Page 96 of The Reluctant Billionaire
‘Seriously,’ I mutter. That’s the kind of analogy that makes me want to burst into tears, because if Noah’s right, my gorgeous, huge-hearted Aide can’t turn this off. He’s so consistently focused on the gap between what he has and what others don’t that he can’t enjoy his success, or even justify it to himself, unless he feels he’s acting to bridge that gap.
That’s going to burn a guy out pretty quickly.
‘Sorry,’ Noah says, putting his arm around his wife and shooting me the kind of radiant, competent, sincere smile that single-handedly explains how he bagged himself one of the most beautiful celebrities on the planet. ‘You spend as much time as me with people who are dying, you tend to fancy yourself as an armchair philosopher.’
‘You were right,’ I tell Honor. ‘The worst part of this is that I’m sitting here, on a private jet, slagging my gorgeous, amazing boyfriend off for being a thoroughly decent person. And I know he is. It’s one of the things I lo—adore about him the most. I’d just like to come first when it counts. And Theo’—I hold up a finger sternly—‘don’t even think about making an innuendo.’
Theo smirks. ‘Actually, I was going to say you should remind him that charity begins at home.’
‘That would be marginally less obnoxious if you weren’t sitting there drinking your parents’ Dom Perignon while you said it,’ Nora tells him, shooting him a look so contemptuous that I snort.
‘Ugh,’ I moan when I’ve recovered. ‘I won’t talk about him all weekend. I promise. I just miss him.’ I pick at a fleck of something on my dress. ‘I kind of wish he was just a nice, straightforward, hot builder, after all.’
‘How do you mean?’ Nora asks, leaning forward to daintily spear a slice of mango from the fruit platter with her fork.
‘Oh.’ I realise they don’t know the full details of our backstory. ‘Well, when I showed up to do the community centre refurb thingy, I thought he was just this grumpy dickhead called Aide who was also unbelievably hot.’
‘You’re kidding me,’ Noah says, his jaw falling open.
‘Nope. As a matter of fact, when you turned up I don’t think I knew who he was—no, I didn’t. He was so chippy and judgemental—he obviously didn’t approve of me. But then he kept making inappropriate comments about my boobs, and all I could think about was how much I wanted to rip off his stupid vest and lick those insane biceps, and finally we, you know, fucked. But I threw him out right afterwards because I’d found out right before that he’d been lying to me.’
‘Bloody hell,’ Honor says, her gorgeous tiger eyes wide. ‘What happened then?’
I sigh. ‘I went to his office to have it out with him and it was all a bit embarrassing, actually, because it turns out we’d met before, years ago, and my dad was actually his seed investor. So the joke was on me. And then he fucked me on his office sofa and we made up.’
Theo winks at me. ‘That’s my girl.’
‘And ironically,’ I continue, ‘he’s the first actual billionaire I’ve dated.’ I blow out a breath. ‘I thought it’d be more fun.’
‘Something tells me you’re not with him for his money,’ Noah says softly, ‘so I’m sure you can have fun without him this weekend. And you two will hopefully get a chance to talk through all this properly when you’ve had the weekend to put a bit of space between you.’
‘Noah’s right,’ Nora says. ‘You’ve always been the biggest party girl I know. We’re going to have a blast. It’ll be amazing! I’m telling you—it’s the wedding of the century. There’s no way you won’t have fun.’ She pauses. ‘And if what you and Noah say is true, then it sounds like you’ve found yourself a seriously amazing guy. But maybe he’d benefit from you spelling out that you need him, too. You’re so confident and dazzling. He probably thinks you’ve got this without him.’
I shrug. ‘I’m sure you’re right. What the hell.’ I hold out my glass for a mimosa refill. ‘Half of Hollywood should be there, right? There’s no way I’m moping my way through a weekend like this. It’s his loss.’
I’ll have an amazing weekend. I’ll dazzle and party and shine like I always do, and I’ll try not to think about my beautiful boyfriend and the fact that, right now, he’s in that community centre, working his arse off for those poor little kiddies.
CHAPTER 37
Aide
‘Baby’s here!’ Judy shouts, bustling into the kitchen and brandishing her ancient iPhone. It’s probably, like, an iPhone Three, if that ever existed.
I stand up and shut the fridge with a grimace. I’ve been bent over, trying to fit in every last item of food from the massive delivery we’ve received.
‘Thank fuck,’ I say. ‘What is it?’
‘A little girl.’ She beams. ‘No photos yet. Or a name.’
I close my eyes.A little girl.A tiny granddaughter for Sylv. That is just fucking amazing. It makes me want to well up. ‘Everyone doing okay?’ I ask huskily. ‘Mum and baby?’
‘Sounds like it.’ She looks at her phone again. ‘The baby’s going into the neo-natal ward, but Sylv says the docs are happy.’
‘Well, I think that calls for a coffee break,’ I say. ‘What do you reckon?’
‘Abso-fucking-lutely.’ She puts her phone down on the work surface and heads for the Nespresso machine. Sylv wasn’t the only one Lotta got hooked on this stuff.
The mere sight of it makes my chest ache.
