Page 44 of The Billionaire's Cinderella

“I know. I’m fine.”

I don’t bother to try to hide my skepticism. “So…this is strictly sex? Is that what you’re telling me?”

“We haven’t exactly labeled it,” she says, her cheeks blazing like two stoplights. “We’re just enjoying each other for now. No big deal.”

“No big deal until he moves on to his next flavor of the month and I have to talk you down from the ledge,” I say grimly. “I thought you’d hook up with him once or twice. I don’t like this whole”—I swirl a hand at her—“attachment vibe I’m getting from you.”

“I’m not attached,” she says, but she can’t look me in the eye when she says it.

“Do not fall in love with him, Bellamy,” I say. I don’t mean to sound like the one sensible teenager in a slasher movie urging her friends not to make a midnight trip to the abandoned house in the woods, but I can’t help it. I don’t want my best friend to get her heart smashed. And as someone who is also currently under the thrall of one of the brothers Black, I’m uniquely positioned to appreciate the dangers here. “This is not the guy for you. On top of you leaving soon, and him being your boss and a player, he’s also a jerk ninety-five percent of the time. Don’t forget that. I’m sure he’s nice now that he’s getting laid on the regular, but don’t expect him to have a personality transplant.”

“I don’t,” she says, but I don’t believe it and I doubt she does, either.

We lapse into a forlorn silence for a beat or two.

“He’s not all bad,” she finally says, more to herself than to me.

“I’m sure his dick is great,” I mutter.

“I could do without the sarcasm,” she says. “I just mean that…there’s more to him. There’s a lot more to him than I ever expected.”

Right on cue, someone knocks.

“Speak of the devil,” she says, standing as Jeremy leaps off my lap and races to the door to commence another round of yapping. “I told the doorman to let him up.”

“This should be interesting,” I say, also standing.

She puts Jeremy back in the bedroom and shuts the door. Then we both head to the front door, although I hang back a little to give her a chance to greet her man.

“Hey,” she says as she lets him in. Her face glows at the sight of him, and she’s all but floating around with only her toes skimming the floor, like a sappy human version of one of the floats from Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. “You made it.”

To my utter astonishment, Griffin lights up at the sight of her.

To those who have never met Griffin Black, let me assure you that this is a miraculous transformation. He’s handsome, sure, but I didn’t know the man could look happy. Never dreamed he had a working smile, much less dimples and sparkling eyes. But there it all is, unleashed at the sight of my best friend.

So what am I supposed to make of that?

“I made it,” he tells her, putting his overnight bag on the floor.

Then, to my further astonishment, he wraps her up tight and gives her such a tender kiss on the cheek that I quickly look away. The stunning intimacy I’m witnessing belongs to the two of them, a realization that makes me wonder if I should reassess my opinion of Griffin Black, lifelong player and committed jackass. Do I know him well? No. But this certainly looks real.

“Now I can breathe again,” he quietly tells her. “Now I can breathe.”

I’m gearing up for a loud throat clearing when he sees me for the first time.

“Hi,” he says, turning her loose and extending a hand. “Didn’t see you. Griffin Black.”

“I know,” I say, amused that he doesn’t remember me even though it’s no surprise. He’s a titan. I’m a minion. Why would he remember me? “Ella Richardson. We’ve met several times when I came to the office to meet Bellamy for lunch. You’ve grunted and/or glared at me a good five or six times over the last year or so.”

“Sorry about that.” He ducks his head, looking sheepish. “I’m beginning to see why Bellamy nicknamed me the Beast.”

“It’s well earned,” I say with relish. “I didn’t even know you could smile.”

“Neither did I,” he says with a sidelong glance at Bellamy, dimples deepening.

It’s all I can do to scrape my lower jaw off the floor. Miraculous.

That being the case, I decide on the spot to bless their union and hope for the best. I find myself unexpectedly rooting for the guy. Anyone who recognizes Bellamy for the gem that she is and gives her this kind of treatment is okay with me.

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