Free Christmas with the Billionaire (Holiday Encounters Book 1) by Amy Lamont Page B

me feel more naked than when I’d been laid bare in front of him.
    “Feel free to take as much time as you need. The room’s booked for the night,” he said.
    I sank down against the pillows. All I could do was nod as he dipped into his jacket pocket and came back with a key card. He held it up and then placed it on the desk.
    “It’s been…fun,” he said, once again moving his frigid gaze over my form. “Thanks.”
    Before I could think of one word in response to his chilly parting words, he opened the door.
    A resounding thud echoed in the room as the door closed. I felt like the victim of a drive by. Tears clogged my throat and my heart felt battered. Why would I have thought for even a minute that someone like Nate could be interested in more than a fast fuck with someone like me?
    A tear streaked down my face as I fought to control my emotions. If this was what living outside of my head felt like, I’d take Chinese food and flannel pajamas any day.

Chapter Seven
    “You’re coming with us whether you want to or not,” Jade said.
    I sighed. Paige, Jade, and Katelyn had been trying to get me out of the house all week. Hell, I think they would have been happy to see me out of my pajamas. But it seemed to be taking all my energy just to shower and write my columns.
    And how ridiculous was that? Since Nate walked out of that hotel room after our night…not even a night. We were only in that room a few hours. But when he walked out the door, he took something with him. Some part of me I couldn’t seem to get back.
    How did I explain that to my friends? I mean, they weren’t stupid. They knew something happened. And Paige knew I went from texting her that everything was great to dragging myself through the door of our apartment with my clothes in shambles and tear tracks on my face.
    They’d asked, of course. I’d been as vague as possible. The first day they hadn’t let up with the questions. But when I didn’t share more, there seemed to be some tacit agreement between them not to bring it up.
    But I had a feeling that was about to change. They seemed to be on a mission to get me to go to brunch with them this morning.
    “Fine,” I huffed out. “Let me go change.”
    “And shower!” Paige called after me as I headed to my room.
    “Whatever.” I rolled my eyes, but then happened to catch a glance at my coffee-stained T-shirt. Maybe Paige was onto something.
    I wish I could say the shower made all the difference. But by the time I was showered and dressed in jeans and my favorite blue marl sweater with the sleeves that came down to all but cover my hands, brunch was the furthest thing from my mind. All I wanted to do was crawl back into bed.
    “Ready?” Katelyn popped her head around the door and smiled at me.
    I tried to conjure up a smile of my own, but I was pretty sure it was a lame attempt. “I guess.”
    “Great!” Not chancing me going back to bed, Katelyn came inside and linked her arm through mine, leading me to the front door.
    Before I knew what hit me, I found myself seated at a table at a tiny bar down the street from our apartment. Their Sunday brunches were a secret we all swore to take to our graves for fear we’d have to wait on a line around the block if word got out about their brunch specials.
    But not even the cannoli-stuffed French toast held my interest today.
    “Shit, this is serious. Emma’s barely touched her breakfast,” Paige said through a mouthful of lobster mac and cheese.
    I wrinkled my nose at her.
    “Yup, time to fess up, Emma. We’ve given you an entire week to stew,” Jade said. “What happened? We thought you’d be lording it over us that you’re the only one close to winning our bet.”
    I stabbed my fork into a chunk of French toast and swirled it through a puddle of syrup. I knew this was coming, but in a week I still hadn’t been able to come up with a logical explanation for my feelings.
    I shrugged and looked around the table at my friends.