Page 81 of My Big, Fat, Hot Billionaire Enemy
“Or maybe,” she says, draping the emerald gown over my arm, “it’s the bravest.”
Saturday night.Gala night. Shark feeding frenzy night.
I stare at my reflection in the full length mirror in my bedroom. The emerald gown Ava bullied me into buying looks…okay, it looks incredible.
It hugs my curves, the silk whispers against my skin, the color makes my eyes look bluer somehow. Minimal jewelry. Hair swept up. Makeup subtle but polished.
I look like a woman who knows what she’s doing.
Which is the biggest lie in the world.
Inside, I’m a quivering wreck. Butterflies aren’t just fluttering in my stomach; they’re doing aggressive ballroom dance moves. Tonight isn’t just about business strategy or sending messages. It’s about stepping out, publicly, beside Christopher Blackwell.
Acknowledging this… thing between us.
In front of his father.
My father.
The entire New York City elite.
How are they going to take it?
I have no idea.
And underneath the anxiety, underneath the strategic calculations, is the quiet, terrifyingcertainty that settled in my heart somewhere between Bergdorf’s and my makeup brush.
That I’m falling in love with him.
Christopher Blackwell. The Executioner. The man trying to take over my company. The son of my father’s bitterest enemy. The complicated, guarded, intense man who somehow saw past the Hammond name, past the failing balance sheets, and saw…me.
This is insane. It’s illogical. It’s fraught with peril. Our families are practically Montague and Capulet, if the Montagues owned tech firms and the Capulets were drowning in debt.
This could blow up spectacularly, taking my heart and my company down with it.
But standing here, smoothing down the silk of my gown, thinking about facing tonightwithhim…
It doesn’t feel stupid.
It feels… right.
Necessary, even.
Like the only path forward through the minefield is the one we walk together.
I check my watch. Almost 7.
Show time.
Okay, Lucy.
Smile like you own the place.
And try not to trip over your own heart.
27
Christopher
