Read Forever the Boss: Billionaire Romance ~ Hot and Steamy (Managing the Bosses Series Book 10) for Free Online Page B

admitted in a voice hardly above a whisper. “I mean, really liked Mark.”
    And Erica had showed up to the twins’ birthday party wearing an engagement ring. Of course. Arrow straight through the heart. How had Jamie not seen that coming?
    “He’s an easy man to like,” Jamie said, mentally searching for the right words. She knew exactly how it felt to want someone and not have those feelings returned, but it must be a new sensation for Christine, who had always had boys tripping over themselves for her attention. “What you’re feeling is normal, Christine.”
    “I don’t care that it’s normal,” Christine snapped, and for a moment Jamie saw the woman she had been before she’d changed. Then her face twisted, and the expression of irritation smoothed into apology. “I’m sorry. I know that you’re just trying to help, Jamie. It’s just that knowing how normal it isn’t doesn’t make it any easier to get over.”
    “I know,” Jamie said, and she did. She reached out, taking her sister’s hand in her own and waiting until Christine met her eyes. “I know how hard it is to set your hopes on something and then have it taken away from you.”
    Christine smiled a little. “I guess that you would.” She bit her lip and the smile faded. “I should never have treated you the way that I used to, Jamie.”
    Jamie shook her head. “You’ve already apologized for that. You don’t need to again. I forgave you a long time ago.”
    The noise Christine made tried to be a laugh, but it was verging on a sob. Her fingers clenched Jamie’s. “I don’t know what I did to deserve a sister like you. Or a brother-in-law like Alex, honestly. I know that I should just be satisfied with what I have when it’s more than most people get, and better than I would have given you before everything happened.”
    “You’ll get there. It sucks now, but you’ll move past the feelings and it will get easier.” Jamie gave her sister an encouraging smile. “You’ll be able to look at Mark and just see a brother. Trust me.”
    Christine opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again as their server suddenly appeared beside their table, order pad in hand. He smiled at them. “You ladies ready to order?”
    Jamie hadn’t even looked at her menu, but she’d been to the restaurant a few times before and ordered a sandwich that she’d liked the last time. Christine glanced down at her menu again for a moment, lips pursed, and then turned a smile on the server. It didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I’ll take the grilled chicken salad. Thank you.”
    “Be right up,” he said, taking their menus and hurrying away again. Jamie hoped that his appearance hadn’t entirely stopped Christine from saying what she had been about to say.
    Christine took a sip from her glass of water, and then looked up at Jamie. “I hope that you’re right,” she said softly. “Because I don’t want my feelings to ruin the friendship that we’ve been building. I really… I really value it. Mark has been so kind to me. And I actually do like Erica. I don’t want her to feel like I’m trying to step in on her man. I would never do that.”
    “I’m not sure Erica even knew you liked Mark.”
    “No.” Christine shook her head. “I've tried really hard to make sure that I'm not obvious about the way I feel. But I know that the fight Mark and Erica had—and almost broke up over—was partly about me. Mark sat with me one night, when I was upset after a date that went badly. You know the one. Erica saw us together and got angry. I just don't want anything like that to happen again. Not when they're so happy.”
    “So make sure that it doesn't,” Jamie said. “If you're worried about certain things being taken the wrong way you can make sure that you don't interact with Mark other than in public, but I really don't think that's going to be necessary. They've worked through their problems, and I'm sure there were other factors involved.”