on getting it off the ground all while you’ve been managing those projects with Rafe. He’s told me more than once that you’re most of the reason he’s been successful.”
She inhaled sharply, her pulse pounding fast in her throat. “Rafe said that?”
“Yeah, baby.”
“I—it’s not that I didn’t know he appreciated me. But I just…”
“It means more that he told his best friend.”
“Yeah,” she whispered.
The warmth in his belly, in his heart.
He cupped her cheek fully, lifting her face, staring into her eyes, trying to make certain she knew the truth of every single word he was speaking.
Hebelieved all of them.
Hebelieved in her.
“And if they can’t understand how much value you bring, honey, then that’s their problem,” he said, brushing his thumb lightly over her skin. “Because I do. Rafe and Cora and everyone else does, too.”
She inhaled. “Jer.”
“You know it’s true.”
