The Billionaire Dating Game: A Romance Novel (28 page)

“I’m not a rabbit,” I said.

“Okay, now let’s put the snake around her waist,” Miles yelled to the crew member.

It took an hour before Miles was finished with my photo shoot. He took photos with me by myself, with me and Dylan floating together underwater, with me and Dylan and Steve.

“This is the weirdest threesome I’ve ever been in,” I said, as the camera guy wrapped Steve around Dylan’s neck and under my arm.

“Not me,” Dylan said, but he didn’t elaborate.

Kate did fine, although every shot with Steve had her looking nervous. And while I had hoped that the snake would throw Mia for a loop, she was a natural. It was infuriating to see how quickly she could get into the right underwater poses. Miles obviously enjoyed her shoot the most, and he spent more time putting her and Dylan together in sexy positions.

“You two make the perfect couple!” he exclaimed more than once.

Kate got more and more despondent. We were both standing in the shallow end in our dresses, waiting for them to finish. And Miles couldn’t stop gushing over how beautiful Mia looked underwater.

“He should run off with Mia if he likes her so much,” Kate groused.

“Maybe we can cut her up into baby rabbit-sized pieces and feed her to Steve,” I offered.

Kate shot a hard look over at me. I’d thought that we were commiserating, but her frown told me otherwise.

“What?” I asked. “Is it really that bad that I want my competition to be snake food?”

“I thought you were different,” Kate said. “But you’re not.”

“Different? Different than what?”

“Different than Mia. But you’re both out for yourselves.”

“What on earth are you talking about? I just gave you a win—”

“And you knew exactly what you were doing. Just like how you got Dylan back on your side even though you cheated on him!”

“We’re not dating yet,” I pointed out. “So I kissed another guy! So what? I apologized!”

“And that’s the other thing! He wasn’t even mad at you at all about it! He was happy as pie to have you back here! Why?”

I shrugged, feeling guilty for not telling her the truth. I’d lied to Dylan, and now I was lying to Kate.

“I feel awful about everything,” I said honestly. “Maybe he realized that.”

“I know there’s more to it than that, Lisa!” Kate whispered at me. “You’re not telling the whole truth!”

“Well, neither are you, if it comes to that!” I lowered my voice to a whisper too. “I think the whole
having a kid
thing is a whole lot more important than kissing some other guy!”

“Shut up!” Kate hissed. “I thought we were friends, but I guess not!”

“I guess not!” I hissed back.

Kate turned away from me and huffed away. Because she was wearing a water-soaked dress, she huffed in slow motion, and if it had been any other time I would have thought it was funny. Now, though, I was just plain upset.

We started to change back into our regular clothes, and the camera crews disappeared from around the pool. The photos wouldn’t be ready for viewing for another couple of days, Piers explained, and so Dylan and Miles would be choosing their favorites at the end of the week. Until then, we had to stay in the penthouse.

“We can’t leave?” I asked. “Like, at all?”

“Right now, no,” Piers said. “We can’t have any of you talking about the last contests until it’s all over. One more week of taping, and we’ll be done.”

“But… my sister…”

My stomach felt like cold lead. I wanted to go to the hospital, to help Emma with Arlen, but I knew that she wouldn’t want me to leave the contest for her. And now I was stuck here for another week.

“It must feel awful, not being able to see your family,” Kate said to me, her voice dripping with fake sympathy.

I lowered my eyes and turned away. She was right. She had been living without her son for this whole time. Who was I to complain?

I was the only one left on the roof by the time I was done changing and drying my hair. My phone rang, and I dug through my purse to answer it. I hoped that it was Emma calling with an update, but when I looked at the screen, I sighed.

“Hi, Clarence,” I said, holding the phone up to my ear.

“Lisa! Where the hell are you?”

“I’m standing by a pool on a luxury penthouse rooftop,” I said. I kicked at the edge of the pool, sending a spray of water out onto the city lights below. “Where are you?”

“Very funny,” Clarence said. “Why aren’t you in the office?”

“Why would I be in the office?” I frowned.

“Didn’t you get my email?”

“Clarence, I’ve been out all day—”

“The story is shot. We cut it. You’re done there, Lisa.  Get your ass back to the office pronto.”

Chapter Thirty

My heart sank. I swayed slightly on my feet, unsure if I had heard Clarence correctly.

“What—what do you mean—”

“Our parent company wasn’t very happy with how you were portraying the producers of the show. Giving away too much, they said, negative press, something like that. Anyway, they decided to cut it.”

The water in the pool swam fuzzily in my vision. I hadn’t said anything apart from a few lines about how the producers were manipulating the editing to make me look like a villain. And that had been too much.

“But…but…”

“Believe me, I’m not happy about it either,” Clarence said. “The office has been going to hell without you, and now it’s all for nothing.”

I sat down suddenly at the edge of the pool, hugging my knees to my chest. The wind blew through my damp hair, and I shivered.

“So—wait. Does that mean I don’t have the article?”

“Haven’t you been paying attention? No, we can’t publish any of it.”

“But—”

“Lisa, sweetheart, I don’t have time to argue with you about this,” Clarence said. “You have to get back here and write up this lipstick review to fill the empty space for tomorrow. Got it?”

The wind roared in my ears.

“Got it,” I said, my voice like an echo across the water of the pool.

The phone hung limply in my hand, the screen dark.

I couldn’t believe it. I had worked so hard to get this far. I had thought that I had my first major article—my first major
anything—
and now it was being ripped away from me.

All for nothing,
Clarence had said, and that was the right way to put it. All of the contests. All of the scheming. All of the effort and time I’d put in—and now I wasn’t even going to have a single sentence published. No bonus money for another article.

Nothing.

“You have one second to drop the phone.”

My head snapped up, my brain still whirling from the news.

Piers snatched the phone from my hand and tossed it away onto a poolside chair.

“Piers, what are you—ahh!”

Piers picked me up in his arms and leapt into the pool. I shrieked as we splashed into the warm water. He came up a foot away from me, his dark hair streaming wet over his ears. His eyes reflected the lights off of the green-blue water. His white button down shirt was plastered to his chest, and I could see his muscles through the damp fabric.

“Piers!” I sputtered, floundering in the water. “What the hell!”

“I admit it. I was jealous that Dylan got to toss you into the pool. I had to wait until everyone was gone, but it was worth it.”

“Piers—” I sputtered, miserably.

“Tell me my cannonball was better, though?” He grinned widely at me.

“Piers…wait… I…I…”

I burst out into tears, unable to control the emotions that were flooding through me.

Immediately his face fell. He reached out to me and drew me closer through the water, but I couldn’t stop the sobs from wracking my chest.

“Lisa, I’m sorry. Lisa, I didn’t mean—what’s the matter? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

I shook my head, my throat closed off with sadness. I buried my head against his shoulder, sobbing into the wet fabric. His hands cradled me close in the heated water, and for a moment I felt utterly vulnerable. I was crying in his arms, letting all of the tension and worry of the past few weeks burst out of me in one sitting.

He waited until my cries had died down into soft whimpers. Then he drew me back. His eyes shone like water, his dark hair plastered damply against his forehead. He looked completely lovely, perfectly handsome, and his face was filled with earnest worry.

“Was it the snake? There aren’t any more snakes in the pool. Unless you count my water anaconda.” He winked and gave a bit of a smile.

A half-sob, half-laugh escaped me. He pushed my hair back with his fingers and drew me into another hug. Oh, God, those fingers. The same fingers that had tortured and teased me, the same fingers that had sent me into ecstasy. Now they were comforting, firm and warm on my wet skin.

“What is it, love?”

“They pulled my article.” I finally spat out. “My stupid boss said that they couldn’t run it and they’re pulling the stupid article. And I’ve been here for weeks now, and for what? For nothing!”

Tears streamed down my cheeks. The injustice of what Clarence had done wasn’t even the worst of it—the worst was that he acted like it was no big deal for me to come back to the office and keep doing menial work.

“I had a chance to write a major article, and now it’s shot,” I moaned. “I’ll be doing graphic design pictures on lipstick and blush forever. I have to be back at the office tomorrow.”

“So that means—”

“I’m out of the competition.”

“You can’t stay? There are only two more contests left.”

“I can’t lose my job, Piers.”

He pressed his lips together and frowned.

“I’m sorry,” I said, hiccupping back a sob. “I’m a complete failure. Everything I start ends up as a big mess. I shouldn’t even try anymore. I should just give up—”

He cupped my chin and tilted it up into a kiss, stopping my words. His mouth was hot and wanting, and when he cradled me up into his arms I yielded completely. I wanted to forget everything. I wanted to drift away in this water and let all of my responsibilities melt away. But after a moment, he pulled away and forced me to look at him.

“Lisa, listen to me,” he said, his hand still cupping my cheek. “You’re not a failure.”

I smiled a weak smile, tears still streaking down the sides of my face. I could feel them hot and damp, hotter than even the water in the pool.

“You’re really good at lying, Piers.”

“I’m not lying. I’m telling the truth. You manage to surprise me in every possible way.”

“Right. Surprise! I’m a hot mess!” I forced a laugh through my tears.

“The producers thought for sure you’d get booted after one or two episodes. I mean, Lisa—you were up against a dozen young girls who made it their job to win this show. Half of them were models already. You’re nearly a decade older than any of them.”

“Um. This isn’t exactly making me feel good about myself, Piers—”

“But you managed to do it anyway! With all the odds against you, you charmed the billionaire into falling for you and now you’re in the final round.”

“I
was
in the final round. I can’t stay, Piers.”

I bit my lip and looked up at him. I had messed up. I had let him down. And yet, he smiled.

“Well, you said something about waiting until after you were off the show…”

“I—oh!”

His mouth was on mine again and his hand slid around under my dress. I gasped as he squeezed my ass, sending thrills of sensation through my body. I moaned as his lips moved down to my neck, kissing and sucking.

“Piers, wait…what if someone sees—”

“I locked the door to the roof,” he whispered, his hands tearing off my panties under my dress. “Don’t worry. You’re all mine now, love.”

The way he said those words made me shiver with something more than desire. His voice was confident, possessive. And I knew at that moment that I had been pulling away from the exact thing that I needed. I had wanted so badly to be independent, but now I was giving that up to be his, if only for tonight.

“Piers—”

“God, I want you so badly, Lisa.” His whispers in my ear alternated with hard kisses to my skin. We were moving slowly to the edge of the infinity pool, moving as in slow motion. “I’ve wanted you since the moment I saw you. Your gorgeous ass. Those beautiful eyes. Every part of you is perfect. And perfectly mine.”

We reached the edge of the pool. My hands pressed against Piers’ chest through the wet fabric. I looked up into his eyes, hungry with desire. And suddenly I was shy again. Uncertain.

Was this really what I wanted? This was a man who could have any girl he wanted, and he said he wanted me. Did he only want me because he couldn’t have me? His hands pushed the skirt of my dress up over my hips, and I felt the twin pulls of desire and resistance. My body was urging me forward, but my mind was telling me that this might be a bad idea.

Once he had me, would this all be over? Did I want this kind of one-night stand? Any other girl would have fallen over herself to make love to a famous celebrity in a luxury pool. But was I that kind of girl?

“Piers—wait.”

He stopped, his breath coming fast and shallow. I felt his fingers tense on the curve of my hip, pausing.

“Lisa, there are only so many times you can tell me to wait before I spontaneously combust.”

“I’m not…I don’t know what you think I am. I don’t know what you want….
this
to be. Is this a one-time thing for us?”

Under my hand, I could feel his heart pounding.

“Is that what you want?” His face was serious, and I could feel the tears springing up again at the backs of my eyes. He hadn’t meant what he said in the pantry. It had all been fake.

“No,” I said. It was hard to force the word out. My body ached for him, and I wanted this so badly. At the same time, though, I knew that it would hurt me even more if I had to walk away when it was over and never see him again. It was a risk I had to take—the risk of losing him now.

He paused, as though thinking about it.

“Well?” I asked.

“It’s a good thing you said no,” he said, his voice not giving away any sign of emotion. My muscles tensed under his grasp. “Because if you had wanted a one-night stand, do you know what would have happened?”