The Billionaire of Bluebonnet(23)
Gregory’s cake was a vegetable concoction made with bran and carrots.
Risa’s cake was topped with a two-carat engagement ring.
Of course she said yes. How could she not? Her billionaire didn’t like taking no for an answer, and this was one occasion when she didn’t mind that in the slightest.
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Chapter One
“So when are you going to marry that nice young man of yours?”
The elderly woman smiled, the sequins on her green evening gown blinding as she bent over and signed her name to the silent auction paperwork that Beth Ann held out to her. “I think you’ve kept him waiting long enough, young lady.”
“Oh, I think he’ll have to wait a bit longer,” Beth Ann said lamely. She wished the woman would just go away. God, this party was a mistake. Beth Ann should have guessed that everyone here would still consider her and Allan as a couple. It didn’t matter that they’d been history for the last year now. No one at this party was more than a casual acquaintance, or a business partner of a family member, and they wouldn’t know that Beth Ann and Allan had broken up again, this time for good. And a cocktail party? Not the place to discuss the status (or lack of one) of her previous relationship.
Beth Ann shoved the envelope into Mrs. Douglas’s hand. “Thank you for your donation. The Bluebonnet Historical Society appreciates your participation.”
Mrs. Douglas took the envelope she’d won and reached out and patted her on the hand. “I’m just saying, my dear, that you shouldn’t keep a man like that dangling too long, or you might lose him.”
That’s my hope, Beth Ann thought to herself. She exchanged a few more pleasantries with the elderly woman, and then made a hasty getaway to the refreshment table, trying to keep the smile pinned to her face despite her simmering thoughts.
She was starting to hate parties like this. Or rather, she’d hated them ever since she’d dumped Allan once and for all. He was a nice guy. Great with kids. Ambitious. Her high school sweetheart. She knew him better than anyone else.
And he couldn’t keep his dick in his pants.
The first time he’d confessed to cheating on her, she’d blamed herself. Their sex life had gotten cold, so it must have been her fault that he had strayed. She’d gone to counseling to work through her anger and at home, tried to be more adventuresome in bed. She’d gone out of her way to make the relationship work. Forgave him when he groveled. Things had gone back to normal, and she’d prided herself on loving her relationship—and her man—enough to work on it. The second time he’d cheated, she was baffled. And hurt. Hadn’t they worked through this? She’d broken up with him, but Allan had been devastated at losing her. He’d worked so hard to get back into her good graces, prove that he loved and cared for her, that she thought that this time, it’d be different. This time, he’d learned his lesson. And so she’d taken him back again.
The third and fourth times he’d cheated on her, well, she didn’t know what the hell she’d been thinking.
Number five had been the last straw. For the last year, she’d told Allan that she’d been volunteering at the historical society, when in truth, she’d been going to beauty school. She thought he would be upset that she was spending so much time out of the house, but he’d been thrilled by her commitment to the city. Of course, she found out why later. The same day she became licensed, she’d found out that he’d been cheating with his secretary. In their house. In their bed. The sex in their relationship had fallen off again, so she should have guessed. And that time, when she’d caught him cheating, he’d skipped straight from the apologies right to buying her gifts. As if her hurt feelings were just irritating emotions that he couldn’t be bothered with. She realized that he might love her, but he didn’t respect her. Or, it seemed, want her. Which was fine with Beth Ann. She’d long ceased to be interested in their physical relationship, and the rest of it was a joke, too.
And she’d finally had enough.
She’d broken it off with Allan on New Year’s. For good. She was her own person now, not “Allan’s sweet little fiancée.” Or worse, Allan’s “long-suffering” woman. She’d finally, finally had enough and had dumped him. And while being single for the first time in nine years was lonely and odd . . . she liked it. And she liked who she was now.