Page 59 of Bestie's Bossy Billionaire Brother
Alice giggles and pulls away, spinning around with her arms outstretched as if she’s doing a twirl before coming back to Catherine.
“Wow,” I breathe as Catherine approaches me. “You look amazing.”
“Thank you,” she says, her voice low and husky. “You look pretty handsome yourself. Are you sure I won’t look out of place around all those wealthy investors?”
I chuckle. “Trust me, no one will take their eyes off you tonight,” I whisper.
As she steps closer, I can smell her perfume, a mix of vanilla and jasmine. It’s intoxicating, and it takes everything in me not to pull her in close to me.
“She really looks beautiful,” Grace chimes in, smiling warmly at Catherine. “You two make a great-looking couple.”
Catherine blushes at the compliment.
“Thank you, Grace,” I say in her place, then return my attention to Catherine. “Are you ready to go?”
“I am,” she says.
As we make our way to the door, Alice runs over and wraps her arms around my leg. “Bye, Daddy,” she says, looking up at me with her big brown eyes.
“I’ll see you soon,” I promise her, ruffling her hair before giving her a kiss on the forehead. “You have the best time tonight, okay?”
She nods and runs over to Grace’s side.
“You two have fun tonight,” Grace says with a wink.
With that, Catherine and I head out the door.
When we arrive at the hotel, the valet opens up the car door and I take Catherine’s hand in mine as we make our way inside. We follow the signs toward the event space and soon enough, we stand in front of an enormous set of double doors.
The room is filled with guests; some dressed formally in suits and dresses, while others are decked out in sparkling gowns and fancy tuxedos. The room is filled with conversation and has high ceilings and large windows with a magnificent view of downtown Seattle.
As if on cue, Fred spots us and walks over, a glass of champagne in his hand.
“Hey, partner,” he exclaims, patting me on the back before turning to Catherine. “Wow, Catherine. You look great.”
She smiles back at him. “Thanks, Fred. So do you.”
“I thought you said you had other plans for tonight,” I point out.
Fred chuckles. “I do, but I stopped by first. I couldn’t leave my boy hanging like that.”
I raise a brow. “Are you meeting the girl you met online later? You still won’t even show me a picture of her.”
Catherine interjects with a smirk. “We’re at a party, Oliver. Now’s not the time to press about the girl Fred’s seeing. Let’s get a drink and enjoy the evening.”
Fred points at Catherine. “Smart woman.”
I laugh and lead the way to the bar. We order our drinks, a whiskey sour for me and a mojito for Catherine. The bartender quickly fills our glasses and slides them to us.
Catherine takes a sip of her mojito, humming contentedly under her breath. She turns toward me and asks, “So, how did it go? The proposal?”
I reach for my drink. “I think it went well,” I tell her, taking a sip from my whiskey sour before continuing. “Fred and I are crossing our fingers that our offer will be accepted. We just have to wait and see.”
Catherine smiles, her eyes glimmering at me. “I’m sure you guys will get it.”
“We’ll see,” I say, trying not to let too much of my hope show through, especially since Jason is our competition.
Catherine’s smile grows wider in understanding before she turns away from me. “Speaking of which, I put an offer at the studio down the road but got rejected. I have my suspicions that it was Jason who outbid me.”
