A Billionaire BWWM Romance 4: The Proposal (5 page)

Julie
looked up and shook her head. She had every right to think that there
was nothing new in the message.

“
Babe,
this is the same shit he gives you every time,” she sighed as
she looked at Meg.

“
But
this is the first time he’s brought up our marriage,” Meg
proclaimed. Julie took another sip of her latte.

“
One,
he can’t get the boy, that’s given. And two, you need to
change your number. If he wants to reach you there’s email,
house phone and hell, Twitter,” she said. Julie took a long,
deep breath and scrolled her phone book. “You know what, this
is a favor I am doing you.”

“
What
is? What are you doing?” Meg asked.

“
Deleting
Byron Sadler’s number from your phone,” Julie said.
“Something I should have done three years ago when your divorce
got finalized,” she added. She looked at Meg and gave her a
smile.

“
What
is wrong with me?” Meg asked. Julie shook her head and stood up
before she walked round to where Meg was.

“
Nothing
is wrong. It’s just something we women have. It’s called
a heart,” Julie said as she draped an arm around Meg’s
shoulders. She heard Meg sniffling back a tear. “Hey, you’re
better than that. Don’t let him have the satisfaction of
knowing that he has you exactly where he wants you,” Julie
added. She pulled away and looked at her best friend. She hated
seeing Meg this distraught. “Right now, all you care about is
whooping his butt in court because believe me, if there is anything
Ashley Keen is good at, it is handing asses back to the other side
and on a silver platter no less,” she said smiling. Meg smiled
and Julie brushed off her tears with her thumbs.

“
Thanks.
I really needed that,” Meg said.

“
Actually,
you need more than just that. How about you and me blow this joint
and have a drink at my place?” Julie asked. Meg raised an
eyebrow.

“
Much
as I want to drink right now, it is not even noon yet,” Meg
gasped.

“
Well,
it’s way past noon somewhere in the world. In some places, it’s
already tomorrow, so in a way in their time it’s actually very
late at night,” Julie replied. Meg gave her a questioning look.

“
What?”
she asked. Julie smiled.

“
Even
I am not sure what I just said,” she laughed as she walked
round to the other side of the desk. “Come on,” she said
as she picked her bag and keys.

“
You
are really serious about this, aren’t you?” Meg asked as
she stood up.

“
Like
a heart attack,” Julie laughed as the two walked out of the
office. “Mr. Cooper…I know you said I should call you
Andy but I like Mr. Cooper more,” she smiled.

“
It’s
alright, Miss Parker,” Andy said.

“
Call
me as soon as you get anything from Little Rock,” Julie said.

“
What
about your two o’ clock?” he asked. Julie looked at him.

“
What
was it about?”

“
Inter-departmental
meeting,” Andy reminded her. Julie looked at Meg.

“
It’s
okay,” she said smiling at Julie. Julie shook her head.

“
No,
this is all about you. Tell Dana I’m following up on a lead and
that I’ll be back at my earliest convenience,” she winked
as they walked away.

“
Sure,
Miss Parker,” Andy said as the two walked away. Meg looked at
Julie as they got into the elevator.

“
One
of these days you will get into serious trouble with Dana,” she
said. Julie shook her head.

“
I
make her millions of dollars. If she fires me she will have lost the
best thing that has ever happened to her,” she grinned. Meg
looked at her and laughed.

“
Modest
much?” she teased. Julie shrugged.

“
So,
did you drive here?” she asked. Meg nodded. “Okay then we
can just meet up at home,” she added. Meg smiled and nodded.
“Twenty minutes tops,” she said as they both walked out
into the parking lot.

Meg
walked into Amelia’s and looked around before she dialed
Steven.

“
I’m
here. Where are you?” she asked when Steven picked up.

“
Turn
right and walk to the last table. Private booth,” he explained.
Meg walked in the direction he suggested and stopped when she got to
the private booth.

“
Okay,
what the hell is happening?” she asked when she saw Dana seated
next to Steven. “Is this where you tell me that you are
actually a black ops guy and this British act has been your cover and
that Julie is in danger?” Meg asked. “Or am I in
danger?”. Steven looked at her and smiled.

“
Nice
to see you too,” he joked.

“
You
watch way too much TV by the way,” Dana said when Meg sat down.

“
Tell
me about it. I have no social life. TV is as good as my life gets,”
Meg admitted.

“
I
took the liberty of ordering you some food,” Steven told them
as a waiter walked up to them and placed a plate of sirloin steak in
front of Meg.

“
Oh,
thank God, I’m starved,” she said as she looked at the
inviting platter. “So, what’s the big idea?” Meg
asked as she took her first bite. “Oh my god….this is
the best sirloin steak I have ever had!” she said as she cut
another piece.

“
I
know, right? I am taking some to go,” Dana said smiling. Steven
shrugged.

“
We
aim to please,” he winked.

“
Wait,
you own this place?” Dana asked as she looked at him. Steven
shrugged and smiled.

“
Oh
my God, you are the complete package,” Meg gushed.

“
Well,
I only own part of it,” Steven said.

“
How
come I never knew this? Does Julie know?” Meg asked. Steven
smiled and nodded.

“
And
here we have been bending over backwards trying to get a reservation
here? Julie owes me,” Dana said.

“
So
anyway, now that it has been decided that I can get whatever table I
want here any time I want, why don’t you tell us why you called
us here?” Meg remarked. Steven looked at Dana and then placed a
black velvet case on the table. Meg’s eyes grew large. “Is
that what I think it is?” she asked. Steven smiled and nodded.

“
I
want to ask Julie to marry me and I wanted the two of you to help me
out. I don’t know what she would like, but I have already taken
care of the important aspects like asking her father,” he said.
Meg smiled.

“
You
already talked to Michael?” Meg asked.

“
I
thought that was the more traditional thing to do,” he
admitted.

“
We
all know you are nothing if not traditional,” Dana said as she
took a sip of her wine. Meg picked up the velvet case and opened it.

“
Oh
my God,” she gasped when she saw the ring. It was the kind of
thing that made you get a safe in the house. It was the most perfect
rock she had ever seen. She looked up at Steven. “You have
outdone yourself Davenport,” she said in a low voice.

“
It
was my grandmother’s. She gave it to me and told me to only use
it when I know I want to spend the rest of my life with the love of
my life,” he explained. “So, two months ago when I took
Julie home, I brought it back with me and had the stone replaced.”

“
Oh
my God, some men are so damn romantic,” Dana gushed as she took
a sip. “All I got was a nervous guy delivering a cake with the
words ‘will you marry me’ on it.”

“
Hey,
that’s good. I got married in Vegas under the influence of God
knows what,” Meg laughed. Steven smiled at them and leaned
back. “So, it looks like you have everything under control.
What do you need us for?”

“
Apparently
I need some sort of grand gesture. Grand gestures are not my cup of
tea,” he said.

“
So
in other words you want us to tell you exactly where you should go
down on one knee?” Dana asked.

“
Well,
not exactly…okay, yes,” he muttered. “Or how I can
do it differently. I don’t want to do some cliché
thing,” he added.

“
Davenport,
clichés are clichés because they work,” Dana said
looking at him. Meg took another bite and nodded.

“
I
second that,” she agreed.

“
What
do you mean?” Steven asked. Meg rolled her eyes and shook her
head.

“
Men
will never get it. Here’s the thing, mister. Women love
clichés. They live for clichés. The only reason why
chick flicks are such a success is because of the happily ever after
endings that producers love so much,” she said as she looked at
Steven.

“
I
second that,” Dana said as she took another sip of her wine.

“
So
you want me to do what everybody does? Go down on one knee in a
crowded restaurant or have ‘will you marry me’ on the
kiss cam at a basketball game?” Steven asked. Dana and Meg
exchanged a look before they both shook their heads. “That’s
what I see on most American movies. So to me, that is the cliché.”
Meg laughed.

“
Stereotype
much?” she asked.

“
Trust
me when I tell you those are the only grand gestures I know of. And I
don’t think she would like that,” he frowned.

“
Actually
she wouldn’t. She hates attention,” Meg agreed.

“
You
could always do what Kanye did and get a band,” Dana said
matter of factly. “A really big band,” she added.

“
How
big was the band?” Steven asked. Dana raised an eyebrow.

“
You
do realize that I was just kidding, right?” she said. Steven
shrugged.

“
This
is not a very good time to be joking. I literally feel like I am
about to explode,” he said.

“
Oh
come on. It’s not that bad. You should be pumped,” Meg
said. Steven looked at her and shook his head.

“
Pumped?”
he asked. Meg nodded.

“
Yeah,
pumped. Excited. It is exciting what you are doing,” she said.

“
What
if she says no?” Steven fretted. Dana laughed.

“
That
woman loves you. There is no way she would say no to you,” she
promised.

“
Yeah,
if I was you, I would be all calm and collected,” Meg
suggested. Steven ran his fingers through his hair

“
I
have never done this before, so forgive me if I don’t know how
to make a decisive move on the most important day of my life,”
he panicked as he raked his fingers through his hair. Dana looked at
Meg and smiled.

“
You’re
nervous,” she said. “That is so sweet,” she added.

“
I
never thought you had a nervous bone inside you,” Meg told him.
Steven looked at his untouched glass for a moment before he flashed
down the contents making Meg raise an eyebrow. “Wow,” she
muttered under her breath.

“
So,
how about I bring her here?” Steven asked. “This is where
we first had an informal meeting.”

“
What
do you mean?” Dana asked.

“
This
is where I brought her when we first met…you know, when she
was helping me with my listings?” Steven asked.

“
Wasn’t
that a formal meeting?” Dana asked.

“
Yeah,
but I think this just became our place over time,” he gned.rin

“
Wow,
next you will tell me that you guys have a song,” Meg laughed.
Steven smiled at her. “Oh my God, you already have a song.
Don’t you?” she asked. Steven laughed and shook his head.

“
No,
we don’t. We’re not that…Notebook,” he said.

“
You
know about The Notebook? You are the ideal man,” Dana said.

“
I
only know it because I was forced to sit through the ordeal. Twice,”
he joked.

“
I
like the restaurant idea. It sounds nice and romantic,” Dana
said. “And it’s a good cliché too.”

“
Yeah
firsts are a big deal. Nice call there, Davenport,” Meg winked
before she took another bite of her food. She looked at Steven and
smiled. “So, what else do you have in mind? Put the ring in her
champagne?”