Page 94 of The Rebel Billionaire

"Charlie, dance with me," he said. Gently, I extracted my elbow fromhisgrip.

Lucas angled his body in front of mine and eyed Harrison with an unfriendlyglare.

"Who are you?" Lucaschallenged.

"A very old friend of Charlie's," Harrison said in the cool, superior tone I'd always hated. "And who are you? I don't remember seeing youaround."

Lucas declined to answer. Probably for the best, since I didn't know what he would say. To me, he said, "Do you want to dance withthisguy?"

I didn't. But I knew Harrison. If I turned him down, he'd be an ass about it. With a tiny shrug, I handed Lucas my champagne and said, "Not really, but I probably should. I'll berightback."

I let Harrison lead me onto the dance floor. He pulled me into his arms and swirled me around the floor, glancing once or twice back in Lucas's direction. I didn't have any desire to spend time with Harrison, but he'd always been a gooddancer.

"Who is that guy? Are you twotogether?"

"That's not any of your business, Harrison. What doyouwant?"

I was being abrupt, but I knew Harrison. He wasn't being polite. He wantedsomething.

"I heard Aiden fired you. Areyouokay?"

"I'm fine," I said. "It was a shock, but I'mmovingon."

"You know, that company was the reason webrokeup."

For a second, I lost the power of speech. "No, your repeatedly cheating on me is the reason we broke up. The company had nothing to dowithit."

"I never would have slept with anyone else if you'd been around,"hesaid.

I'd heard this before. It wasn't his fault he'd been fucking other women. It had been mine for not taking good care of him, for always working and not beingaround.

Maybe I had worked too much, but that didn't excuse his cheating on me again andagain.

"Harrison, I'm not having this conversation. You need to grow up and take responsibility for your own decisions.Youare the reason I ended our engagement. If you didn't like me working so much, you should've left me, not sleptaround."

"You're right. I know you're right. It was immature. We were too young and I was jealous. I should've been honest with you and I'msorry."

We whirled around the dance floor for another minute insilence.

An apology fromHarrison?

In a million years, I never would have expected him to admit he was wrong, much less say he was sorry. He'd broken my heart. Shattered it completely. I'll never forget the stabbing pain when I discovered that lipstick stain on hiscollar.

Finally, I said, "Thank you. I appreciate yourapology."

"But you don'tacceptit?"

"Why not?" I said, tired of this conversation. "It's been a long time and I don't care anymore. Yes, I accept your apology,Harrison."

Shocking the hell out of me, he said, "I want to try again. Now that you're not with the company, you'll have more time. We can be together. I still love you,Charlie."

I had nowords.None.

Whatever love I'd had for Harrison Kenmore was long dead, extinguished in the pain of his cheating and betrayal. There was no way I'd ever trust him again. Even if Lucas hadn't been in the picture, Harrison had no shotwithme.

I was trying to figure out the best way to make it clear that we were never getting back together when the song ended. He delivered me to Lucas's side, saying only, "Just think about it, Charlie. Please. Give me achance."

"What did he mean, give him a chance?" a strident voice interrupted. I looked up to see Elizabeth, Aiden's ex-wife, standing next to Lucas, her gray eyes cool and her pale blonde hair in a severe twist. She was a stone cold bitch, but she was abeautifulone.