Page 52 of The Business of Love Box Set 1: Books 1 - 4

KIMBERLY

V anessa braced herself against the armrest of her sofa as she slowly lowered herself into her corner seat.

It was getting harder for her to move around the more pregnant she got and I could have sworn her belly was rounder now than it had been when I showed up this evening just an hour and a half ago.

“How are you feeling?” I asked as I tucked my legs up under myself in the opposite sofa and swirled my red wine around in the glass.

“Pregnant. Very pregnant.”

“You look good.”

She arched an eyebrow at me. “I look like a balloon. Have you seen my ankles?” She held up her right foot, flashing me a swollen ankle and foot. She glared at it like it had betrayed her in battle. “I still have almost two months of this shit to go. Why didn’t anyone warn me about this?”

“Erm—”

“Don’t answer that.” Vanessa closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths before forcing herself to smile. “It’s Christmas. I don’t want to complain. Tell me what’s new with you. How are things with Rick? Is it still weird?”

“No actually, it’s not weird.” I sipped my wine as the others in the kitchen laughed uproariously about something.

Rhys was finishing the final touches on dinner while Chris, Vanessa’s brother, mashed the potatoes.

Vanessa’s parents were there as well, standing around the kitchen island joking about something with Rhys, who had banished me and his woman to the living room to catch up.

He knew how important time was in our friendship and it seemed like we were getting less and less of it these days, with me doing so much traveling for work.

It wasn’t ideal but Rhys was a good man.

He’d insisted we steal twenty minutes before dinner to catch up, just the two of us.

I needed a man like him.

“I called Rick yesterday to wish him Merry Christmas and touch base before I went on vacation,” I said.

“And?”

“He apologized for the aquarium.”

Vanessa made an unsure sound in the back of her throat. “Do you think he meant it? Or was he just saying it to patch things up so you wouldn’t say anything to Verity?”

I shook my head. “He’s not like that.”

“He’s a billionaire marrying a bombshell from the Bahamas and paying over thirty million dollars for said wedding. Forgive me if I’m suspicious of his intentions but men like that have a tendency to take what they want first and ask questions later.”

I licked my lips. “I understand where you’re coming from.

But you don’t know him. He’s a good man.

And I truly think he didn’t mean to put me in a bad spot.

Things just sort of—I don’t know—got away from us.

You can’t help if you’re attracted to someone.

You know I’ve had the hots for him for over a year now. ”

“Had the hots for him?” Vanessa giggled. “Girl, don’t downplay it. You’ve been fantasizing about climbing him like a tree since the first minute you saw him.”

“And I still resisted when push came to shove on that bridge, okay? Give me a little credit.”

“You’re right,” Vanessa said. “I’m sorry. You’re right.”

“Thank you.”

Vanessa watched me sip my wine with envy in her eyes. “Is it good?”

“Would it make you feel better if I said it wasn’t?”

“Not really.”

“It’s delicious.”

“You bitch.” She grinned.

“Cheers.”

Vanessa ran her hands over her belly and sighed. “Just be careful with him, okay? I know you’re not going to do anything stupid, but as your best friend, I feel like I need to put that out there in the universe.”

“I appreciate you looking out for me.”

“Always.”

Rhys strode into the living room with two glasses of wine in his hand. He nodded pointedly at the nearly finished glass in my hand. “Drink up, champ. I have a fresh one for you.”

I polished off my drink and swapped my empty glass for a new one. “Thank you, sir. You’re such a good host. How do I get myself a situation like this?”

“Get pregnant,” Vanessa said dryly.

“I need the man first,” I said.

Rhys chuckled and shook his head at us. “Come on, ladies. Dinner is up, and if we all want to keep our heads, we’ll let Vanny hit the assembly line first.” He moved to Vanessa and held out a hand to help her up out of the sofa.

She swatted his hand away. “What are you trying to say?”

“Just that you should get your pickings of the lot.”

Her glare soured as she struggled to get up and promptly became out of breath. Rhys extended his hand again, and this time, she accepted. He had her up and on her feet in a fluid motion, and then he cupped her cheek and gave her a sweet kiss.

I felt a pang of jealousy and resented the feeling as soon as it came.

One day, I would have that. And it would be worth waiting for.

My phone buzzed in my back pocket and I pulled it out and stared down at the name on the screen. Verity. “Seriously?” I breathed.

“Is something wrong?” Rhys asked.

I shook my head. “No. It’s my snooty client. Rick’s fiancée.”

“Don’t answer it,” Vanessa said. “She shouldn’t be calling you on Christmas Day. Where does she get off?”

I silenced my ringer and slid it back in my pocket. Vanessa was right. No wedding emergency was that important that it needed to be dealt with on Christmas.

Rhys led me and Vanessa back into the kitchen and everyone formed a line with their plates behind the pregnant lady and began filling their plates with all the fixings Rhys had been slaving over all day: stuffing, turkey, cranberry sauce, yam soufflé, mashed potatoes, Brussel sprouts, carrots and turnip, and home-baked fresh buns.

Vanessa’s mother made a big deal about the spread and proclaimed that she could officially retire from making Christmas dinners. “That’s on Rhys now.”

Rhys flashed a charming smile as he took his seat at the head of the table beside his woman. “I can get behind that.”

As soon as everyone was in their seats, a round of toasts were made. Rhys toasted to a wonderful family Christmas. I toasted to the gift brewing in my best friend’s tummy. Vanessa’s mother joined in on my toast and got misty eyed, so I wrapped an arm around her and shared her emotions.

“It’s so surreal to think that next year there will be a new little human with us,” I said.

Vanessa leaned back and rubbed her belly. “It’s not surreal for me. I just want this thing out of me .”

Rhys put his hand on her tummy. “Soon, baby. Very soon.”

Conversation around the table was baby focused as we ate dinner.

I loved sitting with these people who had all become my family over the years and I wondered what things would look like a few years from now.

Would I be coming here with a man on my arm?

Would I be taking steps to start my own family, or would I still be focused on my career?

I liked both options. I wanted both options.

But could I have them both?

When I first started this career, I thought I could but now I wasn’t so sure. With all these stale dates stacking up and my schedule being so all over the place, it was getting harder and harder for me to see how I would be able to get to know someone and start a relationship in a healthy way.

My phone buzzed in my pocket again.

I sighed and set my utensils down.

“Don’t answer,” Vanessa said firmly.

I scowled down at Verity’s name flashing across my screen. “She’s just going to keep calling. And now I’m just going to wonder what it was about and not be able to stop thinking about it. It will ruin my night. Excuse me, you guys. I know this is rude but I have to take this.”

“It’s all right,” Rhys said, nodding for me to go. “Take your time. Help yourself to more food when you come back. We’re going to have way too many leftovers.”

Chris snickered as I got up from the table. “Don’t go giving away my sister’s food. She needs to bulk up for that baby.”

Vanessa swatted at Chris and I smiled as the laughter around the whole table followed me out of the kitchen and down the hall so I could answer Verity’s call with privacy.

I lifted the phone to my ear and tried to keep the irritation out of my voice. “Merry Christmas, Verity. Is everything okay?”

A long sigh filled the line. “Merry Christmas.”

“Is something wrong?”

“I needed to talk to you.”

“About the wedding?”

“No.”

I massaged my temple. This woman was quite literally the most unpleasant part of my entire year. What the hell could she possibly be calling about on Christmas fucking Day that wasn’t wedding related?

For a brief, sharp moment, I wondered if she was leaving Rick.

Then I shook my head. That was preposterous. Who would she leave a man like him?

“I have people waiting on me,” I said. “I’m with family for dinner. If this can wait—”

“Why did Rick call you on Christmas Eve?”

“What?”

Verity sighed again. It was the sort of sigh a wealthy woman has when she gets her nails done and she doesn’t like the shape, or the color—or when she just wants to be a bitch and make someone’s afternoon harder than it needed to be.

“I heard him on the phone with you on Christmas Eve,” Verity continued. “And he was apologizing to you. What was it about?”

Wow. “Are you seriously calling me about this on Christmas?”

“I can call you whenever I want when it’s about my husband—”

“Soon-to-be husband.”

“Excuse me?”

“Look,” I said firmly, this time not bothering to disguise my annoyance with her.

“He didn’t call me. I called him to wish him a Merry Christmas and ask if there was anything you guys needed before I started my holidays.

It was a courtesy call I give all my clients.

And not that it’s any of your business, but he was apologizing because he found out I was unwell the day I met you both on the rooftop in Waikiki and he felt bad for making me work when I was having a rough time. ”

It was a flat-out lie, but I believed it was necessary. Nothing had happened between Rick and me and nothing would happen. I certainly wasn’t going to tell her there’d been heat between me and her fiancé and that he took me to the aquarium with him and his daughter.

“I don’t believe you,” Verity said. “It’s completely unacceptable that you are speaking with my fiancé behind my back. I won’t stand for it. You sit and smile in my face and then go behind my back and—”

“Verity, I’m your wedding planner. Not your punching bag. If you’re upset with Rick about something, I suggest you talk to him about it. Not me. Now I’m ending this call and turning my phone off and I have no intention of speaking with you again until my holidays are over. Merry Christmas.”

I hung up the phone and glared at the screen.

“What a bitch,” I hissed.

I marched back into the dining room and found them all looking up at me.

I hung my head. “Did you all hear that?”

Rhys chuckled. “Yep.”

“Sorry.”

He got up from his chair and poured me another glass of wine. He pushed it into my hands. “Nothing to be sorry about. Sounds like the client from hell.”

“You have no idea.”

I wished Rick wasn’t marrying such a high-strung witch of a woman. He deserved so much better. And so did Chessie. But my job wasn’t to tell him what kind of mistake he was making. It was to make their wedding dreams come true.

And it was beginning to hurt my heart to have to do it.