Borrowed Billionaire #5 Set it on Fire Read Online Free PDF Page A

you're a horrible human being. And so, I'm always on my guard around kids, at least until I get to know them.
    Jacob grabbed my hand and squeezed it. I realized the squeaking sound was my teeth, grinding, and I told myself to relax.
    Jacob didn't ring the doorbell, but walked right into the house. He led me over a hallway full of shoes in every size and permutation. The house smelled of boiled cabbage. We walked into a family room full of people talking. Everyone turned and stared at us. A baby began to wail.
    A silver-haired black lady, who I immediately realized was Jacob's mother, waved to me and said, “You must be Lexie. Come in here. Let us get a look at you!”
    This made everyone else laugh and hoot and then go back to their visiting.
    Some people scooted over on the fireplace mantel for me to take a seat. I shook Jacob's mother's hand, and then met his father, who was white. Both of Jacob's parents were incredibly attractive and seemed kind, which made sense. I tried to politely and succinctly answer their questions about what I did for a living, evading the questions about what I'd been doing in Indonesia.
    A man who looked a lot like Jacob, except taller, came over and shook my hand. He had a kid hanging off each leg. “Why were you in Indonesia?” he asked.
    I gulped. “Scuba diving.”
    “Ah,” he said, beaming.
    Some other people—cousins, I'd later learn—started talking about their last scuba diving vacation, and with that, the pressure was off of me.
    Over the next two hours, I met a lot of Jacob's family, and was fed a cheeseburger from the grill. The burger was burnt on the outside and an unsafe-looking pink on the inside, but I ate it anyway.
    When one of Jacob's nieces came over and grabbed my hand to show me her room, I went graciously. The little girl wanted to show me everything in her room, along with telling me all the related stories. She was a nice kid, and honestly, I was relieved to do this, just the two of us, away from everyone else.
    I noticed she had an adjustable closet organizer system in her closet, but it wasn't organized for optimal use by a little girl. With a little work, I got everything out of the closet, put the shelves back in at better heights, and we put everything back in. I showed her how to roll sweaters and fit them into the vertical cubby-holes, and then we did a quick color-sort on everything.
    When that was done, we did a sorting on her toy box.
    We were organizing her sock drawer when Jacob came looking for me, ready to go home.
    The little girl, Erica, was so excited, showing him what we'd done.
    He smiled at her, then pulled me aside, saying, “I don't think you should have changed her room around without asking her mother.”
    Although he said the words gently, they stung. I felt like a fool.

    We said goodbye to everyone and went back out to his car in silence. The sun had set, and I could hear frogs at a nearby pond.
    Inside the car, Jacob sighed heavily and said, “I'm sure my sister-in-law will be fine, she's just particular.”
    “Okay,” I said. I couldn't remember which one she was, but I'd met a number of women, and they'd all seemed nice enough. “You know, I am a professional organizer. All we did was adjust some shelves. I didn't paint the room or throw anything out.” I laughed, trying to lighten the mood. “You're the firefighter, so you know. You'd fix a safety hazard if you saw one.”
    His tone serious, he said, “I'd put out a fire.”
    He pulled onto the highway, driving aggressively and weaving in and out of lanes. I was annoyed, but bit my tongue.
    As we entered the city, I finally broke the silence, saying, “Maybe I did overstep my bounds by moving the shelves, but … maybe you shouldn't have sprung your entire family on me all at once like that.”
    “I thought you wanted to move to the next level.” He honked the horn at a slow-moving car in front of us.
    “I didn't exactly say anything about levels.”
    He turned and frowned