Page 7 of A Billionaire for Christmas
No. It was the air. It was hot in here. Hot and stuffy. She wiped the back of her hand against her brow.
The crowd stared at her as though waiting for her to make sense, perhaps hoping for a few pearls of marital wisdom.
‘We just have to take each day as it comes and be thankful. You just don’t know when your time will be up.’ Molly exhaled gloomily into the microphone. ‘Life can be so short.’ She should know. Just take poor Ava. ‘Very, very short.’
Eerie silence.
She felt herself spiralling and began rapidly fanning her face. ‘To the grooms, everyone. You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough, as someone famous once said.’ Molly cast her eyes around at the forlorn and slightly confused-looking crowd and swept a hand towards a worried Bev and Wyn. ‘Here’s to only living once!’ Grateful that everyone clinked glasses, Molly quickly whipped out her phone to take a selfie before giving the microphone to the DJ, who started the music back up. Slipping her phone back into her stocking top, she rushed towards the door. At least that was another challenge completed. But she was going to have a stroke at this rate.
‘Going somewhere?’
It was Levi.
‘Yes. I’m leaving. My work here is done.’
‘Work? You’re a professional at this?’ He was trying not to snigger. ‘I should have guessed. That was quite the speech. Very powerful. Intensely thought provoking. You almost had me reevaluating my life.’
Molly relaxed. ‘It was a… I did it for a friend. So you can cut the sarcasm.’ She would have to give up on the idea of persuading him to get naked with her. She was not coming across at all well. She needed to lie down somewhere cool and dark and re-examine her values. She had finally hit rock bottom. ‘I guess I should be getting back now. Down to the main square.’
‘Ah. I’m afraid the gondolas back to the square have been stopped due to the snowstorm. It might be best if you wait here. Explain to me in a bit more detail about this only-living-once theory you have. It’s triggered something of an existential dilemma for me.’ Levi seemed to have enjoyed her display of buffoonery a little too much. ‘In fact, here come Bev and Wyn now. They’re probably keen to know who gifted them such an inspirational toast.’
She would rather have poked her own eyes out than stayed here to face the poor grooms whose wedding she had crashed. Plus, the longer she spent in Levi’s company, the quicker she’d blurt out that she wasn’t a wedding guest or any other sort of guest, that she was technically an employee, and not a very good one at that, and she had a perfectly serviceable snowmobile waiting downstairs, outside the kitchen door. ‘That’s okay. I’ll find a way back.’
‘Wait. I was only…’ she heard him call.
She darted quickly from the room, resisting the urge to glance over her shoulder at Levi as she closed the door behind her. What had she been thinking? She scurried down the corridor before stopping to lean against the wall. Hanging her head, she rubbed her forehead, closing her eyes against the sting of tiredness. Her entire body ached. She needed to take off this ridiculously tiny costume and these towering, spindly heels and go straight to bed.
Her eyes snapped open at the sound of some extremely loud, raucous voices.
‘Well, what have we here, gentlemen?’
Molly took in four very large, very drunk, very leery men sauntering down the corridor towards her and froze in panic.
4
A STEAMING PILE OF REGRETS
Molly’s heart was pounding in her chest as she fought to stay calm. She scanned the corridor. No other people were around. The group of men was advancing slowly, all of them clearly inebriated, wolf-whistling loudly and making their desire to see her perform some sort of X-rated routine, especially for them,veryobvious. She could either bolt towards the lift, hoping they didn’t reach her before it came, or she could run back to the wedding and pray that she’d reach the door before they did.
Precious seconds ticked by while she tried to get her frozen body to move in time with her thoughts. Ava had always been the one who dealt with difficult and rowdy customers. And while Molly appreciated she needed to get better at confrontation, tonight was not the night to try. Just as she decided to race back towards the room, the door swung open.
Levi emerged, his head swivelling between the group of men and Molly, clocking the situation. With a thunderous look on his face, he barked out a command. ‘Leave her alone or I’ll have you all thrown out. Show some respect, you drunken imbeciles.’
The men stopped. They seemed to recognise him instantly, and they scurried away in a babble of apologies, leaving Molly and Levi facing one another. She was relieved beyond measure that he’d come out when he did. Perhaps he was a well-known billionaire politician? Or on the television?
‘Thank you.’ Molly’s mouth felt suddenly dry.
‘Are you okay?’ He stood in front of her, his face concerned. His voice soft.
Molly blew out her cheeks. ‘Yes.’
‘Some guys can be real jerks. Especially on a night like this. No one is quite themselves. Can I escort you somewhere? Are you here with friends?’
Molly didn’t know what to say.
‘Or were you just here to crash a wedding as part of a dare?’
Terribly handsomeandterribly astute. Such a lethal combination.
