Outrageous Proposal (A British Bad Boy Romance) by Sienna Valentine Page A

each other too damn well. “The truth is, Trude, I haven’t felt like myself — my whole self — since Tanner left me. It’s like he took some part of me with him, the part that was brave and tried new crazy things and only wanted to be happy and active. I know it sounds silly to suggest he could have done something that damaging to me just by leaving me, but… he really did. And honestly, I’m terrified he took it for good… that I lost that part of me forever… I have to see if it’s true. I have to know if it’s still in me or if I’m stuck being afraid of living for the rest of my life.”
    “Afraid of living? What do you mean?”
    “Afraid of taking chances and risks, afraid of doing things that look ridiculous or insane. Some of the best things in my life have happened because I took chances on something foolish. If I can pull this off with Harrison, do something crazy and wild, maybe I’ll start to feel better. Maybe I can finally get out of this funk and remember back before Tanner, when I was just me , and I wasn’t afraid of anything. If I can trick some high society people into thinking I’m moving into their world without them knowing, maybe that would mean my instincts are still good and I’m not a useless pile of failed human being after all. Maybe it means the old Clarice is still in here somewhere.”
    Trudy made a deeply painful noise and wrapped her arms around Clarice. She pulled her best friend down to the bed and embraced her tenderly. Warmth and love traveled like a slow tide down Clarice’s nerves.
    “You are not a failure,” said Trudy. “You never were, hun. I hate to hear you talk like that about yourself. You’ve been my best friend my whole life, I don’t know what I would do without you, and any guy who can’t see how amazing you are is truly a pile of shit. Tanner has never and will never define you. You’ll always be who you are, you just need to get out of this funk and come back and enjoy life again.”
    Clarice laughed, but it was punctuated with emotional tears. “Thanks, babe. It means a lot to hear that, honestly.”
    “I’m serious. I’m sorry Tanner fucked you up so badly. None of us saw that coming and I know it broke your world apart. All I want is for you to get back on your feet, because you’re an amazing woman and you have so much to offer the world. That’s the whole reason I set up this trip in the first place, you know? I could see you struggling and I wasn’t about to sit there and do nothing.”
    “Trude,” sniffled Clarice. “You’re too good to me.”
    “I wasn’t just giving Harrison lip service. You deserve the best,” said Trudy. “And if this little comedy of errors with that studly British babe is what’s going to help make you happy, girl, then I support you one hundred percent. After all, like you said, that’s what we came here for, isn’t it? A little adventure? I don’t care if your adventure is the same as mine or the others, so long as you have a good time and come back to the world shining like you always have.”
    Clarice kissed the top of Trudy’s hair. “Thank you, hun. This will be a lot easier to pull off with your support. We’ll just need to fill in the others or they will never forgive us.”
    “They’ll never forgive us for the shopping spree we’re about to take, either. Ask me if I give a damn.”

11

Harrison
    I t had been ten , maybe twenty years since Harrison had felt as nervous as he did now. A schoolboy’s fear, that’s what was charging through his veins right now — a schoolboy’s fear of his imposing father arriving to scold him and tell him all the ways he has failed. It made him feel weak, insignificant, and small. It was not a feeling Harrison was accustomed to having, and he wasn’t sure how to deal with it.
    Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Usually he dealt with it by getting drunk or getting his dick wet — or both. He didn’t have time to find someone to fuck, and meeting his