Page 35 of The Billionaire and I

Good thing what I did was none of his business.

“There they are.” Jenny pointed at James and Audrey.

They were both dressed up and looked great. It did not escape my notice that they also looked every inch a real couple.

“Dre!” Jenny whooped, racing to give Audrey a jiggly hug. “This place is frickin’ amazing!”

Audrey smiled at her, but the smile seemed laced with worry. “It’s gorgeous. Just like you—you’re looking really good, Jenny.”

Jenny tossed her curls and modeled her gold-lamé dress. “Coley bought it for me.”

“Coley?” James asked, raising his eyebrows at me. “For real?”

I punched him on the shoulder. “For real, bro. So shut up.”

James dragged me to the long table where his entire family was seated, along with Evie’s family, all sorts of cousins, and friends. James’s father sat at the head of the table, resplendent in a custom-made suit. Celia Preston sat beside him, eyeing the guests over her martini. In particular, her gaze returned repeatedly to Audrey.

I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed they looked like a real couple.

James sat Audrey with Jenny and me at one end of the table. He joined Todd and Evie, who looked happy and excited. James grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and raised it.

“I’d like to make a toast,” he said. All eyes turned to him except for Celia Preston, who was now watching Audrey and Jenny with a thinly veiled look of distaste on her face. But Audrey was watching James, a smile on her face that looked real. She nodded at him in encouragement.

“My baby brother is all grown up,” James said, patting Todd on the shoulder. “And I’m happy to announce he’s marrying the woman that he loves. Evie, I know that you love my brother. I do. Seeing you two together for the past week has been inspiring. I expect good things for you in the future.”

Celia Preston tore her gaze away from the girls and watched her older son. She looked shocked—James was rarely so cheerful. She was probably waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“So I’d like to toast the happy couple. Cheers to your wedding tomorrow and for a lifetime of happiness to follow.” Everyone cheered, and James leaned down to Todd and whispered something. They both looked like they were tearing up.

What planet was I on? James Preston was not an emotional guy.

But whatever he said must’ve got the happy couple going—Todd and Evie started making out at the table. Celia Preston almost spit out her martini.

Then James sat down next to Audrey and pulled her in for a long, lingering kiss, and Celia Preston almost choked.

I laughed and threw my arm around Jenny, relieved that I did not ever have to deal with any of this shit.

After dinner—moreimportantly, after I watched James fawning all over Audrey at dinner—the girls went to the ladies’ room. I dragged James to the bar. “Dude,” I said. I ordered two bourbons.

“Yes, dude?” James asked. “Actually—aren’t we too old for that now? We used to say that at Wharton. It makes me sad to hear it come out of my mouth now. It’s like I’m an old-timer.”

“An old-timer who’s ready to settle down?” I asked.

James narrowed his eyes at me. “Do you have to go there tonight,Coley?”

“Fuck you,” I said good-naturedly. I sipped my bourbon. “You know you’ve got an emotional boner for that girl on your forehead though, right?”

“An emotional boner? I didn’t know they existed.”

“It’s like a heart on your sleeve, but bigger and more obnoxious.” I laughed. “And you totally have one.”

“She offered me a crab cake today, and I didn’t eat it,” he objected.

“You’ve fucked her, though. I can tell. Like, fifty times this week I bet,” I said.

He shrugged. “Not fifty.”

I puffed my chest out. “Then Jenny and I are winning.”

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