The Billionaire and I (Part One) Read Online Free

there was no effin way that I was going to cry in front of that woman.
    “Dumb question,” Megan winced, glancing over at Cade. She raised her eyes pointedly like she was waiting for him to do something.
    Cade glanced over at Rachel and I gleaned the tiniest bit of satisfaction when she dropped the act and seemed slightly unnerved when Cade scowled at her.
    We all knew that it wasn't like he was about to kick her ass. He wasn't that kind of a guy and there were way too many witnesses. Am I evil if I wante d someon e to kick her ass?
    Jacob reached for my hand and I let him hold it. When we made eye contact I made sure he knew that when I was ready to talk, he'd long for these precious moments of silence.
    “Thank you all for coming out,” Jacob said robotically, pulling us toward the aisle.
    A few awkward congratulations were offered, along with a parting gift from Rachel.
    “See you Monday morning, Jacob!”
    I had tunnel vision, flashing my own fake grin while Jacob took a few pictures on our way back to the car. For the first time, I realized that maybe some plastic smiles were worn to hide the pain. My smile was a self defense mechanism, glued to my face until we climbed into the back of the limo and Jacob pulled the door shut. I watched his every move like a sniper waiting for a clear shot. When he finally met my gaze, I half expected some form of ‘oops’ to ripple across his chiseled features. I was left wanting. This was Jacob, after all. But with Rachel back in the picture, cool, calm and distant was not gonna cut it.
    I clenched my teeth and crossed my arms furiously across my chest. Waiting. Impatiently. We weren't in the bedroom. Or the playroom. He owed me an explanation and I wouldn't be the one to ask him to give it to me.
    The car eased into motion, but as far as I was concerned, we were hurled forward, put on a pot hole ridden rode that was all too familiar. I thought our secrets had names. The faces of my abductors. The crystal clear memory of all the ways I'd been mentally and physically tortured. My anger was bleeding into helplessness because those demons I could handle. Rachel Laraby being back in our lives and my husband neglecting to tell me about it? It was a blow that I couldn't bear.
    “You are a lot of things, Leila,” He broke the silence. “Speechless is not one of them.”
    My jaw dropped, my eyes scouring his face. What was left of his words hung on the air and I searched the echo for some indication that he was joking. “That's what you have to say to me? ‘Speak up, Leila’?”
    He had the nerve to give me a look like I was the bad guy in this situation. “Yes. Speak up, because you've got a lot of explaining to do.”
    My face twisted in confusion .I had explaining to do? After she walked in and took away his moment? Me standing up like some blubbering idiot, while my husband, my rock, didn't even bother to give me a head's up that Rachel was not only in our same zip code, but sitting with us? “Am I in some alternate reality? Or having some sort of really vivid nightmare?” I pinched myself, just to make sure. Nope, not sleeping. I turned to him, waiting for some sort of lifeline but there was none. “You don't tell me that she's back, that you two have been in contact, and I'm the one that needs to do the explaining?”
    He didn't move a muscle, every limb locked in intense consternation. Good. I wanted a reaction. Something other than indignation. I needed him to take this seriously. When his hand lashed out suddenly, I expected him to grip the door handle and make a break for it instead of continuing this uncomfortable staring contest. Instead, he punched the button that raised the partition and dialed up his glare a few notches.
    “After our conversation earlier, where we talked about being open and honest-”
    “And you spanked me so vigorously that my ass is still tingling,” I spat, wincing when I heard myself and realized that I was taunting him instead of