Page 92 of Coffee Break with the Billionaire

He gives me a thumbs-up.

“I wanted to say it first,” I tell him, my smile creasing my face in a way that will make my cheeks ache, but I don’t care. Silaslovesme and I love him— “I’m falling in love with you, too. Just wanted to get that out there.”

I’m smiling and ecstatic, happiness bubbling out of every pore, and Silas—

Silas looks like I kicked his puppy. Not a good look when the man you love just expressed his love for you.

“That doesn’t make you happy?” I demand. “It makes me very happy, and it’s my birthday,so you need to be happy too.”

“Your birthday.” Silas blinks. “Happy birthday, Fenella. You look incredible.” He leans down and brushes my forehead with his lips.

“Nu-ugh.” I shake my head at him, the ends of my hair flying in a curve. “I want a kiss like before.”

“You’re going home.” His sadness is palpable.

“Yes.”

His shoulders slump. “You’re leaving.”

“I didn’t say that.”

Silas’s brow furrows, and I can’t help but smile because confused Silas is quite adorable. “I don’t want you to go.”

“I know. We’ll talk about it later.” I take his hand. “If you’re not going to kiss me, then dance with me. Let’s have fun. Please, Silas?”

He shakes his head. “I can’t say no to you.”

“I know. You need to remember that.”

My twenty-seventh birthday party is one to remember.

My closest friends are here, and my brother, and new friends I’ve made. I invited everyone I have ever interacted with from Battle Harbour, and almost every one of them came, most of them bringing friends, so the sixty-five guests aremore like eighty, and we have to prop open the front door, letting in the cool air and allowing people to spill out onto the street.

This acts as an invitation to others walking by, as well as those who live on this street or close enough to hear the music, and so even more people stop by.

I do my best to talk to everyone there. I dance with Silas but eventually lose him in the crowd, only to find him deep in discussion with King Magnus and Kalle, with Spencer hovering.

I do shots with Coral and Sophie and leave them to have a giggling conversation about my brother.

I hug Coy Schmidt when he leaves with Laura, avoid a hug from Jonathan McKibbon, and take a selfie with Nancy Tanker.

We run out of food by eleven o’clock, and Tyler pours the last of the vodka just after midnight.

“So we’re going to have to work on having more of an inventory and crowd control,” I say to Silas. It’s after one, and the majority of the crowd has dispersed, mostly after they realized we were out of alcohol.

“We?” The music has slowed from the frantic dance beats and I sway in the middle of the floor with Silas.

“We. Your club, my club, the bar that we should open. You have to admit, after this, Hela’s is exactly what Battle Harbour needs.”

“Hela’s? The goddess of death?”

“Maybe she just had a bad day. It happens, you know.”

Silas smiles, but it quickly fades. “I agree thatHela’s—we’ll work on the name—would be a good idea; but Fenella, you have to know that if I open something, I’d want you to run it.”

“I know. We’ll talk about it later.”

“When later?”

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