Page 12 of The Rebel Billionaire

After a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, and a fluffy, steaming biscuit smothered in honey, plus a very large, very strong coffee, I was feeling mostly humanagain.

Aiden's ridiculously expensive whiskey had been beyond delicious, but I wouldn't be drinking again anytime soon. Even if I had another bottle of Macallan SelectReserve.

I didn't need alcohol, I needed a coffeemaker. A mini-fridge. Towels. And a whole bunch of other stuff. Keeping an eye on the time, I pulled out my phone and started makingalist.

Twenty minutes before my hair appointment, I was in the car and my hair was on its way to its newdestiny.

My stomach was in my throat as I watched Tracy snip away what felt like yards of hair. We decided on an edgy, layered bob only a few inches longer thanmychin.

With my hair's natural wave, I could let it air dry for a messy, unstructured look or I could use a flat iron for something sleeker and more grown-up. It sounded perfect, exactly what Iwanted.

I loved it when I saw the picture in the book. I'll admit I felt a little queasy once her scissors started clicking away and I watched my hair falling to thefloor.

It'll grow, I reminded myself.If I don't like it,it'llgrow.

When Tracy was done, she gave the new style a quick hit with the blow dryer, twisting and messing it up with her fingertips to show me what it would look like when it air dried. She spun me around for the final reveal of my new look and I barely recognizedmyself.

My eyes were huge in my face, and the auburn of my hair seemed brighter, the shade more red than brown now that there was less of it and it wasn't tightly wound into achignon.

It floated around my face in shiny waves, making me look younger. Carefree. Everything I hadn't felt inyears.

I let out the breath I'd been holding, feeling something in my chest unwind and relax. I looked at the piles of dark hair on the floor and thought,good riddance. Charlie stared back at me in the mirror, imperfect and a little reckless, but far more willing to have fun than Charlotte hadeverbeen.

I went just a tiny bit crazy after that. Just a tiny bit. Like I said, I needed to watch my budget if I was going to pull this off. No way in hell was I asking Aiden or my family for a penny. He probably thought he could fire me and just take care of me until I figured myself out. He probably thought that was sweet andprotective.

And if I had run into a hard time on my own, it would have been, and I would've been grateful. But firing me from a job I'd worked my ass off for was bad enough. I didn't need Aiden to take care of me. I'd worked hard and saved money for years. I could take care ofmyself.

But I did need some basic necessities. And, unfortunately for my budget, my salon was across the street from a shopping center filled with big box stores. I could get everything I needed there, from the supplies to paint stripper, to a coffeemaker, to something tosleepon.

I was pretty responsible when it came to the mini-fridge and a set of sheets and towels. Everything I got was either the least expensive model or wasonsale.

Ditto for the paint stripping supplies. From what I looked up on the Internet, it seemed like that job had more to do with elbow grease than expensive equipment anyway. But I did go a little overboard on the coffeemaker and thefuton.

I tried to get the least expensive coffeemaker. I really did. The one I ended up with was not the top-of-the-line. It was somewhere in the middle and about twice what I'd planned on spending. But coffee was an essential ingredient to a happy Charlie. I figured that was an investment in myfuture.

Thefuton?

Okay, here's the thing. I was going to buy an air mattress.Iwas.

I had it in the shopping cart. And then I thought about Lucas and that kiss and how much I'd wanted him to roll me over onto my back, strip my clothes off, andfuckme.

A very un-Charlotte-like thought. If I were being honest with myself, and I was trying to be, I had definite thoughts about finding myself naked with Lucas Jackson, at some point in thefuture.

I didn't want arelationship.

I was not looking for aboyfriend.

The last thing I needed was to get mixed up with some guy. Sex was another story. I didn't want to try to remember the last time I'dhadsex.

Counting back that far would just be depressing. And I definitely couldn't remember the last time anyone had kissed me the wayLucashad.

Charlotte would never have an affair. But maybe Charliewould.

Who knew if Lucas was even interested? Once I got the thought of an affair with Lucas stuck in my head, I couldn't make myself buy thatairbed.

I couldn't have sex with Lucas Jackson on an air bed. For one thing, he was huge—six and a half feet tall and packed with muscle. He'd probably roll over and the thing wouldexplode.

I wasn't buying a real bed. That would be an irresponsible waste of money. Eventually, that room was going to be my office so it didn't needabed.