The Engagement Game (Engaged to a Billionaire) (5 page)

"What a second," she objects.
 
"I'm still waiting on that journal you promised.
 
Remember?
 
Every.
 
Single.
 
Detail."
 
She beams, forgetting about the plate of salad in front of her as she waves her arms and nearly knocks it to the floor.
 
She always talked with her hands.

"If you want action I'll tell you right now.
 
There was a kiss.
 
Okay, two.
 
But that's it."
 
Our goodbye was quick, especially since we couldn't go anywhere else without photographers watching our every move.
 
That and Rex had an early morning meeting.

"Geez Kat," she laughs.
 
"I'm only curious.
 
So . . . when are you seeing him again?"
 
Before she can pry for more information, my brain goes on overload with all the details of last night.

"It's happening Holly," I blurt out.
 
My heart beats just as fast as it had when Rex kissed me.
 
"I think I'm getting married."
 
Holly gives me a curious look.
 
"Really.
 
I might have hit the jackpot here."

"Uh some clarification, K."

"Okay," I hesitate.
 
"We sit down to dinner.
 
Everything is perfect and then WHAM.
 
He tells me if he's not engaged in three weeks, his inheritance goes out the window."
 
Holly's eyes go wide before covers her mouth to contain her laughter.

"Nice one," she giggles.

"I'm serious."
 
I glance around the cafe, embarrassed by the scene she's is making by laughing even louder.
 
She clutches her sides.
 
I keep a straight face until her laughter slowly dies down.

"NO."
 
She leans in looking around at the attention she has gathered.
 
"Kat . . . this . . . I mean . . ."
 
She shakes her head, unable to complete the sentence.

"I know," I whisper.
 
"You think it's a load of garbage?"

"This is
 
. . . brilliant!"

"Huh?"
 
I curiously watch as my best friend's mouth drops.
 
"A month from now you could be married.
 
To a billionaire."

"And a guy I just met," I add.
 
"That doesn't worry you?"
 
She tilts her head and grabs a piece of blond hair.

"It
is
what you wanted."
 
She was right.
 
Chad had ruined me.
 
My heart had been set on this and only this for years.

"I know," I respond.
 
"It's just all happening so fast."

"Sometimes that's just how life works."
 
She finally looks down at her plate of salad, eyeing a specific bite.
 
"Remember when I couldn't find work and then all in the same weekend three different studios offered me a job?"
 
I nod.
 
"And the time Nordy's sold out of those red Jimmy Choos?
 
And then all of sudden they got a random shipment in just when Cheryl gave me a bonus at work?"

"Why do you always compare relationships to shoes?"

"I do not."

"Like nine times out of ten," I comment.

"Whatever."
 
She forms the perfect bite on her fork - lettuce, cucumber, olive, and a bit of feta.
 
"The point is."
 
She takes a bite and quickly swallows.
 
"The point is how do you know this guy was really meant for you?
 
I mean, can you see yourself being happy with him?"
 
With a kiss like last night.
 
Definitely.

"Possibly."

"And you've both established that marriage is the end goal?"

"Well, yeah."

"Then stop over-analyzing it," Holly practically scolds me.
 
"Now, come on.
 
Let's get back to what's really important here.
 
Is he hot?"
 
I laugh, letting myself relax.

"Very," I reply.
 
She sits up straighter in her chair.
 
"But enough about me.
 
Quit stalling and tell me what happened last weekend."
 
She licks her lips.

"I met someone."

"Yeah you did.
 
You've hardly been able to sit still."

"He's amazing Kat," she beams.
 
"He's everything I've been looking for.
 
Everything.
"

"And you met at the recital?"

"Well after."
 
She takes a breath and forms another perfect bite of salad on her fork.
 
"The recital was part of a charity thing and there was mingling and drinks afterwards."

"So on a scale of one to ten-"

"One hundred," Holly excitedly finishes.
 
It had been a long time since I'd seen her so excited about a guy.
 
The last time was when Ben something bought her a diamond tennis bracelet.
 
I raise my eyebrows.

"You
slept
with him already?" I whisper.

"Of course not," she immediately answers.
 
"Geez Kat, I'm not a
total
slut."
 
A sigh of relief.

"So what happened?"

"We talked all night," she continues.
 
"We exchanged numbers, but I couldn't stop thinking about him so I called him this morning."
 
Gutsy as always.
 
"We're meeting for coffee later."

"That explains the pink and extra blast of perfume."

"I'm not wearing
this
."
 
She looks down at her clothes as if she's wearing muddy sweat bottoms.

"My mistake," I mutter.
 
Who knew what she
really
thought of the clothes I wore to work every day.

"I'm planning on changing before."
 
She picks up her phone, moving back to the subject of me and marriage.
 
"So . . . tell me his name.
 
I want to see a picture."
 
She scrolls through news updates on her screen.
 
Her finger stops and she stares at the air behind me like she's in a trance.

"Holly?"

She looks up, biting her lip.
 
She slinks back in her chair and sizes me up like she used to do to Judy Watkins in the sixth grade before a soccer game.
 
"Holly," I repeat.
 
"What's wrong?"

"Rex."
 
The mention of his name sends my pulse into overdrive.

"Yeah," I reply.
 
"That's his name.
 
Rex.
 
How did you-"
 
My question is answered as she turns her phone around and reveals
the
picture from last night with the headline
hotel billionaire finally checks in.
 
I can't help but look amused.
 
"Oh that."

"Kat," she sighs.
 
"We've got a problem."

"How big?"
 
My stomach churns.
 
I didn't like where this was going.
 
"Holly?"

"That's the guy," she finally says, throwing a hand in the air.
 
"That's
him.
"

"What?
 
Wait do you know him or something?"

"No, Kat."
 
Her jaw tenses as she tries to explain.
 
"Rex is
my
guy."

"No," I shake my head.
 
"See that picture there?
 
He was my date last night."

"Kat!
 
I'm meeting Rex for coffee in like an hour."

It finally clicks.
 
My lungs feel like they might freeze up and shatter into a million pieces.
 
I have to focus just to breathe.

"No," I mutter.
 
Things were going perfect, but this was the catch.
 
My best friend was falling for the same guy.
 
My
guy.
 
The guy I'd fantasized about marrying all night.
 
The guy that took me for a romantic dinner then kissed me on the terrace.
 
"How?"
 
I wrack my brain trying to think of how Rex could have met Holly the same day he met me.
 
"The charity thing your students performed at . . . that wasn't a
hospital
charity thing by chance?"
 
A
 
light bulb turns on in Holly's head.
 
"Hell just froze over."
 
Holly looks down at her salad.
 
Silence.

Holly didn't have to say it because I knew she thinking it.
 
She didn't want to back off, even though technically
I
had dibs.
 
But once her mind was made up it was impossible to change.
 
My heart sinks.
 
It was either say goodbye to my perfect evening or lose Rex to a blonde goddess that happened to be my BF.

"Another good one gone," I mumble.
 
Still nothing but silence.
 
Would Holly give up her chance at marrying the man of our dreams to make me happy?
 
Nope.
 
"Maybe we should both just-"

"Unless," she decidedly speaks.
 
I fold my arms, waiting for the dreaded
but.

"No.
 
No.
 
And no.
 
If it involves some kind of scheme that will blow up in our faces later, no way."

"Don't you want to know what kind of guy he
really
is?"

"He's the kind that will be engaged next month.
 
To ONE girl.
 
Emphasis on the ONE.
 
So I take it you're still going to meet him later?"
 
Holly twirls her hair.
 
My chest heaves.
 
Holly looks me in the eye, still with the look she used to give Judy Watkins before she crushed her team on the field.

"Before you lecture me," she begins.
 
"Let's look at the facts."

"Holly-"

"Hold up!"
 
She waves her hand in the air.
 
"I'm just doing what
you
normally do.
 
Point out the obvious."
 
The obvious involved my engagement party, my golden silverware, and a
single
best friend.
 
I bite my tongue.

"This'll be interesting."

"First, you and I are both falling for him.
 
Second, Rex passes the check list.
 
Third, Rex needs a fiancé like yesterday."

"Your point?" I add, trying not to let on that I'm not happy with the direction she was taking this.
 
I wasn't doing a very good job.