Page 52 of The Billionaire's Special Relationship

She sat up on top of him to get a good look at him. “Are all of these women friends with benefits like me?”

He didn’t hesitate. “No.”

“None of them get the benefits I just got?”

“Some have. Some haven’t.”

His honesty sometimes felt brutal. “I can’t be in a relationship with a man who cheats, Stuart. Not that you’ve said we’re in a relationship. I’m not saying that. But whatever this is needs to be defined. Because if I’m not enough for you then you need to tell me that.”

He looked at her. “I don’t cheat,” he said.

“But I’m not interested in an open relationship or whatever they call it now.”

“Or?”

Tabby frowned. “If I’m not good enough for you I’m out. For real though.”

“Are you giving me an ultimatum, Tabitha?”

It felt like the moment of truth. But if he thought she was going to keep going like they weregoing and agree to be one of many, especially now that his “friends” were back, he was sadly mistaken. She needed to shut that down now. If it meant the end of their whatever this was and she had to take her broke ass back to Larkin, then so be it. She would hate it. But so be it. “Yes,” she said. “I’m giving you an ultimatum.”

“Good,” he said as if he’d been waiting for it. “I choose you.”

Tabby’s heart wanted to soar, but she was too scare to overread it. “What do you mean?”

Stuart was studying her as he placed his hand on the side of her face. “I want you and nobody else. That’s what I mean. If you will have me, you are officially my lady, Tabitha Morgan. And all those ladies before you are officially in my past. That’s what I mean.”

But instead of smiling the way he expected her to react, tears filled her beautiful eyes. Which concerned him. He wiped a singular tear as it fell down her face. “What’s the matter, sweetie?”

It took a moment for Tabby to compose herself. And then she spoke. “To go from being a nobody to all those people I would pick up when I had my rideshare job, or to be lied on by people I delivered food to, or cheated on by every boyfriend I’ve ever had, to go from all of that to you? That means a lot.”

More tears fell. But she kept going. “Nobody wanted me. Not even my father or any of the siblings I helped raised. They all left and never checked on me oranything. So I decided that I had to want myself or I’ll just wither away to the invisible nothingness they saw me as. I was gonna be alone in this world and I accepted that. But being with you, and you wanting me, is so much better.”

“Well damn I hope so,” he said, which made Tabby laugh so hard.

But then he turned serious too. “The truth is,” he said as he rubbed her hair, “nobody wanted me either.”

Tabby looked at him side-eyed. “Nobody? But all of those women are calling you.”

“They want what I can give to them, Tabby. They don’t want me. No one ever has. Not even my mother.”

Tabby stared at him. “We’re in the same boat, aren’t we?”

Stuart smiled. “The same leaky-ass boat, yes we are,” he said, and they both laughed.

“Dry your eyes, sweetheart,” he said to her as he wiped her eyes. “I’m here now.”

She loved his strength as she laid back on top of him and he wrapped her in his arms again.

And then one of his longest-serving “friends with benefits,” Jennifer, left a congratulatory message too:

“Oh, Stuart, I just heard the news. How marvelous! I knew it wasn’t you all along. Those people are just awful for even suggesting such a thing. But it’s perfect timing because it’s my Friday night dinner party time. Which means we can restart fresh again.” Then she laughed. “Gheri just said you ruined the stay over when you stoppedcoming around. But it’s not ruined, is it darling? You can come Friday and stay over like you used to all those times before you stopped returning my phone calls. Oh, darling it will be so lovely for you to come. I miss you so much. Let’s not throw away all that history completely. Please? Okay. I know it’s been a taxing time for you, so I’ll end this call. But please show up this time, Stuart. You’ll be my guest of honor. Okay. Bye darling.”

Tabby leaned up and looked at him. “That was a lot.”

“Yes it was.”

“Who is that? She sounds like she was your main squeeze until two years ago.”