Page 42 of Her Billion Dollar Groom

“You’re amazing,” I whisper back, kissing his cheek, breathing his musk in deeply. “And now I need a shower.” I kiss him again, then tear myself away to walk toward the door. At the threshold, I hesitate. “You know, I really hate showering alone.”

“Oh, do you?” he asks, raising his eyebrows.

“I do. If only there were someone who could come and keep me company.”

He quickly closes the gap between us, wrapping an arm around my waist, his bare arm making my naked skin prickle. “I suppose I could be persuaded.”

CHAPTER 23

JASON

No matter how much I try to resist Eliza’s little day trips, she manages to lure me in every time.

Weeks pass, months since we married, and the lines between friends doing each other a favor and people who actually want to be married seem to be blurring more than ever.

Handshake is thriving. Eliza’s album is finally coming together. Everything seems to be going okay.

For the first time in years, everything actually seems to be going great.

But, fond as I’m getting of Eliza being in my house all the time, my productivity is getting less and less. I used to go into the office a couple of times a week, if I had a meeting or when I needed to get out of the house. Lately, I’ve only been making it more like every other week.

Eliza is great, but my business should come first.

I’m at my desk at Handshake headquarters, and there’s a thump on my office door. I look up and smile to see Chris. He smiles back at me when he comes in. “You got a second for me?”

“For you, I have all the seconds in the world.”

He slides in and closes the door behind him. “Great, because I have something I need to talk to you about.”

“Go for it,” I say. He takes an unusually long pause, and my blood freezes in my veins. “Is everything okay?”

Chris helps himself to a seat across from me and sighs. “I’m worried about you, man,” he says at last.

“Worried? Why?”

“I know you’ve got a lot going on in your life right now, and that’s awesome. I’m happy for you. But…”

He trails off, and I push him to say what he’s thinking. “But what? What is it?”

“It’s that girl,” he says, looking me dead in the eye.

“What? Eliza?” I scoff, my heart racing. “She hasn’t done anything, has she?”

Chris grimaces like this is a chat he really doesn’t want to be having, maybe something that’s been building for a while. “Not exactly, no, but… bro, haven’t you noticed that you’re not getting anything done anymore? That you’re not picking up the slack like you used to?”

“That’s not true. I still get everything done!” This whole thing has made me too defensive, too confused. I’m just as diligent as ever. What is he accusing me of here?

He shakes his head like he’s trying to clear his thoughts, like he’s not making himself clear enough. “Technically, yeah, I guess, but I don’t know, man. I’ve known you for a long time, and this is totally weird behavior for you. You never used to think about anything like this at all. Hell, most of our friends at college thought you were gay because you never even looked twice at a single girl.”

“That’s not how that works,” I stammer, my head swimming. Chris is the only one who knows the truth about me and Eliza. He knows that it’s all an illusion. To him, this must look like a scheme running wildly out of hand. “And anyway, I’m allowed to like a girl if I want to.”

“So, you do like her, then?”

“No,” I lie too quickly. I keep digging. “She’s basically just a roommate. And besides, she’s helped us out a bunch. Do you know how many deals we’ve made in the last three months because of her?”

“I’m just worried about you, Jay. Marriage is cool and everything, but she’s a pop star. For people like her, things like this never last. Why do you think celebrities are always getting divorced?”

“Well, it’s not like that with Eliza,” I say, folding my arms. “She’s not affecting my ability to work, and she’s not using me for cash.”

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