“Emma!”
Maddie’s voice was so loud that I had to hold the phone away from my ear. “How was your trip? Did you meet Doug’s family? I’ve been wondering how it was going.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t text. It was just such a busy weekend.”
“Are you home now?” I was in my study where I was supposed to be working on my writing, but Tonio kept coming in and asking me to look up stuff related to the business we were starting.
“I’m in Salt Lake. We had to change planes, and I just had to call you.”
“Why? Are Doug’s parents awful?”
She gave a weird little laugh. “No, but remember how I told you I thought he was hiding something?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, he was.”
I sat up straighter in my chair and pressed the phone against my ear. “What? Does he come from a family of axe murderers or something?”
“No, but it’s even stranger… they’re rich.”
I was happy for her and her sister, the bride-to-be. “Cool. Better Christmas presents for you and Gina.”
“No, Emma, you don’t understand. Like mega rich. Like pay for a new building at a prestigious university rich. They’ve got billions.”
“Oh my God! And Gina never knew anything about that?”
“No, not at all. Doug’s parents insisted that he not tell anyone he was dating so that he didn’t attract women only interested in his money. He even used a shortened version of his full name so that people wouldn’t be able to look him up online.”
My jaw was hanging open in shock. “This sounds like the kind of thing people would read about in a romance novel, not in real life.”
“Maybe you can write it one day, Emma. But I haven’t told you about the strangest part.”
“There’s more?”
“Yes. They want to host the entire wedding. It’ll be this summer… on a private island!”
“What?”
“It’s some place that the rich and famous rent for weddings. I think it’s called the Isle of Matrimony or something. We’ll be there for an entire week, and there will be all sorts of activities for the wedding party. As the maid of honor, I’m going to be spending the entire week hanging out with Doug’s friends including his three groomsmen.”
I practically squealed. “Have you met them? Are they good-looking?”
“I haven’t met them, but I’ve seen pictures, and holy crap… definitely good-looking. But Emma, what am I going to say to them? What could we possibly talk about for a week?”
“You’ve hung out around hot men before. You were just over at my house a week or two ago.”
“I know, but they’re your guys.”
I’d told Maddie about our unusual situation in early January after our New Year’s Eve celebration. “So? Hot guys can be nice, normal men, too.”
“Not these guys. Emma… they’re billionaires, too.”
“What?”
“I looked them up, they’re all rich as hell. One invented an operating system or a solar system or something. What am I going to do on an island in the middle of nowhere for a whole week with three billionaires?”
I had no idea, but I was very eager to find out.
