Page 10 of Her Billion Dollar Groom

“But you don’t want people to think that, babe. It’s all about how good you are at pretending that you love the public attention. Nobody really likes being in the public eye. We bear it because that’s what we have to do.”

“I wish I could hire you to be my PR manager,” I say with a grin.

She grins back at me, and the conversation flows on like this, easy banter, easy chatter. It’s almost like we’ve known each other for years. I don’t feel any of that awkwardness I usually do around new people. I don’t feel like I have to be posturing or pretending to be something I’m not. I notice her relaxing too.

I think getting out of that awards show and to somewhere we can let our hair down has done us both a world of good.

“It must be good to be a billionaire,” she says, out of nowhere.

“Surely you’ve sold enough records?” I frown.

She smiles bitterly, her eyes suddenly shining like she’s trying to hold back tears. “I did. I thought I had. I wasn’t in the billions exactly, but I was comfortable. I was happy. You don’t strike me as a particularly gossipy guy, so maybe you haven’t seen the news, but… Well, my manager stole from me. It turns out he was taking my money behind my back, putting it into his own secret account.”

“That’s disgusting,” I gasp, my top lip curling with contempt for men like that. “Some people would do anything for a fortune.”

Eliza chuckles, the tears still welling in her eyes. “Yeah, Robert would. He did. And what they haven’t been reporting in the news is that I’m about to go bankrupt. I’m left with nothing.” She lets out a choked sob, and I reach over to pat her on the shoulder, hoping to offer her some small comfort.

“Don’t feel sorry for me,” she says, scrubbing her eyes, blinking hard. “I got into this situation by myself, and I can get out of it. I just need to figure out how. But I will.”

“I’m sure you will,” I say gently. “You seem like a resilient person.”

“I’m great at pretending to be, aren’t I?” She sniffles. She takes a great shaking breath, and my heart aches to see her like this. I only met her a few hours ago, but I can’t help but wonder if there’s something I can do to fix this for her.

I’m sure she doesn’t want to accept help, but it sounds like she needs it. I get the sense that she doesn’t have too many real friends. But I also get the sense that she’s just like me — not necessarily in personality, but in drive, in ambition. We both have hard-working attitudes.

She takes another sharp breath and smiles at me with wet eyes, and that’s the second that I decide I’m going to do something to help Eliza Holt, whether she wants it or not.

CHAPTER 8

ELIZA

It’s amazing how quickly the night goes.

When Jason first suggested this crazy plan, I was almost certain that it would lead somewhere else. But it hasn’t, and now I almost feel bad for assuming that of him. I guess I’m just used to boys who want nothing more than to take advantage of you. Jason has been nothing less than a perfect gentleman.

He listened to me when I talked. He’s been kind about my troubles. He hasn’t been patronizing in the way most people are when they hear about my manager or my boyfriend. Most people act like it’s my fault, but not Jason. Even if he does think that I’m vapid and stupid, he isn’t showing it at all.

For the first time in years, I feel like I’m a real human, not some dancing monkey. This night is going to stay with me for a long time. It’s a shame I’m going to get so told off in the morning.

I don’t think either of us realizes what the time is until the bar manager comes over to us and tells us politely that it’s last call.

We both blink in surprise, like we can’t comprehend what we’re hearing. And then we look at the time. It’s almost 1:30 AM. “Oh, my God. When did it get so late?” I say. “The time has flown.”

“It has,” he says. “This was way better than sitting through hundreds of painful speeches.”

“You bet it was.” I giggle. Then, putting on my best ridiculous mocking voice, I say, “I’d love to thank everybody here, my mom, my dad, my friends and family, for giving me the opportunity to win this award. You’ll never know how much it means to me.”

Jason laughs at that, truly laughs, and a wash of affection floods over me. He’s a hard guy to figure out. To look at him, you would think he was uptight and serious and no fun at all. But he never holds back when he wants to laugh. He doesn’t seem to hesitate to say what’s on his mind. I haven’t known anyone like him in a long time.

The thought of leaving him behind after this makes my heart ache.

“So,” I say, biting my lower lip as I steady myself for what I want to say next. “Let me give you my number. Give me your phone.”

“Why?”

“So I can call you when I want to hang out again.”

“You want to hang out again?” he says slowly, echoing me like a parrot who can’t quite understand human English.

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