What Matters Most: The Billionaire Bargains, Book 2 Read Free Page B

a cheater, Tony amended. Jeff cheated at poker from time to time, he always cheated at pool—because he sucked—and he had cheated on women before. But no one he was serious about, and he’d always come clean about it afterward.
    Of course, it had ended all but one of those relationships and that girl had been crazy. And cheating on Jeff too.
    Which was obviously a huge part of him not wanting to tell Reese.
    But he’d never fallen in love with the other woman before either.
    Tony couldn’t help but feel bad for Anna too. Per Jeff and his drunken ramblings, they were madly in love.
    Yeah, he definitely objected to this wedding. On several counts.
    “I care because you both deserve better than this,” Tony whispered to his friend. “I don’t want anyone regretting this in the morning.”
    Like him. He would definitely regret it if this wedding happened.
    “You’re really going to…” Jeff trailed off as the music changed and the first of the bridesmaids appeared at the end of the aisle.
    Yep, he was really going to.
    The procession continued, the bridesmaids smiling, their hair and makeup perfect for the ceremony and the photos afterward. Which were never going to happen.
    Tony felt the anticipation building in his chest. He was going to break up this wedding. When the minister asked if there was anyone who had a reason why Jeff and Reese shouldn’t be married, Tony was going to answer with a loud I do.
    He’d already seen Reese in her dress, but when she appeared at the back of the church ready to walk down the aisle, Tony felt his heart clench.
    She was so damned beautiful.
    And she looked nervous as hell.
    That was probably normal, but he chose to believe that it was because she didn’t really want to go through with it. Maybe she was having second thoughts.
    Tony glanced at Jeff.
    Jeff looked green.
    “I can’t do it,” Jeff whispered, actually turning to Tony.
    Tony turned him back, as inconspicuously as he could. Fortunately, everyone was looking at Reese.
    “You don’t have to do it. I’ll do it,” Tony told him.
    “I mean I can’t marry her,” Jeff turned to Tony again.
    Tony turned Jeff toward the bride that was halfway down the aisle. “I know you can’t.”
    At least they finally agreed on that. Of course, this realization would have been helpful an hour ago. But it wasn’t too late.
    “So you’re going to tell her that I’m in love with someone else?” Jeff asked. “In front of everyone?”
    Tony frowned at him. “That is not what I’m going to tell her.” But an hour ago that had been pretty much exactly what he’d been planning to tell her. Now in front of all of her family and friends, however, that seemed…insensitive.
    That was, actually, a weak word for it.
    Truthfully, he hadn’t thought through what he was going to say. He’d been simply focused on the fact that he was going to say something . Whatever it took.
    But yeah, there was probably a bad way to do it and a…less bad way to do it.
    He hated the idea that Reese was going to be hurt but she was also going to be embarrassed. Humiliated even. Finding out about Jeff’s infidelity was bad enough, but with an audience it would be horrible.
    Fuck.
    He would have pulled the fire alarm or something if he’d thought about it.
    Dammit.
    Okay. He could still protest the marriage. He didn’t have to be specific about why. Did he? He’d actually never witnessed someone answering yes to that question about an objection at a wedding. Was there protocol? Would the minister need to know why? And if so, how much detail would he need?
    Dammit. Dammit.
    Reese was now at the front, smiling nervously at Jeff. She looked gorgeous…and edgy. Her gaze flickered to Tony and when their eyes met, Tony felt it rock through his whole body.
    Oh, yeah, he was doing this. Somehow. Somehow he had to break up this wedding with as little hurt and humiliation to the bride as possible.
    Her father gave her away and she stepped up next to Jeff