Read Online MY FAIR BILLIONAIRE by Elizabeth Bevarly - Free Book Online Page A

idea.”
    “Dammit, Ava, I—”
    She arched her eyebrow again. He growled his discontent.
    “I hate this,” he finally hissed. “I hate having to act like someone I’m not.”
    Ava disagreed that he was being forced to act like someone he wasn’t, since she was confident that somewhere deep inside he did have the potential to be a gentleman. In spite of that, she told him, “I know you do. And after your takeover of the Montgomerys’ company is finished, if you want to go back to your reprobate ways, no one will stop you. Until then, if you want your takeover to be successful, you’re going to have to do what I tell you.”
    He blew out an exasperated sound and grumbled another ripe obscenity. So Ava snapped her menu shut and stood, collecting her purse from the back of her chair as she went.
    “Hey!” he said as he rose, too, following her. “Where the hell do you think you’re going? You said you would help me out.”
    She never broke stride. “Not if you won’t even try. I have better things to do with my afternoon than sit here watching you sulk and listening to you swear.”
    “Yeah, I guess you could get a crapload of shopping done this afternoon, couldn’t you?” he replied. “Then you could hit that restaurant where you know everyone’s name. Some guy there will pull out your chair for you and do all the ordering. And I bet he never swears.”
    She halted and spun around to face him. “You know, Peyton, I’m not sure you are fit for polite society. Go ahead and bulldoze your way over two nice old ladies. You were always much better at that than you were asking for something politely.”
    Why had she thought this could work? Just because the two of them had managed to be civil to each other for ten minutes in her office? Yeah, right. Ten minutes was about the longest the two of them had ever been able to be in each other’s presence before the bombs began to drop.
    Well, except for that night at her parents’ house, she remembered. Then again, that had been pretty explosive, too...
    “Excuse me,” she said as civilly as she could before turning her back on him again and making her way toward the exit.
    She took two steps before he caught her by the arm and spun her around. She was tempted to take advantage of the momentum to slam her purse into his shoulder, but one of them had to be a grown-up. And she was barely managing to do that herself.
    She steeled herself for another round of combat, but he only said softly, sincerely, “I’m sorry.”
    She relaxed. Some. “I forgive you.”
    “Will you come back to the table? Please?”
    She knew the apology hadn’t come easily for him. His use of the word please had probably been even harder. He was trying. Maybe the two of them would always be like fire and ice, but he was making an effort. It would be small of her not to give it—not to give him—another chance.
    “Okay,” she said. “But, Peyton...” She deliberately left the statement unfinished. She’d made clear her terms already.
    “I know,” he said. “I understand. And I promise I’ll do what you tell me to do. I promise to be what you want me to be.”
    Well, Ava doubted that. Certainly Peyton would be able to do and say the things she told him to do and say. But be what she wanted him to be? That was never going to happen. He would never be forgiving of the way she had treated him in high school. He would never be able to see her as anything other than the queen bee she’d been then. He would never be her friend. Not that she blamed him for any of those things. The best she could hope for was that he would, after this, have better memories of her to replace the ugly ones. If nothing else, maybe, in the future, when—if—he thought of her, it would be with a little less acrimony.
    And, hey, that wasn’t terrible, right?
    “Let’s start over,” she said.
    He nodded. “Okay.”
    She was talking about the afternoon, of course. But she couldn’t help thinking how nice