Free Good Girls Do It Well (A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance) by Aubrey Michelle

we were taken care of so we stepped in to make sure the chores were done around the house. We would have cooked meals so she wouldn’t have to do that but she would never let us. She was so paranoid about us using the oven. She swore that we would burn the house down or something.”
     
    “That’s really sweet. It’s pretty surprising actually.”
     
    “It is? What’s so surprising about it?”
     
    “Well, if everything I’ve heard about you is true, I’m surprised to learn that you’re close to any woman, let alone multiple women.”
     
    “Why? Because I enjoy the company of women? I don’t see what that has to do with my family in any way,” I said, getting annoyed at what she was insinuating.
     
    “Never mind, I didn’t mean anything by it. So how come your mom had to raise you by yourself? What happened to your dad? Did he pass away when you were young?”
     
    “No, unfortunately, he’s still alive and well. He’s a piece of shit that took off on my mom when she refused to stop taking care of him. She worked so hard to provide for us and he wouldn’t get off his ass and help her at all. The only time he felt like he had to work was when she started threatening to kick him to the curb. Even then, he would only get a job long enough to get her off his back. One of his favorite things to do was to go to landscaping companies at the beginning of fall. He knew that the work wouldn’t last long and by the time winter would come along, they’d have nothing for him to do. He’d have a built in excuse for why he wasn’t working.”
     
    “That’s horrible.”
     
    “It’s worst than that. On the rare occasions when he would work, he wouldn’t give my mom his check to pay bills. He would give her some but keep most of it for himself. Every night, he would bring home a case of beer and drink it all in one go. If my mom complained, he would say something stupid. His favorite line was that he worked hard and he deserved to be able to kick back with some beer at the end of the day. My mom got sick of it and one day, he was just gone.”
     
    “I’m really sorry I brought it up. It must have been hard for you.”
     
    “I don’t care that he left. I actually preferred that he wasn’t there. It was just hard to see my mom struggle all the time.”
     
    “I bet it was. I can’t imagine seeing someone you love having to go through that. Was that the last time you saw your dad?”
     
    “Hell no, and I don’t call him dad. He’s just Jessie as far as I’m concerned. He stayed far away during the rest of my childhood but you can be damn sure he popped his head up as soon as I started to become known around New York. As soon as he found out that I had built my investment company into a multi-billion dollar empire all by myself, he wanted to come back into my life. He wanted to apologize and start fresh. I called my sisters to see what they were going to do only to find out they hadn’t heard a word from him. He was just trying to get close to me for my money. I was smart enough to see right through him. I told him to fuck off and that was the last I heard from him. Now, I use my money to take care of my mom and sisters. My mom doesn’t like handouts but that doesn’t stop me. She sacrificed so much for us when we were kids and I don’t want her to ever have to worry about anything ever again.”
     
    “That’s really sweet of you. You know, if anyone had told me that you had a soft side, I would have thought they were lying. It’s nice to see.”
     
    “There’s a lot about me that would probably surprise you,” I admitted, even though I had no intentions on sharing anymore of my personal life with her; at least not yet. I’m not sure how she even got me to talk about my childhood in the first place.
     
    “Listen, do you want to move this conversation inside? I’m freezing.”
     
    “Sure thing. Besides, I promised you some great wine and I’m gonna keep that promise.”
     
    We made