The Billionaire’s Christmas Vows: A Jet City Billionaire Christmas Romance Read Free

noon, I met my friend Kelly in Bellevue for lunch. She was one of my few friends who wasn't in retail and slammed with peak. Kelly and I were sorority sisters in college. She'd been the president of the house my senior year. She worked in Bellevue not too far from our penthouse. If Jus and I had still been living there I could have walked to lunch.
    I arrived at the wine bar and café just a few minutes late. Kelly was her usual self. Still thin and beautifully poised and confident. She was seated at a table near the window, waiting for me. She waved and popped to her feet when she spotted me come in. We teepee hugged because of my baby bump.
    "You look fantastic!" Her gaze fell to my stomach.
    "Liar!" I laughed. "You're the one who looks great, as always. I feel like a beached whale."
    "Do you? You don't look it." She shook her head, with a twinkle in her eyes. "You look more like you swallowed a beach ball than whale-like at all.
    I laughed. As I sat, my stomach bumped the table. "I'm clumsy, too! My body keeps forgetting how much it sticks out in front now. It still thinks I'm skinny and misjudges distances. Like how far I should pull out my chair. The correct answer? Into the next room!" I shook my head at myself. "You should see the small spaces I've tried to squeeze through and failed."
    Kelly grinned as she pulled in her chair and sat. "You may feel big, but you look great. From the back, you can't even tell you're pregnant. It's only when you turn around, and then, wow! Stomach." She put her napkin on her lap. "So. How's life with Justin?"
    Kelly had known Jus when we were in college, too. He used to hang around the sorority house when I would let him. At the time, I'd been dating Eric, a hot, popular frat guy. Kelly had been as stunned as everyone else when Eric and I broke up and Jus and I married suddenly.
    "You mean without Jus?" The baby kicked, taking my breath away. I winced.
    Kelly's mouth fell open. She got that embarrassed look people get when they think they've just stepped in it.
    "Oh, not like that!" I hoped no one else had overheard and gotten the wrong idea, too. If they had, it would be all over the news by six.
    "We're fine," I said a little too loudly. Which came off sounding desperate. Completely opposite of what I wanted.
    "And, by the way, don't ever believe the tabloids. They're always claiming to have the scoop on our breakup." I laughed, trying to appear casual and carefree, and explained about peak.
    "I haven't seen Jus since Thursday afternoon. I'm eternally grateful to you for distracting me from Cyber Monday. With any luck, he'll be home in the wee hours of the morning tonight."
    I paused. "That doesn't make any sense, does it?" I laughed again. "He'll be home in the early hours of tomorrow morning? Late tonight? After midnight when Cyber Monday officially becomes Tuesday?" I sighed. "Something like that, anyway."
    We ordered and, over lunch, quickly fell into catching up and sharing gossip we'd heard about mutual friends and our fellow sorority sisters.
    When we'd nearly finished our meal, Kelly leaned forward, her eyes lit with mischief and gossip.
    I knew that look. She was about to spill something juicy.
    "Have you heard the latest about Victoria?"
    "No." I leaned forward, too, eager for something salacious. "What has Vicki been up to?"
    Vicki was always up to something. She was unconventional, for a Double Deltsie, and adventurous. That's what everyone liked and admired about her.
    "Can you keep a secret?" Kelly looked at me slyly over the remains of her meal.
    Could I keep a secret? She was talking to the queen of secrets.
    "You know I can. My lips are sealed. I swear on my Double Deltsie pin not to tell anyone."
    She grinned. "Just pulling your chain. I know you're as good as your word." She lowered her voice. "She had a secret marriage!"
    "A secret marriage? What?" My pulse roared in my ears. Or maybe that was just the coffee grinder someone behind the counter had geared up. Anyway,