Page 9 of The Good Billionaire

Seb stood up. “Tristan’s Town Car is right outside, let me take you home.”

I shuddered, afraid he’d find out where I was living. Not that I’d kept it a secret. And being in a limo with a lethally gorgeousman I missed so damn much? I shook my head. “I’ll grab an Uber, or just sit on the train.”

I rushed out of the bakery in search of a stinking subway to get the smell of Sebastian’s sexy cologne out of my throat.

CHAPTER FIVE

Sebastian

The Sterling’s lobby bar was jumping for a Thursday night. Then again, it was Christmastime in New York City.

“Do you think you should be drinking the hard stuff?” Tristan asked, bringing expensive scotch tohismouth.

“Of all our problems, enjoying a few scotches a night didn’t even make the top one hundred. Plus, Kennedy liked her wine at night. This was a mutual vice.” I shook my drink to loosen up the clinking ice and downed the sweet tangy burn.

“Another?” Tristan arched an eyebrow.

“That was to take the edge off. I’ll wait for her to have the next one.” I sat back and crossed my arms. Looking down at my attire, I wondered if showing up in a suit made me look like I was trying too hard.

I suspected Kennedy seeing me in scrubs last week hadn’t helped my cause. Despite her telling me how fucking sexy I looked in them early on in our marriage, now those damn things just shoved our problems in her face. I’d rather her see the man. Not the surgeon.

“Hey...” I nudged Tristan. “That cruise of yours is coming up, huh?”

My cousin narrowed eyes at me. “Monday after the wedding. Why?”

Every year Tristan disappeared on a weeklong singles cruise where I had found out my cousin turned into a maniac fulfilling every no-strings fantasy a man could want. It’d all been above board. Women were there for the same reason. It may have made Tristan sound like a manwhore, but there were men allover Manhattan sweet-talking women into bed, getting their hopes up and never calling them. All year long.

Tristan had been drowning in his own heartbreak, never really getting over his college girlfriend. If anyone was ready to fall in love again, it was Tristan.

I shrugged. “I have a few days off after the wedding too. Maybe I’ll crash in your suite. You can keep it down, right? All the sex?”

“No.” His boldness was chilling.

“Just a thought. I need to get away from here for a while. Before I go out west. Do something fun for a change, but going away alone isn’t fun. You’re single and my best option right now.”

“Gee, thanks. Glad to be a convenience to you when you need me. Now I know how Kennedy felt.”

“Ouch.”

“Here’sa better thought. Take your wife somewhere.”

I scoffed a laugh. “We’ll both go on your sex cruise and I’ll show her what’s in store for her if she wants to be single.”

Tristan put down his glass, loudly. The thick-cut crystal hit the wood table in protest. “First off, stop being an ass. To Kennedy and me. Second, it’snota sex cruise. And third, you’re right. Being single absolutely sucks. Give that woman whatever she wants, Sebastian. I promise you, you don’t want to lose her.” He snagged both our glasses and then sauntered to the bar.

Every fucking female eye in that lobby of Tristan’s slid his way. I smiled in amusement, then looked up.

Kennedy stared at me from the railing near the stairs that led down to the entrance. The Sterling’s front lobby rose up in tiers with seating areas on each level. The lobby bar sat at the top tier followed by a long stretch of marble leading to the check-in desk toward the back. The hotel was magnificent, and the glittery snowflakes against red and green lights all over Fifth Avenueglowed through the floor-to-ceiling lobby windows. None of that, however, distracted me from Kennedy’s beauty.

I shot off my bar stool. An aching need for her had my feet moving fast to get to my wife. I wanted to kiss her again so damn bad. I’d cracked her veneer the other day with one coffee and one lick of whipped cream. Now I had a whole weekend to wear her down even more.

“Hi.” I leaned in to kiss her cheek, relieved that she let me.

“Hi. Having fun?”

“What?”

She looked around. “Lots of pretty girls here.”

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