The Billionaire's Temporary Bride (Scandal, Inc #3)(2)
"You're just trying to make this impossible aren't you?" Callie said. As she looked at him in disbelief, her phone rang. She looked down at the screen and back up at him.
"Take the call," Jack said. "This was probably a bad idea anyway."
"It's just my roommate—" Callie stared down at the phone for a moment and grinned. "Actually, you're right. I should take this. I might have someone for you after all." Callie practically skipped across the lawn as she answered the call.
As Jack tried to figure out what had just happened, his phone started to buzz in his breast pocket. He took a quick look around. No one was within earshot, but he couldn't be too careful. He headed to the trail that led from the back lawn down to the beach and walked out of sight.
He pulled the small flip phone out and looked at it for a moment. How many years had he carried it for? Five? Always securely in his breast pocket, always safely away from his primary phone. How many more years would he carry it for? When would he finally slip up and let someone notice?
Not today, he thought. He took another look around and answered the phone.
"Maria," he said, "is everything alright?"
"Yes," the woman said on the other end of the line. "I just wanted to let you know that someone came by the house today asking about little Jack."
"Did you say anything?" Jack asked.
"Of course not," Maria replied.
"Good," Jack replied. "How are the two of you doing? I've been meaning to come down and visit. I got him that game he wanted for his birthday."
"He was asking for you this morning," Maria said. "It's getting hard to explain things to him."
"Let me give it a try next time I'm in town. Oh, by the way, it's probably nothing, but there's a possibility you might read a few articles about me getting engaged soon. Before you say anything, I want you to know that this will do nothing to change our arrangement." He flipped the phone shut when he saw a blur of motion in his peripheral vision. When he turned, no one was there.
Maybe it had been a bird or a trick of the light. He looked toward the yard as the shadow of his family's estate stretched beyond him to the sea.
Chapter 1
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a bridesmaid must do everything within her power to help her bride. For the maid of honor, this is doubly true. She must conjure miracles of planning, preparation and improvisation in order to keep the intricate machinery of a wedding party on track. Of course, there's more to it than that. The maid of honor must smile and nod and fade into the background, ensuring the success of the whole endeavor without taking any credit. At the latter half of this list, Charlotte Crowley excelled. If not for her conspicuously red hair, she would have been invisible while standing next to Callie Haven, the perfect, blond-haired, smiling bride.
Above all, the maid of honor must go along with the bride's wishes. Even if that means leaving a private plane waiting while the bachelorette party heads back into Georgetown on a last minute change of plans so that the bride could crash the groom's bachelor party. The rest of it was irrelevant. The three hundred forty-seven dollar bridesmaid dress, the twelve hundred dollars for her portion of Callie's bridal shower, the over twenty-eight hundred dollars she had poured into the perfect bachelorette weekend — Charlotte had pushed it all out of her mind. She had taken out a credit card solely for wedding expenses, and she had stopped checking the balance months ago. For someone who usually knew how much money she had down to the penny, this act of cognitive dissonance had been the only thing keeping her from breaking down into tears at her financial situation. If she couldn't see her growing mountain of debt, it didn't exist, and it would continue not existing until the bride and groom had left for their honeymoon. At that point, Charlotte could sit down and figure out what to do next.
For now, she'd have to settle for getting the drink order. She grabbed the wedding card out of her purse and turned her attention to Callie. "What can I get? The first round is on me."
Callie smiled and said, "Vi's already at the bar taking care of it, I've got this one." Callie's aunt Vi was exactly the sort of woman who would make a bee line to the bar. She was probably flirting with the bartender, too.
"This is your bachelorette party," Charlotte said. "You shouldn't have to pay for anything."
Callie grabbed Charlotte's shoulders and spun her around, facing her toward the group of men on the far side of the bar. "My fiancé is a literal billionaire, and he owns this brewery. You lost your assistant editor job last month, and literary presses aren't known for their huge salaries to begin with. Let me get this one. I can afford it." Charlotte watched Callie's fiancé Logan and his friends talking. Logan had dirty-blond hair and a wicked smile.
"It's the principle of it," Charlotte said. "I know you can afford it, but that doesn't mean I can't take care of it."
"I already gave Vi the money," Callie said.
"Fine, I'll pay the tip." Charlotte tried to catch Vi before she had gotten the whole order. There was a whole array of multicolored drinks lined up before her at the bar. "Vi, you do know that even including Logan's friends, we don't have nearly this many people, right?"