Page 25 of The Good Billionaire

“Kennedy, I’ve known you for a long time. I like you. Heck, I love you. You’re my cousin too. Six months is a long time to be separated from someone you love. The guy’s been a ball buster to be around.” Tristan removed his glasses. “Sebastian just wanted to get away. I see how he looks at you. He doesn’twantanyone else.”

Was it all really about pride?

“He’s not attempted to fix anything. He’s not taken a day off since...” I looked around. “And yet he’ll goon a cruise. Whether it’s to get laid or not.” I shook my head so hard a pin flew out of my tacked-up maid-of-honor curls. “It’s a slap in the face.”

Tristan lowered his head. “Maybe I shouldn’t go either.”

Now I felt terrible, injecting my drama into the man’s once-a-year chance for female company. I didn’t expect Tristan to have the answers for me and Sebastian. But looking at the man,blushing and even sweating a little over his secret being spilled out minutes before a wedding, maybe I had some answers for him.

“Don’t give up your vacation because of us. Is there a way you can get on the cruise and just...”

“Not sleep with everything on two legs?” His devilish voice got so low it scared me, seeing a glimpse of the man he became on his fantasy vacation.

My heart sped up. Sebastian took my breath away, but Tristan with his broad sculpted shoulders, chiseled cheekbones, and square jaw could make a girl forget her own name. “Yeah. Or...use it as an opportunity to meet someone. Find a nice girl and just talk to her. It doesn’t have to go anywhere. Come on. I dare you. Be the man you were when you dated Beth.”

My love life was in the shitter, Tristan deserved another shot at happy ever after.

His jaw ticked up. “I don’t know where that guy went.” Men didn’t take heartbreak very well. “But you’re right. I’ll have women coming at me from every angle. It would be interesting to just...talk to someone.”

“It’s time, my cousin. And yes, you’re my cousin too.” I held his hand, warmed by such large fingers closing around mine. “So, go. Find that woman who doesn’t want anything from you, not your money, not your...” I cleared my throat. “Someone who just wants to stare into those amazing whiskey eyes and give you everything she has to give. Just for you. I dare you.”

“You make it sound very intriguing.” He kissed my hand. “Are you up for a dare too?”

Uh oh.I should have known he would turn the tables on me. “Seb and I... I don’t think we’re gonna make it. He had six months to come up with a solution. All he did was go all alpha on me and tell me I should go to California with him. Give up my life here. That’s not a compromise. That’s an ultimatum. I don’tknow. Maybe he didn’t try because he was glad I left. Didn’t want to be married to another doctor anymore. Maybe he doesn’t want me anymore—”

A hand gently covered my mouth. “That’s not true,” Tristan said. “One thing we all have in common, me, my brothers, and Seb is an ironclad sense of pride. You leaving Sebastian hurt him, Kennedy. Shut him down.”

With the minutes ticking away until the wedding, my obligation to stand by Sebastian crept closer to being over.

I stood up and caught Seb watching me. Staggering up to him, I said, “The ceremony will start soon. I have to find your sister and keep pretending to be your wife.”

“Youaremy wife.” He tried to grab me, pull me back in. “And I’m not signing those papers, Kennedy.”

I turned around and walked backward, giving him a sly smirk. “We’ll see about that.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Sebastian

Inow pronounce you man and wife.

I heard the minister say the final blessing and with those words, I would lose Kennedy all over again. Her job as maid of honor was done.

God, watching her walk down the aisle lit me on fire. How beautiful she looked. But she hadn’t glanced at me. Not once. Not even to glower at me. Or sneer at me.

Zelda moved people from the ceremony into the lobby where Tristan’s team set up the cocktail hour. Samantha’s staff immediately started converting the ceremony room into the reception hot spot.

It really was great for Luke to let Savannah have his five-star hotel for her wedding. During the Christmas rush, no less. As far as I knew, Luke and Tristan weren’t charging my dad a penny. My cousins were great men. When they found the right women, I knew, they’d go all-in like I had.

And I wished with all my might their relationships wouldn’t fall apart and they wouldn’t go through the agony of losing someone. Like I just lost Kennedy. Again.

She felt stiff and distant as we posed for the family photos before the cocktail hour. When Savannah pulled Brandon away saying something about having to check out a chocolate fountain, Kennedy looked wobbly, like she was ready to collapse from the charade.

The weight of this pretense for the wedding had ruined me too. To see new love starting out killed me while Kennedy and I hurtled toward bottoming out. To get a last-minute stay ofexecution, a weekend where we weren’t that broken couple, then to get yanked back had me losing my mind. No wonder Kennedy looked like she couldn’t breathe. Then she...left. To get away from me, I assumed.

I thanked the heavens I had one more night with her to make things right. One more chance. My chance. My Dr. Chance Hart. Would she give me another chance with her heart?

“Things got crazy before,” Tristan said over my shoulder. “I’m officially uninviting you next week. I never meant for it to become an issue.”

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