The Risk: A Billionaire Romance (Wagered Hearts Series, Book 2) (20 page)

“There you are, Ryan! I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” the annoyed voice of my sister hailed me.

I turned around to find her standing there alongside another young woman. “What do you want, Helen?” I bit out, in no mood to indulge her at the moment.

“I wanted to introduce you to my friend. You remember I told you about Emilia Holliday?” she said, equally irritated at my attitude.

I flicked my eyes towards the woman standing beside Helen and got a better look at her. She was petite and I had to admit quite pretty with long dark raven hair and large blue eyes fringed with black lashes. She smiled at me and batted her lashes.

“Hello,” she said. “Helen has told me so much about you.”

Her voice was surprisingly deep and sensual and there was a spark of something that I saw in her eyes. She reached forward and held out her hand to me. I grasped it in mine and gave her a tight smile. I didn’t know exactly what Helen had told this woman, but I had a pretty good idea. Normally I wouldn’t think to encourage her attention, but I was feeling off kilter and a little reckless at the moment.

“It’s nice to meet you Miss Holliday. Or may I call you Emilia?” I asked.

Even though I was in a black mood and wanted nothing better than to leave the party, I knew that would be bad form. I had no intention of letting Cora or Mel for that matter, drive me away from anywhere. It would only prove that they had gotten to me and that I couldn’t stand.

Ever since I could remember, Cora Abelgard had always rubbed me the wrong way. When I first made my fortune and started attending these high society functions, I’d run into her at several places. Not once did she ever give me the time of day, not that I was seeking her approval. After a while, I started to ignore her as well. Over the years, there grew to be an underlying animosity between us. I had no idea what her problem with me was, but she seemed to extend her dislike to my sister as well, blacklisting her from events where she could.

That had set up my ire and when the opportunity to own a share of Titan came up, I snatched it. If she wanted to be vindictive, two could play at that game. There had been rumblings of a shake up over at Titan and the board had discussed replacing Cora as editor of Chère. Magazine sales were down and the recent issues had been lackluster, to say the least. She’d been so busy cultivating her own celebrity and status, that she had let the magazine slip. When news of lawsuits from several of her ex-employees started to reach our ears, there was nothing left to do but to let her go. She was just too much of a liability. That news had not been made public yet, but I would definitely have to make sure I was in the room when Cora was informed of it. I smiled grimly at the thought. At least that was something to look forward to.

“What’s the matter with you tonight?” Helen hissed at me as she grabbed my arm and turned me away from Emilia.

I looked down at her, a bit startled. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re acting really weird with this pissed off look on your face. I think you’re scaring Emilia,” she whispered.

“I think it would take a lot more than a pissed off look to scare her away from me,” I answered.

She rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. “Just be nice, ok? There are a lot of important people here and Emilia is one of them.”

I was about to retort something sarcastic and cutting but I bit my tongue. Helen could be a nagging, social climbing harpy sometimes, but she was still my sister and I knew her attitude just stemmed from insecurity. She felt like she didn’t belong, and I actually felt sorry for her.

“All right, Helen. I’ll be on my best behavior,” I said. We turned back and I flashed Emilia my most charming smile and held out my hand to her. “Would you care to dance?” I asked.

She snatched it with alacrity and practically dragged me out to the dance floor, preening the whole way like she was a bird that just caught a big juicy fish. Once we reached the dance floor, she wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me close. I didn’t know whether to feel annoyed or amused by her actions. She was no shy wallflower, quite the opposite in fact.

“So Helen tells me you’ve just come back from Asia,” she said, looking up at me with her big blue eyes. “That must have been so exciting.”

If I were a younger or more foolish man, I would have been bowled over by her charms. She had a light and graceful figure with curves that accentuated her womanly sensuality. Her lips were red and plump, like a ripe strawberry. Her eyes were clear and blue, and contrasted with her olive skin tone. She looked quite striking. I observed all this with a cool detached eye. On paper she was everything any man would find attractive, but I couldn’t help thinking about another pair of eyes; eyes that were brown, deep and intense like a rich dark chocolate.

“Are you all right?” she asked staring up at me curiously.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, shaking my head slightly. “I just got distracted for a moment. What were you saying?”

“It’s all right. You seem to have a lot on your mind right now. I won’t bother you with mindless chatter,” she said.

I smiled down at her, a genuine smile this time. “I think some mindless chatter is exactly what I need right now,” I said.

“All right then, tell me about your time in Asia. I was just in Tokyo last month for a movie,” she said.

I told her of my travels and we compared experiences being foreigners in a foreign land. She was surprisingly articulate and a good story teller and I actually found myself enjoying her conversation. At the very least, it took my mind off of Mel and Chad and the news of their impending engagement. My first impression of her still stood, though. She was a user and a social climber just like most of the women I’d met. She just happened to be less vapid than most. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to flirt with her a little since I knew there was no chance of either of us catching real feelings for each other.

She just wanted to be seen with someone like me and I needed a pretty face to distract me for the evening. It was almost like we had a silent agreement that things would go no further. After the dance, Emilia excused herself to use the restroom and I wandered over to the bar for a much needed drink. As I stood there, drumming my fingers against the bar top, I felt a tapping at my shoulder. My body suddenly tensed. It knew who it was before I even turned around. It took me a moment to gather my composure before I was finally able to face her.

There was a moment before I completely turned around where she looked almost eager and happy to see me, but it was extinguished as soon as she our eyes met. I frowned at her and waited for her to speak. She looked nervous and almost hesitant, and the vindictive part of me was glad that I made her feel nervous. It was the least that she deserved after what she had done.

“I didn’t know you were back,” she said softly.

“As you see,” I said.

She remained standing there staring at me as if trying to see deep into my soul. I pinned her with an icy glare for her efforts. We stood there in awkward silence before she finally spoke again.

“How are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m great actually,” I said, then added, “I see you came with Chad.”

She didn’t deny it and her face flushed red, which made her look guilty in my eyes.

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” she said.

“I’m sure you didn’t,” I replied curtly.

“The thing is, Chad and I—”

“You don’t have to explain anything to me. In fact, I hope you two are very happy together. You seem like you are, anyways,” I added. Then spotting Emilia entering the room again, I stood up straight. “If you’ll excuse me now, I see my date has returned.” I left Mel standing there without a backward glance. I didn’t expect to feel so much emotion at seeing her again and speaking to her, but I knew I had to leave before I said or did something I regretted.

I made my way toward Emilia and placed her hand in the crook of my arm and led her back towards the dance floor. She seemed surprised by my actions but didn’t ask me any questions, which I appreciated. I could feel Mel’s eyes on my back as I walked away. A part of me wanted her to see me with Emilia and suffer, to feel the same jealousy that I’d felt when I watched her with Chad.

When I had finally snuck a glance over to the spot where I had last seen Mel, she was gone. As I scanned over the rest of the room, I noticed she was nowhere in sight. Cora and Chad were also gone as well. My shoulders slumped at the realization and I led Emilia back off the dance floor and made my excuses to her and Helen. I suddenly felt very tired and weary. The stress of the last few days coupled with the shock of seeing Mel back with her ex had finally gotten to me. I couldn’t help but hear Natasha’s voice in my head saying karma would get me one day.

I left the party shortly after speaking to Ryan. He looked so different—so cold and distant. It was as if he had shut himself off from me completely. I had been shocked by his indifference, and was left speechless for a while. My mother’s words rang in my ears: “
He’s very sweet when he wants something from you, but after he’s gotten it, he’ll throw you away like yesterday’s trash.
” Was that what was happening now? Had he gotten what he wanted from me and was now tossing me out?

I watched as he made his way over to a beautiful dark haired woman and linked his arm with hers. The way he smiled down at her sent a pang of hurt through me, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. I was a glutton for punishment. When Chad found me standing there moments later, I had seen enough and wanted to leave.

Chad drove me home from the party after saying our farewells to my mother. The car ride back was mostly silent. I had a lot on my mind and Chad could sense that I was in no mood to talk. I still felt him glancing in my direction several times, shooting me worried looks. When he pulled up to my building, he put the car in park and turned toward me.

“It was great seeing you again tonight, Mel,” he said.

“It was great seeing you too,” I answered automatically.

The car suddenly filled with tension and I wanted nothing more than to go up to my apartment and escape. The way Chad was looking at me with that quiet intensity made me feel a bit uncomfortable. I knew he wanted me to invite him up, but I was not ready for that yet. Chad leaned in and gave me an awkward kiss on the cheek. He had been aiming for my lips, but I turned my head at the last moment, not feeling ready for that either.

“I should…uh…head inside,” I said.

“I’m sorry that things have gotten so weird between us. I promise I’ll work hard to make things better,” he said. “Like how we were before.”

I didn’t answer him, but gave him a tight smile as I opened the door and slipped out of his car. He waited until I got inside my building before driving off. Once inside my apartment, I slunk down the wall and landed in a heap on my floor. “When did my life become so complicated?” I said out loud.

I thought back to how the evening played out. It had started off well enough. Chad had been charming and looked better than when I’d first seen him. All evening, he stayed by my side, as if he thought I’d disappear when he turned his back. It had been endearing at first but after a while I started to feel suffocated.

My mother greeted the both of us when she arrived twenty minutes after us. She was all breezy politeness and made an effort to put him at ease. She had a way of intimidating all the guys I’d ever been with. They’d all cower in fear of her.

Not Ryan though.

I didn’t know why that thought had popped into my head. I’d tried hard not to think about Ryan for the whole evening, but somehow he just kept worming his way back into my consciousness.

“Would you like to dance?” Chad had asked, hopefully.

I glanced out on the dance floor and shook my head. “Not tonight. Maybe some other time,” I said.

Chad’s face fell and I felt a moment of regret, but I pushed passed it. I couldn’t just get over the past few months so easily I realized. There was still some anger and resentment there and I wasn’t even sure yet if I was even going to give him another chance. He had been respectful and gave me my space at first, but as the night progressed, he became bolder and I noticed he would make excuses to touch me, like tucking my hair behind my ear. When we were first dating, I loved when he did that. Now, I found the gesture cloying. I felt like I couldn’t breathe and I needed some space.

“Could you get me a drink?” I asked.

Chad was too happy to oblige and he went off immediately. Once I was alone, I let out a deep breath. It never used to be so hard before. Chad and I had always been on the same wavelength and seemed to get along so well, but this evening felt forced. Maybe it was because it was all still so new? I closed my eyes briefly, trying to keep a rein on all the emotions I was feeling. When I opened them again, they landed on the last person I’d expected to see that evening.

Ryan was standing there by himself, looking dapper and handsome in a black suit and tie. One hand was draped casually in his pocket, while he propped one foot up like he was posing for a fashion magazine. I had to blink twice to make sure I wasn’t just seeing things. He was still there, looking bored and slightly put out. I couldn’t help the smile that lit my face and my feet immediately began to move toward his direction without even thinking about it.

I didn’t know what to expect when I saw him again. It wasn’t like he’d returned my calls or anything, but I never expected the cold disdain. His face had been a hard mask, sometimes mocking, sometimes brooding. When he asked me about coming tonight with Chad I thought I detected some other emotion, but he quickly shuttered it from his face. Instead, he told me he had come with another woman. The words sent a shock through me that I wasn’t prepared for. I’d always heard he was a player, and my mother had warned me about his ways, but I hadn’t actually believed it until I saw it with my own eyes. It was as if those times we spent together meant nothing to him. I was just another notch on his belt.

Initially, I tried to make excuses for him. Maybe he was just upset about seeing me with Chad? But that didn’t explain why he never called me back or why he had come to the launch party with a date. Watching them together on the dance floor, they looked very much together. He was smiling down at her like she was the only woman in the room. That was when I’d had enough.