Illusion (Billionaire in Disguise 2)

But another part of me recognized the voice.

I wrapped my hands around the delicate wrists that covered my face and pulled them from my vision. I turned around, looking up into a very familiar pair of blue eyes. I was staring up at Valerie Rickshaw.

And yes, she still had a pair of fabulous legs.

“Val,” I said. “What in the world are you doing here?”

“Just taking some time for myself. Getting some stress off my back,” she said.

“And what kind of stress have you encountered in your fun little world?” I asked.

She walked around and sat down at the table, her long, thin legs carrying her with a grace unparalleled to any other woman I’d known.

Except for Sam.

She was as beautiful as ever. Her voice lilted with a slight southern accent, and her neck sparkled with an exorbitant amount of rubies. The blue in her eyes reflected the ocean crashing against the shore behind us as she crossed one long leg over the other. Her blond hair that used to be long was cut off at her chin, fluttering around her head in several layers as she peered at me from her smoky blue eyes.

Valerie Rickshaw.

I hadn’t seen her since she dumped me seven years ago.

“Oh, well. I’m between husbands right now,” Valerie said.

“Didn’t realize you’d gotten married,” I said.

“To the man who came after you, actually. A whirlwind romance, nothing I should have gotten myself into. But this man ... wow. He was a doozy.”

“Get your heart broken again?” I asked.

“That’s rich, coming from you.”

“Oh, come on, Val. We never loved one another. We were both rebounding at the time. You from what’s-his-face and me from what-was-her-name.”

“You remember her name. You called me her name in bed the first time we ever slept together.”

“And I bought you your dream car as an apology,” I said. “At your request, if I’m remembering correctly.”

“Well, I’m here to cheer myself up. Some sun and a nice vacation does wonders for the female form.”

“You do look quite ... cheerful,” I said.

“I wish I could say the same for you, but with all the goings on with your name in the news, I think I have a good idea of why you’re here.”

“Did your social circle help you come to that conclusion?” I asked.

“Oh, you were always so jealous of them.”

“Because you were always dragging me to events and then finding some way to slam what I was doing with my life. The mere fact that I hadn’t made my first billion by the time I was twenty-five was apparently something to joke about.”

?

??That why you pulled away from me?” she asked.

“Among other things.”

“At any rate, I’m sorry. For everything going on. The news said he was your best friend? You never really were the greatest judge of character.”

“Obviously,” I said as I raked my eyes up and down her form.