The Wrong Billionaire’s Bed - Teaser the Fifth!
Each day until October 15th, I’ll be publishing an excerpt from The Wrong Billionaire’s Bed. Here’s today’s sample!
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Daphne was still seething with outrage, even twenty-four hours after she’d woken up and found that Audrey had gone through her things and rid them of any whiff of drugs.
That was just fine with Audrey. She didn’t care if Daphne was mad. She suspected Daphne was going to get a lot madder before they returned from their mini-vacation. A month in the family lake house? With no one around but the two of them? No drugs and no alcohol? They were bound to butt heads, and that was fine with Audrey. She expected it.
What she hadn’t expected was that, several hours into their drive upstate, Daphne would turn down an unfamiliar highway.
Audrey frowned and reached for the map in the glove compartment of Daphne’s tiny roadster. “I think you missed the turn.”
“Nope,” Daphne said, staring straight ahead at the road.
“I’m pretty sure this isn’t the way to the cabin.”
“That’s because we’re not going to the cabin.”
A sinking feeling moved into the pit of Audrey’s stomach. Her twin was giving up already? This was just like every other time. “Daphne, you promised.”
“Correction. I promised I’d go away for a month with you to try and start over,” Daphne said, her eyes shielded by enormous designer sunglasses. Audrey couldn’t read her expression. “But my manager expects me to be at the lake house, which means the label’s going to put pressure on him. And do you know what that means? It means the paparazzi are going to show up at some point when I’m looking my scuzziest and attempt to get something they can sell to the tabloids to drum up some publicity. And I don’t want that.”
Audrey couldn’t blame her twin, though she was still a bit leery of any change in plans. Daphne needed to be in a controlled environment. “So where are we going?”
Daphne glanced over and gave Audrey a sneaky smile she recognized all too well.
“Oh, no,” Audrey moaned. “What did you do?”
“Something that should make you pretty happy, if you’re still carrying a torch for a certain someone.”
Audrey wanted to throw up and throttle Daphne at the same time. “Please don’t tell me we’re going to Cade Archer’s house.”
“We’re not,” Daphne said.
Relief set in.
“We’re going to his lodge in the mountains.”
There went the relief, right back out again. “Seriously, Daphne? You called Cade and arranged this?”
“I did. He said he’d always be there for me,” she said stubbornly. “I’m cashing in that chip. I thought it’d be fun to be just you and me and Cade for a few weeks. He’s so busy all the time he could use a vacation, too. And I thought if he was there, maybe I could help you lock him down.”
Audrey put her head in her hands and stifled the moan that threatened to escape all over again. “Daphne, we’re not doing this so you can try to hook me up with our childhood friend. We’re doing this to get you clean and get your life back on track.”
“I know that,” Daphne said irritably, reaching for her pack of cigarettes. She’d already gone through them, and she sighed at the empty packet and pitched it out the open window. “Gimme a new pack of smokes out of my purse, will you?”
“You shouldn’t smoke.”
“Oh, you’re right,” Daphne said sarcastically. “Let’s stop by the nearest gas station and I’ll ask where I can score some rock instead. Leave me fucking something, Audrey. All right? You can nag me about the other shit but smoking is off limits.”
Wordlessly, Audrey handed her twin the new pack of cigarettes. “Just promise me that this vacation is going to be about you and making healthy choices for your life.”
“I promise,” Daphne said, shoving a cigarette between her lips and punching the car’s lighter in. “You know what’s different this time? I want it for sure. This time I mean it.”
You say that every time, Audrey thought with a sigh. But she couldn’t help but feel a little flutter of excitement in her belly. Cade Archer was going to be spending the next few weeks with them. Sweet, caring Cade Archer. He’d gone from a considerate, thoughtful, handsome teenage boy who she’d had a crush on to a gorgeous and near-perfect billionaire with a kind heart. And she was still ridiculously in love with him.
Self-consciously, she flipped down the mirror on the passenger side and checked her hair. She wished suddenly that she’d worn something a bit more exotic than a plain black sweater over a purple tank top and jeans. Since she was on vacation, she wore no makeup and her hair was pulled into a loose, carefree ponytail. Too casual. She wanted to look good for Cade. After giving her twin another frown as Daphne chain-smoked her way down the highway, Audrey relaxed and tried to think of what she could say to Cade to make it seem like a wonderful surprise to see him.
If she rehearsed, maybe she wouldn’t blurt out her love for him as soon as he came into sight.
Mirrored from Jill Myles Dot Com.