Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 31414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 157(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 157(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
Jillian “Jilly” Kitt was forty, nerdy, and the Nancy Drew of Wall Street. Guy de la Rocq was thirty-five, Hollywood royalty, and a gorgeous billionaire who could have any woman he wanted.
Guy made her feel the most desirable thing on earth, but since Jilly refused to be just another fangirl…
She did the one thing no woman had ever done to him: she walked away.
Now Guy’s back with a wedding ring and a plan for revenge. He’ll give her everything she ever dreamed of…then make her pay for treating him like a mistake.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Chapter One
Jilly: Did you eat? You didn’t eat, did you.
Jack: That’s speculative.
Jilly: Jack.
Jack: Protein bar. 70% complete meal.
Jilly: That’s not food.
Jack: It’s not poison either.
BRO, BEAU, THROW.
Jilly took a sip of her hot Americano while considering her options. A popular RnB song played in the background, but it might as well be inaudible. She was one of those types of people who could block out everything at will, regardless of the circumstances. And right now, the most important thing for her to think about?
Who do I want as my BRO?
An ideal big brother would be someone reliable and protective, someone she could trust like...
Keanu Reeves in John Wick!
If she ever died unexpectedly, she could always rely on John Wick to take care of her babies.
But even as Jilly wrote down the character's name, she also found herself rationalizing her decision to her Heavenly Father.
It's not that I'm pro-violence or anything, but this is just a game.
I promise I'm not going to seek vengeance if ever something happens to any of my babies.
Really, God, I swear!
Jilly squirmed in her seat. Why did it feel like she was lying to herself? She truly believed vengeance was the Lord's. And she believed in this wholeheartedly. She would not seek vengeance. She would not. Or so she tried to convince herself while moving on to the next item on the list, which was...
Oh, this was easy.
She knew right away who she wanted as a BEAU.
Ryan Reynolds in the Wrexham documentary if he were a fictional character, duh.
And as for THROW...
Poppy's jaw dropped when she and Jilly exchanged answer sheets, and she saw what her downline had written for THROW. Was the other woman for real? Seriously?
Jilly, however, was not surprised at all with what her mentor wrote. The twist in this game was to only choose from fictional characters, and it was so like Poppy to be romantically creative...and adorably predictable.
Valerian in his cameo role in Staffan Aehrenthal's music video as BRO.
Valerian when he was asked to pose as a fairytale prince for the cover of Quintessential Life as BEAU.
And it was still Valerian as her THROW, particularly when he lent his voice for a villainous character in an animation film.
In all honesty, Jilly should have seen this coming. There was just no way that Poppy, who was so incredibly cute with how she wore her heart on her sleeve, would write down any other name than her husband's.
"I don't get it," the other woman suddenly said.
Jilly looked at Poppy in surprise. "What's not to get?" She honestly thought her answers were all straightforward, if not self-explanatory.
"Why did you write Guy de la Rocq's name for THROW when you literally founded the Secret International Alliance of Supporters of—"
"Sssh!" Jilly was privately appalled. It wasn't called a secret for nothing.
"Sorry," Poppy apologized quickly, and in a suitably lower voice this time. "But...you get why I'm confused, right?"
"Not really."
"But you adore him—"
"Absolutely," Jilly affirmed without hesitation.
"So why choose to throw him out of your life?"
"Because he's younger." How was that even a question?
Poppy rolled her eyes. "Five years aren't much—"
"It's, like, fifty in my book."
"Oh, please," Poppy scoffed. "You look half your age!"
Jilly didn't take the compliment seriously. Poppy was the Queen of Nice. Of course she'd say something like that...and mean it, too.
And besides, had Poppy forgotten already? Jilly had long told her about the world having two types of fangirls: those who were simply fans of the individual because of his works...and those who were fans of one's works because of the individual.
And of course, at the sensible age of forty, Jilly always believed that—
A sound broke into her thoughts, causing Jilly to look up.
Oh.
Poppy's billionaire husband had arrived, and as expected from someone frequently described as Adonis incarnate, Valerian Rossfield's sudden appearance had just about every woman in the cafe sitting up and acting like, well, fangirls. Or at least the type that Jilly was not.
A pair of icy blue eyes swept over the room before landing on his wife. Only then did they soften, just enough for those who knew him to notice the change.
"Do you really not mind?" Jilly couldn't help asking her friend, seeing the way the other girls were rather shameless in their efforts to attract the attention of Poppy's husband.
A brunette at the corner table actually flipped her hair three times in succession. The barista behind the counter kept polishing the same spot over and over. And a college student by the window seemed to have forgotten her textbook existed.
"Just a bit," the younger woman admitted with a rueful smile. "But it's not his fault he's beautiful, right? And incredibly smart. And honestly, people rarely believe me about this, but he's also amazingly funny..."
Jilly had a hard time holding back her own smile. Here we go again. Once Poppy got started like this, she could go on and on and on...