The Billionaire Dating Game: A Romance Novel (26 page)

“Of course,” Piers said. “We’ll meet you over at the set in fifteen.”

“Sure thing!” Dylan said.

“Remember—you’re still mad at Lisa, right?” Piers said, giving a big wink.

“Right,” Dylan said, winking back. I smiled weakly at him and he walked out of the building.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“I can’t believe I ran down twenty stories of stairs for that,” I said, my heart still pounding as Piers and I headed back to the elevator. I rested my head against the back wall.

“It was only seventeen stories,” Piers said. “Suck it up.”

“Keep it up and I’ll drop you off on the second story,” I said. “You can walk the rest of the way up.”

“Keep it up and I’ll press the emergency button again,” Piers said.

I eyed him sideways.

“Tell me that microphone is off,” I said.

“I triple checked,” Piers said, turning toward me. “Does that mean—”

“No.” I stopped him with a finger.

“No?”

“No more. Not now.”

He looked at me, and his eyes could have melted my heart. But I didn’t let it show.

“You’re right,” Piers said. “You’re completely right.”

“I know I’m right.”

“But—”

“There are a million reasons why not. It’s unfair to Dylan. It’s unfair to the rest of the contestants. Mia was right—I would basically be bribing you with kisses.”

“I don’t mind being bribed with kisses.”

I shook my head. My mind was still whirling with mixed emotion. We only had a few stories left to go in the elevator. And I needed to know something.

“Piers?”

“What is it, love?”

That word. I swallowed back the feeling that threatened to overwhelm me.

“You told Dylan that it was all fake.”

“Yes. And?”

I wanted to ask him if he had meant what he said. If he was really falling in love with me. But if he said yes, I didn’t think I would be able to hold back. So I didn’t ask.

“What do I tell the other contestants?”

“Don’t tell them anything.”

“But they’ll think I kissed you in the pantry!”

“I hate to break this to you, Lisa,” Piers said, his face gravely serious, “but you
did
kiss me in the pantry.”

I put my hands over my face.

“This is such a mess. How did I get myself into such a mess?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t expect you to fall for the billionaire,” Piers said in a dry clipped voice. “I guess that was my mistake.”

“I didn’t—I didn’t fall for him,” I said.

“It’s alright, Lisa. He does have a Ferrari, after all.”

Piers smiled wryly at me. I could have cried. I didn’t mean for this to happen.

“There’s nothing between us,” I said, and when I said it I knew that it was true. “I tried to make myself fall for Dylan because I was mad at you, but it didn’t work. He’s not my kind of guy at all. We kissed, sure, but there was no connection between us.”

“Do you think he knows that?”

“I—no. Ugh,” I said, hating myself. “He’s falling for me.”

“Of course he is. You’re a wonderful girl. Who wouldn’t fall madly in love with you?”

Tears stung my eyes. I willed them back.

“I’m an awful person! How can I try to make someone fall in love with me when I don’t even care about them at all? It’s evil!”

“You don’t think that’s what every other contestant is doing here?” Piers asked. “Really, Lisa. Do you think every one of them cares about Dylan Chase, the guy? If he was just some guy on the street, none of them would blink an eye. They’re all fighting for his money.”

“Not all of them.” I thought of Kate. She would hate me. “And how can I go back on the show with all of them thinking I broke Dylan’s heart?”

Piers shrugged.

“You don’t have to go back on the show,” he said.

But I couldn’t quit now, and he knew it. I was so close to the money. I just had to get close enough to walk away. And without staying on the show, I had no shot at a bonus article.

“I’m the bitch,” I said, resigning myself to accepting my fate. “That’s what the producers wanted from the beginning, right?”

“You still have another round, Lisa. You have immunity for the next contest.”

“So I play the villain for another round, and get kicked off in the finals. Is that how the story ends?”

“That’s how the story ends,” Piers agreed.

I was thinking about how I could spin this in the next article I wrote for
Moi
. It would be okay if I was the villain, I decided. If that’s what it took, I could handle it.

“Fine,” I said. “So no more... anything between us. Okay? Not until I’m off the show.”

He nodded. It was a relief… and a disappointment. My heart twisted in my chest, and again I wanted to ask him if he loved me. But I couldn’t. Not now.

“No more until you’re off the show,” he agreed. “Lisa?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but… I hope you get kicked off soon.”

“You and everybody else in America,” I said with a sigh.

The next contest was all about faking it: we were going to do an acting audition for a TV producer. The winner would get a role on a real TV show. It was a bit part on a stupid soap opera, but everyone else seemed excited about it.

When we rode to the TV studio, though, nobody would talk to me. We sat in the limo in silence. Kate sat across from me, studiously examining her cuticles. It was excruciating; she hadn’t spoken to me at all since the scene with Dylan and Piers. I wanted to tell her the truth—the whole truth—but talking with Piers had convinced me that I needed to hold out until the end of the show.

I didn’t want to lose. I mean, don’t get me wrong—I wanted to be with Piers, but I could handle a few more contests if it meant walking away with more money than I knew what to do with. And I wanted to help Kate win even if I didn’t: she deserved it more than anyone, and I could tell that she was excited about getting to be on TV. But now, she hated me.

It was every woman for herself, and it was utterly lonely.

“Did you read the script?” I asked Kate. She shrugged and looked out the window. Her face contorted in a hurt expression and I knew she wasn’t faking it.

It was my fault. I’d hurt her. I knew her secret, but I also knew that she was the only one who actually cared about Dylan. And I’d betrayed them both.

“I guess I just have to talk to myself,” I said, slouching back into my seat. “I read the script last night. I found the heroine pretty unrealistic.”

I leaned sideways toward Julie.

“Do you think you’d make a good heroine for this show?”

Julie stared at me, but said nothing.

“Interesting idea!” I said brightly. “A mute heroine. That’ll take some acting. They say that the silent film stars were unmatched when it comes to subtle expressions of emotion.”

Julie crossed her arms in front of her.

“A perfect example of how a single gesture can convey such a high level of ‘fuck-you’ ness, I think,” I continued. “How about you, Mia? Any brilliance you want to share?”

“I don’t talk to sluts,” Mia said.

“Brilliant,” I said, and slumped back. The cameraman turned the camera directly into my face. I gave a hateful grimace.

Villain? That’s what they wanted? Then that’s what I would give them. I didn’t even care anymore how the producers portrayed me on their stupid show. They could do what they wanted. I would focus on what mattered. And right now, I had immunity—I could do whatever the hell I wanted. It was a liberating notion.

And if the other contestants didn’t hate my guts, I would be almost happy.

At the TV studio, we were sent up on stage in front of another camera crew. It was strange—our camera crew was taping their camera crew, while trying to stay out of the way of the other cameras themselves.

We’ll do a few takes of each scene,” the producer was saying. “Let’s start with Mia Firenze. Mia?”

Mia smirked at us and walked up in front of the cameras.

“Where’s Dylan?” Kate whispered.

“Dylan won’t be here to judge today,” Piers said. “He has some other business to attend to.”

“Don’t you and Lisa have some business to attend to off in a closet somewhere?” Julie asked, tilting her head innocently.

“Oh, shut up,” I said.

“Mia was right,” Julie said, turning to me. “You’re nothing but a slut.”

“I liked it better when you were all pretending not to talk to me,” I snapped.

“Quiet on the set!” the producer yelled back at us. “And… action!”

Mia started to read the script. It was an awful soap opera scene with even worse dialogue.

“Julio, where are you going?” Mia exclaimed. She was overacting, being way too dramatic. Who could have guessed? I wanted to lean over to Kate and make a quip about it, but then I remembered that she was mad at me.

“I have to leave tonight, my love,” the actor playing Julio said. “They’re after me.”

“Who?”

“The Raging Fury!”

“Not that gang! No!” Mia threw both her hands up in the air, then had to bring the script back down to read the next line. “No! Julio! They will kill you if they find you!”

“I know, my love. That is why I have to go right now.”

The rest of the scene was equally awful, with both characters hemming and hawing over him leaving and calling each other “my love.” I wanted to shake Julio by the shoulders and drop kick him out the door by the end.

“I always loved you,” Julio said, taking Mia in his arms for a final farewell. “I will always love you.”

At that moment, a guy that I guessed was supposed to be from Raging Fury finally kicked in the door and ended the scene with a shootout, yelling
Bang bang bang!
Mia and Julio pretended to get shot, falling to the ground with dramatic flair.

If any characters deserved to be shot to death, I thought, it was Julio and his stupid girlfriend.

Kate went up afterwards and played out the same scene. I crossed my arms and listened. She did a much better job than Mia, but the script was still stupid as hell.

“I don’t get this,” I mumbled.

“Really?” Piers came up next to me and folded his arms across his chest. He was only a few inches from me, but I knew we couldn’t touch. The air between us was a force shield keeping us apart. “What don’t you get? You see, Julio’s rival gang—”

“I understand the plot,” I huffed. “But if she really loved him, she’d be shoving him out the back window before the gang showed up. Not giving him a tender goodbye.”

“You’re such a romantic.”

“Shut up! I am a romantic. It’s just a practical kind of romance.”

“You wouldn’t kiss your man before he left forever?”

“Not for ten minutes. Not while a gang is coming to get him!”

The director looked around at us, and I clamped my lips shut, looking away innocently.

“Like I said,” Piers whispered, “There’s no spontaneity with you.”

I glared at him.

“Alright, Lisa! Lisa Forrester!” the director called in a bored tone. “Your turn.”

I huffed onto the stage. The actor playing Julio brushed back his hair with his fingers. He looked bored, too, like he didn’t want to do a dozen more takes of the same damn scene.

No spontaneity, indeed. I would show Piers how spontaneous I could be. I tossed the script on the couch in the middle of the set. I wasn’t going to need it.

“And… action!” the director said, pointing at us.

“Julio!” I yelled angrily. “Where are you going?”

Julio’s eyes widened slightly in confusion.

“I have to leave tonight—”

“The hell you do! You’re not going anywhere!” I grabbed a pillow from off of the couch and stood in front of the doorway, holding it up in front of me menacingly.

Julio frowned. I was going off-script and he obviously had no idea what I was doing.

“They’re after me,” he said, trying to get back to his lines.

“Who is? That stripper down at the Crazy Horse?”

“What? No!” Julio looked utterly confused. Good. We were going to wreck this scene together.

“Don’t try to pretend like you don’t know what I’m talking about. I can smell her cheap perfume on you!” I leaned forward and sniffed deeply. “It smells like cheating!”

“It’s not—”

“You cheating bastard!” I swatted him on the shoulder with the pillow and he held up his hands in real fright. Maybe he thought I was a crazy woman. Good. I was.

“No!” he cried, trying to get back to the script. “They’ll kill me if they find me!”

“Not if I kill you first!” I said, swatting him again with the pillow. Julio jumped over the couch and I followed him around to the front. “Tell me her name!”

“I swear to God I’m not cheating on you!”

“Then why are you sneaking out at midnight?”

“They’re after me!”

“Who?”

“The Raging Fury!” Julio yelped.

“Is that what you call your dick now? Well, you and Mr. Raging Fury can go get the clap from that whore down on thirty-third! See if I’m here when you get back, you son-of-a-bitch!”

I raised the pillow up over my head.

“Please, no!” Julio screamed. “My love—”

“Don’t call me your love!” I screamed, as I hit him over and over again with the pillow. “You never loved me!”

He ripped the pillow away from my hands and I lost my balance, tumbling into his arms.

“I always loved you,” Julio said, gripping me tightly and yelling into my face. “I will always love you!”

The actor playing the gang member kicked in the door and yelled
Bang!
Julio fell down on the couch, taking me with him. I slumped down dead under his body.

There was silence all around us. I opened one eye and peeked out. All of the contestants were agape. Piers was trying very hard to suppress a big grin, but it wasn’t working. And the director was looking at us over his glasses in complete shock.

“Well,” the director said. “That was… interesting.”

I marched off the stage boldly and slapped the script against Piers’ chest.

“See?” I said, raising my chin. “I can be spontaneous, too.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“How could you pick her over me?! She didn’t even use the script!”