Banking the Billionaire (Bad Boy Billionaires Book 2)(73)

Home. I couldn’t deny my first thought was, Home is wherever you are now.

“Yeah, baby, let’s go home.”





“So you’re good to get him to Monarch tonight, right?” Georgia asked as I stepped into the crosswalk with the phone to my ear.

Kline’s birthday party was finally upon us, and we were all just living in Georgia’s world until it was over.

I shook my head and smiled at the near panic in her sweet voice. “I won’t let you down. I’ll get him there no matter what it takes.”

A bike messenger weaved up and around me to cut in front of the pedestrians. Cabs and cars filled the streets, the height of the commuting hour packing a half a dozen extra sardines into the can.

“But, like, you’re not gonna drug him, right?”

A startled bark of laughter had the people in front of me looking over their shoulders. I ignored them and focused on the woman at my ear. “No. I won’t be taking advantage of your husband in any way. But I will carry him there if I have to.”

“Good.”

“Not good,” I corrected. “If I have to physically carry your husband to his party tonight, you better start planning my funeral.”

She giggled. “Okay. At least I’ve gotten a little practice at event planning, so I’ll make sure it’s nice.”

“That’s not really comforting at all.”

“I’ll also make sure Cassie puts a picture of her boobs in the casket with you.”

I smiled at the visual. “Okay, I’m feeling slightly comforted now.”

“Fantastic!”

I heard some guy hoot in the background, and my eyebrows pulled together as I made my way across 5th Avenue. There was never any shortage of people talking to you when you didn’t want them to, men hooting at the attractive women, as though yelling at them gave them a chance, or crazy people forgetting the meaning of personal space. But as hard as I focused my ears, I couldn’t figure out which of those scenarios Georgia was currently encountering.

“Where are you? Do you need me to do anything else? I’ve got about an hour before rugby practice. I’m just running by the tattoo shop to make sure Frankie’s good, but I can skip it if you need something.”

“Thanks, but I think I’ve got everything covered. I’m meeting Cass in just a few minutes, and then we’re going over to the bar to finish setting up.”

Three beats in the space of what should have been one, my heart sped up at the mention of my roommate and lover. It was unexpected but not completely unwelcome. Still, the feeling was overpowering, so I tried to distract myself with meaningless questions.

“What did you tell Kline? I can’t imagine he likes the idea of not being with you on his birthday.”

I could practically hear her smile. “I told him it wasn’t that he wouldn’t be with me, just that he’d be with me later. And that I’d make sure being with me was verbiage for some very dirty activity.”

“Ah,” I breathed. “The real way to a man’s heart. Your puss—”

“Yeah, I get it, thanks.”

“Hey, I’m just saying, my stomach isn’t really the answer unless it’s got a * sitting on—”

“I said I get it!” she yelled, and I laughed at the mental visual of curious eyes turning her way on whatever busy street she was walking.

“What’s that? Did you say you didn’t get it? I said—”

“I will hang up on you!” she threatened in a way that was supposed to be scary but had all the danger of a chipmunk behind it. She was too cute to be lethal, and if she wasn’t, I guess that was how I’d die.

“Okay, okay,” I conceded with a laugh. “Just pass the message along to Cassie, okay?”

“I will not dirty-talk my best friend for you.”

My face felt swollen as my cheeks climbed up around my nose, but I made sure to do my best impression of an audible pout for her benefit. “Ah, come on. The visual is so good.”

“Kline would kill you if he could hear you right now,” she said in my ear, just as I spotted what I knew was his back disappearing down the steps of the subway ahead. It didn’t happen often, especially now that he was living outside the city, but on occasion, the world did its best to remind me how truly small it was. Quickening my steps, I strode after him.

“Good thing he can’t, then, huh?” I teased.

“I’m not even sure why I talk to you.”

“Because you love me. Everyone loves me,” I deadpanned. The woman walking next to me glanced up with surreptitiously curious eyes. She didn’t want me to know she was listening, but she also didn’t want to miss a word.

Raising a hand, I gave her a wave and wink. Disgusted eyes met mine for a second before she sped up her stride to put distance between us. Given the natural length of my stride, her little legs looked like she was running a hamster wheel.

“Right,” Georgia scoffed in my ear.

“I’ll see you in a couple of hours, Georgia girl, and I’ll have your dreamboat of a man at my side.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“—ly handsome? I know. Don’t worry. I won’t tell Kline you think so if you don’t.”