Page 31 of Her Billion Dollar Groom

When we step out of the car, a porter meets us to take our bags. We’re shown through to the conference room, where businesswomen and men are mulling around showboating with each other.

Jason lingers at the side of the room, and I nudge him. “Go on. Go and say hello.”

“You’re not my mother,” he rolls his eyes.

I stare at him. “Then don’t behave like a child. Come on, my great big CEO. Show them what you’re made of.”

He glares unhappily at me but doesn’t question my wisdom any further. He slopes off to say hello to some of his peers, and I spy the open bar and slide my way over to it.

“Hello there. You’re that girl, aren’t you?” says a man as I approach.

“What girl?” I smile politely, already not wanting to be having this conversation.

“That girl, you know, the one who sang all those stupid songs about broken hearts.”

“That’s me.” I sigh, already bored of this.

“And you married the CEO of… oh, what was it called?”

“Handshake.”

“Yes,Handshake. Owned by…”

“Jason Burroughs.”

He grins as if to suggest to me that he’s got me cornered where he wants me. “Yes. Jason. So, Mrs. Burroughs?—”

“Holt,” I interrupt, “I kept my name.”

“Of course you did. You’re one of these modern women, aren’t you?”

“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” I snap.

The man raises his hands as if to surrender. I don’t like him even a teeny tiny bit. “Whoa, lady. I’m sorry.”

I clench my fists ready for the fight, and then take a deep breath, reminding myself that maybe I shouldn’t hit anyone at thisconference. Not yet, anyway. But there is a limit to the amount of patronizing crap I can take.

I decide to go on the offense. “So, you came here because you wanted to talk business, didn’t you? Let’s talk business, then. Handshake has seen the biggest improvement in revenue and sales in the last month that it has ever seen. We’ve had a drastic increase in users, and investors are lining up to join us, and yes, I did say us. Jason might have had the initial idea, but now that we’re together, we share everything, and everything includes ideas. Unless maybe you think Handshake became an overnight success by itself?”

The man’s lip trembles as he tries to think of a comeback that’s going to devastate me without making himself look stupid, a feat that is simply not possible.

“Excuse me, Miss Holt?” says a woman behind me. “If I could, I’d love to talk to you about business opportunities with Handshake. From where I’m standing, it’s an exciting platform, and I would just love for me and my team to be part of the success.”

“I would love to talk business with you,” I say sweetly, glaring daggers at the man. “Excuse me.”

More than anything, I’m glad for the chance to escape.

“I’m a great admirer of yours,” says the woman. “My name is Francine.”

“Eliza,” I say, shaking her hand.

“I think you are so charming,” she says. “I admire the way you stand up to people so confidently.”

“That’s kind of you to say.”

“People like you and me, we have to stick to our guns around people like this, don’t we?”

“I’m just glad I have Jason,” I smile. “No one listens to me better than he does.”

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