Page 115 of Her Billionaire Bargain (Kensington Square)

Dear God, I was really thinking of moving in with him. A man I’d barely known for a month. Longer if I counted back to last fall but that one afternoon meeting at Preston’s and Bishop’s office didn’t count for much.

Somehow dinner with Isis was wonderful, despite my endless verbal spewing. She didn’t seem to mind, so clearly, she was a candidate for sainthood.

“What can I do with my house? I have years left on my mortgage. And more than that, Ilovemy house. It was the first place that was a true home for Berry…” I trailed off, stabbing my spoon into my berry trifle thing. It was delicious, just as my chicken Francoise had been, but I was mostly panic chattering at this point. “I’m babbling, sorry.”

“No, you’re not. You’re processing out loud. Far different.” Isis finished her own slice of peach pie with a scoop of vanilla and slid the plate away. “I have to tell you something. I don’t want to make it weird between us, but I also don’t want tonottell you.”

Uh oh.My stomach twisted as if two fists were pulling in opposite directions. “Okay.”

“Don’t look at me like that. Shelby, he loves you.”

“He hasn’t said it,” I said far too quickly, then bit my lip and shook my head. “Ignore me.”

“Haveyousaid it?” Isis demanded.

“Sure, take his side.”

She laughed and reached across the table to squeeze my hand. “I told him I’d developed feelings for him. I don’t know how it happened.”

“I do. He’s amazing.” I sighed.

“You’re not mad at me?”

“For what?”

“I don’t know. For feeling that way and then telling him, but it’s not like I was trying to put the moves on him. Oh, God, I can’t even imagine that.” She started laughing so hard she almost knocked over her water glass. “Him and me naked? Dear Lord, no. What was I thinking? He’s my oldest friend. I could never. Never ever never.”

I didn’t particularly want to think about her getting naked with Dex either.

MyDex, dammit.

“I can’t blame you for loving him,” I interjected over her residual laughter. “And you have that whole friends-to-lovers vibe that’s so popular in romance novels. They always fall for their best friends. It’s a thing.”

“Theywho?”

“The men in TJ’s sex books.”

“Well, it didn’t happen. I didn’t expect it to.”

“No?”

“No. I knew it too. Because deep down, it’s not him I want. I know he’s a good guy. I love him. But I’m not reallyinlove with him. I just want the man who’s for me and that doesn’t make it him even if I might’ve weakened enough to want to pretend.” Her shoulders slumped before she took a deep bolstering breath. “He was sweet, but we both knew nothing could come of it, not in this lifetime or any other.”

I rubbed my throat and waited her out.

“I know the man, and the spot he’s in with you is one he’s never been in before. He’s gonna go the long haul with you, Shelbs, so you better get ready. You can’t halfway things with him. He’s an all-or-nothing kind of guy, and he deserves the same back from the woman he loves. Which is you.Duh.”

Even as I wanted to laugh, my eyes filled and I grabbed my napkin to dab my eyes so I didn’t ruin my makeup. “It’s so good but I’m going to mess it up. I don’t know how to do any of this. At least not successfully.”

“Seems like you are. He asked you to move in, didn’t he? Crazy guy. Doesn’t say he loves you, just skips ahead.” She shook her head and sipped her vodka tonic, finishing the glass. “I could totally go for another of these, but I won’t.”

“I could go for one too.”

“But if you don’t marry him by forty, he’s mine. The pact says so. Just saying.” With a grin, she motioned over the waiter and ordered vodka tonics for both of us. “We’re fucking celebrating. The time is now. Worrying can wait. Being happy can’t.”

“Damn straight.” We clinked glasses once the waiter brought over our drinks. “Wait, what pact?”

She shared with me the marriage pact she’d made as a kid with Dex—one he didn’t really seem to remember, according to her. I found that hard to believe since Isis was insanely gorgeous and funny and smart, but if he had somehow forgotten it, that must be part of my new streak of luck.

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