When twenty-two-year-old Evelyn Lockhart moves in next to Connor Everest, bad boy billionaire and head of Everest Industries, she makes a promise to herself to have nothing to do with the spoilt . He's wild, untamed, and makes her annoyed. And his wild parties almost every night keeps her awake. They get off on the wrong foot when Evelyn, fed up with his shenanigans, call the cops on one of his wild parties. Things get heated when Evelyn starts off her new the following week and discovers that Connor is her new boss. With the press nosy for gossip, Connor fears his secret project which he's spent years working on would get leaked before it's ready, and propositions Evelyn to be his fake fiancée, at least until the project is launched. How long can they keep up the façade, while still trying not to catch feelings?
View More"I don't know if I deserve a second chance. But I promise that what I feel for you is real. I love you, and you're the only one for me. I'm your stubborn, flightless bird, and you're the smart, beautiful woman who took my heart by storm. You are my undoing.""So, if you give me a second chance, I promise I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I promise."Looking into his eyes, I see the depth of emotion and regret in them. I also see sincerity and the spark of a promise that won't die. The tears fall faster now."How can I say no?" My voice breaks as I speak, "My heart belongs to you. But," I raise a finger when he moves in to kiss me, "if we are going to do this, you have to promise that you won't make any more hurried conclusions. Ever.""If you have doubts, you come to me first. If we have problems, we work it out, we don't avoid each other."He hurriedly nods his head, grinning from ear to ear."I promise," he says earnestly. "You have my whole heart, Evelyn Lockhart.
Mira's idea of a small after-party had to be the equivalent of putting me in a tight spot. We piled into cars, nine of us in five vehicles, and headed to a bar.I was the only one without a ride-along because everyone suddenly had a partner. She wanted to call it off at the last minute, but I assured her I was fine.I'm not bitter about everyone being a couple, but I'm the only one fresh out of a public engagement.I was lying through my teeth and it was not my best performance, but she was too happy to see it. Just like she forgot to mention that Connor would be attending because I'm seated at a table for two like everyone else, staring at my half-full glass when he walks in.Walks up to me and asks—"Is this seat taken?""What are you doing here?" I ask, cocking my head and glaring at him.He turns to Mira, who is tongue-deep in her husband, and then turns back to me."Mira? We met after the reception, and she said I could come. It's supposed to be a small gathering for friends."I
"I'm sorry," he exhales, and my eyes catch him tugging on the hem of his suit jacket. "I didn't mean," he turns when someone calls him and then back to me, "do you think we could go somewhere and talk?""I won't take much of your time. I promise."I want to. I desperately want to hear all the excuses he has to give."Mira needs me," I say instead, remembering that I was on the phone with her before I saw him. "I have to go."Connor nods and steps to the side to let me pass. My heart sinks in disappointment when he doesn't try to stop or walk alongside me. He just...hangs back, as if what we had wasn't worth fighting for.Hot tears fall down my cheeks, and I wipe them away, practicing my smile so Mira doesn't notice that my mood has shifted. I meet her behind the building, where she's changed into a different dress.Red, strapless, and short. And she looks—"You're stunning, Mira," I tell her. "You look amazing. Ken is a very lucky man. Tell him he's going to have to pay for taking you
Ken, standing in front of the officiating minister that my mom hired, wipes his eyes, and I can tell he's been crying.Everything is perfect.And I am happy for her, I really am. It's just...I had the same dream. It might not have been as sure or passionate as Mira's, but I thought Connor and I were the endgame.So, it's a little hard to be a hundred percent happy while I'm the maid of honor, looking stunning, but nursing a broken heart.The only good news is Connor's absence. I haven't seen him since I showed up at the church, and I wouldn't hear anything about him from Mira when she tried bringing him up at the bachelorette party.To me, Connor is my past, and I don't intend on revisiting that any time soon. I'm already on the path to healing because the thought and mention of him no longer make me burst into tears.Yet—I cannot help searching the crowd to see if he showed up at some point, but I don't see him. I scan the audience so many times that I drown out most of what the mini
I scrub my hands over my face so hard I feel the sting from the impact. We're sitting in my car, and I'm stumped, trying to figure out where Evelyn might have gone."I don't know what to do, Ken," I run my fingers through my hair and over my face again, exhaling heavily. "I—I don't know where she might have gone. He said she got another job in another city. What city?""Maybe Evelyn told him that because she knew you might come after her, and she didn't want that."My head snaps in his direction. "You think?" I can hear my voice, and it sounds desperate.Ken sucks his teeth."I'm not sure, but if I were pissed at someone who I thought loved me and wanted to get away, I might try to throw them off my trail.""Or not," he shrugs. "Evelyn might have been telling him the truth because she didn't factor in you coming to look for her."The big question is, how could I have missed it? For God's sake, she lived under me. I should have heard the noises or seen something—her, the moving people.
It feels like the elevator cannot go any faster as I stare at the doors, my heart pounding and my palms sweaty.If anyone told me that making amends with the love of my life would be the scariest thing I ever did, I wouldn't have believed them.But it is.Ken pats me on the back. "You've got this. Just go with your gut and don't try to make excuses. Be a hundred percent honest.""Okay," I nod. "Okay."The doors open, and I step out, heading for Evelyn's door. Ken tells me that he'll stay by the elevator to give us some privacy.As I get closer, I remember all the times I stood in front of her door, teasing her or asking her if I could come in. I recall the first time she let me in and how intimate it felt to finally be in her space.I can't believe I am going to lose all of that.But, come to think of it, I haven't seen her car in the parking lot since the evening of the gala. I was too out of it to pay attention the next morning, but I noticed her spot was empty yesterday.I reach ou
"I'll just come out and say it as it is," Ken says as he stands in front of my desk, hands on the polished wood surface. "You're a terrible friend."I nod. "Okay. That's why I said I needed to see you."He rolls his eyes and pulls back a chair, plopping down on it."You said you wanted to see me? I've been trying to reach you for the past week without success. You should be apologizing to me instead," Ken says."Five days," I correct, but I add an apology because he's right. "I'm sorry. I needed to think about a few things, and I just...I was a coward. There is no excuse for not returning your calls."Ken doesn't accept the apology as he folds his arms and flares at me."I'll think about your apology later. What I want to know is why, on the night of the gala, I had to take a drunk Evelyn home.""And the whole time, she was talking about how you lied to her. What did you do?"I frown, adjusting on my chair. I lied to her? How?If anything, Evelyn is the one who lied when she said she
I don't know how she knows I'm here—my guess is that I must have drunk-dialed her—but I follow her to a corner table.Mira pulls out the chair for me to sit, and I do so. She pulls out the other one and does the same."So, do you want to talk, or do you need me to watch over you while you drink, take you home, and then talk about it in the morning."All I want to do is forget.I don't want to see Connor tomorrow and I have to ask if he meant that we're never going to be an item, if he was deceiving me all this time, if he couldn't see that I was in love with him before he broke my heart with one text message.Digging into my bag and opening the message, I thrust my phone at Mira. She looks at me with concern before taking it and seconds after, her eyes widen as her lips part slightly."What," her eyes meet mine, "is this?""I thought he was going to propose tonight," my voice breaks from the start. "One stupid reporter said that Connor," I sniff, "talked about a wedding and I assumed
It turns out to be harder than I thought or expected because after going round and round, there is no trace of Connor anywhere. I go to the parking lot, but his car isn't there either.We came separately, but why would his car be gone? Did he leave without me? Maybe he had to drop someone off?Scratching my head and trying to figure out which of the questions is the right one, I head back to the hall and, by a divine stroke of luck, run into Ken."There's the star of the evening," he says cheerily. "Everyone is talking about you."I blush. "Me? I'm just the cyber person. I'm sure you heard them talking about Connor, but I appreciate the flattery."He shakes his head."Nope. It's you. Everyone on the team has been talking about how you made sure everything went well, and I might," he smiles, "have chipped in a thing or two.""Thank you. Um, have you seen Connor?""Oh yeah. Minutes ago? Or an hour? I'm not so sure. He was looking for you."Why isn't he around, then?I wrack my head, thi
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