Bad Engagement (Billionaire's Club #10) - Elise Faber Page 0,34

that he’d try her the next day.

But she hadn’t returned the call.

Hadn’t texted.

Instead, she spent the day in worry.

No matter all the grandiose promises she’d made to herself and him.

“Ugh!” she groaned, hating this, hating she was so insecure when it came to her love life. She was a confident and capable woman in every other part of her life. Self-assured at work. Self-reliant when it came to her house, her car, her life. She could change a tire, fix a leaking pipe. She could pay her own bills. Hell, she had learned how to patch her own roof last year when a big storm had ripped off a few shingles and she couldn’t get a roofing contractor out for a few days and hadn’t wanted her dad on the roof.

She could troubleshoot her WiFi and set up her cable box.

So, why couldn’t she be in a healthy fucking relationship?

Why did she need to lie to her family or feel inadequate?

Why couldn’t she open her heart to a man who was so clearly wonderful?

Knock. Knock. Knock.

She jumped, panic swelling in her despite all of her homeownership self-reliance. Because it was nearly ten at night, and someone was pounding on her front door.

Kate grabbed her cell from her nightstand, her baseball bat from the side of her bed—it added to her capable because she could swing that sucker like a big-leaguer—and started to make her way out of her bedroom.

She’d hide in a closet or slip out the back door and she’d call the police.

There. Plan. Done.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

It came again just as she stepped out of her bedroom, and she jumped, nearly fell down the stairs.

“Katie!”

She jumped again, but this time it was less fear and more startle.

Because she recognized that voice.

“Katie!”

Heidi.

One of her closest friends. They’d met in college. They’d bonded first over drinking too much and christening the porcelain goddess, and forever over nerding out about all the things—Hermione Granger and unicorns and board games and even gardening, though that was really more of Kate’s wheelhouse.

The point was that her very best friend was at her house, and it didn’t take a genius to know why.

She’d heard about Jaime.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Don’t try to hide, my Katie girl,” Heidi called. “I’ve brought wine and ice cream, and we are going to talk about it.”

And because Kate knew there was no point in trying to ignore Heidi—her friend put persistence to shame—she headed down the stairs, flicked on the light in the hall, and opened the front door.

Heidi strolled in as though they were mid-conversation.

“You’ve been keeping secrets, college roomie,” Heidi said with a tsk.

Kate groaned. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Good,” Heidi said, flicking on the lights in the kitchen and making herself at home. It wasn’t a surprise. They’d been in each other’s lives for more than a decade, had lived together on more than one occasion—four years in college, four more until Kate had bought this house. Heidi had long ago moved beyond guest status and was firmly in the category of family.

Which is why she had little compunction opening up the cabinet that held Kate’s wine glasses and pulling out two. Another quick movement had her locating the bottle opener, and in the next few seconds, she had two glasses poured and had set one in front of Kate.

“I need your advice.”

Suspicion slid through her. “You’re not going to ask—”

“You about your fake engagement?” Heidi finished for her. “Fuck, yes, I am, because clearly you’ve got something big going on, but as much I want to squeeze every last bit of information out of you”—she lifted her hands and demonstrated her apparently very capable squeezing ability—“I also know your stubborn face.”

Kate frowned. “Stubborn face?”

“Yup.” A nod. A wave of her hand at Kate’s face. “Locked and loaded, front and center, insert other similar clichés here,” she said. “Which is why I’m going to wear you down with my life drama, and then you’ll dish on yours.”

Kate sniffed. “You wouldn’t make much of an evil genius, you know that, right?”

“Because I’m telling you my nefarious plan?” Heidi shrugged when Kate nodded then pointed at the wine glass. “You’re already halfway through that one. Another and you’ll tell me everything I want to know. Muahaha!”

Kate pushed the glass away.

Heidi snorted. “Yeah, right. It’s your favorite. I know you won’t be able to resist.”

Kate made a face. One, because her friend was right—it was her favorite. An ice wine from a small winery in Utah of all places.