Romance: Two Nights with the Billionaire Read Online Free Page A

maybe I’m just a little jealous.
    Her silky black hair falls just past her shoulders in luscious waves, framing her perfect porcelain doll face, and when she smiles I have to stifle a gasp.
    She walks right by the housekeeper as though the older woman’s not there and then looks over my shoulder before looking at me.
    “But where’s Joshua?” she asks.
    “He couldn’t make it,” I reply.
    “And you came anyway? All alone?” She squints at me and almost frowns but it’s gone in the next second, seamlessly replaced by a radiant smile.
    “Happy birthday,” I say and even manage a bright smile as I say it.
    “Thank you.” She giggles.
    She takes both my hands then pulls me into a perfumed hug before kissing both my cheeks.
    “Come in, I must introduce you to everyone. They are all dying to meet Joshua’s new girlfriend. But you must promise to come find me if you get lonely.”
    I nod and smile and tell myself that she’s honestly trying to be nice, she’s just… different from my friends.
    She leads me by the hand out into the garden and it’s even more spectacular than I imagined.
    A string quartet play familiar music that I can’t quite recognize and beneath a wide decorative marquee, there are tables and chairs and the biggest buffet table I’ve ever seen, loaded with literal mountains of fresh fruit, desserts, salad, and roast meat.
    Grace’s gardens are huge. I’ve only seen them once before, but it was at night. During the day the roses and multitudes of other colorful flowers create a stunning effect and the grounds themselves are lush and green.
    It is picture perfect. 
    Actually, I have never seen a picture this perfect.
    “Lucy!” Grace squeals and pulls me towards a small circle of men and women about our age. I recognize a few of them from other parties.
    “You must meet Joshua’s new girlfriend.”
    I’m not new. It’s been a couple of years now.
    And I am also more than just a girlfriend!
    But I don’t say that, I just smile as she introduces me to her friends.
    “How did you two meet?” a girl named Karla asks.
    But before I can speak Grace gasps and slaps a hand to her chest as though she might swoon. “It’s a wonderful story. Jennifer was a underprivileged programmer when she met our Joshua. Right away they knew that despite their differences in station, they were meant to be.”
    I grit my teeth but still manage a smile.
    “It was like a fairy tale,” I say and hope nobody grasps my sarcastic tone.
    This goes on for about an hour.
    Perfect Grace leads me from circle to circle, telling my rags to riches story over and over.
    I tell myself she’s trying to make me feel welcome but every time I hear her version of the story, I feel more and more excluded.
    It’s like she’s introducing me as merely an honorary member of their exclusive club, which I guess I am. I could never fit in here. These people have grown up with a lot of money – I could never pretend to understand their problems.
    I’m about to extricate myself and plead for a bathroom break when we join a small circle of three older women and a man about my age.
    He’s well-dressed, but his unshaven chin and slightly mussed hair separates him from the rest.
    Grace introduces me, and immediately slips into my tale of woe and good fortune. By this point I’m not even really listening any more, just smiling politely.
    Maybe I should get a little hat so I can dance while she plays her music.
    The younger man suddenly snickers but covers it quickly with a cough before excusing himself.
    Was he laughing at me?
    Is that what I am here?
    A joke that everyone’s sharing, only I don’t get it?
    One of the older women, the one with the big hat and slim-line black-and-white dress, leans closer to Grace and says, “I hope you don’t mind me bringing my nephew, Damon. He spends time in our society so rarely these days.” She lowers her voice to almost a whisper. “He’s an artist. His father had great dreams of the