The Billionaire's Alibi: The Proposition by Maddy Raven Read Free Book Online

Alexa turned around and Vivian stared at her in horror. “Alexa! Did Will make you cry ?”
    Alexa laughed and wiped away the remaining tears with the back of her hand. “I’m going to the restroom to clean up.”
    Vivian slid into her empty chair, dragging her friend into the seat next to her. “What did you do?”
    “She’s having a bad day,” Will said. “A really bad day.”
    Vivian raised her eyebrows but didn’t seem too bothered. Maybe she was used to Alexa’s bad days, and her habit of blubbering in front of complete strangers too.
    “As I was saying,” she began again, “this is Charlie, one my oldest and dearest friends from high school. Charlie, this is Will. He’s going to inherit Harper Global someday.”
    Charlie reached his hand across the table, and Will shook it firmly in his own.
    They started talking, but Will couldn’t completely wash Alexa from his mind. He nodded his headed and laughed whenever Vivian did, which seemed to fool them; but he found himself wondering about Alexa’s story, her series of poor choices that had gotten her to where she was.
    When she came back to the table, eyes thankfully dry, she was more subdued, only commenting with a quiet laugh when Vivian told another story from their college days. And when Vivian gleefully held up her phone and shouted, “Picture!” she didn’t protest.
    Will stood between the two girls, arms draped around their shoulders. He glanced to one side at Alexa, who looked even less comfortable than he felt, standing stiff and as far away from him as the picture would allow.

    Vivian, on the other hand, pressed against him, one hand resting on his chest, the other around his waist. He turned to speak, and she was there, her lips narrowly missing his, meeting the corner of his mouth instead.
    He clenched his jaw, keeping his composure for the camera before pulling her into an empty hallway at the back of the club. “What was that?”
    “A confession,” Vivian said. “From a girl who’s always had a thing for her older sister’s boyfriend.” She leaned toward him again, her head tilted upward until her lips found his. He felt instinct setting in as he kissed her back, then pulled away and stepped back, shaking his head to clear the lust that was overshadowing reason.
    “No,” he said. “It’s not right. This—you and me? This is what Grace and I argued about.”
    “What?” Her seductive smile disappeared in half a second.
    He stared hard at her. “You didn’t know?”
    She stepped back and pressed against the hallway wall. “She left your apartment because…”
    “She saw us. She thought I was sleeping with you behind her back.”
    He didn’t want to say anymore. The memory of his last fight with Grace dizzied him, and he leaned against the opposite wall. He remembered Grace’s sobs, remembered her fury, remembered the pain in her voice when she said she had trusted him, when she said he had betrayed her.
    Vivian’s eyes brimmed with tears, hope written across her face. “I’m in love with you, Will. I know it’s wrong—”
    “It can never happen between us,” he told her, shaking his head. She opened her mouth to speak again, but he walked away before she could use logic on him. He wanted to feel guilty; it was what he deserved.
    Later that night, as the small group made their way to the Regency, he found himself foregoing his own room and allowing Vivian to lead him to hers. Whether it was from the alcohol or habit or desire, he couldn’t be sure, but they somehow ended up in bed.
    His hands roamed across her naked body, skin meeting skin until the guilt wrapped itself around his senses.
    “We can’t,” he breathed heavily. Vivian was now the exact age Grace was when she died, and if he looked at her in the right light, she could practically be Grace. Through his drunken haze, he could almost pretend that she was alive and they were happy again.
    “Will,” Vivian whispered huskily, “It wasn’t our fault.