Page 25 of The Billionaire's Bride

10

Baron

I walk into the bar, and she watches me approach. "You shouldn’t be here," she scolds.

"Says who?"

"The deal was that I’d set up a schedule to date you guys."

"Doesn’t mean I can’t stumble across you in a bar, does it?"

"And is that what this is?" She frowns. "Did you walk into this bar by accident?"

I hesitate, look away. "No," I mumble, "I walked in knowing you’d be here."

"Baron," she scowls, "this is not right."

"What’s not right is that you are going home to him, and you’ll be spending the night in the same bed as him." I belatedly notice Isla and smile at her to disguise my discomfort. “Hi, Isla. How are you doing?”

"Umm—" Isla rises to her feet, "I need to get going."

She bends, kissing Ava’s cheek. "Call me if you need anything, okay?"

She nods in my direction, an acknowledgement. Meanwhile, Ava kisses her back and waves as she walks away, leaving us alone.

"She’s a good friend." I slip onto the bar stool she vacated. "How did you two meet?"

"She was a good friend of my older sister’s, actually. Then we met and got along really well."

"You have a sister?" I frown. "You never told me that."

"Guess I didn’t have a chance."

"What does she do?"

"She’s a marketing director. Has a well-paying job with a media company. She travels a lot for work, is very ambitious, and... She’s my exact opposite." She laughs.

The bartender approaches me, but I shake my head at him.

"You’re not drinking?" She frowns.

"I’m driving."

"Right."

I turn to her. "What makes you think that you are so different from your sister?"

She takes a sip from her drink, hunches her shoulders. "Because she’s so focused, you know? She knows what she wants, and goes after it."

"And you don’t?"

"I’m a med school drop-out."

"And now you run your own studio."

"Which barely breaks even—"

"Where you create art, and do what you enjoy."