Page 245 of The Billionaires

“In an hour.” I mentally catalogue all my outfits, desperately trying to figure out what to wear.

Mom pales. “An hour? But the house is such a mess!”

Unbelievable. “Inviting him was your idea.”

“Make yourself presentable,” Mom orders and rushes away, issuing commands to Mary on the way.

I look into the bathroom mirror. Am I not presentable? Nope. Not compared to the women in the gallery.

Grr. I try on a few outfits until I like one enough, and then I do my makeup and hair as best I can—though I guess I could’ve asked Mom for help with the latter since she works in a barbershop. But no. Not while she’s tidying up a storm.

By the time I deem myself presentable-ish, our front door dings, and I also get a text from Adrian:

Here.

I fly out of my room—and can’t believe my eyes. Firstly, the flowers are now down to one big and beautiful bouquet, but more incomprehensibly, the place is spotless, the cleanest I’ve ever seen it.

“Who is it?” I hear Mom call from downstairs.

“Wait for me!” I shout and nearly fall down the stairs as I run down to join Mom and Mary.

“It’s Adrian,” he says from behind the door. “And Leo.”

I open up.

Adrian blinds us all with his smile.

My mutinous heart skips a couple of beats as I take in his clean-shaven face, his silver eyes and?—

“Hello, there,” Mom says coquettishly. “I’m Georgiana, Jane’s not-much-older sister.”

Isn’t the guy supposed to make that corny joke?

“Pleasure to meet you.” Adrian takes Mom’s hand and presses it to his lips.

Wow. Do I get the red-cheeks thing from Mom? Hers look like a female baboon’s butt. When she’s in heat. The baboon, that is.

Noticing Mom’s reaction, Mary rolls her eyes so expertly I’m painfully reminded of the fact that she’s on the cusp of becoming a teen, with all the angst and texting it might bring forth… unless she’s like me, in which case it will entail lots of book reading and equal amounts of masturbation.

Hmm. Seems like my current life isn’t all that different from my teenage years.

“And what’s your name?” Adrian asks my little sister.

“Mary,” she says, a bit shyly.

Clearly under the influence of the historical romance he’s read, Adrian bows to her and pantomimes lifting a nonexistent hat. “Nice to meet you, Mary.”

Now Mary blushes too—which is odd, considering her lack of interest in the males of our species. Even weirder is the worshipful expression on her face.

Someone might be rethinking the whole “boys are eww” paradigm.

“Let me also introduce Leo,” Adrian says and steps aside to display his sheep-like companion, whose tail is imitating helicopter blades.

“Be good,” Adrian says sternly and pulls Leo closer before he can knock over my mom.

“He’s so cute,” Mary squeals.

“Is she talking about the dog?” Mom whispers to me.

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