Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males (197 page)

Damn.
 
He’d only been around her for thirty minutes and it was already turning
into a disaster.
 
He wondered if
having her stay at his apartment had really been the best decision.
 
Putting her up in at a hotel certainly
would have simplified matters.
 
But
it didn’t seem very girlfriend-like, making her stay in a hotel.
 
A real girlfriend would stay with
him.
 

Whatever.
 
He just needed to keep his distance.
 
She was a business arrangement, and that
was all.
 
Besides, he couldn’t just
go sleeping with some poor girl who had no idea what she was getting herself
into.
 
She was from Connecticut for
God’s sake.
  
And the fact that
he was paying her definitely complicated matters.
 
Sleeping with her would be weird, almost
like paying her for sex.

“So this is my apartment,” he said, as he slid
the key in the lock and opened the door.

“Wow,” Kenley said as she looked around.
 
“Don’t be too stereotypical bachelor or
anything.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He took in the
surroundings, the dark wood, the light colored walls, the leather sofas.
 
It was city chic, the exact look he’d
been going for when he’d bought the place and hired a decorator.

She shrugged, which somehow felt insulting.

“Well, whatever,” he said.
 
“I know it’s a lot different than what you’re
used to.
  
You probably like to
get all of your stuff from Pottery Barn, am I right?”

“Pottery Barn?” she asked, looking
confused.
 
“What’s wrong with
Pottery Barn?”

“Never mind.”
 
He shook his head.
 
Now that she was here, in his apartment,
he had no idea what to do with her.
 
This was going to be a long couple of days.
 
“So, listen,” he said finally.
 
“I think we should probably go out to
dinner.”

“Good,” she said.
 
“I’m starving.”
 

“So there are some clothes in the bedroom,” he
said.
 
“I didn’t know your size, so
I had them send over a bunch of stuff.”

“Clothes?” she asked.

“Yeah.”
 
He looked at her.
 
“You
can’t.. I mean, we have to make it believable.”
 
She looked down at what she was wearing,
jeans and a white t-shirt, then nodded.
 
“Do I have time to shower first?” she asked.

The thought of her naked, hot water pounding
over her body and making her all wet was almost too much to take.
 
“Yes.
 
And you should probably dress up a
little bit.
 
We, uh, we need to go
somewhere where we’re going to be noticed.”

“Don’t you get noticed everywhere you go?”

He shrugged.
 
“It depends.
 
I mean, fans always notice me, sure
– and if there happens to be some paparazzi around, they’ll take my
picture.
 
But I’m not a draw the way
some people are.
 
So we have to go where
we know there will be photographers and hope someone takes our picture.”

“And where will these pictures end up?” she
asked.

“Everywhere.”
 

She nodded, but she looked out the window.
 
Chad had the urge to wrap his arms
around her, to tell her it was going to be okay, to protect her.
 
What was he thinking, getting her
involved in something like this?
 
She was just an innocent bystander – he’d started out using her
for his own gain, and now she was about to have her picture plastered all over
national magazines.

“Look,” he said.
 
“If you’ve changed your mind – ”

“I haven’t changed my mind,” she said, cutting
him off.
 
She picked up her
suitcase.
 
“Where’s my room?”

***

Chad hadn’t been kidding when he said he’d had
lots of different options sent over.
 
The closet in the guestroom was
overflowing with clothes.
 
Long
dresses, short dresses, soft skirts, beautifully made jeans and
expensive-looking cashmere sweaters.
 
Everything was in an array of
 
colors and sizes, and there were outfits matched up together, with tiny
plastic bags of accessories attached to each hanger.
 
The bottom of the closet was filled with
shoes, with a little note in front of each pair, suggesting which outfit and
colors would go best.

Whoever had done this was either extremely
thorough, or figured that Kenley was some kind of fashion idiot.
 
She ran her hands over the lush fabrics,
watching them slide through her fingers like a shimmery rainbow.
 
What had Chad told his assistant about
why he needed this stuff?
 
Obviously
it was for a woman.
 
He probably
didn’t have to tell the assistant anything at all.
 
He or she was probably used to all sorts
of crazy requests from her boss.
 
His assistant was definitely a woman, Kenley decided.
 
Probably a cute little
twenty-three-year-old, so that Chad could enjoy looking at her ass while she
was doing mundane things like bringing him his coffee.

Kenley decided to take a shower first, and
worry about what she was going to wear later.
 
The closet was a bit overwhelming, and
she felt a little grimy after her flight.
 
Airports always did that to her – the recycled, moisture-free air,
the coughing passengers, the children spitting up and sneezing in the seat next
to you.

When she opened the door to the guest bathroom,
she almost gasped.
 
Gleaming marble
counters, a huge stand-alone shower, and a deep soaking tub filled the
room.
 
There were crisp white
cabinets lining the walls, and Kenley peeked inside to find a rack fluffy white
robes and a shelf full of expensive-looking bath products.
 
Well, as long as she was here, she might
as well go all out.
  
She
filled the bathtub to the top with hot water, then dumped in half a bottle of a
yummy-smelling cherry bubble bath.
 
She undressed and dipped in a toe, testing the temperature.
 
Perfect.

She slid her body slowly into the tub, letting
the water come up over her legs and shoulders.
 
This wasn’t too bad, she thought,
getting paid to take a nice long hot bubble bath.
 
She tried to calculate in her head how
much she was making per minute being here, but the warm water and the fruity
scents were making her too relaxed to concentrate on the math, and she closed
her eyes, losing herself in the moment.

After another twenty minutes of soaking, she
opened a new bottle of Bumble and Bumble shampoo and washed and conditioned her
hair.
 
There was a knock on the
door, and she froze.

“Kenley?”

“Yeah?”

“Is everything okay in there?”

“Everything’s great.”

“Did you find everything you need?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Okay.
 
Well, take your time and just let me know if you need anything.”

“Thanks.”
 
She slid back under the water and stayed there for a moment.
 
There was something a little
disconcerting about a man you hardly knew knocking on the door of the bathroom
while you were taking a bath.
 
Obviously she knew that Chad couldn’t see her, but still.
 
It felt a little more…
exposed
than she would have liked.

After another few minutes, she got out of the
tub, wrapping herself in a fluffy white towel.
 
It was the softest towel she had ever
felt in her life, warm and cozy and luxurious.
 
How much did a towel like this
cost?
 
One time she’d seen an
episode of Newlyweds where Jessica Simpson had spent fourteen hundred dollars
on a set of sheets. Kenley bet that those towels cost something crazy like
that, too.
 
Maybe when she left, she’d
steal a couple of them.
 
Chad would
probably never even notice.
 
Besides, it would be like a bonus.
 
Kenley used to always get bonuses at her old job after wrapping up a big
deal.
 
It was only fair.

After she dried off, she wrapped herself in a
sheer light blue robe that was hanging on the back of the door.
 
She blow-dried her hair until it was
soft and straight, then carefully applied her make up, giving herself smoky
eyes and lightly lined lips.
 
Then
she returned to the bedroom.
 
It was
time to pick out something to wear.

“Chad!” she yelled.
 

He poked his head into the room.
 
“Yes?”

She pulled the robe she was wearing tighter
around herself, realizing it was practically see-through.
 
“Um, where are we going?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t really decided
 
that yet.
 
I was thinking maybe we’d meet my
friends Jay and Alyssa for dinner.
 
Maybe Nobu?”
 
His eyes were
wandering up and down her body, and she crossed her arms over her chest.

“So I should dress up?”

“You should dress up,” he said.
 
“But don’t go too crazy.”

“Okay.”
 
He turned around and left, and Kenley turned back to the closet.
 
She had no idea what ‘don’t go too
crazy’ meant.
 
She picked up her
phone and dialed her sister.

“Melissa,” she whispered. “What am I supposed
to wear to Nobu?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know?” Melissa
asked.

“Because!
 
You’re the one who’s always taking off and having adventures. Haven’t
you been out to a fancy dinner before?”
 
Kenley flicked through the clothes in front of her.
 
Jeans were definitely out, so maybe she
should wear a skirt with a cute top.
 
Or a dress?
 

“Of course I’ve been to fancy dinners before,”
Melissa sounded offended.
 
“But not
with famous people.
 
Hold on, I’ll
google it.” The sound of keystrokes came through the phone.
 
“Wow,” Melissa said.
 
“Did you know that Chad used to date
Jessica Alba?”

“What?” Kenley asked, her hand stopping in the
closet mid-flick.
 
“How do you know
that?”

“Google.”

“Melissa!
 
Don’t google him!”

“Why not?”

“Because if you google him you’re going to find
out all kinds of horrible things, and then you’re going to feel like you have
an obligation to tell me, and it’s too late for that.”
 
Of course Kenley had considered googling
Chad herself.
 
Today, at her
apartment in Connecticut, when she’d almost been done packing and was sliding
her laptop into her bag, she’d paused for a moment, running her fingers over
the keyboard.
 
But she’d finally
decided that she didn’t want to know bad things about Chad.
 
She was here, for better or for
worse.
 
She just had to get through
the next two weeks, collect her money, and then she could google to her heart’s
content.
 
And if she found out
anything bad, at least then she could feel smug, knowing that she’d took the
bastard for a one hundred thousand dollar ride.

“Whatever,” Melissa grumbled.
 
“Okay, so it looks like you have to kind
of dress up for Nobu, but you don’t have to go too crazy.
 
Maybe a skirt and a top?
 
Or a dress?”

“Thanks,” Kenley sighed, and hung up the
phone.
 
Whatever.
 
If her outfit was horribly wrong, it
wasn’t going to matter.
 
What was
the worse that could happen?
 
She’d
end up in some magazine saying that she was horribly dressed?
 
Actually, that would be pretty bad.
 
Everyone knew people loved to read those
worst dressed lists and mercilessly mock whoever had the misfortune to end up
on them.
 

She stood in front of the closet for another
moment, before finally picking out a silver shift dress with a sparkly
belt.
 
She paired it with a pair of
high silver shoes and a black clutch bag.
 
She doubled checked that the note on the shoes matched up with the dress
she’d picked, then slid a pair of chunky silver hoops through her ears, and
spritzed herself with the perfume she’d brought from home.
 
She surveyed herself in the mirror.
 
Not too bad, she thought.
 
Then she took a deep breath and went to
go join Chad in the living room.