Page 44 of Reckless
Terms
Kelly
Now I had agreed to fake-date a billionaire for four days and I would have liked the universe to apologize.
I dropped my bag on the chair by the door, kicked off my sandals, and stood in the middle of my apartment staring at the wall and wondered how to ignore the world.
But I knew I couldn’t.I called Britney first because she was the most likely to physically track me down if I didn’t.
She answered on the first ring.“Tell me you said no.”
I went to the kitchen and pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge.“That depends on how committed you are to hearing the truth.”
Silence.
Then, very flatly, “Kelly.”
I took a long drink and leaned back against the counter.“I said yes.”
The silence got worse.
Not louder.heavier.
She exhaled hard.“Why?”
I shut my eyes for one second and let my head tip back against the cabinet.
“Because he’s right.”
That came out uglier than I’d meant it to.
“No,” she said.“No.He is not right.He is strategic.”
“Brit.”
“Kelly.”
“If he walks it back now, I become the woman he publicly claimed and then very publicly did not have after all.There is no version where I come out of that looking untouched.”
“Who gives a shit how it looks?”
“I do.”
That was the truth.I did care.
I was tired of telling the joke instead of letting anyone see I was the only single one left and I was tired of never once being first choice in any man’s life and I never wanted another bad date.
Britney was quiet for a beat.“I know you care,” she said finally.“That doesn’t mean he gets to use that.”
“He gets how this can blow up in my face.That’s not the same thing as using me.”
“Kelly.”
I pushed off the counter and paced into the living room.“He offered terms.”
She made a rough sound that might have become a laugh in another life.“Of course he did.”
Britney let that sit there for a second.
