Page 2 of One Night Billionaire

“You lie,” she teased.

Lucy giggled and stood again. “I don’t have it in me to stand up again, so back up.” She shooed Anna away with a wave of her hand.

Anna couldn’t help but laugh at her friend. They were quite a pair as they stiffly walked to the elevator. Normally Anna only took the stairs, but today was not that kind of day. Walking to the elevator was almost too much.

As they waited for the elevator to arrive, the three men in suits stood behind them. Anna cringed. She was a mess and didn’t want to meet them, but her choice was to limp away or likely be in the same elevator.

Lucy nudged her and grinned. The elevator arrived, keeping Lucy from saying whatever she was about to say.

They did follow her and Lucy in. The man she’d been eyeing earlier asked which floor they were on and Lucy answered.

Anna stepped off first, doing her best to look like she wasn’t broken with Lucy right behind her. When the doors closed trapping the men back inside, she let out the breath she was holding and winced.

“That looked like it took some effort,” Lucy said.

“You would have put more effort in a year ago. Not my fault you went and got engaged on

me.”

She sighed. “You’re right. That was a lot of hotness in one elevator.”

They parted ways and Anna made her way to her room. It was slow going, but she made it. It took considerably more effort than it should have to get out of all her snow gear and into her swimsuit.

Tomorrow she was going to hang out and do indoor things, like the hot tub and the spa. She shouldn’t have gone so hard on her first full day of vacation.

Anna texted Lucy to see if she was ready and met her in the hall before heading down to the indoor pool and hot tub.

“Ooh,” she moaned as slid into the warm water.

Finding a jet, she held her legs near it, letting the water massage her aching muscles.

“If you see the guy at the bar tonight, are you going to talk to him?” Lucy asked.

“Why are you so interested in me hooking up with some random guy?” Anna asked curiously.

“I’m in a relationship,” she shrugged. “I don’t regret it one bit, don’t get me wrong. However, I now have to live vicariously through you.”

Anna tossed her head back as she laughed. “You’re about to be sorely disappointed because all I do is work.”

“I’ll get you out there living your life before you know it,” Lucy told her.

Anna put her hand in the water and pushed it to her friend, splashing her. “I happen to like my life.”

“You work too much.” Something all her friends had said to her more than once. “I can’t believe you even agreed to come here. Not that I didn’t want you to. It’s been great seeing you and actually getting to spend time with you.”

“I like my job. And it takes a lot of work for a startup to take off. Most of them don’t make it.” She could spout the facts on how many startups didn’t succeed each year, but Lucy wouldn’t want to hear it.

“You know there are plenty of companies that are already successful that you could work at and have actual time for yourself,” Anna pushed.

Lucy sighed and sank down lower in the water. “If I tell you something, you can’t tell anyone.”

“Oh, I do love a secret. My lips are sealed.” She made a motion like she was zipping her lips closed.

“I’ve already started applying to jobs. I have one that I really want, and I hope I hear from them.” It felt good to tell someone.

She’d been doing it in secret for a month. Truthfully, she was terrified that the company wasn’t going to make it. The writing on the wall was becoming brighter, and she wanted a fallback plan for the inevitable.

“I’m proud of you,” Lucy said. “I know you do love it there, and I was just giving you a hard time,” she apologized.

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