Page 9 of Date The Billionaire

I felt the words breathe over my lips before I could stop them and she gave me a happy smile. I couldn’t help what I did next, it just happened, before I even knew I intended to do it.

One minute I was looking into her eyes, the next, her lips were beneath mine, stirring a longing I’d never felt before. The soft flesh of her mouth moved beneath mine, shy, but exploring, and I tasted the cinnamon of her French toast in the corner of her smile.

“You taste beautiful, too,” I told her as she pulled away, a secret smile of delight on her face. Her eyes burned with a desire to explore further, a desire I felt keenly myself, but the sight of Carol, furious and tearing through the sand in our direction, halted that desire.

“What did I say to you?” She called out as she came near. “You have to follow our instructions, or this is not going to work!”

“That’s fine by me.” Again with the impulsive tongue. I was going to have to learn to control it.

She stared at me, her lips moving but not forming words. “I need to see you in the office.” Her words were cold and without emotion when she finally spoke.

She stormed off, her straight back and stiff neck told me she expected me to follow but I hesitated.

“I really like you, Laney. Don’t lose faith, alright?”

I knew Carol was trying to push me toward this Arabella, she’d mentioned her incessantly, but I wasn’t interested. I also knew Carol was about to drop a bomb on me, I’d seen it in the cold anger in her eyes.

Laney gave me a gentle smile and I left her in the sand, an assistant helping her to navigate around the beach in her boots.

This was not going to end well for me, Carol’s demeanor screamed it at me as she walked away. I just hope it didn’t ruin the start to what I knew could be something beautiful. I could still taste Laney on my lips, and my hands went to brush against them, remembering how much I’d wanted to take it further. I remembered how hard I’d grown looking at her this morning as I fantasized about her. This was more than just desire though, I knew that the same as I knew my own name. Laney might really be the one.

Chapter Five

Laney

“And that’s when I knew that the frat boy life was for me.” Trent produced a toothy, confident smile that I could all but hear the cameras zooming in on as he finished his tale of hazing freshmen as the women around him tittered into their pretty hands.

I tried to hide the rolling of my eyes by looking away to take a sip of my apple juice as he droned on, his voice laced with a hint of an English accent that made me think he was one big fake.

I’d quickly grown tired of the constant supply of alcohol. I’m not much of a drinker after all and asked for water. The producers had balked, wanting to show the audience a glamorous life filled with good wine, so they’d watered down apple juice to give to me. I sipped at it as voices filled the dining room, noise that only served to put me on edge.

Three days of backbiting behind closed doors, the constant presence of the cameras, two fistfights between some of the women, and frustration at being treated like a child had me ready to give them all the finger and head back home. But the reason I was fighting so hard to stay in the game soon walked into the candlelit dining room. I forgot about the snide comments about me being stuck up, coming from women who didn’t realize I hated the constant chatter and noise, the constant stress of never being alone as soon as Jake walked into the room.

I watched him, noting the tenseness of his jaw, the way his shoulders stretched the material of his black button up shirt in just the right way.

I thought so, I decided as I watched him. There was going to be an elimination tonight. It had been three days, it was time to shake us all up again.

The guys weren’t supposed to show favoritism, but Jake had made it clear from day one that I was the only woman he was really interested in. Even if Arabella did seem to think she had the whole contest bagged. I glanced at the dark-eyed beauty, her perfect features schooled into the perfect expression of preoccupation. It made her look mysterious.

I looked away from her and back to Jake. Whenever we were in the same room we were drawn to each other, always aware of the other. I found it disquieting, but also very thrilling. I’ve never felt like this about anyone before. Carol, the mad producer, came into the room and steered Jake towards Arabella by blocking his path. I didn’t understand why that woman was so keen on Arabella and Jake getting together, but I knew that’s what she was doing.

Arabella snagged her chance to sink her claws into the sleeve of Jake’s shirt to hold him still as she turned on a sexy smile and eased up to him. “Hey, baby, you look good enough to eat tonight.”

I could tell from her tone she was trying to be sexy, and in any other situation she would have been, but all I heard was desperation. I knew I was being a bit petty, but I couldn’t help it. The woman set me on edge. I didn’t feel threatened by her, Jake’s interest in me was fairly obvious to everyone but Arabella and Carol, but her using her sexuality to get what she wanted made my skin crawl.

“I think I’d be a bit tough,” he said in a tone that suggested anything but enthusiasm, but her fingers still clung to his sleeve.

“I bet I could relax those muscles of yours.”

I nearly barfed when I heard her say that. I reached for the bottle of white wine on the table. I needed at least one drink to get me through this farce.

“I dare say you could, Arabella. You could probably clear my pipes without having to call a plumber as well, but I don’t have time for this right now.” His eyes were searching for me and soon found me.

“Is that a clue?” She looked put off, her artificially plumped top lip curled so much a line of red lipstick appeared just below her nose.

She thought he was giving her inside information. He wasn’t paying attention, though, because he came to me, his fingers taking my hand as he quickly whispered to me.

“You’re safe, don’t panic.” He gave me a wink before he stepped back.