The Billionaire's Pretend Girlf - Leslie North Page 0,43

villa was famous for.

Tables stretched out before them, covered with white linens, each one full of plates, silverware, and shocking sprays of vibrant red and white lilies. The cave arced up at the sides, forming a dome overhead, and light displays played along the smooth taupe walls. It was exactly like being in a dream. Except this was reality.

He spotted Jackie across the way, picking cheese cubes off a platter. He headed her way, leaving Blake to chat up a single lady he’d already spotted by the door. As he approached, drinking her in, he made the decision: tonight, they’d talk about what the future might hold for them, even if it was the scariest conversation he’d ever have in his life. He could finagle a boardroom full of banker sharks, but the prospect of talking about the future with Jackie was far more terrifying.

He swept up to her, wrapping an arm around her. She smiled up at him just as she popped the cube of gouda into her mouth.

“There you are. Pictures took long enough.”

“You’re telling me. Every time I thought we were done, the photographer would ask for a re-do with someone’s arm a quarter of an inch to the left.”

Jackie giggled, reaching for another cheese cube. “Sounds like hell. But you didn’t have it nearly as bad as I did in here. I was forced to wander this cavern wonderland, eat cheese, and listen to live jazz music.”

“Life is rough,” Daniel said, gently rubbing the sides of her arms.

She let out an exaggerated sigh. “I guess I’ll manage.”

A waiter passed by with a platter full of white wine glasses. Daniel grabbed two and handed one to Jackie. “Hopefully this will help things.”

They clinked glasses, sharing warm smiles. Still, the anxiety thumped distantly in his chest. His flight to Bangladesh left on Tuesday.

Before Daniel could even take a sip, Grayson and Mila swept in, eliciting cheers and applause. They did a little dance toward the party just as Daniel’s phone buzzed in his pocket.

He sighed, fishing it out, already fearful that he knew exactly who it was: his father.

“Oh, look.” He swiped the phone to silent, setting his jaw. It was definitely his father—and there was no way in hell he was answering. “Sorry, Dad. Not today.”

Jackie sipped at her wine. “What’s wrong?”

“I told him that I would be unavailable today, due to Grayson’s wedding. I made that explicitly clear. I think I deserve one full day to myself each year, right?”

Jackie frowned. “I’d say you deserve more than that.”

Daniel scoffed. “Yeah, well, with my job, I only get one—and I have to take it by force.” He shook his head, downing the rest of the contents of his wine glass.

Silence stretched between them. Jackie’s gaze sizzled on him, and he couldn’t tell if she was scrutinizing him or sympathizing. But he didn’t want to think about his father or work—at all. When another waiter passed by, he snagged a second glass of wine and lifted it to tap against Jackie’s.

“I want to have an amazing evening with you,” he said. “Because we both deserve it.”

Finally, Jackie’s private smile returned, igniting butterflies in parts of him he didn’t know existed.

And that right there—it was proof that although they didn’t have years and years under their belts together, there was something uncanny between them.

Even though Daniel wasn’t sure about how to proceed, he was sure that he wanted to.

15

By the end of the evening, Jackie felt like she could publish a book. No, two books.

One would be all the reasons that her and Daniel would never work. He was too busy. He was leaving on Tuesday. For him, free time was a distant concept. Everyone in his life knew it, reiterated it, accepted it. That was the biggest and thorniest among so many other reasons.

Yet the other book she could fill was with all the ways in which she was hopelessly attracted to Daniel, even when she had a whole entire book of reasons to stay away.

By the time they drifted back to the bedroom, toasty from the wine and the dancing and laughter, the soft part of her heart was—at least for the moment—winning the battle against her brain.

Screw the consequences. She wanted one last night with the man who had won her heart. Even if she regretted it tomorrow, and next week, and for the entire rest of the year.

Daniel had at least been a bright spot in her existence, even if a lasting relationship would never—could