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

boy taking over the family business. The one consolation is that my poor brother-in-law has passed. He’d be so disappointed.”
    I excuse myself from the conversation and even manage to do it without glaring at the older woman.
    Grace makes me promise, in an almost obnoxiously loud voice, to come find her if I have no one to talk to, and to my credit I even manage to kiss her cheek and wish her happy birthday again before I almost run to the bathroom.
    Behind the closed door I run my hands under the cool water and just breathe, staring into my own eyes in the mirror.
    “You can do this, Jen,” I say to myself. “Just a couple more hours. Eat some of that amazing food, let them talk at you and remind you just how much you don’t belong, then you can go home. But be nice. Be nice.”
    My phone vibrates in my leather clutch and I pull it out to find a text from Joshua.
     
    How’s the party?
     
    I look at it for a while.
    How do I answer that?
    It’s awful. I hate it here?
    Your friends are all assholes and I want to go home?
    I consider my response for a long time before finally hitting reply.
     
    I wish you were here. I miss you.
     
    His reply comes moments later.
     
    Miss you too.
     
    I look in the mirror again.
    Maybe I’m not one of them.
    Maybe I don’t fit in with these people.
    But Joshua wants me.
    He believes I belong here and that’s all that matters.
    Doesn’t it?
    His opinion is all I care about.
    “If I’m going to survive the next few hours, I need to drink.”
     
     

Chapter 8
     

 
     
     
     
    Feeling better, I make a beeline for the open bar, grab a stool and put down roots. A gorgeous man wearing only scandalously tight leather pants and a bow tie gives me a wide, toothy grin.
    “What can I do for you?” he asks in that way that implies he’s not talking about serving drinks, and I can’t help but smile back.
    “Vodka and lemon?”
    He gives me a wink then spins away, grabs an expensive-looking bottle off the shelf, and starts mixing.
    It’s hypnotic, like watching him dance.
    No doubt that’s the reason Grace hired him.
    He slides the drink over with a flourish and I thank him, feeling a very girlish giggle bubbling up when he winks again and flashes me his white-toothed grin.
    I’m relieved when he moves off to serve someone else. I’m too old for giggling and crushes. And besides, I have a boyfriend!
    Just as I take a sip of the most perfect vodka and lemon of my life, I look up to see Damon taking the stool beside me.
    “Hey,” he says, shooting me with a finger gun. “It’s Cinderella!”
    I make a face at him. “And you must be the unfortunate artist.”
    He puts a hand over his chest and mocks a broken heart, making me laugh.
    “For the record, I’m a director.”
    My eyes widen. “Anything I might have seen?”
    He sighs dramatically. “Probably not. When I say I’m a director, I mean aspiring director. I mainly do short films and a few ads.”
    “Everyone has to start somewhere. You never know which creation will be the one that catches on.”
    “Everyone in my family is driven by success and money. That’s all they care about. But directing is more than that for me. It is about creating something to entertain others.”
    I nod. “Spoken like a true artist.”
    “An unsuccessful one, at least.” He smiles.
    “As long as you’re doing what you love.” I take another sip of my drink. “That’s all that really matters in the end. As long as you feel like you are gaining something out of it and you’re not just doing it to impress others.”
    He nods in agreement and fixes me with a more inquiring gaze. “So, a programmer?”
    “Well, yeah, that’s how I made money, but I was mainly an app designer.”
    “Was?”
    I tell him about the app I designed and its crazy success and eventual sale.
    I’m surprised to feel a lump forming in my throat when I get to the part where the contract stated that I couldn’t work in app design for another three