The Billionaire Dating Game: A Romance Novel (27 page)

Mia was screaming at the director. Piers was looking on calmly as the camera crew taped over his shoulder.

And I was trying not to laugh.

“This isn’t a science,” the director explained. He seemed like he was used to dealing with screaming women. “This is an art. And like I said, I think Lisa and Kate did the best job of portraying the character of Julio’s girlfriend—”

“But Lisa didn’t even do the same character!” Mia shrieked. “She didn’t get a single line right!”

“It’s called improvisation,” I said, enjoying her outburst. “All the best actresses do it.”

“Piers!” Mia spun to him, appealing the decision with a red face. “She should get kicked off! She broke the rules!”

“The rules are whatever the director says they are,” Piers said. “Today, he’s the final judge.”

“And that too! Where’s Dylan? Why doesn’t he have a say in this?”

“I think Dylan would have liked my interpretation,” I interrupted.

“Shut up!” Mia screamed. “This has nothing to do with dating a billionaire!”

“You’re not even getting kicked off,” Piers pointed out.

At that, Julie burst into a fresh set of tears. She had done a mediocre job reading the lines, and I think the director had fallen in love with Mia’s tits before realizing that she was a bona fide crazy person. But there was no going back, and Julie was the loser for this contest.

Kate patted Julie’s shoulder. I wanted to go over and give her a hug, but I couldn’t. I was the villain now. It gave me a tinge of sadness.

“The winner of this contest won’t get immunity,” Piers reiterated, sliding back into his announcer mode. “But they will get a part on the hit soap opera
Dangerous Love
and a thousand dollar cash prize!
When we get back, we’ll find out the winner of our audition contest!”

The camera crew shifted position to a different angle.

“We’re back!” Piers announced. I realized now why he sounded so glib, almost bored, when he acted as the host. Every contest was interrupted by seven or eight commercial breaks, and he had to tape every single one. “And the director of
Dangerous Love
is ready to pick a winner from our contestants!”

Mia didn’t know why we were doing this TV stuff for a dating show, but I understood completely. The producers were doing cross promo for their other shows on the network. It was stupid, sure, but it made sense from a business perspective. They wanted to promote their show.

“Kate, why do you think you should win the part of Julio’s girlfriend on
Dangerous Love
?” the director asked.

“I like acting,” Kate was saying. “Sometimes I just want to pretend to be someone I’m not.”

She caught my eye, giving me a meaningful look.

I knew what she was trying to say. Even now, she was pretending to be someone she wasn’t. Someone without a kid. Someone who only wanted to date a billionaire. She wasn’t going to be mean to me, because I knew her secret. But she was admitting that she understood why I’d kissed Piers. Or, at least, she thought she did.

She thought I was doing whatever it took to win. That’s what we were all doing, right?

Only I knew that she was actually in love with Dylan. And me?

God help me, I was in love with the host.

“What about you?” the director asked. “Lisa?”

“Huh?” I snapped out of my thoughts.

“You gave us a great improvisational performance,” the director said. “But why should you get the part?”

Kate looked away. I realized that this was much more important to her than it was to me. A thousand dollars—well, it was nice, but that wasn’t why she wanted to win. This would give her another opportunity in television.

“Lisa?”

“I shouldn’t.”

Kate looked back at me, her eyes widening. The director frowned.

“Excuse me?”

“I’m not an actress,” I said. “I don’t want to memorize lines. I think you should give the part to Kate.”

“Oh.”

The director looked over at Piers, who shrugged.

“This—this is highly unusual,” the director said, stumbling over his words. He hadn’t expected that response. I
was
pretty good at improvisation, after all. “Uh, why would you not want this part?”

“I already have a career,” I said, feeling a bit sad as I thought about Clarence and my job at
Moi
. It wasn’t a great career, but it was all I had. “This part…it’ll make a difference to Kate.”

“Not to you?”

I sighed. Piers stared at me, but I didn’t meet his gaze. I didn’t need him to tell me what I already knew.

“Me?” I said. “I’m never going to change.”

After we finished taping, I got a phone call from my sister. Kate was excitedly talking with the TV director, and I moved off back onto the set to talk.

“Hey, dorkface,” I said. “You’ll never guess what just happened!”

“Lisa? Lisa?”

My chest tensed up, all of my excitement draining away. Emma’s voice sounded worried. It had gone up into that high-pitched register that made her sound like a little girl.

“Em? What’s the matter?”

“It’s Arlen. We’re at the hospital.”

“What? Why?”

I sat down on the couch. Everything else faded away.

“I don’t know. The medicine the doctors gave didn’t work, and now nobody is telling me anything. She had such a high fever, and—and—”

“It’s okay,” I said. “Hey, Emma. It’s going to be okay, alright?”

“Yeah,” Emma said, but she didn’t sound like she believed me. “But the insurance won’t tell me what they’re going to pay for, and how can we afford to stay overnight in the hospital?”

“You’re staying overnight?”

Piers shouted over to me. He was waving me back. I held up one hand to say
Wait a minute.

“They said they’re going to do blood tests or something in the morning. Lisa, I know we don’t have the money for this.”

“Don’t worry about the money,” I said. “Let me worry about the money. You worry about Arlen. I mean, don’t worry about Arlen. She’ll be fine. I know she’ll be fine.”

“But—”

“Do you need me to come to the hospital?”

“Lisa!” Piers came over to me. “We’re heading out to the next contest now.”

“Now?” I put my hand over the phone. “We just finished this contest!”

“Well, I’m sorry if I’m interrupting your busy schedule—”

“Fine! Okay! Let’s go!”

I stood up and followed him.

“Emma? Emma, I have to go. I can’t come over right now, but I’ll be there later. Okay?”

“Lisa, I heard that. You don’t have to come to the hospital. I’ll be fine.”

“But—”

“I just wanted to know if it was okay to do the tests.”

“Of course it is,” I said, swallowing hard and thinking about how stupid I’d been to give away a thousand dollars. This was the universe smacking me in the face for being dumb. “You do whatever you have to do.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

We went back to the penthouse. Only instead of stopping at the apartment, the elevator went all the way to the top of the building. I couldn’t think of anything except what Emma was going through with Arlen. I hoped she was okay.

“I wonder what the hell the contest is this time,” Mia grumbled. “I hope it’s better than that stupid TV audition. That director was a moron.”

Piers rolled his eyes and said nothing. The elevator doors opened to the top floor and we all herded out into the open night air. We were on the roof of the building, and the wind whipped cold over my arms in the dark. I shivered.

Kate caught my elbow as we walked out toward a lit stairway.

“Why’d you do it?”

“Huh?”

I looked back at her. She was staring at me with a mix of confusion and anxiety.

“Why did you give me the win?”

I sighed. Was that what this was about?

“Like I said to the director: it wouldn’t make a difference to me. And that’s what you want, right? To get your own television show?”

Kate’s eyes narrowed.

“But what’s the real reason? Are you trying to look good for Dylan again, or—”

“That was the real reason.”

Kate looked at me doubtfully.

“Look, I need the money just as much as you,” I said. “But I sure as hell didn’t need a bit part on a soap opera. And—”

“Come on, girls!”

Piers motioned us over.

“Let’s talk about it later,” I said. Kate still didn’t seem like she believed me. And could I blame her? Trust no one, that’s what we’d said from the beginning. And now it was just her, me, and Mia.

We walked up a short flight of steps and then I stopped in awe next to the other two contestants.

“Wow!” I said.

It was a pool on the roof of the building. The night sky stretched out all around us.

“It’s an infinity pool,” Kate whispered in awe.

The sides of the pool dropped off over an invisible edge, making it look like the pool was floating in the middle of the city. The lights from the buildings around twinkled in the water’s reflection.

Dylan stood on the other side of the pool, dressed in nothing but a dark speedo. His broad shoulders glistened with water, and his blond hair had turned dark with moisture. Behind him, what looked like another camera crew was setting up a ton of equipment.

“Cannonball!” Dylan yelled, jumping into the pool with a splash. He swam over to the side of the pool toward us and leaned his elbows over the edge, creating a small waterfall around his arms. He grinned up at us.

“Tell me this isn’t a swimming contest,” Mia moaned.

“Surprise!” Dylan said. He didn’t seem surprised to see that Julie was gone. I realized that he had probably arranged the outcome with Piers beforehand. Why on earth hadn’t he kicked out Mia?

“Hey everyone! Good to see you again!”

He pointed at me with one finger.

“I’m still mad at you, Lisa.”

He didn’t sound mad at all. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Piers put his hand over his face and shake his head.

“You should be,” I said, putting on a contrite expression. “I’m very sorry, Dylan. You can throw me in the pool if you like.”

“Not yet,” he said. “You have to get dressed first.”

Behind us, there was another crew setting up a table with even more cameras. There was a rack of long white dresses, and a large crate with holes in it.

“Are we having a pool party?” Kate asked.

“Nope!” Dylan said.

“It’s a photoshoot!” Mia cried out happily. “Look, they’re setting up the lights!”

“That’s right!” Piers said. “You’ll all be doing an in-pool photo shoot. And there’s another surprise.”

“Oh, hell no,” I said, as I saw what the crew member was taking out of the crate.

“Snakes?” Kate turned white. Mia’s jaw dropped open. She didn’t look happy about a photoshoot anymore.

The guy came over to us with a giant white snake wrapped around his shoulders. It stretched out from one of his arms to the other.

“That thing must be ten feet long,” I said.

“Eleven, actually.” The crew man held up the snake. Its black beady eyes glistened and its tongue darted out quickly. “
Eunectes murinus
. He’s a water anaconda. This guy is two years old, and has been in several Hollywood movies, including one of the Ace Ventura sequels.”

He held up the snake that was slowly winding around his upper arm.

“His name is Steve, and he can smell with his tongue.”

“Great. Very impressive,” I said. “But what does Steve
eat
?”

“Don’t worry,” the crew man said. “He only eats mice and small rabbits.”

“Oh my god,” Kate whimpered. “Rabbits?”

“Small rabbits,” the crew man corrected.

“
Baby rabbits
?!” Kate looked like she was going to be sick. I would have comforted her, but I didn’t know if she’d forgiven me for before.

“Are these my models?”

A tall slender man with white-blond hair came over to us. He was wearing a full-body wetsuit and I had to struggle not to look at his snug-tight crotch.

“And this is your photographer,” Piers said by way of introduction. “Miles Miloveccio.”

“I’m Mia Firenze,” Mia said, holding out her hand daintily. “I
loved
your winter show in Venice.”

“Oh,
thank
you!” Miles said, with such a fake sweet smile that I had to grin.

I was eyeing the gowns.

“So we’re wearing those in the water?” I asked. The dresses on the rack spilled over the hangers and down onto the ground.

“Yes! They are all meant to flow and ebb and
iridesce.
”

To me, they looked like they were meant to
drown
. I didn’t know how I could swim while wearing that many yards of waterlogged fabric. I didn’t know what worried me more, the dresses or the snake. But I steeled myself.

There was no room for modesty here, and we all stripped down to our underwear to change into the dresses. I shivered even as I shimmied myself into one of the white floaty gowns. It looked like a wedding dress.

“You will all be mermaids!” the photographer exclaimed.

I didn’t feel like a mermaid as I humped my way over to the edge of the pool, dragging the train of my dress behind me in thick handfuls. I stared balefully into the clear water. It was cold and windy, and even if there wasn’t an eleven-foot long snake in the pool, I wouldn’t have wanted to get in.

Then I felt two hands on my waist.

“What—”

“You told me to throw you in the pool!” Dylan said happily, swinging me up into his arms.

“Wait! Dylan!”

“And a one, and a two, and a—”

I closed my eyes. I might be on my way to certain death, but that didn’t mean I had to watch.

I hit the water butt-first. To my surprise, it wasn’t cold at all. It was a heated pool. My dress billowed up around me in the warm water. I floundered for a moment and then kicked away the train of the dress so that I could tread water. Dylan was splashing around next to me, grinning like a fool.

“This isn’t so bad,” I said, turning around. “It’s nice and—”

My words caught in my throat. Steve was right there in front of me, his black beady eyes staring into my soul. His tongue flicked out twice.