Page 71 of Billionaire's Promise
"Unlike the ropes he prefers to use right now?"
There’s silence in the room, then the women burst out laughing.
"Okay, enough." My cheeks heat. "TMI, you guys, TMI."
"Says the woman who’s managed to bang not one, but two, of the Seven." Isla turns to me. "It has to be a record of sorts, right?"
"Wait." Amelie turns to me. "What did I miss? I though you and Edward…" Her voice trails off. "Itisyou and Edward, right?"
She hesitates and my cheeks heat.
"Yeah, it was me and Edward," I mumble.
"But it isn’t anymore," Isla pipes up.
I shoot her a dirty look.
Summer shushes Isla, "Seriously, Iz, sometimes you don’t know when to zip it."
"Correction," Isla’s shoulders hunch, "I never know when to zip it." She looks at me with a pleading expression on her face, "Sorry, Ava, didn’t mean to dump your stuff out there."
I blow out a breath. "It’s fine. I mean, what the hell? The rest of you know about it already, so…" I turn to Amelie, "I slept with Baron."
"Baron?" She frowns. "One of the Seven? The one who just returned…?" She blinks at me rapidly. "Oh." She nods, then her gaze widens. "OH," she coughs, "you slept with Baron."
"Yeah." I drain the margarita, reach over and top up my glass. "Now you guys know all my dirty secrets. Not that there was much to begin with. At least, there hadn’t been till a few weeks ago. You know, all I had was a crazy crush on Edward."
"You mean, the Father?" Karina prompts.
"No," I frown at her, "I mean, he’s called Edward and also sparkles in the sunlight, but I’m talking about Edward the vampire—"
"Vampire?" Julia’s gaze widens. "A real-life vampire?"
Isla frowns at her, "No silly, she means Edward from Twilight."
"Twilight?" Amelie repeats. "What do you mean, like dusk, dawn, twilight?"
"Not quite," Victoria pipes up. "I think she means, like Breaking Dawn Twilight."
"How can it be twilight when it’s dawn?" Amelie’s forehead furrows, "Unless it’s a figure of speech I am not aware of, in which case—"
"I’m talking aboutTwilight, the book," I clarify.
"Unless you are talking about twilight-themed cupcakes which, I assure you, I am good at baking," she goes on as if she didn’t hear me. "In fact, I think I should create an entire new range of sparkly cupcakes to celebrate baby showers." Amelie snaps her fingers, "It’s a great idea." She reaches over, wraps her arm around me and kisses my cheek. "You are a genius, Ava."
"I am?"
"It’s exactly what I was looking for as a means to differentiate my pastry business in the marketplace."
Like that clarified anything?
"Right." I manage. "You really haven’t heard ofTwilight?"
She stares at me, as if I am crazy. "Of course, I know aboutTwilight." She waves a hand in the air. "It’s just, I need to call my team right now and get a plan in place. Twilight-themed cupcakes, ha!" She rubs her hands together. "It’s a brilliant idea." She kisses me again on both cheeks, then brushes past me to grab her bag. "I gotta get going. You guys don’t mind, right?"
I stare, bemused, as she hitches her massive tote over her shoulder. She heads for the door, then pauses and turns to me, "Oh, and if I were you, I’d enjoy the one who is still with you. Unless, of course, you’d prefer to keep both," she smirks, "in which case, I wouldn’t blame you." She blows me a kiss and heads for the door, which slams behind her.
O-k-a-y.I turn back to my margarita, my cheeks burning. Shit, of all the girls here, I know Isla the best. I’d met the others through her, and they had pretty much adopted me into their circle. But they’ve known the Seven much longer than me. What the hell must they think of me now? I clear my throat, "Uh, guess I’d better head off now."
