Page 20 of Just Not That Into Billionaires

“Well, he is a handsome, rich billionaire,” Kelsey says, popping another M&M into her mouth under Mia’s fake glare.

“They can have him,” I say. “Here’s a guy who eatsalone at a restaurant, and he has employees who sit nearby whose entire job is keeping people away from him? And they act all nervous when they fail him, like he’s gonna lock them up in some gloomy Swiss chalet along with his enfeebled wife? And his old co-worker needs the tiniest favor, and he’s all,You will obey me now?” I shake my head. “The gold diggers can have him.”

“But you’ve decided to play along,” Noelle says. “Because you want him to cooperate. And you’ll go on your tour and it’ll be so amazing.”

Lizzie bursts back in, clutching a bundle of fabric. “We have to promise to have this back by Sunday but...” Here she unfurls a dress.

I press my fingertips to my lips, eyes wide. “Oh. My. God.”

It’s not just any dress. It’s got gathered cap sleeves. A lederhosen pinafore, all very Swiss Alps meets Sound of Music meets St. Pauli Girl.

“Imagine walking into the restaurant wearingthis!” Lizzie exclaims. “Does it look Swiss or what?”

Mia claps. “Evil!”

“No!” Noelle is laughing. “Timeout! You cannot!”

“With all these rumors about him keeping his wife locked up in a Swiss chalet?!” Mia says. “Oh my god you have to wear it!”

“Think of your tour,” Noelle says. “You can’t take chances.”

“He said stylish and pretty,” Lizzie reiterates. “Were those not his words?”

“Yes! Those were his words,” I say. I’m grinning. I feel…excited. Happy. “This is definitely stylish. And it’s pretty. We had an agreement, and he can’t say I’m not holding up my end. And it would teach him a lesson for pushing me around and making me play his doting wife!”

“You guys, it’s not like people in Switzerland wear dresses like that,” Noelle says. “People in Switzerland wear completely contemporary outfits.”

“But a wife trapped in a Swiss chalet by Billionaire Bluebeard might just be forced to wear such a thing,” Mia says.

“I can’t imagine people really believe that rumor,” I say.

“People believed that Richard Gere put gerbils up his butt,” Mia says. “People love to believe weird things. They probably think it’s some kind of a fetish. Maybe Benny was deeply affected by a bottle of Swiss Miss hot chocolate as a child. With that cartoon Swiss girl. It happens.”

I take the dress from Lizzie and hold it up to myself. “I really shouldn’t,” I say. “I really,reallyshouldn’t! But if I did, I’d need to walk into the restaurant with something over it, like a coat or a wrap so that I could pull it off for a big reveal. Because Benny would never just take me into a restaurant wearing this.”

“Brilliant!” Mia says.

“It’s pretty. It’s stylish. And best of all, it’ll make him sorry,” Lizzie says. “I’d say that’s a pretty good dress.”

“Fuck with the bull, you get the horns,” Mia says. “And if you make Francine be your fake wife, you will get some free-spirit fun in your face.”

“Is it just me or does that just sound the slightest bit dirty?” I ask.

“He’s not gonna like this,” Noelle warns. “This is not what Benny had in mind, and you know it. Maybe this is not the right time for fun.”

I hold up both dresses, heart pounding like mad. I should be angry and upset about this whole thing, but I imagine his sullen gaze, and something lifts in me.

And weirdly, for the first time in months, I’m not horribly stressed out about my knee.

* * *

I waitunder the canopy outside our building.

A night out is the last thing I need after a grueling day of classes and rehearsals; my usual nighttime routine is sewing pointe shoes while soaking my feet in ice, followed by a salad and then toe and ankle exercises.

But then Benny’s sleek gray limo slides up in front of the building and I’m just grinning.

A limo. How perfect! Because who can forget his snarky comments about the limo guys I used to date in Vegas?

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