The Risk: A Billionaire Romance (Wagered Hearts Series, Book 2) (25 page)

“Don’t worry about it,” Lily said, waving him off. “I don’t mind sharing a room with Mel. It’ll be just like college again.” She turned back and gave me a grin and I couldn’t help rolling my eyes at her.

“Don’t even get me started,” I said, smiling at her despite myself.

“I feel like there’s some naughty story here, but I’ll leave you two to your privacy now,” Ryan said, his lips tightening in amusement. He opened the door to our bedroom and stepped back. “Lunch is in an hour. We’ll be eating outside,” he said before walking away.

I walked into the bedroom and flopped on the bed face down.

“Why did I come?” I mumbled against the mattress.

Lily closed the door firmly behind her and jumped on the bed next to me. “I think that went well,” she said.

I lifted my head an inch off the mattress and looked at her as if she had grown two heads. “Well? He looked horrified to see me.”

“Now you’re just being dramatic. He wasn’t horrified at all. Maybe a little surprised, but that’s understandable since he thought I was coming with Roman.”

“Let’s not kid ourselves here. He’s probably worried I’m some type of stalker or something and doesn’t want his new girlfriend to know that his ex…fling or whatever is in the same house,” I blurted out.

“Ok, Mel. Just calm down and take a deep breath. It’s not as bad as you’re making it out in your head. I’m sure Ryan isn’t thinking anything like that.”

“Is it too late to go home?” I asked.

“Yes,” Lily said. “Cheer up. Lunch is in an hour. Try to put all your doubts out of your mind and just concentrate on blowing him away.”

I plopped my head back down against the mattress and groaned, wishing it were already Sunday. It didn’t seem like it’d be so hard, but being here and seeing Ryan again was more difficult than I imagined. I could just picture how much harder it’d be when I saw him and his new girlfriend together, draped all over each other.

I had half a mind to just call the whole thing off and go back home with my tail between my legs. It would be easier and I wouldn’t have to risk the humiliation of his rejection. But I knew I couldn’t do that. First, Lily would never let me. And secondly, I knew I’d regret if it I didn’t try. As hard and as terrifying as it was, I knew I had to try.

I walked away from Mel and Lily’s room only to double back once they’d closed the door. I listened outside for a moment hearing their muffled conversation before they both burst into laughter. I felt like such a pathetic creep standing out there like that, but I couldn’t help myself. My feet wouldn’t move and I stood rooted to the spot, straining to hear Mel’s voice.

Earlier, when I saw her standing by the car, my heart nearly stopped. She was the last person I’d expected to come this weekend. I couldn’t say I was disappointed though. Seeing her lifted my spirits more in those few minutes than anything else I’d done the past few weeks. And here she was in my house for the weekend! I almost couldn’t believe my luck.

Then I remembered she was most likely engaged now, and my mood turned black again. I was such a fool. How could I have fallen for one of the only women who I couldn’t have? Who saw me as nothing more than a…a…hell, I didn’t even know what she saw me as. All I knew was that she belonged to someone else.

The echoes of footsteps coming up the stairs startled me out of my thoughts and I finally forced my legs to move away from the door. Two female voices drifted up in loud conversation. I saw Helen and Emilia before they noticed me and waited for them at the top of the stairs. It was well enough that they hadn’t caught me standing outside Mel and Lily’s door. I didn’t know how I’d explain that one.

“Ryan! What are you doing standing there like that? You almost gave me a heart attack!” Helen said, nearly colliding against me.

“Maybe if you two weren’t so busy huddling together and whispering lord knows what, you would have noticed me standing here the whole time,” I said.

“We weren’t huddled together, or whispering,” Helen protested.

“Yes, that’s so cruel of you to tease us. We were having a perfectly normal conversation in a normal tone of voice,” Emilia said, her eyes gleaming and a smile forming on her lips.

“I stand corrected,” I said. “Excuse me, I’m just heading downstairs to speak to the chef.”

“Before you go, who was it that just arrived?” Helen asked, forestalling me with her arm on my shoulder.

“That was Lily and her friend Mel.”

“Why is she here?” Helen sneered.

I shot her an irritated glance and shook her arm off my shoulder. I didn’t know who “she” was referring to, but I didn’t like Helen’s tone at all. Lily was my best friend’s fiancé and Mel was…well, I didn’t appreciate her speaking ill of either of them. “Because I invited them,” I said. “It is my house after all.”

Helen shrunk back a little at my rebuke, but she seemed to get the hint that while I allowed her a lot of leeway, in this instance, I would not tolerate her rudeness to my guests. She nodded her head stiffly before walking away. Emilia stayed at the top of the stairs and eyed me curiously.

I was finding out she was much more perceptive and intelligent that I’d ever given her credit for. She had a way of looking at me that made me feel like she was reading all my innermost thoughts and secrets. It was a disconcerting feeling and I wanted to escape her keen gaze as quickly as possible.

“I’ll see you later at lunch,” I said, trying to walk past her.

“I’ll go with you,” she said, slipping her arm through mine determinedly.

I sighed in resignation and began walking down the stairs. There’d be no point putting her off or trying to avoid her because she was one of those rare people incapable of taking a hint. Worst of all, she seemed completely unawed by me, so I couldn’t even scare her off.

“What have you got scheming in that brain of yours?” I finally asked.

“What makes you think I’ve got a scheme in mind?” she asked, looking too innocent to be believable.

“Because you’re a woman, and that’s what you do,” I said.

She smacked my arm playfully and smiled. “You can joke around all you want, but I won’t be distracted. I can tell those two women mean something to you. And since your friend Roman is marrying one of them…Lily I think it was…then you must be interested in the other one, Mel. Is she the woman you want but can’t have?”

I stayed silent, marveling at her deductive reasoning. How she got all that from just two names was impressive and frightening.

“Well? Am I right?” she asked prodding me.

“I have no comment,” I said.

“Ah ha!” she shouted in triumph. “So it’s Mel then.”

I stopped our walk and turned to look at her gravely. “I don’t know what you’re planning, but leave Mel out of it. That’s not a request. It’s an order,” I said. “This is not a game for your amusement.”

The playful smile disappeared from her face and she looked at me with an equally serious expression. “Of course it’s not a game. I never thought it was,” she said. “Don’t worry. I won’t do anything that would jeopardize your…uh…relationship with her.”

“I don’t have a relationship with her,” I said a little too quickly.

Emilia remained silent and wore a smug smile on her face the rest of the way to the kitchen. It set me on edge wondering what she was up to and her assurance didn’t relieve me much. I was just about to tell her again not to do anything when she pulled her arm free and stopped.

“I just realized I needed to speak with Helen about something. I’ll see you for lunch,” she said before turning around and heading back up the stairs.

I watched her go with an unsettled feeling in the pit of my stomach. That girl was either up to no good, or doing me a great big favor. I didn’t know which yet, but I was sure I’d soon find out.

***

Lunch was held outside in the back yard overlooking the ocean. For some reason, Helen had decided to have formal seating arrangements with place cards set up. It all seemed a little unnecessary to me. It wasn’t as if we were at a state dinner after all.

I was seated at the head of the table with Emilia and Lily on either side of me. Mel was seated a little ways down near the center of the table surrounded by Rob and an actor friend of Emilia’s. They were just close enough to be observed, but not close enough to talk to.

When she first walked outside, I couldn’t keep my eyes off her. There was something different about her from what I remembered. She looked a little more subdued and somber. I wondered what had happened that had made her look like that. She was still breathtakingly beautiful, but it was in a fragile way, like she would shatter at the slightest touch.

Mel and Lily looked a little surprised by the seating arrangements as well and I noticed a slight smile pass between them when they realized where they’d be seated. Lily sat to my left and tried to engage me in conversation, but I was too distracted. She must have sensed it since she started to talk to Emilia instead.

My eyes were glued towards the middle of the table where Mel was sitting and my ears strained to hear what she was saying. I knew I was being very obvious and doing a bad job of hiding my interest in Mel, but I felt like a starving man being given food for the first time. My eyes feasted on her as if I’d never see her again.

Her face lit up at something Emilia’s actor friend said, and I immediately felt a surge of jealousy. Who did he think he was, sitting at my table and flirting with Mel? I shook my head and closed my eyes. I was being completely irrational over someone who wasn’t even mine. She never belonged to me. I made a conscious effort to tear my eyes away from that part of the table and focus on the conversation around me. If I kept looking down there, I knew it’d drive me crazy.

When I turned to Emilia, she gave me a wide smile as if she’d caught me doing something I shouldn’t have, and I was sure my attention to Mel hadn’t gone unnoticed by her.

“Lily was just telling me about bachelorette party,” she said. “She told me you planned the whole thing in Vegas?”

At the mention of the word Vegas, my mind conjured up images of that night with Mel. It felt like a lifetime ago. Just thinking about it sent a surge of arousal through me and my cock twitched in response. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and took a sip of my lemonade to settle myself.

“Not me,” I said. “Mel helped with the planning.”

“Oh, how nice. And Mel is your maid of honor?” Emilia asked Lily.

They got into a conversation about wedding planning and dresses and floral arrangements and my ears tuned them out. My eyes drifted back over towards Mel who was dividing her attention between the actor and a wildly flirtatious Rob. I shot him a glare, wondering what he was thinking. Mel was off limits and if he had any ideas about her…well, I’d let him know soon enough he’d better look elsewhere.

I had thought he was interested in Emilia but judging from the way he was acting, he couldn’t keep his eyes off Mel. Or his hands. I caught him several times touching her, or rubbing her shoulders and I had to grind my teeth in frustration. It wasn’t as if I could make a scene and call him out, and she didn’t seem to mind his attentions. In fact her mood seemed to lift dramatically since she first walked in. Far from looking somber now, she looked carefree and happy. Her eyes sparkled with mirth and she never let the smile slip from her lips.

“Like I was telling Ryan, Roman had to work this weekend, so I asked Mel to come with me instead,” I heard Lily say. I turned my head when I heard my name and stared at her blankly.

“Are you all right Ryan? You seem a little distracted,” Lily said.

“I’m fine.” I shook my head slightly. “What were you saying?”

“It was nothing important,” she said. She looked at me knowingly before turning her attention back to Emilia.

“That must be hard with him working so much,” Emilia said. I could hear the restrained laughter in her voice.

“Yes and no,” Lily answered. “I do love being with him, but sometimes I just need my own space to be my own person. I don’t like being attached to the hip with him and I’m sure he feels the same way.”

My attention reverted back towards Mel, and I saw the actor whisper something in her ear. It took everything in me not to get up and pull him up by the shirt collar and throw him off my property. But I controlled myself with effort. This was turning out to be the most miserable and uncomfortable lunch I’d ever had the misfortune to experience.

“It seems Bradley is smitten with your friend Mel down there,” Emilia said to Lily. They both looked down the middle of the table where this Bradley had grabbed Mel’s hand and was pretending to serenade her. Mel looked slightly embarrassed, but she didn’t pull her hand away.

“Mel’s got that effect on men,” Lily replied. She looked at me slyly before turning back to Emilia. “It’s good to see her having a little harmless fun. She’s been through a lot lately,” she said. My ears perked up, and I wanted to ask Lily what she meant by that, but Emilia began to talk.

“That’s too bad. I hope she’s ok.”

“She will be.”

I wanted to ask Lily for more detail, but now was not the time or the place for it. I’d decided to corner her later on and get the answers from her more discreetly. Thankfully, the lunch was finally over. Helen stood up from her end of the table an announced the afternoon’s activities, which included a friendly tennis tournament. I could hear the audible groans from the table at her suggestion. I was sure they weren’t looking forward to having their schedules planned out for the whole weekend full of activities. I certainly wasn’t.

“I’m sure our guest would prefer to choose their own activities, Helen. Don’t feel obligated to play if you don’t want to,” I said looking over the table.

Helen looked upset by my words, but she kept her silence. I was grateful for that but the look she threw me told me it was far from over. I sighed and resigned myself to deal with her later. It seemed like I was always taking one step forwards and two steps back with her. I knew she had some grand idea of how she wanted things to be, but sometimes she took it too far.

The guests soon got up from the table and began heading off in different directions. Before I could ask for a private word with Lily, she had already left the table and was half way to the house. I was just about to follow her, but Emilia stopped me with her hand on my arm.