Page 41 of The Rebel Billionaire

"None of them lovedme,okay?"

Charlie put the takeout container on the floor and pulled her feet up on the futon, propping her chin on her knees and wrapping her arms around her shins. Sitting like that, she looked aboutsixteen.

"Every single one wanted to marry me because I'm a Winters. None of them wantedme. With the first two, it took me a while tocatchon.

"Number one was cheating, which was a pretty good giveaway. Number two kept asking me to spend money on him. Number three interrupted his proposal to take a phone call from a client. And I was never really engaged to number four. He just told everyone we wereengaged."

"Why would he do that? He had to know you wouldn't go alongwithit."

"He did. But he was trying to impress a prospective employer. We'd been dating, so people knew we were together, and by the time I spread the word that we'd broken up, he had the job so it didn'tmatter."

"That sucks,"Isaid.

It did. I'd assumed Charlie would be a target because she was gorgeous and sexy. How would it feel to realize the person you thought you'd spend your life with was only interested in your family and your bankaccount?

She deserved better than that. I was unreasonably grateful that she hadn't married any of thoseassholes.

"Yeah. It wasn't fun. So you know you can believe me when I tell you I don't want a relationship. I'm kind of burned out on the wholeWhere is this going? Let's get married. thing. I'm tired of trying and being let down. I'd rather be on my own. I watched Aiden with Elizabeth for years. I always swore I'd never get married if I wasn't really in love,andthen—"

Charlie let out alongsigh.

"You didn't love the guys you gotengagedto?"

I couldn't imagine Charlie agreeing to marry someone she didn't love. She was too headstrong, too focused. She'd never commit the rest of her life to someone she didn't really want tobewith.

She'd be tired of him before the ink was dry on the marriagelicense.

"Well, technically, number four wasn't an engagement. Neither was number three. If he hadn't taken the call in the middle of proposing, I still wouldn't have said yes. He was fun and a nice guy, but I didn'tlovehim.

"But the first two guys . . . I did think I was in love with them. I was too young, I think. Looking back, I cared about them and they were important to me, but I don't think it was really love. Not the kind thatlasts."

"You want a beer?" I asked, changing thesubject.

At her nod, I snagged the discarded takeout box and went to go get us two beers. Charlie's answer to my questions left me feeling oddly deflated. I don't know what I wanted to hear, but her lack of hope wasdepressing.

It wasn't that I thought marriage was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I hadn't seen a single example worth repeating when I wasgrowingup.

Watching my mother with my stepfather was enough to sour me on the idea of marriage for life. I had no intention of ever findingawife.

But Charlie . . . the idea of Charlie turning her back on marriage, on family—it just felt wrong. I toyed with the idea of looking up those first two fiancés, the ones who reallyhurther.

I knew she wouldn't thank me if I did, but I was keeping the idea on the back burner. I didn't like the idea of some golf-playing dickhead breaking Charlie'sheart.

I went back into the room to find Charlie curled up exactly as I'd left her, her un-scraped cheek resting on her knees, arms wrapped around hershins.

Handing her a beer, I set mine on the floor unopenedandsaid,

"I need to run next door and change and grab a few things. I'll berightback.”

"K."

I didn't like leaving her alone in her house, even behind locked doors. If she'd had a first-aid kit, I wouldn't have bothered going home, but she needed some ointment on that cheek and the raw spot where her hair had beenyankedout.

I'd done my best to clean her wounds, but she'd hit the dirt hard, grinding soil into her opened skin. She'd heal better if I took care of it therightway.

I was back a few minutes later, staying next door only long enough to trade my tuxedo for gym shorts and a T-shirt and grab my first aid kit. I let myself back into Charlie's house, locked the door behind me, and rechecked the windows and doors on the first floor to make sure the house wassecure.

I'd feel better when she had that securitysystemin.