Billion Dollar Boyfriend (Celebrity Love)

Chapter Ten

"I got it!" Emily burst into the living room.

Shelby looked up from the book she was reading. "You got what?"

"The Poppy Azure campaign!" Emily was nearly dancing with glee. "Liv just called to give me the good news."

"That's amazing!" Shelby placed her bookmark between the pages of her book. "When does filming start?"

"A week from this Monday, in New York," Emily replied. "We should do something to celebrate. Maybe you, me, Raine, and Aiden could go out somewhere this weekend." She paused and gave Shelby a sly grin. "I'm assuming, of course, that you want him to come."

"Is that your nice way of saying we're attached at the hip?" Not that it wasn't true, Shelby thought. It had been two-and-a-half weeks since the run-in with Darren at the Alcove, and she and Aiden had either seen each other or spoken on the phone every day since then.

"It's my way of saying I'm happy to see you so happy." Emily plunked down on the chair across from Shelby, her cheeks still rosy with excitement from the Poppy Azure news.

"I would definitely invite Aiden, but he'll be in London. He leaves tomorrow."

"London?" Emily arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah." Shelby leaned forward to set her book on the coffee table. "He hasn't really told me much about it other than he doesn't expect to be there longer than three weeks. I'm assuming he's going there to work on songs with a band."

Aiden had mentioned his trip to London during their first date, and had told Shelby when he was going during their picnic lunch at Griffith Park on their second date, after they had left the Alcove. Even though they had only been seeing each other for three weeks, and even though Shelby had known about his travel plans the entire time, she still felt a pang at the thought of him being away for the same amount of time they had been dating. She knew she would miss him like crazy while he was gone.

Emily shrugged. "We can all go out together after the campaign shoot has wrapped, then, when I'm back from New York and Aiden is back from London. And we can celebrate you being on vacation from work—doesn't that start next week?"

Shelby's face brightened. "Yep. I'm counting down the hours until I'm away from the office cubicles and spreadsheets full of numbers. Sounds like my days will be pretty quiet with both you and Aiden being out of town."

The accounting firm Shelby worked for offered a six-week sabbatical once someone had been employed there for five years. She had started working there during the summers while she had been in college, and had stayed on part time during the school year before becoming a full-time employee right after graduation. That meant Shelby had qualified to take a sabbatical this year. She'd put in the request for it a few weeks before meeting Aiden.

Originally, her plan for her time off had been to use some of the many airline miles she had acquired on business trips to see clients to take a vacation somewhere. Breaking up with Darren and then meeting Aiden had distracted her from booking a trip.

"I'm still here next week," Emily reminded her. "We'll do something fun before I go. I'm guessing you're busy with Aiden tonight?"

Shelby bobbed her head. "He's coming over for a while. We're making dinner and probably just watching movies or something."

"Or something?" Emily teased. "Sounds like I should make myself scarce and go to Raine's."

Shelby reached for her book again, avoiding Emily's eyes. "Not that kind of something."

"Uh huh. This is me you're talking to."

"I'm serious!" Shelby protested. "We've only been seeing each other for three weeks, and we both knew he was going out of town. We've been taking it slow."

"How slow? Goodnight-kiss-only slow?" Doubt was written all over Emily's face.

Shelby rolled her eyes. "Not that slow. This isn't middle school."

"You-made-out-a-couple-of-times-while-completely-clothed slow?"

"Not that slow, either." Shelby opened her book to the last page she'd been reading.

"Gotten right up to—"

"Stop," Shelby interrupted her. "Why are you asking me this?"

Emily's eyes sparkled with mischief. "Because you did the same thing to me when I started dating Raine. It's payback."

"Some best friend," Shelby grumbled. It was true, though. Shelby had interrogated Emily about how serious she and Raine had gotten when they had been seeing each other for a few weeks.

"I'm the best kind of best friend," Emily corrected her. "I'm assessing the situation, and the color of your face right now means I was right that I should get out of here before Aiden comes over. I don't want to get in the way of the hot-and-heavy romantic moments I'm sure you're going to have if you won't be seeing him for three weeks."

"I'm not kicking you out of your own home," Shelby said. "You can stay, and I promise we'll behave."

"You're not kicking me out," Emily told her. "I already had plans with Raine tonight, so I'll stay the night. I just wanted to see what shade of red I could make you turn. Since you look like a tomato right now, I'm going to guess that means you've seen him completely n—"

Shelby buried her face in her hands. "Go to Raine's. Enough about my love life."

"Ha!" Emily's sounded triumphant. "To be continued tomorrow. Raine will be here in a few minutes to get me, anyway." She got up from the chair. "And by the way, you definitely shouldn't behave." She flashed Shelby a wicked smile as she walked out of the room.

"To be continued tomorrow?" Shelby repeated. "You can't even have mercy on me the day Aiden goes away?"

"Not a chance," Emily called out from the hallway. "Have fun tonight!"