Make Me Yours (Forbidden Billionaires Book 2) by Lili Valente

Author:Lili Valente [Valente, Lili]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Self Taught Ninja
Published: 2024-06-11T00:00:00+00:00

chapter 15

GERTIE

I’m so busy snapping Effie’s portrait—capturing her incredible face, crystal ball, and the blurred tent behind her from different angles, and wishing I had my camera with me, instead of just my phone—that I don’t realize Weaver is behind me.

It isn’t until Effie grins, showcasing her missing tooth on the upper right side, and says—“Well hello there, you must be Gertrude’s fellow. What a lucky man.”—that I emerge from my shot-hunting haze.

I glance over my shoulder as I stand, an apology on my lips for going into full feral photographer mode in the middle of a classy ballroom, but Weaver doesn’t look annoyed.

He looks…moved, the same way I felt when I saw Effie sitting here with her peaceful smile and dark brown eyes full of all the secrets of the universe.

The realization makes me ridiculously happy, even though I’ve been around the man enough by now to know that he isn’t nearly as cold as he pretends to be. But I just love that he sees the beauty other people miss. I love that he sees it in Effie.

And I love that he sees it in me.

Heart thumping a little harder, I reach out, squeezing his hand as I smile. “No, he’s not my fellow. We’re just friends,” I tell Effie.

It’s true, he is my friend, and I hope he will be for a long time. A part of me would desperately love for this to be more, but that isn’t in the cards for us. And maybe that’s for the best. If Weaver were really my “fellow,” I’d lose him eventually.

He’d get tired of being with a small-town girl who’s never done anything or been anywhere. The charm of teaching me things I don’t know would turn into annoyance that I’m so clueless, and then I’d be left alone with nothing but my regrets and several pissed off and betrayed relatives.

As friends, I can call him in New York whenever I want. I might even be able to go visit before Christmas, the way he said I should. I’d love to walk around the holiday markets and ice skate at Rockefeller Center with him. But then, I think I’d have fun doing just about anything with this man. He just makes me feel so alive, like I’m fully awake for the first time in years.

I’ll always be grateful for that, no matter how long our connection lasts.

Effie hums beneath her breath, her wise eyes flicking back and forth between us. “Oh, I see. Well, that’s a special thing, too.” She smiles in a way that makes me think she isn’t buying the “just friends” thing as she motions to the chair in front of her. “If Gertrude doesn’t mind, you’re welcome to sit with us while I do her reading.”

I shake my head. “Oh no, I don’t need a reading.”

“You paid for one,” she says, casting a pointed glance toward the blue bowl on the corner of the table, where I placed my twenty-dollar bill.

“That was for the chance to take your picture,” I say, lifting my cell.

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