Bad Bridesmaid (Billionaire's Club Book 11) by Elise Faber (important books to read txt) 📕

to miss if he didn’t actually swipe his finger across the screen and answer it.

“Hello?” he said, getting his shit together and lifting it up to his ear.

“And they say an old dog doesn’t learn new tricks,” Heidi said on a laugh that sent heat trickling down his spine, his cock twitching in remembrance of what that laugh had felt like on his skin.

She’d gotten his note.

His lips curved up, happiness sliding through him. “You calling me a dog?”

Another laugh. “I most certainly am.”

“Well, this one has learned new tricks.”

“I see that.” She paused. “Thanks for last night.”

“You did the cooking.”

“And you brought the ice cream,” she said. “In my book, that’s more than half the battle.”

“So, the key to your heart is through ice cream.”

A husky chuckle that had him wishing all over again he’d stayed that night, that he’d left a note that first time, that he hadn’t been a fucking coward when he’d recognized this woman was someone he should be staying for.

“Not exactly,” she said. “The key to my heart is . . .” She trailed off, and he could see her smile in his mind. It would be tinged with a smirk, one corner of her mouth curved higher than the other, and her hazel eyes—the mix of gold and green—would be dancing with humor. “No,” she said. “I’m going to leave that for you to figure out.”

Every cell in his body froze, jumping to absolute, rigid attention.

Was she saying . . .

Was he getting another chance?

“Heidi—”

A sea gull cawed loudly over his head.

“Where are you?”

He waited for the bird to quiet before saying, “The beach.”

Silence. Then. “Of course, you are.”

“What does that mean?”

“Only that only you would be absconding to the beach on a Thursday morning when most people are commuting to work.” She laughed. “Are you ever not the wayward traveler?”

Yes.

When he was with her.

When he spent time with Heidi, he didn’t think about the ever-growing list of places he wanted to visit. And when he was with her, he certainly didn’t imagine traveling alone. He pictured her with him, going to all the cliché places, her hair flowing through the breeze as they walked along the canals of Venice, kissing her under the Eiffel Tower, holding her hand as they circled the upright rocks of Stonehenge. And more. He imagined her on a trek in South America, winding through colorful plateaus, on a hike through trees so tall it was nearly impossible to see the tops. He wondered if she’d go cave-diving with him, spelunking through tunnels in New Zealand, searching for glowworms. He’d bet he could convince her to visit a castle on the coast of Northern Ireland.

“Brad?”

He blinked, forced himself to focus on the conversation rather than the fantasies in his brain. “I’m here. And yes, there are times when I want to do nothing more than sleep in my own bed.”

“So, why do you travel so much?” she asked, her tone not unkind. Rather, it was laced with curiosity and softness.

Sighing, he stared out at the horizon, now bright with pops of pink and orange and deep blue peeking out through the fog. “I . . .” He stopped himself from giving her the same pat answer he always gave everyone—that he didn’t want to settle down, that there was so much world to explore, and he didn’t want to miss an inch of it.

All of that was true, of course.

But as he’d come to realize, there was also something more.

“I guess it’s just always been expected that I was the one who’d run wild.”

A beat of quiet. Then a soft question. “Why was it expected?”

The log was getting uncomfortable under his ass, but this woman was in his head and heart, and he knew he’d answer anything she asked. “Tammy was always the smart sibling, so it’s no surprise she’s spent most of her adult life in school. Though she has her second master’s in business administration now and is looking to take the corporate world by storm.”

“I met her at the wedding.” Heidi chuckled. “And I’m definitely not surprised to hear that in the least. I have no doubt she’ll succeed. What about Jaime and Penny?”

“Jaime has always been the caring one, so it’s no surprise he ended up as a vet. And Penny is the second oldest, even though she pretends otherwise.” He smiled. “Mostly because she’s made an art form out of ordering everyone around.”

“Doesn’t she run her own business?”

“Yup. One that just went public a couple of weeks ago and is killing it in its valuations.”

His siblings would probably be surprised to know that he’d followed each of their lives so closely. He knew they thought of him as being so wrapped up in his own life and his adventures that he didn’t have time for anyone else. But he’d always made it home for the important stuff—birthdays, weddings, Christmas, his parents’ anniversary. He loved his family, even more than he loved traveling. Which was why he followed his brother’s vet practice on Instagram, why he’d made it home for all three of Tammy’s college graduations, why he’d been there to watch Penny ring the bell on Wall Street when her company went public.

Traveling was his life’s blood.

But he only left because he knew he had something solid to come home to.

“And what about you?” Heidi asked. “Which one are you?”

That was the trouble, wasn’t it?

He didn’t really know.

“My mom always called me her little explorer,” he said. “From the time I was little, I was climbing trees and trying to run off in parking lots. We took a trip to London once when I was a kid, and she always says that was the one time I actually stayed by her side.” He laughed. “Because I was too busy looking around to wander off. I remember the trip, and it’s true. I thought it was amazing and so different from the little Midwest town we grew up in. Then I studied abroad my