Oh boy.
“Adalynn, is that true?Who is he?When can we meet him?”
Right.I can’t just blurt out a one-sentence lie.No, I need characters and a backstory, a premise, and a happy ever after.But no, this has to end unhappily.
“Well, it’s very top secret right now.No one knows—”
“Why not?”Ines says, her beautiful eyes sparkling as if she can see right through my lie.“Is he a prince or something?Or maybe nonexistent?Come on, Adalynn.Sitting with the kids isn’t bad enough that you have to invent a fiancé.”
Oh, but it is, Ines; it damn well is.
“Actually...”I should just stop saying that word; it will not bode well for me.
“He’s a...a billionaire.”
“A billionaire?”Aunt Jessica scoffs.“Oh, Adalynn.There’s no reason to make up these stories.You have the personality of a spinster, and there’s nothing wrong with that.The world needs all kinds of people, and not everyone can snag a husband.”
Exactly, I silently agree with my aunt because I most certainly do not want to snag a husband.No, I wanthimto snagmebecause he can’t live without me, because I make his world go round, and he loves my personality and thinks I’m pretty...And I should seriously buy fewer romance novels because that kind of thing only happens in books.Unless it’s a dark romance; then, he’ll try to kill me first before he marries me.
“Unless you can give us a name, I think you just made it up out of embarrassment,” Ines says.“Really, Adalynn.That was low.”
My heart breaks at the way my mom’s face falls.Ugh.You know what?I’m going to stick it to my aunt and cousin so hard right now.
“His name is Cove Hollister.”
“Cove Hollister?The billionaire from Acclivity Industries?”
“Yes.And not only Cove but also his business partner, Rafe Winslow.”
“Okay, Adalynn.As if you landing a billionaire isn’t ridiculous enough, you’re telling us you’re engaged to two of them?”
“Actually...”Here I go again.“I’m also engaged to Tylan Carver.We’re a foursome.”
I mean, why not?
Ines is laughing so hard that she can’t contain herself.Her mother looks at me in disgust.Sophie is red with embarrassment for me.My mom looks like she wants the sofa to swallow her up.
Still shaking with mirth, Ines picks up a copy of a business magazine that, lo-and-behold, has the faces of Cove Hollister, Rafe Winslow, and Dylan Carver on the cover.The hottest, richest billionaires to ever exist—that’s what the headline says.
“You’re telling me you’re engaged to these men?”She pokes her manicured nail into the cover of the magazine.
My mom is still hoping that by some miracle it’s true, but deep down she wishes I had said nothing at all and just sat at the kids’ table.Sophie looks at me with sad, awkward pity now.Three was overkill.
What was I going to do?I couldn’t pick just one of them.Cove has these green eyes that are so dark they make my knees weak.
Rafe’s eyes are blue, as deep as the ocean, and when they stare back at me from the cover, it feels like I’m the only person whose secrets he wants to know.
Then there’s Tylan.The wicked grin on his face reaches his gray eyes, and I blush as if he’s asked me to take off my panties and hand them to him.
I couldn’t pick just one.I’m infatuated with all three of them.Besides, it’s my fantasy, and I can do what I want.
But maybe I should have thought better of it before I decided to share my fantasy out loud with my family.
Adalynn, you idiot.
