The Billion Dollar Fiancé [#8]

Chapter 7

Stephen couldn't stop admiring her as she scrolled through her cellphone and absentmindedly popped grapes into her mouth. Her lips were painted with a dark shade of red, and the rest of her makeup was simple but dark enough to bring out her eyes.

Her black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and although she was only dressed in a pair of shorts and a loose fitting crop top with old sneakers to go with her outfit, she was still the most gorgeous thing there was to look at.

"Your phone must be more interesting than me," he said, smirking at the woman.

She looked up at him and immediately blushed. "Do you know how long it's been since I've been on Facebook? YouTube has changed so much."

"You're an editor for a huge publishing company but you don't use social media?"

"I have a social media manager for all of that." It was a lie. She hardly ever got on social media for the sake of her job, and she was suddenly starting to feel terrible about the lies that continued on.

"Huh," he said. He leaned forward in his chair and took the phone from her before turning the screen off. "We need to talk."

"I'd rather eat."

He quirked a brow. "So would I, but I'm sitting here, aren't I?"

Her eyes glistened of something beautifully gold as he leaned in and cupped a hand around her knee from under the table. "Maybe that can happen."

"You should leave him," he whispered almost hoarsely. "Leave Connor and be mine."

She felt her knees part as his hand moved further up her thigh. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you want me, too," he said all too casually. "Are you wet?"

She glanced to make sure they didn't have an audience before taking his hand in hers to stop him. "You could find out, but I can't leave Connor."

His hand fell from her lap, and he pulled it back into his. "Camilla-"

"Not yet," she told him with a rueful smile. "There are some things he and I have yet to figure out. Why is it so easy for you to betray your brother?"

Stephen raised a brow at her almost questioningly. "I was going to ask you to prom. Connor said he'd do it before I could, and I believed him when he came back to tell me you told him yes. He's taken everything from me, Cami. You can only tolerate a brother like that for so long."

"It was just the prom," she said, releasing a bitter chuckle. "You didn't even go."

"Because I didn't want to see you with my brother. It wasn't until we graduated that I found out you went with your friends. We weren't even talking at that point."

Camilla's face fell in shame. "It was just prom, Stephen," she repeated to him. "I never imagined you wearing a tux at that age, escorting me into an overrated venue. Instead, I pictured you in a tux, a little older, waiting for me at the alter where we would say some stupid vows we wrote."

His eyes widened.

"We were kids," she continued. "It was just a crush."

"Was it?" he asked for confirmation. "Because I don't think a crush lasts this long. Shit, mine must have stuck with me since high school."

"That's your dick talking."

He ignored the comment and leaned over the table, clearing his throat. "I watched Eloise come between Tristan and Olivia and thought it would suck to lose the person you love because you believe one route is the right route."

She blinked hard at him, as if she were confused, and he assumed it was so.

"I should have tried to keep you around," he said almost sympathetically. "If I had, you probably wouldn't be engaged to my brother and we'd be married by now."

"Or we would have figured out all the things we hated about each other and then forget why we were together to begin with."

He shook his head in disagreement. "You were my best friend, Cami. We spent every second together and it still wasn't enough for me. Even if you did annoy the shit out of me sometimes, there was no replacing you."

She wasn't sure how to respond to that, so she decided to change the subject instead. "Tristan said you went to Italy with a woman."

"I went alone. Victoria can back me up on that."

"Why'd you go?"

"I'm setting up a few things there."

Camilla quirked a brow at him. "And what did you have to set up?"

"My new house," he said through a heavy breath. "It's small, but I'm only staying a year to research the arts there."

She felt her heart painfully constrict in her chest, but she couldn't be certain why. "You're just leaving the country then?"

He fell back into his chair, nodded his head and looked down at the hand he had pulled back onto the table. "You've always wanted to go and study the arts with me. You still can."

"I have a job," she said all too quickly. "There's Connor... I can't leave it all."

"Do you really love him?"

She didn't get a chance to answer because Connor had charged toward her and pulled her out of her chair. "What are you doing?"

He chuckled. "That's me being romantic."

She rolled her eyes at him.

"In all seriousness, you and I have something to discuss and it just couldn't wait." He nodded to his brother before pulling Camilla away from the table and over to the front entrance. "Get in the car."

She raised a brow. "What's going on?"

"Just get in the car," he said a little too harshly. "We have to talk."

She followed him out to the parking lot where the car was still running and got into the passenger seat. She waited until he was settled in to speak. "Is this about Killeen?"

He shook his head. "He was just looking out for me after he saw Stephen take you to the back room, but I assured him it was nothing to worry about. I don't believe a stranger would do this. Stephen says only a few investors and collectors know about the painting."

"I know your family," she said in denial to his thinking. "They would never want to betray Stephen like that."

"We could talk to Isaac," he suggested. "I saw him at the showing with Tristan."

"Your cousin?"

Connor nodded. "We have to eliminate everyone."

"You're thinking too hard about this," she told him, waving the idea off. "You need to look at everything the same way you would with any other case. Let's go to the house where you can properly give me a profile."