Billionaire Unmasked(2)

He lived in New York, and although she traveled for her crazy lifestyle, New York City was never one of her destinations, so casual encounters didn’t happen because of geography. It was a long way from her home in Colorado to New York City. More often than not, she ended up in the middle of nowhere to pursue her career, definitely not places where Jason would be on business.

Hope was yanked from her thoughts as the volume of the party grew to a roar.

Five!

Four!

Three!

Two!

One!

The clock struck twelve and the large hall exploded with noise.

Happy New Year!

Hope smiled as she lifted the glass of champagne to her mouth and took a long, slow sip. Grady, her brother, gave his bride-to-be, Emily, one of the most passionate kisses Hope had ever witnessed.

I’m glad I came. It’s so nice to see Grady so happy.

Hope had hesitated over leaving Colorado and coming to Amesport for Grady’s engagement and New Year’s Eve party, even though she owned a second, larger home here. It was a busy time of year for her, she was in a bad state of mind, and all Grady had to do was mention that Jason might be coming, and she’d balked. However, she’d wanted to see all of her brothers, and Grady had been the first brother to fall in love and get engaged. Now, she was grateful she’d taken the time off to come to Amesport. Her brothers were more important than some ridiculously embarrassing attraction she had for Jason. It wasn’t as if she and Jason were enemies. In fact, they were virtually strangers now, though they’d once been friends.

At important times like these, no matter how busy the Sinclair siblings might be, they were all united. Hope had needed to be here. She hated how separated she felt from her siblings because of the way she lived her life; that yawning distance hurt. Being able to witness Grady’s happiness was worth every uncomfortable moment of being in the same room as Jason.

Seeing Grady like this is so worth it.

Grady’s new fiancée was lovely, and Hope flushed with embarrassment as she thought about the problems she’d caused between the newly engaged couple. Her brother Jared was a manwhore sometimes and sent unwanted females in Grady’s direction. Hope had rescued Grady several times by calling his house and pretending to be his wife; she’d been bitchy enough to scare every one of them away. Unfortunately, when Emily had answered Grady’s phone, Hope had mistakenly assumed that Jared had sent another woman in poor Grady’s direction, and she’d played the same part. Problem was, Grady had wanted Emily. Oops! Luckily, Emily had forgiven her, but Hope was still mortified.

One by one, her brothers came over and bussed her on the cheek, and she hugged every one of them tightly while she returned their embraces. Even though they all drove her completely insane with their highhanded older brother attitudes, she loved Evan, Grady, Dante, and Jared with every fiber of her being. If only they weren’t such royal pains in the asses sometimes. Being the only female in the Sinclair family, and the youngest, Hope was completely screwed when it came to protective older brothers. They had constantly bitched about her now ex-boyfriend, James, because he didn’t have a job. To them, anyone less than a successful, wealthy man who worked like a fiend, was a loser unworthy of her.

They’d forget all about James if they knew what else I was doing. I’d get more than constant lectures.

Her heart ached that she couldn’t and wouldn’t share much of her life with her protective older brothers. It had put a certain distance between them that she’d never wanted, but had created by not sharing much of her life with any of them. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to. She ached to really have them be part of her life. But the price of telling them everything would be way too high.

Hope sighed and took a long swig of her champagne as she thought about her lonely existence. Somehow, her life had turned out way different than she’d imagined when she graduated from high school and had finally gotten free of the home that had been a prison to her.

If I’d only known back then how things would turn out, I might have done things differently.

Now, she wasn’t a prisoner of her critical mother anymore; she was held captive by her own deceit.

Merriment was rampant all around her, everyone ringing in a brand new year. She had a jovial smile on her face, but Hope had never felt more alone.#p#分页标题#e#



“Thank God Hope finally dumped the loser boyfriend.” Dante needed to yell to be heard over the loud roar of the partygoers as they celebrated New Year’s.

Jason Sutherland’s head jerked up. His body tensed. “Hope broke up with her boyfriend?”