"I'll keep that in mind," I said, smirking a little. I might have to invoke that tonight when I brought someone home. 
                          
"So, tell me more about you," I said.
                          
"You don't have to -" Heath sighed. 
                          
"I don't have to what?" a hint of irritation in my tone. Heath would realise that I didn't do many things I didn't want to. That wasn't incorporated in my five-year plan. Except for allowing him into my life, that is. 
                          
"You don't have to try and get to know me. You don't have to pretend to be interested in my life. I'd actually prefer it if you weren't."
                          
"I'm sorry I'm not a demure test subject. But it feels weird to ignore you."
                          
"You'll get used to it soon," Heath reassured me. 
                          
"But I also want to talk to you, Heath. You're an enigma. I want to know more about you." I shrugged my shoulders, feeling a bit vulnerable about what I was about to reveal. "It's also a bit weird to share my house indefinitely with a stranger."
                          
Sharing my bed with a stranger was a different matter.
                          
Heath gripped his thigh, before releasing his hand. He turned more toward me. "Alright, if it makes you feel better. What do you want to know?"
                          
"I want to know..." I could ask him anything, where he grew up, what school he went to, what his parents were like. "What kind of pizza are you?" I blurted out. 
                          
"What kind of pizza am I?" For the first time, tonight Heath cracked a smile and then chuckled lowly. The warm, deep sound sent heat through me, warming my stomach, and lower too. 
                          
Fuck, if only his laugh could do that, what would his hands on my body do?
                          
More importantly, why did I ask that stupid, weird question? I was a billionaire, not a school girl mooning over her first crush. But Heath made me feel giddy as if I was ten years younger and this was my first time. 
                          
"Hmm, that's a tough question. Probably supreme."
                          
"Pineapple on pizza: yes or no?"
                          
"Hell yes," Heath laughed. "I need a bit of sweetness in my life." The way his eyes crinkled around the corners when he laughed was beautiful. And the fact that he added that he wanted a little sweetness kindled a desire for a little sweetness in my life too. Except not pineapple, yuck. He shifted in his seat. "What about you?"
                          
"Definitely pepperoni pizza. But now that I know you like pineapple on your pizzas... I don't think we can be friends," I teased him, with a wry grin in his direction. "Pineapple on pizza is disgusting!"
                          
"We'll have to agree to disagree on that," Heath said, shooting a grin in my direction. He straightened his cuff link. "Anything else you would like to know?"
                          
"What were your friends like in high school? And are you still friends with them now?"
                          
"Did I get that right? My friends?" Heath asked, a mystified expression on his face. He blew out a breath. "I hate to break it to you, but I don't think you'd be a good journalist Max."
                          
"Good thing I'm content with being a billionaire," I quipped. 
                          
"Are you though," Heath started softly, a serious tone to his voice, "are you content with being a billionaire? Is there anything in your life that you want but don't have?"
                          
I wasn't sure if this was genuinely him, or if this was part of the article. But I found myself answering honestly, some part of me wanting to bare myself to him. Which was weird, because usually, I would be putting up shields like nobody's business.
                          
I licked my lips. "I feel like society tells us what we should want. That for me to be happy I need to have a husband, kids and a white picket fence." I glanced toward him. "Are you single?"
                          
Heath nodded.
                          
"Do you feel that pressure too?" I asked, hoping that my honesty would be met halfway.
                          
Heath cleared his throat. "I know what you mean. It's tough trying to live up to what others think you should have, or what they want you to be. But at the end of the day, you're the one who has to live with yourself - all your actions and inaction."
                          
His words hinted at a past that maybe he was ashamed of. I wondered what he felt guilty for, what burden he lived with that tarred his perception of life. 
                          
Heath continued. "I don't feel such immense pressure to settle down, I think women maybe carry the brunt of it. Biologically, women have a more selective window in which they can have kids than men." 
                          
"I've frozen some of my eggs, so I don't have to worry about that." I hesitated, thinking back to my childhood. The neglect that Sydney and I had suffered that I hadn't realised until much later. A passionate love was dangerous for everyone left behind. 
                          
"But I'm not even sure if I want kids." As I stopped at a traffic light, I looked across at Heath. "Is there something wrong with me?"
                          
Heath smiled kindly at me. "We're all a little fucked up. I wouldn't worry about it too much."
                          
I wondered how Heath was 'fucked up'.
                          
I wetted my lips with my tongue. "I like my life. The structure. No responsibility to anyone else. I'm not tied down. Not even financially. I could retire today if I wanted to."
                          
Heath contemplated what I'd said. "It's predictable," he pointed out. "Maybe what you like about it is the control. If you never have to let anyone close to you or depend on someone else, you won't ever be hurt. But you also shut yourself off from the positive aspects of loving someone." 
                          
"But having sex with one person for the rest of your life?" I asked him sceptically. "How is that not a burden? I enjoy having no strings attached sex with lots of different people – and there's a lot of positive aspects to it," I informed Heath.
                          
"When you're with the right person, it doesn't feel like a burden. It feels like a blessing. You never know, maybe marriage and kids would make you happy, I sure plan to have kids in the future. Not so dead set on the white picket fence though - the fence definitely needs to be tall enough so that Duke can't jump over it."
                          
I snickered. "True, that is important."
                          
"I believe you can edit the future to be what you want it to be." Heath smiled at me again, and his smile stole my breath away. 
                          
"I'm not used to editing," I admitted. "Normally I just get what I want and ignore everyone else who tells me that's not what I should want."
                          
"I agree with you," Heath said. "When I say editing - I mean, allowing yourself room to change and follow your heart."
                          
"I see," I said. But I didn't fully comprehend what he was saying. I had spent so long ignoring my heart that I was kind of scared what would happen if I did relinquish control and heed it.
                          
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🌠Author's note:
                          
Thanks for reading! Feel free to vote if you enjoyed it and comment your thoughts! It means the world to me that people actually read what I write - thanks for your support♡