Page 11 of Billionaire’s Game

I looked toward the parking lot and saw Lacey sleeping in her car. “Wow, she really did fall asleep. I guess we’ll need to take her order to go.”

We finished eating, gathered Lacey’s meal and left, talking about who would be the best pick for the game show.

Maya offered to drive, so Lacey moved to the backseat to catch a few more minutes of sleep which was apparently a hot commodity in her household now.

When we arrived, we were greeted by Jude who had a huge smile on his face. I swear, he smiled more than anyone I knew. Apparently, fatherhood and marriage suited him very well.

“Ladies, can you join us in the conference room in about ten minutes?”

“Sure,” we answered. We exchanged furtive looks with each other.

And then Jude looked confused. “Didn’t Lacey go with you all?”

“Yeah, she’s sleeping in her car.”

“Maya—”

“Damn. I can’t keep a secret either.”

Jude shrugged. “I took a nap in the car earlier. Her snoring is keeping me up at night. Don’t tell her I told you that.”

Maya and I looked at each other and snickered.

“Anyway, ten minutes?”

We nodded and headed in the direction of our shared office.

I wrapped up what I had been doing earlier and headed to the conference room with Maya. I was late apparently. Lacey was even already there, sitting next to Aidan whilst showing him pictures of Sebastian. Aidan smiled politely, but I could tell he wasn’t very impressed.

“Well, I’m sure by now that you’ve all heard the rumors,” Jude started without preamble.

“What rumors?” Maya asked innocently.

“Ha ha,” Jude said dryly. “You were probably the person responsible for starting them...”

“You have no proof!”

I giggled and Jude shook his head. “I’m pretty sure our rumor mill, also known as Maya, has filled you guys in on what’s going on. Most of it was probably made up in her mind, because we all know Maya has an active imagination—”

“Hey!” she protested.

Jude continued, ignoring her, “So first things first, we’ve been selected for Brain Pain’s charity episode.”

“Woo woop!” Lydia said making the rest of us laugh. She blushed. “Sorry. My eight-year-old does that whenever she knows we’re having hot dogs for dinner. She loves hot dogs.”

“Who doesn’t love a good hot dog?” Maya said.

Jude held up his hands. “Let’s try to stay focused people. Anyway, as part of the charity show, they’re going to pair one of you with a celebrity interested in our cause.”

“Magnus Deacon,” Maya purred.

“Yes,” Jude said with a long-suffering sigh. “Thanks, Maya, for messing up my big surprise.”

“What? Everyone saw him! It was pretty easy to put everything together.”

“She’s right, Jude,” said Lacey. “And you’ve been dropping hints and talking about it every day...”

“Whose side are you on?” Jude said.