Page 33 of Billionaire’s Game

“Soooo... how’s your day going?”

“Good.”

He was too busy looking at me to reply for a long minute. I shifted uncomfortably.

“Sorry. You’re distracting in shorts.”

I looked down at my legs. They didn’t look all that remarkable to me.

“Well, as long as you keep your hands to yourself, we’ll be fine.”

“I promise to be a complete gentleman. If you want me to be.”

With that, he walked away from me and settled down on the couch nearest the TV. He picked up the remote like he owned the place, tossed his arms over the back of the couch and gave me a sexy come-hither look.

I suppressed a giggle, ignored him and stayed seated on the futon across from the couch that doubled as my bed.

“Hey, you can come sit next to me. I promise I don’t smell or have rabies.”

“Are you sure?” I teased.

“Come on, you know you want to.”

I shook my head. “I’ll stay here. Thanks.”

He sighed and lowered his arms when suddenly a loud knock sounded at the door. Jude rushed to get it, greeting Magnus in passing. A cacophony of voices could be heard from the door as Jude opened it. I immediately recognized them all, excluding the little ones. It was Misha and her husband, Erik, and their two children, a girl and a boy, ages four and nine respectively.

They waved to me and called out hello.

I waved back, but I’m sure my polite smile was colored in confusion. What were they all doing there? Jude and Lesli never mentioned that they planned to have friends over. And before I could ask, more children began to arrive until there were about ten of them and a few additional parents.

As if on cue, Lacey came over to me and said loudly, “I totally forgot the kid’s scout meeting was going to be held here today. Darn. So sorry.”

“Honey!” Jude said, clearly in on it too. “How could you forget?”

She shrugged and looked helpless. “I’m so sorry.” She turned to me and Magnus and said, “I’m so sorry. I guess you guys need a little peace and quiet and that’s definitely not going to be here, but stay as long as you like. I’ll just have the kids play around you. We’ll try to keep them confined to just this area of the loft. Sorry... again.”

She looked anything but sorry. She looked downright delighted. I told myself to ignore the obvious setup and watch the show instead, but the high-pitched squeals of the kids quickly prevented that from happening. There were only about ten of them, and I was used to being around kids having worked as a substitute teacher briefly, but between the kids and their parents, all the noise and all the talking, there may as well have been a hundred of them.

“I can’t even hear myself think,” I mumbled to myself.

“What was that?” Jude yelled in my direction.

“Nothing!” I yelled back over the din.

He gave me a thumbs up and a big smile and I knew then that he was in on it too. I should have expected as much. Like father, like son. His dad, Oliver, was an incorrigible matchmaker and apparently Jude was following in his footsteps.

I looked at Magnus who seemed to be trying his best to look at the show despite the volume of noise around us. He seemed to be perfectly ok with the noise, but then I noticed him tapping the cushion next to the remote in frustration. Yeah, he was definitely not liking our current situation. And I was getting a headache.

I instantly felt bad. Even though I had been set up, it was still my fault. I’d arranged for us to have chaperones as if we were teenagers in the fifties instead of behaving like an adult and meeting him someplace more private.

I got up and sat down on the couch next to him. He looked at me in surprise.

“Changed your mind, I see?”

I grimaced. “Sort of. Let’s head to your place. I’m sure you don’t have a bunch of elementary schoolers running around there.”

“That’s true. You sure?”

I nodded and grabbed my purse. “Let’s go. I think I’m starting to go deaf and I don’t want you to be a victim of the same fate. I can’t have that on my conscience.”

He smiled and said, “Lead the way.”

We headed out and I glared at Jude and Lacey who looked at me innocently.

“Sorry for all the noise. Hope you guys find a quieter place to hang out.”

“Of course you do,” I mumbled under my breath.

As Magnus walked out the door, I turned around and caught Misha, Erik, Jude, and Lacey high-fiving each other.

They caught me looking at them, looked guilty for a second and then not so much. I shook my head, giving them all a final glare before heading out.