Page 182 of Tormented Billionaire Romance Series

Maggie stirred her ice cream, whipping it to a milkshake consistency. “That’s enough of me jabbering for now. Did you at least have some sort of fun at the party last night?”

“It was okay.”

“Just okay?”

“Parties really aren’t my thing, Mags. Once you found Brian, that was kind of it for me.”

“I ditched you.”

“No! We found you Brian! Like, what was I supposed to do? Stand there and make announcements about how you two were bonding, like it was some kind of sports match?” I laughed. “Anyway, I guess I didn’t just stand around. I danced.”

“Great! With whom?”

“Carter.”

Maggie dropped her ice cream bowl, which thumped to the ground, landing as neatly on the carpet as if it had been set there with care. “Please tell me this isn’t the Carter I think it is.”

“Carter Bryant,” I confirmed.

Maggie almost dropped her bowl for the second time. “I can’t believe you! You danced with Carter! When were you going to tell me this?”

“It was nothing,” I said, even though, looking back, it had certainly felt like something. The way he looked at me, the tender way he touched me, as if he thought I might break—or maybe sensing how shy I was. “We talked and it was fun, even though he stepped on my foot when we danced.” I filled her in on what had happened with Suzie after that, making it clear that her intervention was another reason I’d wanted to go home. I didn’t say so aloud, though. Maggie knew I was timid. She didn’t require an explanation.

Maggie put her hand to her head. “Megyn,” she said, disbelieving whatever it was that was on her mind. “Megyn, you’ll never believe me, but Carter was looking for you!”

You’re right. I don’t believe you.

“It must have been after Suzie interrupted. Carter came over to Brian and was asking about a princess! I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t really paying attention, but now I know it had to have been you. He didn’t want Suzie. He wanted you. Maybe he was going to choose you to be his wife.”

My heart skipped. He’d been nice and pretty charming too, but that he could potentially have wanted more hadn’t occurred to me. Could it be that my infatuation with him was reciprocated?

I thought about what Suzie had said and scolded myself for being so dumb to even entertain the thought. A man like that wouldn’t be interested in a pauper like me once he found out that’s who I really was.

A lump lodged in my throat.

Maggie sat up straight and exclaimed, “I have to tell Brian.”

I jumped and grabbed onto her. “No! You can’t.”

Maggie stared at me. “Why not?”

“The party’s over! It was fun to be a princess for a night, but that’s not who I am. You can’t tell Brian, and you can’t let Brian tell Carter.” I clasped my cold hands together. “I’d rather Carter remember me the way he did at the dance, than as the poor person I am.”

“You’re notpoor…”

“Maggie!”

Her expression crumpled. Her disappointment was so severe I almost changed my mind just to make her happy. “I can’t change your mind?”

“Please don’t even try? Life is stressful enough.”

“Okay,” she promised, grudgingly. “But only because it’s you. If you were anyone else, I’d make the choice for the greater good.”

“I’m not sure we have the same definition.”

“Oh, we do. Just different perspectives.”

I clapped. “That’s the most profound thing I have ever heard anyone say.”

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