Dream Date With the Millionaire (8 page)

“Me?”

“Yes, you.” A welcome breeze blew through her sweaty hair. “I can tell when you get married you’ll be a great husband and father because of the things you do for your sister.”

“I can’t help being protective over the things I care about.”

Would he ever care about her? Dani wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.

As she led the horse out of the ring, his hooves kicked up dirt.

“Being protective is an honorable trait, but not many guys would spend a weekend afternoon driving to the other side of the Bay and checking out a horse their sister wanted to buy.”

“Well, spending twenty-two thousand dollars on an animal deserves some checking into.”

Dani stumbled. She clutched the reins. “Twenty-two—”

The price was so ridiculous she couldn’t even say the amount.

Bryce nodded. “Caitlin thinks he’s worth it.”

Of course, she would. Dani had cleaned the stalls and exercised horses for rich little girls like Caitlin. “The question is, do you think the horse is worth it?”

“Now that I’ve seen you ride him, yes.”

The words came out strong and sure. His certainty made
her feel good about her riding abilities, but she was having trouble coming to terms with the cost.

“Doesn’t that price seem a tad…” she searched for the right word—
indulgent
and
ridiculous
probably wouldn’t go down well “…excessive?”

He shrugged. “It is expensive for a horse, but you get what you pay for.”

“Twenty-two thousand would pay for a lot.”

Her mother didn’t make that much money after taxes in a year.

A teenaged boy wearing jeans, a long-sleeved shirt and paddock boots approached them. “I’ll take him from you.”

Dani stared at the kid with acne on his face and a love of horses shining in his eyes. She’d been like him, mucking stalls so she could be around the animals she loved and exercise them when their owners didn’t have as much time.

Bryce stood waiting, hands in his pockets.

Giving the kid the horse felt wrong though, until she remembered that was his job. Dani didn’t want to get him into trouble. She handed over the reins. “I put him through his paces.”

The teenager smiled. “I’ll take care of him.”

“Thank you.” Dani watched him lead the horse away. She noticed his boots. A lot like hers. Scuffed and creased after years of use. She never could afford new ones so kept cleaning the leather with Murphy’s Oil and Saddle Soap. Bryce’s boots were the opposite of hers—newer and very expensive.

Uneasiness crept down her spine.

Dani knew she and Bryce were from totally different worlds, but being out here with him drove the point home. He was a horse owner; she was a stable hand.

She’d spent her high school years surrounded by people who’d treated their animals with more respect than they’d treated her. She’d lived in apartments, a car and a single-wide trailer.

He’d grown up in a world of nannies and chefs and chauffeurs. Where his father dated women young enough to be his
daughter. Where paying an obscene amount for a horse was considered normal.

Her heart twisted.

“Thanks for helping me out today,” he said.

“It was my pleasure.”

And it was. In spite of the jolt of reality, she’d enjoyed being with him today. Truth be told, she didn’t want the day to end. She didn’t want their differences to come between them. She wanted to focus on the good things, not what gave her pause.

For the first time in a long while, Dani wanted to believe in happy endings, that obstacles, no matter how big, could be overcome. That just because people came from opposite worlds, things could still work out. That loving someone didn’t mean you’d eventually be left with nothing but a broken heart.

“Being out here has been like a dream come true,” she admitted.

“I know.” The intensity of his eyes made her feel as if she were the only woman in the world. “I wouldn’t want to be here with anyone but you.”

Her breath caught in her throat. Dani wanted to be the only one for him. She forced herself to breathe.

Dani didn’t want to care. A lifetime of being disappointed, of struggling, of simply surviving didn’t want her to care. But, heaven help her, she did care. About what he’d said. About him. She couldn’t help herself.

“Me, either,” she said.

Desire flared in Bryce’s eyes, but his attention didn’t make her feel cheap, like some man’s possession or plaything
du jour.
He made her feel beautiful, sexy, wanted. A way she hadn’t felt in…forever.

She wanted him to kiss her. Her lips parted in hope.

He lowered his head and covered her mouth with his. The
touch of his lips brought a jolt of electricity crackling through her.

His lips ran over hers with such tenderness tears stung Dani’s eyes. His kiss flowed through her, a current of affection, filling all the empty spaces inside with warmth.

He tasted like the coffee they’d drunk on the drive—warm, strong and rich. But there was more—salt, heat, male.

She drank up his kiss as if she’d never taste another drop.

As he increased the pressure of his mouth, her knees went weak. She’d heard the phrase “being kissed senseless.” She finally understood what those words meant.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders to keep from falling.

If he kept kissing her this way, she’d be a puddle on the ground.

Dani didn’t think she would mind.

The familiar scents of dirt, hay and horse reminded her of the farm, but here in Bryce’s kiss she’d found the only home she needed.

His arms wrapped around her, pulling her against his chest. Dani wanted to get closer. Body pressed against body. She hadn’t realized he was so strong, so solid before.

All the while his lips caressed, his tongue explored.

Sensation pulsated through her. She hadn’t known it was possible to feel this way.

Every nerve ending sizzled. Her stomach quivered. Her heart melted.

This was how she’d dreamed of being kissed someday. Dani couldn’t believe it was happening now. Here. With Bryce.

She might not have been looking for a boyfriend, but somehow she’d found him. And, even though she didn’t want a relationship, she might need one.

The realization should have scared her more than it did.

As Dani ran her hands through his hair, he trailed kisses along her jawline. She arched back, wanting…

More.

He returned to her mouth, stealing her breath and her heart…

Warning bells sounded. Rational thought returned. With her hands on his shoulders, she pulled her lips away from his.

The emotion in his eyes and the smile on his face made her want to start kissing him all over again.

But that would be too dangerous. She didn’t want to lose herself in him. She couldn’t.

Dani tried to catch her breath, regain control.

He pushed a strand of her hair off her face. “That was amazing.”

Awesome was more like it. She stared up at him, wanting to memorize everything about him, from the faint lines at the corner of his eyes to the way he smoothed her hair with his hand. “Yes, amazing.”

Somewhere a horse neighed.

“Ready to head back to the city?” Bryce asked.

No. A sense of inadequacy swept over her. She wanted to go somewhere else—a neutral place, where they could just be themselves and not have to worry about their jobs, their families, their lives. Their differences.

“Not really,” she admitted.

Bryce laced his fingers with hers and gave a squeeze. “We can come back.”

We.

Hope surged. Dani didn’t want to let go. She didn’t want to say goodbye.

Not today. Not ever.

She looked up at him. The tenderness in his expression brought a sigh to her lips.

Happiness bubbled, threatening to spill from her heart. She wanted this feeling to last.

Today, tomorrow, always.

That couldn’t happen unless she did one thing…

Tell Bryce the truth.

About her job. About everything.

“W
OULD
you like something to drink?” Standing in the doorway to her kitchen, Dani wrung her hands. “Eat?”

Bryce wanted to put her at ease, not make her wait on him. “No, thanks.”

Her nervousness disturbed him. Especially after the great time they’d had at the stable.

He understood how she felt though. They were alone in her studio apartment after some really hot kisses. He was a bit on edge himself. Maybe a little conversation would help.

“Nice place.” Bryce noticed the futon sofa that probably doubled as her bed. He looked away. “Comfortable.”

“Thanks.” Her voice sounded shaky. “It’s small, but I don’t need a lot of space.”

A photograph of her riding a large black horse caught his attention. Even in the still frame, he could see the fluidity of her body as she and the animal made a jump. “Where was this picture taken?”

Her faint smile seemed to relax the rest of her face. “A stable near the farm where I worked during high school.”

He noticed she was wearing the same old paddock boots in the photo as she’d worn today. Functional and well-worn. She deserved new ones. “You should come out to my family’s stable and ride.”

Uncertainty crept into her eyes. “You have a stable?”

Darn, he’d wanted to put a smile on her pretty face, not make her feel worse. “Not me, my family.”

She paced in front of the doorway to the kitchen. She reminded him, not of a hummingbird, intent on reaching its next destination, but of a cat, trying to decide whether to chase after a mouse or not. The indecision seemed out of character for Dani.

Something must be on her mind. Bryce hoped she wasn’t thinking he wanted to take their kiss further. Okay, he did, but not if it made her act like this. He wished he could go back and change things because, even though he liked Dani, he didn’t like the complications relationships often brought with them.

Not that kissing her meant he was in a relationship.

Yet…she’d gotten under his skin.

Her friendliness, her sense of humor, even her evasiveness intrigued him. And he couldn’t deny he wanted to kiss her again.

Bryce crossed the room and held her hands. “Today has been great, but since we got here you seem a little tense. Don’t be. There’s no rush. The only thing I want is to see you smile.”

“I want to smile, except…”

He led her over to the futon and pulled her down so she was seated next to him. He kept hold of her hand. “Tell me what’s going on.”

She took a breath. And another. “Well, you know I’ve told you how I grew up.”

Bryce nodded. “You didn’t have it easy. No father. No place to live at times.”

“We’re very different.”

She’d mentioned that before. Maybe he could ease her concerns. “In some ways, we are. No matter whether someone’s family has money or not, I believe a person has to make their own way in life. I’ve done that. And so have you. I
respect how much you’ve overcome, Dani. I just wish you didn’t have it so tough, but look at the person you are now. Where you are. That’s what counts.”

Dani looked at the floor. “I’m not very happy with where I am now. I mean I’m happy I’m with you, but not…my job situation.”

The sadness in her voice squeezed his heart. He’d been wrong about what she was worried about. He rubbed her hand with his thumb.

“When I graduated with an MBA, I thought I’d finally made it. Put the past behind me.” She got a faraway look in her eyes. “I was sure I had everything I needed. A dream job, a cool apartment, a new car, enough money to more than cover my expenses, student loans and still be able to help my family out each month and then…

“I was laid off from my marketing position at Clickznos at the beginning of the year.”

“One of the buyout casualties.”

She nodded.

He squeezed her hand.

“I’d recently been promoted and gotten a big raise.” Her voice sounded almost wistful. “I suppose the signals were there, but we were working too hard to notice them. We assumed things were okay, that we’d be taken care of, but all but a handful of us soon found ourselves on the street with a ‘thanks for your hard work’ goodbye and a pitiful, almost insulting severance package.”

He placed his arm around her. “That had to be tough.”

She nodded. “I had a savings account, but I also help my youngest sister pay for college and my mother with her medical insurance so the money didn’t last long. I had college and grad school loans to pay for. Bills started piling up fast. I did what I could while I searched for a comparable job. I downsized and moved into this place. I sold my car. But I
couldn’t wait any longer for the perfect position to materialize. I needed a paycheck so I took a job that under normal circumstances I would have never considered.”

Her worried eyes watched him. Waiting.

So this was what she’d been keeping from him. Relief flooded him. That explained why she didn’t mind him not discussing his work. She hadn’t wanted to discuss hers either.

He remembered what he’d checked on her profile. “You’re in sales?”

“Kind of…sort of…but not really.” She blew out a puff of air. “It’s complicated.”

“Life is complicated,” he said. “We can work through anything if you believe we can.”

A beat passed. A clock ticked.

“I have a job.” She cleared her throat. “It’s just not a job I’m particularly proud of.”

“Nothing wrong with flipping burgers.”

“Except when it doesn’t pay.”

He stared at her. “Then what…”

She stared at her lap.

Lap dancer? Okay, that was a leap from fast food, but she had the looks and the body. Plus the money was good.

Bryce smiled. Not exactly the job he’d imagined his girlfriend doing, but he wasn’t about to judge her, especially under these circumstances. “You found a job that worked at the time. I could never hold what you do against you.”

“Sure?”

“You’re more than your job, Dani. More than what’s on the outside. I like your tenacity, your character. I care for you.”

Relief filled her eyes. The tightness disappeared from around her mouth. “I really needed to hear you say that.”

He kissed the top of her hand. “So what do you do?”

She straightened and took another breath. “I’m marketing director for Hookamate.com.”

Bryce flinched. He let go of her hand as if it were a grenade with a missing pin.

Lines creased her forehead. “Bryce…”

He looked away, trying to come to terms with what he’d just heard.

I’m a spy.

Hookamate.com.

Everything clicked into place.

He swallowed. “I don’t believe this.”

Her gaze implored him. “You said my job didn’t matter.”

“That was when I thought you might be a stripper.”

She stiffened. “A stripper?”

“Or lap dancer.”

“That’s so insulting.” Her chin jutted forward. “I really thought you were different from other guys, but you aren’t. You think I can only use my body to make a living, not my brain.”

“You really think James Richardson hired you to be one of his lackeys because of your IQ?”

Her mouth tightened. “I’ve made a difference at Hookamate.com.”

“Oh, yeah, I’d be real proud of the results of your spying on me.”

“You?”

Bryce ignored the confusion in Dani’s eyes. He pretended not to see her lower lip tremble. He focused on all the problems Blinddatebrides.com had been having with scammers. Problems he should have been investigating instead of wasting his time with her. “I used to work with the guy. He’s had some sort of vendetta against me since I left.”

“You worked with him, so that means you’re…?”

“Bryce Delaney.”

Her face paled. “The founder and CEO of Blinddatebrides.com.”

He nodded once.

She slumped against the futon. The hurt in her eyes told him that she’d had no idea who he was. At least she hadn’t been using him to get information. The realization didn’t make him feel any less betrayed.

“You knew about me this entire time.” Disbelief and anger dripped from each word.

“I didn’t know why you were on the site, but a chat filter picked up the words
I’m a spy
.” He kept his voice cool, calm. “We’ve been trying to figure out what that meant ever since.”

“We?”

“My security team and me.”

She winced. “So all of…um…our dates…”

“An investigation.”

Who was the one who was lying now? Bryce didn’t care.

Dani bit her lip. “So while I was spying on Blinddatebrides.com, you were spying on me.”

“Investigating you,” he countered.

“Without my knowledge.”

“Yes.”

She sat only two feet away from him, but the space felt insurmountable. He liked her. Or had liked her. He wasn’t sure what he felt now.

She glared at him. “Guess that gives new meaning to your user name.”

“Don’t put this on me.” He stood, not wanting to be drawn into an argument. “You’re the one who broke the terms of service. Everyone’s wondered why Hookamate.com’s traffic ranking has been up for the past four months. Now I know the answer. Were you there to steal content or was hacking and sabotaging the site part of your job description, too?”

“None of the above.” She rose and walked to the opposite side of the room. “I gave James screen shots, but I never stole anything. I used the site to get ideas and create new content
for ours. Traffic is up because I was doing my job. And a damn good job at that.”

She placed her hands on her hips. “And I never did anything else on your site. No hacking. No sabotage. I might have broken your TOS, but I followed every other rule, especially when another user contacted me. That’s why I turned down dates. It wasn’t fair to lead them on when I had no interest in dating.”

“I find it very hard to believe you.” His words sounded harsh to his own ears. Suddenly, he didn’t care about remaining in control. “What did you say that night after your date with Gymguy? ‘Players and liars are everywhere.’ Guess you spoke from experience.”

“You, too.” She drew her lips into a thin line. “You admitted following Hookamate’s traffic rankings. Every company checks out their competitors. It’s irresponsible not to. Yes, I crossed the line when I joined the site, but I was only doing my job.”

“Your job?” Bryce’s temper flared. “Joining a community, making friends, going on dates so you could spy. Having men fall…”

Damn her. He’d known about the red flags, yet he’d wanted to believe she was on the level.

So much for taking care of his Web site, customers and company. He was no smarter than those suckers who got conned out of their hard-earned money by responding to foreign spammers’ e-mails asking for money to be wired overseas.

Still curiosity got the better of him. “Why did you go out with me?”

“James wanted me to put together a clientele profile and see what clients really thought of Blinddatebrides.com. I only went out with you and Gymguy. No one else contacted me after that.”

“I turned off your participation in the compatibility matching program and site search engine.”

“Why?”

“The investigation,” Bryce admitted. “I wanted to make sure you weren’t a troublemaker and trying to cause problems with clients.”

She pursed her lips. “You didn’t want me going out with any other guys.”

A beat passed, and another. “Maybe not.”

Definitely not. And, from the expression on her face, she knew it.

“That night at the restaurant. You knew I’d be there with Gymguy.”

Bryce nodded once.

“How?” she asked.

“Your e-mail.”

“And you’re upset over what I was doing?” Her eyes darkened to a midnight-blue. “Reading e-mail is an invasion of privacy. It’s—”

“Part of the terms of service you agreed to when you signed onto Blinddatebrides.com.”

“It’s still not right,” she said. “We’ve both been keeping secrets but, except for telling you about my job and why I joined the site, I was open and honest about everything. I never lied to you or invaded your privacy.”

“I was doing my job.”

“And, as I said, I was doing mine,” she countered. “I had misgivings over doing it, but it’s still part of doing business on the Internet. I’m sure there are other competitors who signed up at Blinddatebrides.com, too.”

But he hadn’t just kissed them passionately or wanted to kiss them again. “If I find out about them, I’ll kick them off. I want Blinddatebrides.com to be a safe place.”

“Safe doesn’t exist, Bryce. You just proved that to me by saying my job didn’t matter when it does. At least I was honest about my feelings for you, unlike you.”

“I’ve been honest.”

“If that’s your version of honesty, I’d hate to see you being dishonest.” She pressed her lips together. “I’ll admit what I did wasn’t right, but neither was what you just did to me.

“And, just so you know, I didn’t want to join your site or go on dates, but James threatened to fire me if I didn’t. I couldn’t afford to quit.”

“You’ve thought about quitting?” Bryce asked.

“Every single day since I signed up for an account on Blinddatebrides.com over six months ago.”

The sincerity in her voice clawed at his heart. Everything he believed people capable of—misrepresenting themselves and lying—was right here in the room. He was guilty of it himself which made this all the more confusing.

He didn’t know what to say or do.

Everything they’d experienced, everything they could share together in the future, was unraveling. The way they were arguing reminded him of his parents fighting. A part of him wanted to walk away and not look back. Yet another part couldn’t imagine never seeing her again. Never kissing her.

Blood pounded at his temples. A headache threatened to erupt. He squeezed his eyes shut.

When he opened them, she was staring at him.

“I never wanted to hurt anyone. That’s why I wrote the profile I did. So guys wouldn’t want to go out with me. I’m sorry if I hurt you. That wasn’t my intention.” Her eyes glistened. “I’ll cancel my account tonight.”

Bryce hated feeling the way he did, but he also hated seeing Dani so upset. “What about your friends?”

“We know each other’s personal e-mail addresses. There are other places on the Internet where we can chat and send IMs from.”