Her Fake Billionaire by Tasha Fawkes & M. S. Parker

Author:Tasha Fawkes & M. S. Parker [Fawkes, Tasha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Safira Press LLC
Published: 2018-07-09T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Ben

I guess it was too late to wonder if I had just made a big mistake, especially since I hadn't talked to Karen in two days. I didn't particularly care if she was angry with me for calling her out for the way she had treated me at the club. What did she think I was? A boy toy? Arm candy? A tool? I don't care what her friends thought of me, or her for that matter. She should've known better. Treating me like a piece of crap in front of her friends was unacceptable.

I knew that when she and I were alone, Karen turned pretty darned human. It was when she was around other people that I saw most of her negative behaviors coming out. Maybe she was so used to it she couldn't help herself. Maybe she didn't care. But she wasn't going to treat me like that, no way in hell.

For that reason, I was a bit surprised that she sounded so calm and pleasant when I called her up this morning. It was Sunday, my day off, and my parents had invited me over for dinner. We tried to have a Sunday dinner at least once a month, depending on my work schedule. On a whim, I asked if I could bring someone along. That was a first since they'd arrived in the region, and to say my mother was pleased would be an understatement. At the same time, I knew that introducing Karen to my parents was risky. I should not have just walked away from Karen on the sidewalk the other evening, but by the time I got home, I'd calmed down. She was difficult, no doubt about it. Maybe she had reasons for being so difficult, of which I was sure after meeting her parents. It wasn't that I was expecting to change her, not really. I didn't want her to mold into something I wanted her to be.

So what did I want?

I wanted Karen to feel comfortable enough around me and around herself to be just that. Herself. I knew that underneath the surface, she could be a decent human being. She'd grown so used to being on the defensive, to being treated and spoiled by her parents to think she was special, to believe that she was better than and perhaps more deserving than others, but it never hurt for people to eat some crow once in a while.

"Who are you trying to fool?" I asked my reflection in the bathroom mirror as I shaved. "You like her, don't you?"

Despite everything, I did. I couldn't decide whether I was being stupid, romantic, or utterly pathetic, but for some crazy reason, I wanted to get to know Karen better. I wanted this relationship, this partnership we had to go beyond the mere business deal and become real. Karen, despite her faults, was stimulating. She was a challenge, and I wasn't someone who typically turned away from challenges. I knew I was dealing with a human being here, and my own feelings and emotions.

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