Page 82 of The Billionaires

My phone rings.

Could this be Juno?

No.

It’s Gram.

Smiling despite my disappointment, I pick up.

“Did you enjoy meeting her parents?” she asks in lieu of a hello.

I tell her all about it, minus Lily’s atrocious cooking. I don’t want to bias Gram in case she ever tries said cooking.

Wait. Why would she try it?

“If Juno likes me tomorrow, you’re as good as married,” Gram says, beyond excited.

I suppress a groan. “Please don’t joke about that when you see her. Her family was saying the same thing.”

“Who said I’m joking?” Gram asks.

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Oh, no.” I make my tone worried. “The ferrets are chewing through my shoes.”

“Ferrets,” Gram says the word like a curse. “You’re still cavorting with those beasts?”

Being terrified of rats, Gram has decided that she doesn’t like ferrets because “they’re similarly shaped.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t bring them with me.” I make a mental note to check my pockets before I head over to her place. The last thing I want at Gram’s house is a repeat of what happened at the fundraiser. She’d try to jump on a table and would probably hurt herself.

“Don’t bring them,” she says. “Just thinking of the things makes me want to drink some chamomile tea to calm down.”

“You go do that,” I say with a smile. “Maybe have some valerian root as well.”

“Good idea. Bye.”

I hang up and notice that the ferrets are looking at me with strange expressions on their mischievous faces.

“Sorry about that,” I say to them. “Your great-grandma didn’t mean to be mean.”

As I head to bed, I have the strongest urge to call, or at least text, Juno. I recently discovered there’s such a thing as a cactus emoji—and I bet if I used it, she’d swoon.

But no. Bad idea.

My priority is to get good sleep so I’m on my very best behavior when Juno and I finally present the fartlek to Gram.

CHAPTER 31

JUNO

As the limo Lucius sent after me pulls up to Lucius’s grandma’s house—which is really a small mansion—my stomach feels like a blooming cactus being swarmed by butterflies.

Yesterday’s combination of Lucius and my family made the line between fake and real boyfriend blurrier than ever, so much so I’m still having trouble reining the idiocy in. That scorching kiss aside, Lucius was amazing with my family. I don’t care how much Elijah coached him—Lucius looked like he was enjoying himself, and he’s not a good enough actor to fake that… I don’t think.

The limo stops, and as the door opens, I come face to face with Lucius himself—which makes those pollinators in my belly go truly berserk.

“Hi.” I climb out with the help of his proffered hand, and when we touch, I feel it between my legs—a pleasant but unwelcome situation.

Releasing my hand, he turns his back to me and says, “Follow.”

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