Huge Deal - Lauren Layne Page 0,26
beginning. You couldn’t be in the same room with them and not feel the electricity.
“You know, I’m not worried,” Lara said after she finished chewing the French toast and pushed her empty plate away. “It won’t matter if my wedding dress is snug, because I have two of the most competent women on the planet as bridesmaids.”
“Well, that’s true,” Kate said. “You know, you’ll be my tenth wedding?”
“Tenth?” Sabrina asked. “As in you’ve done the bridesmaid thing ten times?”
Kate nodded. “And maid of honor twice.”
“Overachieve much, Miss Congeniality?”
“It’s not like that,” Kate said. “I mean, yeah, I love my cousins and college girlfriends, but I’m pretty sure some of them included me for the reason you just implied. Competence. I’m super handy in a crisis.”
“That you are, but you know that’s not why I asked you, right?” Lara said, studying Kate.
“Of course,” she said automatically. Kate hadn’t known Lara as long as she had Sabrina, and as a former SEC agent and current badass FBI agent, she was an unexpected addition to their group. But although she’d been wary of Lara when the other woman had been assigned to investigate Ian for insider trading, Lara made it pretty difficult to dislike her. With her big blue eyes, black-rimmed glasses, and her trademark blonde ponytail, she looked like the girl next door and acted like it, too. She was as kind as she was ambitious, funny as she was smart.
No doubt about it, her guys had picked good ones. Well, two of her guys had. Jury was still out on Claudia.
“Okay, so when do we get details?” Lara asked Kate.
“On what?” Kate helped herself to more champagne.
“Kennedy’s billionaire brother!”
Kate’s champagne flute froze halfway to her mouth as she stared at Sabrina. “Jack is not a billionaire. Is he?” If anyone would know, it would be Sabrina.
Sabrina lifted a shoulder, her white silk blouse shimmying at the gesture. “If he’s not officially, he’s close.”
“How is that even possible?” Lara asked. “He’s in his early thirties.”
“So? Jarod’s late thirties, and he’s part of the billionaire club.”
Kate fanned herself at the name. Jarod Lanham was hot. Unlike so many of the guys who worked downtown and freaked out at the first sight of gray hair, discreetly paying hundreds every other week to take care of it, Jarod had embraced the gray, resulting in a Clooney-worthy silver-fox vibe.
“I guess I don’t know for sure about Jack,” Sabrina admitted. “But he does a ton of business overseas, and that’s a whole other world of power and money.”
“Okay, it’s official, he’s never coming over to my place,” Kate said.
Sabrina and Lara stared at her.
“What? I’m not inviting a billionaire, or an almost billionaire, to my studio apartment.”
“We adore your apartment, as do you,” Lara pointed out. “But we’re far more intrigued by the fact that you were even thinking of inviting Jack over to your apartment.”
“Those must have been a couple of awesome dates,” Sabrina said. “Are you thinking third date is sexy time?”
“No,” Kate admitted. “The apartment thing was hypothetical.”
“So no third date?”
“Well, he asked . . .”
Lara reached over and excitedly patted the table beside Sabrina. “Our girl’s snagged a billionaire!”
Sabrina put her hand over Lara’s to still it, watching Kate. “Have you snagged him?”
Kate sighed. “It’s only been a week, but he does seem weirdly interested.”
“Why weirdly?”
“Because . . .” Kate gestured down at herself. “Look at what I’m working with.”
“Kate,” Sabrina said in a warning tone.
“No, I mean it. I realize I’m not like, garbage disposal goo to look at, but this guy can literally have anyone. Anyone! Did you know his last girlfriend was an actress? A big one.”
“Who?” Lara demanded.
“I said I wouldn’t tell. Apparently they had this super-hot fling. But the point is, how can I compete with that? I’m too plain.”
“You’re down-to-earth, and maybe that’s exactly what attracts him to you, aside from your great hair, big Bambi eyes, and how adorably tiny you are.”
“Purse size,” Sabrina chimed in.
Kate rolled her eyes. “Yes, I’m sure that’s what every hot rich guy wants. A purse-size girlfriend.”
“Look, babe, forget all of that. The real question is, do you like him?”
Kate inhaled, held her breath, and let it out slowly. It was something she’d given a good amount of thought to lately, because while there was no doubt in her mind that she liked Jack Dawson, she was also acutely aware that something was missing. They’d had that first flirtatious moment, with some sort of chemistry there, and yet . . .