“If he wanted to just use someone, he probably wouldn’t have picked you, Belle. You’re too smart. Maybe he really is falling in love with you. It’s not hard to believe,” she says with a soft smile.
“So how do you know? How do you know if a guy is really falling for you, or if he’s just using you?” My expression slackens.
“I’m from New Jersey, Belle. I’ve learned a thing or two about being used. These guys will use you and toss you aside, and then tell their friends what a good fuck you are, or aren’t.” She narrows her eyes at me and I grimace. “The guys in New York are even worse. And the richer they are, the worse it gets.”
“Great,” I smirk.
“You’ve lived in Texas, Belle. You’re a lot more trusting and a lot more innocent. Maybe that is a weakness, or maybe it grabs him. Maybe it’s why he wants you. You don’t care about all the glitz and glamor. Or maybe it gives him an opening to use you. You have to find out.”
“How?”
“There are a few telling signs that guys cannot hide. If he wants to make time for you, even though he’s busy, it’s a sign he loves you. When it’s not all about sex, but he wants to touch you in other ways, like wanting to hold your hand, then he is probably falling for you.”
I stare at my fingers. Oh my God.
“If he opens himself up to you, and makes himself vulnerable to you in some way, like something in his past he’s not proud of, or something that hurt him, or something that ripped his heart out.”
Lia’s eyes dart to the side and back to me. “Some of the really big signs are that he wants to share his wealth with you. That’s very rare, because not only does he trust you, but it shows that you mean more to him than his toys. Most of these high rollers don’t love anyone as much as their toys, and certainly not as much as themselves,” she scoffs.
“How did you learn all this?”
“The movies.” She smirks.
I give her a playful stare.
“Dating them. They can be so caught up in themselves, they don’t remember you from the girl they had week ago. It’s all about their egos.” She gives me a small smile.
“It sounds like the executives Kalin is dealing with.”
Lia laughs. “That is exactly who those douchebags are. I know I judged him pretty fast, Belle, but after what you told me, I don’t think Kalin is like them.”
“Why?” I ask with piqued curiosity.
Lia takes a breath and gathers her thoughts. “Look at relationships that work. My parents. Your parents. People that go through hell and still manage to stay together. It’s because they sacrifice everything for each other. When he loves you more than himself, nothing else matters. Very few guys have that kind of love.” She quirks her mouth at me. “Kalin had that kind of love for his wife.”
“Yeah, he did.” I stare at the floor. “Rebecca. That was her name. She was his fiancée,” I add.
“So that already tells you that he is capable of that kind of love.” She widens her eyes at me with a knowing expression. “And when he told you about her, Rebecca, and what the company tried to do to him, he was being pretty vulnerable.”
I huff. “Maybe, Lia. He has other motives, believe me.”
“What do you mean?”
I pause and look down. “He wants control of the company, and he needs me to do it. I promised him I wouldn’t go over the details with anyone. But this…” I shake my head. “This is huge. This is life-changing huge. He would make himself very vulnerable, and also have no problem shifting some of his wealth to me to make it happen.”
“Oh? He wants to give you some of his money?”
“Yes. And I’m not talking about a fifty-thousand-dollar bonus.”
“How much are we talking about?”
I purse my lips and knot my fingers. “I don’t know if I’m supposed to talk about this. But trust me, you’ll be the first to know when I can. I’m only bringing it up because of what you said about sharing his money. He’s willing to do that, even if I stab him in the back.”
“Look, Belle, I’ve been around a lot of these New York sleazebags. The last thing they want to do is share their cash with you. They might buy you a nice dinner and give you just enough to get what they want out of you, but there is no way on God’s green earth that they are letting you near their wealth. You’re an innocent, sweet Texas girl. Most guys would take advantage of that in a heartbeat. But it doesn’t sound like that’s what Kalin’s doing.
“He shows the telltale signs of someone who is capable of loving someone completely, more than himself and his money. Maybe he just wants his company back now that his plans for marriage are gone. Maybe he even wants more, and he’s using his money to put the pieces of his life back together, if that makes any sense.”