Page 13 of The Good Billionaire (Billionaire Hart #1)

Kennedy

I stared at The Sterling’s ballroom set up and breathtakingly beautiful with red roses, a carved bridal canopy, silver candles on the tables, and a glossy wood stage for the band.

Zelda tied emerald green sashes to the backs of silken wrapped chairs singing Here Comes Santa Claus.

Her whistle had mysteriously disappeared.

I smiled, fingering it in my pocket.

Savannah and Brandon, who broke with tradition and saw each other before the ceremony were on the roof deck taking pictures by the pool, the lights of the city all gussied up for Christmas sparkled in the background for sure.

I loved how Seb had looked at me in the maid-of-honor gown at the dress shop and now I couldn’t wait for him to see me in it again.

He’d stopped seeing me at one time. Since Cal’s surgery, something had awoken in us.

Us , I thought. The way we used to be in Maryland, years and years ago.

Shoulder to shoulder. Falling asleep together.

Waking up together. Spending the day together at Lincoln Hospital.

Warm hands closed around my waist, and it startled me at first, this was the big city after all. But smelling Seb’s aftershave, I relaxed and melted into his chest.

“How did pictures with Brandon go?” I asked him, watching Luke, Tristan, and Grayson all in suits swaggering over to the lobby bar.

“Great. No mountain climbing. And no whistle.” He kissed me, and aw hell, I let him, too worn down and exhausted from stopping him. “God, this dress, I...”

“You’ve seen me naked for the first time in I don’t know how long. And yet, you like me in a dress too?” I threw my arms across his shoulders.

“When you’re naked, you’re just for me. When you’re dressed up and other men look at you, licking their lips, and adjusting their cocks, that gets me crazy.”

“You’re so bad, Sebastian.”

“I’m so bad, I’m good.”

“You’re a good man. I will give you that. The good doctor who always takes care of his patients.”

“Now I’m a good billionaire. And it looks like it will stay that way.” He frowned.

“What way?”

He stepped back. “I did read through those divorce papers.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Okay, Luke read them. Why didn’t you ask for any money?” He leaned against one of the monolithic columns of the hotel lobby.

“Because I make a good salary and we don’t have children. That’s your family’s money. I wasn’t going to—”

“ You’re my family, damn it. My father gave that money to me and you. To us .”

I cleared my throat, alarmed at how passionate he got.

“I’m sorry. I’m not playing around here, Kennedy.” He held my face, my erratic breathing had him pulling me in. “I don’t want the divorce. I love you. I never stopped. You know that.”

Yeah, I knew that. Nodding, I caught his eyes, hooded like he longed for me to tell him I still loved him too. That wouldn’t solve anything, though.

I also believed he hadn’t gone all stalker on me when I left because I’d damaged his pride. The Hart pride was legendary. The texts were his passive-aggressive attempt to straddle that line.

With his trip to San Francisco looming, time had run out. I’d never given him a chance to make things right, had I? I’d packed up during one of his marathon knee replacement surgery days. I’d moved out and left my key on the kitchen counter.

“Babe, talk to me,” he said, touching my face.

“I, uh...” I stared into his green eyes.

The definition of insanity meant doing the same thing over and over.

Seb and I sounded like a damn broken record.

I had one card left in my deck. My promotion.

I’d made my career unimportant by keeping the new job from him. Hadn’t given him a chance to react.

Zelda strutted past me. “Fifteen minutes.”

Damn, Seb and I had an important, knockdown, drag-out brawl to the finish ahead of us. But I couldn’t strip away all the crap of the last couple of years and fight for my career and my marriage... In fifteen minutes.

But I’d do it after the wedding. “I need a drink.”

“Come on.” Seb took my hand and led me to the seating area in the front lobby.

Luke, Tristan, and Grayson sat in saddle leather chairs around a cocktail table dressed in their finely cut suits sharing a bottle of champagne.

“Have room for two more?” Seb said when we reached his cousins.

“Got a seat for you right here, Kennedy,” Grayson said, patting his lap.

“You’re funny, Gray. Touch her and I’ll kill you,” Seb said in a deadly serious tone.

“And I’ll get you off,” said Luke, the lawyer turned hotel CEO.

Tristan stood, shaking his head. “Come on, Seb, let’s get two more glasses.”

“And another bottle please.” Grayson waved the empty one.

I took Tristan’s seat, pleased at the warmth and musky scent he left behind. I watched him and Sebastian at the bar and then glanced around the lobby. Tristan and Luke may not have expected to be running a hotel, but they both looked so utterly perfect in their roles.

I echoed Aunt Marissa’s sentiment and hoped Seb’s cousins found good women. Although, I worried with their billionaire status came opportunists. I wondered if their money made them more guarded.

Tristan and Seb came back with another bottle and I felt guilty for sipping expensive champagne with the four most beautiful men in Manhattan instead of doting on the bride. This was more fun. Luke stood up and let Tristan have his seat facing me while Seb sat on the arm of my chair.

Grayson filled each flute and said, “To Savannah and Brandon.”

“Cheers,” everyone said and clinked our glasses.

“And that crazy woman with the whistle,” Gray added, laughing. He may have been a rake, but he was a sucker for strong-willed women.

Tristan’s assistant, a woman with long dark hair and glasses came up to the table. “Oh, Sebastian, I need you to fill this out if you’re going on the cruise.”

Tristan jumped up. “I got it, Jessie.”

“ What cruise ?” I said and looked up at Sebastian, who’d gone white.

“She meant me,” Tristan said. “Thanks, Jessie.”

I leaned forward and snatched the paper. “This has your name on it, Sebastian Hart. You’re going on a seven-day cruise? On Monday? ”

“You invited Sebastian to go on your sex cruise?” Grayson asked. “I’ve been asking you for years if I can go with you.”

“A sex cruise?” I blinked, feeling sick.

“It’s not a sex cruise,” Tristan snapped.

I tugged on Sebastian’s jacket. “What the heck is he talking about?”

With gaping looks all around, I bolted from my chair to chase after the brunette. “Jessie!”

“Kennedy, what are you doing? That’s Tristan’s assistant.” Seb barreled after me, tugging me by the waist so hard he made a small tear in my dress. “It’s okay, Jessie, you can go.”

“No. She can’t. I’m sorry, hun.” I held out the paper to Jessie. “What kind of cruise is Tristan going on?”

“Jessie, you can go back to the office.” Tristan’s deep voice sailed across my shoulders. “Thank you for working this weekend.”

Jessie lowered her head and left.

“That’s my assistant, Kennedy. I don’t discuss what happens on my vacations with her. Do you understand? This is a workplace. She works for me.”

I felt a catch in my throat. With Tristan and his brothers also living in the hotel and hanging out in the lobby bar all the time, it was easy to forget The Sterling was a workplace for them.

“You’re right, Tristan. I’m sorry. Be straight with me. Both of you. Where are you going?”

Their faces paled as they looked at each other, waiting for the other to speak up.

Gah, men!

The answer to my marital problems had been so simple. Seb needed to work less. And not go on a sex cruise. I felt my hopes for a reconciliation slipping away.

I pointed the question at Tristan. “Tell me more about this cruise?”

“Tristan, if you—”

“Stop it, both of you.” Seb’s cousin blew out a harsh breath.

“Look, Kennedy, running this hotel leaves me no time for a relationship. Luke is the CEO, but I run things here. Day in and day out. I don’t want to hurt a woman by neglecting her.

So once a year, I go on a fantasy vacation where there are women who give themselves to me, no questions asked.

Including my name. Do you have a problem with that? ” He crossed his arms.

“No, Tristan. Of course, I don’t have a problem with that.

You’re a single man. You can do what you want.

In fact...” I wiped my brow, wondering what kind of fantasies the man had, that he had to go into international waters to get them fulfilled.

“I respect you for not wanting to string someone along. Neglect someone.”

“I didn’t mean to neglect you,” Seb grumbled.

Tristan brought me to his side. “Guys, you’re getting loud. Sebastian, go sit with Luke and Grayson. I want to talk to Kennedy.” Tristan steered me away from Seb, and brought me to a seating area closer to the elevators. “Sit.”

I smirked, thinking Tristan may also play sex games on that cruise. Nodding, I let my legs give out.

“Kennedy, I’ve known you for a long time.

I like you. Heck, I love you. You’re my cousin too.

Six months is a long time to be separated from someone you love.

The guy’s been a ball buster to be around.

” Tristan removed his glasses. “Sebastian just wanted to get away. I see how he looks at you. He doesn’t want anyone else. ”

Was it all really about pride?

“He’s not attempted to fix anything. He’s not taken a day off since...” I looked around. “And yet he’ll go on a cruise . Whether it’s to get laid or not.” I shook my head so hard a pin flew out of my tacked-up maid-of-honor curls. “It’s a slap in the face.”

Tristan lowered his head. “Maybe I shouldn’t go either.”

Now I felt terrible, injecting my drama into the man’s once-a-year chance for female company.

I didn’t expect Tristan to have the answers for me and Sebastian.

But looking at the man, blushing and even sweating a little over his secret being spilled out minutes before a wedding, maybe I had some answers for him.

“Don’t give up your vacation because of us. Is there a way you can get on the cruise and just...”

“Not sleep with everything on two legs?” His devilish voice got so low it scared me, seeing a glimpse of the man he became on his fantasy vacation.

My heart sped up. Sebastian took my breath away, but Tristan with his broad sculpted shoulders, chiseled cheekbones, and square jaw could make a girl forget her own name.

“Yeah. Or...use it as an opportunity to meet someone. Find a nice girl and just talk to her. It doesn’t have to go anywhere.

Come on. I dare you. Be the man you were when you dated Beth. ”

My love life was in the shitter, Tristan deserved another shot at happy ever after.

His jaw ticked up. “I don’t know where that guy went.” Men didn’t take heartbreak very well. “But you’re right. I’ll have women coming at me from every angle. It would be interesting to just...talk to someone.”

“It’s time, my cousin. And yes, you’re my cousin too.

” I held his hand, warmed by such large fingers closing around mine.

“So, go. Find that woman who doesn’t want anything from you, not your money, not your.

..” I cleared my throat. “Someone who just wants to stare into those amazing whiskey eyes and give you everything she has to give. Just for you. I dare you.”

“You make it sound very intriguing.” He kissed my hand. “Are you up for a dare too?”

Uh oh. I should have known he would turn the tables on me.

“Seb and I... I don’t think we’re gonna make it.

He had six months to come up with a solution.

All he did was go all alpha on me and tell me I should go to California with him.

Give up my life here. That’s not a compromise.

That’s an ultimatum. I don’t know. Maybe he didn’t try because he was glad I left.

Didn’t want to be married to another doctor anymore. Maybe he doesn’t want me anymore—”

A hand gently covered my mouth. “That’s not true,” Tristan said. “One thing we all have in common, me, my brothers, and Seb is an ironclad sense of pride. You leaving Sebastian hurt him, Kennedy. Shut him down.”

With the minutes ticking away until the wedding, my obligation to stand by Sebastian crept closer to being over.

I stood up and caught Seb watching me. Staggering up to him, I said, “The ceremony will start soon. I have to find your sister and keep pretending to be your wife.”

“You are my wife.” He tried to grab me, pull me back in. “And I’m not signing those papers, Kennedy.”

I turned around and walked backward, giving him a sly smirk. “We’ll see about that.”