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Bennett: What’s the address?
He sent it and I frowned. It was a part of town that I normally wouldn’t have any reason to visit unless I was on a call for work.
Bennett: I’ll be there in an hour.
We’d been seeing each other for months and he’d never once invited me to come to his place. It had always been mine, with excuses like he needed to clean up, or my place was on his way home from work. I hadn’t even known what area he lived in until his text came in with a street name that I knew to bein the richest part of town, Grandlin Overlook, named for its unparalleled views of the river.
I followed the directions my phone gave me, passing larger and larger houses until I was well into the neighborhood of Grandlin Overlook. Finally, I turned onto his road, Grandlin Park Drive, and followed it until I found his house number. If I hadn’t just had the afternoon of revelations that I did, I would’ve sworn I was in the wrong place.
Dex’s house was a sweeping modern-looking mansion overlooking the river. It had rows of massive windows, reminding me of a house I’d seen in a story about European architecture a few months before Mom had been diagnosed. Floodlights clicked on as I pulled into the driveway, illuminating every bit of the manicured lawn that led to a hill sloping toward the river. Once again, a sour acid crawled up my throat. How could he have hidden this from me?
Chapter Sixteen
Dex
The hour felt like an eternity. Anxiety burned through me as I climbed on my treadmill and started off on a quick run. I ran fast and hard, trying to burn myself out. I ran until I couldn’t run anymore, and then I stepped off and took the fastest shower known to man before heading to the living room to wait it out.
Even though I was fresh off the treadmill and had showered, I still had nervous energy to burn. I paced my living room while I waited. He was on his way. The time had come. I needed to come clean to Bennett, assuming he didn’t already know everything. I needed to tell him all of it. Not just the piece about me running Webber Holdings, but all my secrets. I needed to convince him I wasn’t a liar and a jerk, at the very least.
The motion-sensor lights to the yard clicked on and the security system chimed an alert to let me know someone was on the property. I peered out the window to spot Bennett’s beat-up sedan pulling in the driveway. My stomach flipped and turned as I steeled my nerves for what was to come. I ran one of thelargest investment firms in the country. Certainly, I could handle talking to the man I loved with a cool head. Right?
The record needle scratched in my head.Love. Did I love him? I shook my head. I’d think more about that another time.
I headed to the front steps to greet him rather than sprinting out to his car. I hoped I was giving him space instead of rushing into his arms and begging him to forgive me, begging him to understand why I’d hidden everything. I didn’t want to play it cool, but I didn’t want to overwhelm him, either.
Bennett climbed out of his car and stood at the driver’s side door for a few moments, scanning the property with his gaze for what felt like forever before closing the door and starting up the walk. I watched him take each step slowly, as if he had lead in his shoes.
“I’m glad you came,” I said when he was a few steps away.
Bennett stopped walking and blinked, looking at me like he hadn’t realized I was standing there. “I’m not sureIam.”
His words hit me like a punch, my chest squeezing in pain. “Come inside. We can talk.” I stepped aside and made space for him to come in.
He followed me into the house, looking around with wide eyes. The house was simply decorated, but it was still lavish by most people’s standards, of that I was sure. Having become intimately familiar with Bennett’s house, I knew how he lived. My house was definitely not that. I gestured for him to have a seat and he settled on the couch, the one that faced the TV with a wall of windows behind, revealing a view of the river and the city beyond. I sat in a chair to his side and when our gazes met, his eyes were red-rimmed and damp. My breath caught in my chest. Seeing him so nearly broken was killing me.
When he finally spoke, his voice wavered. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
That confirmed it. Hehadseen the article. “That I’m the CEO of Webber Holdings?”
“That you’re worth over a billion dollars.”
I grimaced.I guess he knows everything, then.“You looked me up online?” He shrugged silently, and I forged ahead. “I didn’t want you to look at me like I was just a payday. Every man I’ve dated for a long time has only been interested in my money. I was afraid you’d look at me differently if I told you.”
He frowned, a crease forming between his eyebrows, his expression stormy. “You were afraid I’d come after your money?”
I exhaled slowly, not sure how to answer. “A little bit, yes. At least in the beginning. I was also afraid you’d decide that you were in over your head with me or something. Even the guys who haven’t chased my money have said things like that to me. That I was out of their leaguebecauseof my money.”
“You didn’t even give me a chance.”
I reached out to take his hand, but he pulled away. “I was afraid you wouldn’t givemea chance.”
His frown deepened. “So, what, you just saw me at the banquet and thought, ‘That’s the one’?”
“When I first saw your profile…” I shook my head and swallowed. “Our time together has been so special. My attraction to you, it’s real. My feelings have always been about you—wanting you, wanting to know you. Aside from that, I needed to take money out of the equation.”
His eyes darkened. “Don’t you understand? I grew up without money. I hadnomoney. You haveallthe money. More money than God, Mom used to say. How can I trust you if you haven’t been up front with me?”
I let out a shaky sigh. “I don’t know. I know it’s hard. I know it probably feels impossible to believe anything I’m saying. But… I need you to know how I feel about you. Aboutus.”
