Engage (Billionaire Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

dropped. “Oh my god, he left you a house in the Hamptons!”
     
    “No no,
he didn’t,” I laughed at her ecstatic expression.
     
    “So
what did he leave you?” demanded Sharon. Then, crestfallen, “Oh god, I’m so
sorry Mandy. Here I am being a complete money-grabber when your Uncle Andy’s just
died. I know how close you were to him.”
     
    “It’s
fine,” I reassured her as her bottom lip began to tremble. “We were close, but
I think I’m okay. We spent a lot of time together when I was younger, but I
didn’t see him very often in the last few years.”
     
    “Still,
it must be tough,” Sharon said sympathetically, ready to make up for her
extreme excitement earlier with some best friend support.
     
    “It’s a
little strange,” I admitted. “I remember all the times I went to stay at his
place as a teenager. We’d take his boat out on the lake, just the – just us. We’d
pack a picnic and some ginger ale in a cooler and just lounge around on the
water all afternoon, telling stories and making jokes.”
     
    “That
sounds magical,” Sharon sighed.
     
    “It
was.” I frowned as I thought back to the times we had taken his boat out. It
hadn’t been just the two of us most of the time. For that one summer, the one
that stood out in my memory, it had been the three of us, me, Uncle Andy…and
Mathis. Even back then, Mathis had been my uncle’s most important person – Uncle
Andy truly treated him like his own son. Perhaps it was because of what I had
just been discussing in the lawyer’s office, but for some reason, I hadn’t felt
like mentioning his name to Sharon.
     
    “I’d
love to take a boat out on the lake,” Sharon was saying, her head resting in
her hands and her chocolate brown eyes dreamy. “Me and Ryan, floating gently on
the sparkling water, sharing our secrets over a bottle of Champagne…”
     
    “Mmm,”
I said vaguely. In my mind’s eye, I saw a young Mathis grinning at me, his
baseball cap on at an angle, his button-down shirt slightly open, handing me a
bottle of perfectly chilled ginger ale.
     
    “You
need to start dating again, Mandy,” Sharon said. “Otherwise you’ll have to sail
your new boat all alone. Or lend it to me,” she added coyly.
     
    “Don’t
be an idiot,” I said, giving her a small shove. “Uncle Andy didn’t leave me his
boat. I think he put it away years ago; it’s probably a bucket of rust now.
Besides, there’s nobody else I want to go out on the lake with.”
     
    “What
about that last guy? Terry? Or was it Jim?”
     
    “James?”
I corrected her. “He was… just not the right person.”
     
    “He was
cute,” Sharon encouraged. “And he had a great job.”
     
    “He
just… he just wasn’t the right fit,” I sighed. “He was nice and sweet and
everything, but I just felt like something was missing – that sparkle that you’re
supposed to feel when you’re in love. There was never any overpowering, animal
need for James. Or Jim… or any of them. I don’t think I’m meant to be with anyone.
It just never feels right.”
     
    “It
will,” Sharon said wisely. “When you meet the right person. I don’t necessarily
feel any animal desire for Ryan after five years together. But I know he’s the
right person for me, because going home always seems better when I know he’s
there waiting for me. You’ll find that feeling too.”
     
    “Maybe,”
I said, non-committal.
     
    “You
will,” Sharon repeated strictly. “You’re gorgeous and smart and possibly filthy
rich. On that note, will you please kill the suspense and tell me what happened
at the will reading?”
     
    “It’s a
little complicated,” I admitted with a laugh. “Uncle Andy wants me to take over
his hedge fund investments, but I have to be trained to manage them.”
     
    “Huh?”
Sharon said bewildered. “Trained? I don’t know much of anything about
investments. Who’s going to train you?”
     
    “An old
family friend,” I said,