Interview with a Billionaire: Billionaire Romance Box Set

by Brooks, Sarah J.

  “No,” she admitted, blushing.

  “No need to be embarrassed. What I’m trying to say is, that you don’t really know. It may work out, it may not. But what’s important is to be honest with yourself, and if it sucks, don’t bother pretending otherwise. I know a girl who is older than me and still doesn’t know what she likes. She just … goes through the motions she thinks she’s supposed to go through.”

  We fell silent for a couple of seconds.

  “This guy I like—”

  “Will respect whatever you choose to do, or he doesn’t like you half as much as he should.”

  I glanced over at Becky. Based on the look on her face, she didn’t believe me. “But—”

  “No buts.” I cut her off, “Someone who loves you will wait as long as you need them to. It is honestly just that simple. There is nothing else to dispute about it, and if anyone tries to tell you different, they are stupid, and you shouldn’t believe them. Becky,” I bit my lip. I’d seen so many of my friends go through what she was going through. “I know I’m just your brother’s girlfriend and that this guy probably matters more to you than I do, but I can’t stress that enough. Make him wait, even if you are ready, just to see if he thinks you’re worth waiting for. You don’t even have to do it long.”

  Becky stared at me blankly. For a fraction of a second, I could have sworn I saw tears in the corner of her eyes.

  I cleared my throat, looking away and giving her a chance to wipe her eyes if she needed to.

  “Thanks. I guess … I just got so caught up in the idea that …”

  “No worries, we all do.” I gave her a smile.

  “Hey!” Adam called, jogging over to us. He glanced from me to his sister. “You two ready to join in?”

  “Oh no—”

  “Yea!” Merissa ran over to join her brother. “Come play with us?”

  I glanced over at Becky, who was grinning.

  “Well … I guess, but you guys can’t gang up on me. I suck at running.” I stood, stretching my arms over my head.

  “I’ll be right there; I’ve just gotta … I’ll be right back.” Becky stood and headed inside.

  We spent most of the afternoon outside, and by the time we came inside, I was dead tired. I hadn’t run around that much in ages. With the sun setting and bug bites covering my body, despite the amount of bug spray I’d put on, I was ready for a good night’s sleep.

  But the second we stepped inside, it was clear that there was tension. None of the adults would meet our eyes, and Eleanora sat with her lips pursed. Adam and I exchanged looks as it was clear we both saw it.

  “Mom, will you read me a bedtime story?” Merissa asked, looking up at her mom with bright eyes.

  “Hey,” Adam mocked offense, “don’t I get to?”

  Merissa’s eyes widened. “Really?” She looked from her mom to Adam as if asking permission from her mom to let Adam read to her.

  Kathrin gave a tight smile and nodded before Merissa rushed off to the bedroom her bags had been put in.

  “It’s been forever since Adam read.” Becky followed along with Gabby beside her. Both girls looked thrilled that their brother would be reading the bedtime story, even though they were old enough that they’d stopped having bedtime stories read to them a long time ago.

  Kathrine blew out a deep breath as I padded over to the kettle. I flicked it on and pulled down two mugs without saying a word to anyone.

  I watched the water boil quickly as I set a tea bag into each one and into a bag. I turned to Eleanora. “Do you need some warm water for that?”

  “No thank you.” Her voice was cold, but it didn’t bother me.

  The kettle popped, and I poured water into the two mugs and picked them both up. “Kathrine,” everyone glanced at me, “there was something I wanted to talk to you about that I was hoping Adam wouldn’t overhear, would you step outside with me for a couple minutes?”

  “Oh, um, sure.” She sounded flustered, but we made our way outside and towards two chairs in the front yard. I sat down in one and handed a mug to her.

  “Ahhh,” I blew out a deep breath, closing my eyes as I rested against the back of the chair.

  “So what did you want to talk about?”

  “Oh, nothing. It just looked like you could use a break from inside.” I opened one eye to see her staring at me. A smile touched her lips.

  “Thank you, Fiona.”

  “No worries, things looked seemed pretty tense in there.”

  That actually got a laugh of out her that I hadn’t been expecting. We didn’t talk for a long time. We just sat there in silence, and honestly, it felt really nice.

  “What you said in there, was it true? About your parents?”

  “Hm? Oh, about them not being around much? Yea.”

  “That’s horrid.”

  I shrugged. It wasn’t that big a deal. I mean, I was used to it by now. I gave her a soft smile. “It’s not a big deal, my brother and I have done fine for ourselves, and that’s what matters.”

  “Where is Fiona?” Gabby asked.

  “I thought for sure she’d want to get a video of you reading to your little sisters, with all those voices and sound effects you make.” Becky grinned.

  “Hey, you’re the teenager who followed us in here,” I retorted. Her eyes just sparkled.

  Merissa had been beyond happy that I’d read to her. It was something we always used to do, just the four of us. I’m not sure why I started reading to my sisters, but they always said I was better at it than either of my parents, so I kept doing it. It made them happy, and the truth is it was nice to have something that we did together.

  “I like her; you know that, right?”

  “Thanks, Becks. What were you two talking about, by the way?”

  “Oh,” her cheeks flushed, “nothing.”

  I raised an eyebrow, but I wasn’t going to argue with her about it in front of the two little ones. Chances were it wasn’t something they should know about. I’d take it up with her later, or I’d just ask Fiona myself. She would probably tell me. I bit my lip thinking about her.

  “I like her, too,” Grace said.

  “Me too!” Merissa piped in, unwilling to be the only one who didn’t say anything.

  “She’ll be happy to hear that.”

  “Are you going to marry her?” Grace’s question left me speechless. I stared at her with my mouth open.

  “Grace, don’t be silly! He can’t know that right now. That takes years to figure out,” Becky scolded, “anyways, he wouldn’t tell us even if he did know. Would you, Adam?”

  “No.” My eyes sparkled as I said it. I grinned. I wouldn’t tell them.

  I felt guilt tug at my stomach.

  “I hope Grandma is nice to her,” Merissa said.

  “Sush.” Both Becky and I said in unison.

  I cleared my throat. “Fiona can handle herself, and she has a habit of winning people over who don’t like her.” I gave them all a smile, and Becky caught my eye. For a second, I thought she was going to say something, but I had no clue what. She just grinned, her eyes sparkling.

  “Well, if you break her heart, we’ll have to kick your ass.”

  I laughed, but the guilt I felt got guiltier. I hated it. I hated knowing that I was going to hurt them. This was a stupid idea. But … it had been such a good idea. I’d thought we were going to make this work. Like, like something out of a book, right. That’s what was supposed to happen. My plans were all supposed to fall into place, so I could make this work and so I … I bit my lip.

  “What?”

  Becky stared at me. Her eyes burned into me.

  “Nothing,” I said quickly. She didn’t believe me, and I knew it. I cleared my throat and stood. “Alright, you two get some sleep.” The two girls were sleeping in here. Then it was Becky and Grandma in their own rooms. Me and Fee, and then my parents in our own rooms as well.

  “Hey, come here,” Becky said as we headed out of the room. She led t
he way into her own room.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  She didn’t say anything until she closed the door. “Are you two okay?”

  “What?”

  “The look on your face when Merissa asked if you were going to marry her … you looked, I don’t know like you … didn’t think it was going to happen or something. I mean, I know you shouldn’t expect it to happen but … you’ve never brought a girl home before, Adam. She must mean a lot to you.”

  “She does,” I lied.

  “So … what’s the issue?”

  “There isn’t one—”

  Becky gasped. “You mean … she’s …” she didn’t have to say it for me to know what she was getting at. She thought I’d knocked Fee up.

  “No,” I hissed.

  “Are you sure? I mean, she said … I mean …” she trailed off, looking away from me.

  “She said what?” If she was late … No. She told me last night that it was her first time.

  “Nothing,” she said quickly.

  “Becky, is there something I need to know? Did Fee say something about …” I cringed. I didn’t want to say it out loud. “Is she late?”

  “What? No. She just …. mentioned that you were her first.” My sister looked away from me, her cheeks going a bright shade of pink.

  Why the fuck were my sister and my fake girlfriend talking about my sex life? I didn’t dare ask. I just stood there, staring at her. My brow furrowed. I wanted the answer but was scared to ask. I didn’t dare ask. I knew I couldn’t.

  Becky cleared her throat. “Look, I mean, it’s great you found someone you like. I just … wanted to make sure everything was okay. The look on your face …”

  “Sorry to freak you out ... it’s just been a long couple days. Everything is fine.”

  Except, you know … the fact that I’m going to break you guys’ hearts when I tell you things are over between the two of us. I sighed.

  “As long as you say so.”

  “I’m going to bed, Becky. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  My sister crossed over to me and pulled me into a hug. It wasn’t common for us to hug. I had no clue why she did it. I hugged her back. Josh. I couldn’t help thinking about him. About how he must feel for Fee. It must be close to the way I felt for my sisters, if not stronger. From what she’d told me, it had been just the two of them for a long time. I couldn’t begin to imagine how hard it must be on him to know that we were together right now. I pulled away from my sister and grabbed my phone, sending him a quick message to let him know that my entire family—including my grandma—was with us. That would keep him from worrying, right?

  I headed out of the room, giving my sister a final smile. My heart skipped a beat when I saw her come inside.

  69. Chapter Eighteen

  I didn’t stay outside long; instead, I headed inside, giving Kathrine a little time to herself. I found Adam as he was leaving the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

  “I missed story time?” I teased, pouting.

  His eyes sparkled. “Yup, you shoulda got here sooner.”

  “You’ll just have to read to me some other time.”

  We headed into the room that we were sharing, and he closed the door behind us. Maybe, if he hadn’t just seen me naked last night, I would have been more worried about it as I stripped with my back to him.

  “I can’t believe we only have one day left,” he said softly.

  “What you wanna get away from me that bad?” I teased, reaching for my pajama pants and slipping into them.

  “Hardly.”

  Though the way he said it left me a little unsure of what he really meant. I bit my lip trying not to worry about it. I mean, I knew that wouldn’t do me any good.

  Together we sat down in bed. I blew out a deep breath and closed my eyes.

  When I opened my eyes, I saw him staring at me.

  “What?” I whispered, suddenly realizing how tired I was.

  His lips crashed against mine, and my heart skipped a beat. His fingers tangled in my hair, pulling me onto his lap.

  My fingers raked through his hair as a soft moan passed through my lips. He pulled away from me, grinning. His lips touched my neck softly, and I bit my lip, unwilling to let myself moan loudly. Utterly aware that his family was just a room away.

  I pulled away, my cheeks flushing. I can’t. He gave me a soft smile, and as if reading my mind, he looked away, towards the room where his grandmother and his dad were.

  “I get it.”

  “Sorry.” And I was. I would have loved to sit there and kiss him more, but … I just couldn’t.

  “No worries, it’s not like …” He turned to me and just gave me a smile. “Like I said, no worries. So, you wanna go back out there and face them all or would you rather just stay here?”

  “I’d rather just stay here,” I admitted. It wasn’t that I had anything against his family, I was just tired and wasn’t so sure that I wanted to go out there and see everyone.

  “Sounds great to me.” He settled down, pulling a blanket over him. As I joined him under the covers, he looked me over carefully. “Tell me something?”

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Are you going to tell your brother about last night?”

  I snorted. “Of course not. He will have a heart attack. Or try to kill you, or both.” I couldn’t help fearing the reaction my brother would have if he ever found out about Adam and I. I mean, I know he shouldn’t have a say in anything we did, but he was my older brother. He would be protective of me, and we all knew it.

  “I won’t mention it if you don’t want me to.”

  “Why didn’t you ever tell me about you two being friends?”

  “I didn’t realize it mattered.” My brow furrowed. Did he actually expect me to believe that? “Anyways,” he admitted, “would you have said yes if you knew I was his friend?”

  “I might have, but I wouldn’t have let you …” Pay so much. But I wasn’t going to say it out loud.

  “There’s no need to worry about any of it now. We’ve got something good set up. Let’s not ruin it.”

  I knew he could afford to pay for my time, but somehow knowing he was one of my brother’s friends ... it just felt … wrong to make him pay. To expect him to.

  “Anyways, what do you want to do tomorrow?” Clearly, he thought we were done with the topic. I didn’t like that one bit, but I didn’t say anything.

  “I don’t know.” I stared at him. He stared back at me, his brow furrowing.

  “Why were you talking to my sister about our sex life?”

  My cheeks burned. “What? I—”

  “She said you told her that I was your first.”

  Oh, God. I thought we’d agreed not to talk about that. I groaned. “I … I didn’t plan on talking to her about that ...”

  “Really? You mean, you thought that might be something she didn’t need to know?” he snapped.

  “I did, yea. But then she started asking me about if a guy likes her and … she wanted to know if, when, I thought ….” I glanced at him to see his eyes cold. He stared at me, waiting for me to tell him what we’d been talking about. I felt bad telling on his sister. “I told her that if a guy were really into her, then he would wait as long as she needed him to and that it was okay to wait a little longer to make sure he was worth it. I mentioned that you were my first because I … well, I kinda bent the truth and made it sound like you’d waited for me to be ready and had been all respectful about it.

  “I thought if she knew about a guy who was like that, and if she could see you, her brother, as a guy who was like that, it could shape her standards for guys around that. I thought making sure your sister wasn’t going to get taken advantage of was more important that our sex life, and if you have an issue with that, well then, I don’t fucking care. I mean, your sister—”

  “Thank you.”

  He took me completely off guard by it. I stared at him with wide eyes. �
��What?”

  “Thank you, for taking care of my sister. You’re right, she’s more important than us. She’s one of the most important people to me in this world.”

  I stared at him; I hadn’t expected him to thank me. “Oh. Um, you’re welcome.”

  I had no clue what I was supposed to say, and I bit my lip. Were we supposed to keep talking? To open up?

  No.

  Instead, we made small talk and then went back to reading our books, which I had to admit, I did like a lot.

  70. Chapter Nineteen

  71.

  It was clear there was still tension in the air when Adam and I stepped out of our bedroom the next morning. The three adults were awake, but that was it. It seemed the kids were still asleep. I watched as Adam made his way over to the counter where his mother and his grandmother were making their coffee. I think I’ll wait. I didn’t want to go squish in there with everyone. Instead, I’d wait. It looked like Adam’s dad was doing the same thing. He gave me a quick smile. He looked tired, or maybe just sick of this already.

  “Adam,” his grandmother said, “what have you been doing? Are you still working for your father?”

  “I am, yes.”

  “You know, you can’t expect him to just keep you around because you’re his son. I hope you’re working hard.”

  I glanced over just in time to see Adam’s shoulders stiffen. “Well, I’m not sure. But I have a performance review next month. I’ll let you know then.” He turned to face me, one mug in each hand. I could see how stressed he looked. He handed me one of the mugs.

  “Thanks, babe.” I gave him a wide smile as he sat down beside me. I took a sip, watching as his grandmother looked him up and down.

  “Have you seen Kurt recently?”

  “No,” he said bitterly.

  Eleanora heaved a loud sigh. “Adam, when you are going to get over ….” She trailed off, clearly having no idea what it was that Adam needed to get over. Like everyone here, she clearly hadn’t been told what Kurt had done.

  I bit my lip. I bet, out of everyone here, I know the most. I watched him stiffen even more. With my free hand, I reached out and touched his knee softly before I took a sip of my coffee and stood. I thought this was why I was here.