The Hottie Billionaire Series: Romancing A Banking Magnate (The Billionaire Meets The Damsel In Distress) (8 page)

Why was she here again?

She pursed her lips. She was here to
be the wife of a filthy, rich billionaire. She was here to find the
solution to her family’s financial predicament. She reminded
herself. That was enough to put her back on track.

“
Good morning, Mr.
Yuchengco,” she greeted him in a surprisingly steady voice. She
didn’t know how she pulled it off, as she was really shaking
inside, every bit of her. She wasn’t just anxious, she was also
melting under his intense gaze.

One corner of his lips twisted. “I’m
sure you do have a lot of good stuff with you to make my morning
really good, right, Katrina?”

The way how he spoke her name made her
heart beat even faster. It was like a sweet endearment. It was the
first time that he dug someone speaking her name. Or was it because
of his full, manly voice?

He was looking at her with his
intimidating chinky eyes, with a mysterious smirk on his lips. She
took a second-long look at his eyes. She could distinguish every
little detail on his face now.

Were his eyes gray? Goodness, but yes,
his eyes were really gray! She could clearly see that now, and she
couldn’t help but be amazed. He had the most breathtaking pair of
eyes she had ever seen. It was so unique and captivating. He had
chinky, but intense, gray eyes. Not the usual stuff among people
with mixed Filipino-Chinese bloodlines. It was like the East meets
the West, in a really eye candy way. She was quite sure that he had
Caucasian blood, too. He looked very mestizo with his gray eyes and
pronounced aquiline nose, but maintained his Oriental touch
courtesy of his cute, chinky eyes.

She studied him further. His
square-shaped face and angular jaw line gave him a striking
personality. He looked authoritative, arresting and dangerous, too.
He had an unforgettable face that would surely linger in her mind.
That was a no brainer, considering how he had impacted her now, in
their first encounter.

Her stare dropped to his broad
shoulders. Despite wearing a three-piece suit, she could see how he
was endowed with a bulky, but very lean, muscular body. The cut of
his suit gave a hint of what lies beneath.

It was easy to tell that he was a
tall, big man, even if he was sitting in a chair. His arms were
long, his frame was wider than the average joe. He must be over six
feet tall.

He put his phone on the table, and she
saw his big hand. It seemed rough, but experienced.

“
So what can you say about
my good stuff, huh, Katrina?” he asked with a subtle hint of tease
in his voice. He ran his pinkie over his lower lip as if thinking,
his eyes were roaming all over her, assessing her in a manner she
did to him, but in a more sinister way.

She almost jumped to her feet when he
spoke. His question made her stomach lurch. “Uhhmmm… Mr.
Yuchengco…” The words at the tip of her tongue retreated inside her
mouth.

Shame on her! She was embarrassed at
how he caught her red handed checking his goods.

But he flashed her a smile. A smile
that momentarily blinded her eyes, yet made her feel a little
better.

For a moment, there was silence
between them. It didn’t take long, and he broke it. “Okay, so how
can I help you?”

She sensed impatience in his voice,
and that made her realize that she might have been a bore to him.
That couldn’t be. She had to get the interest of this man. The
chance to make her family get out of their financial woes was now
in her hands, but she needed to play her cards well.

And that was enough to put her back to
business. She smiled sweetly at him. She now regretted that she
didn’t thoroughly doll herself up. If she had just known that she
would be meeting a very attractive man, she would have put more
effort to make sure that she was flawless in his eyes. The
competition was tough after all. For sure, there were already a lot
of women who came to see him.

But she was here now. And she had to
seize the moment. She only had one chance. One chance to get this
man to marry her so that he could provide her with the millions she
needed. So she better deliver and close the deal, or she would
surely go home drowned in tears.

She looked at him in the eyes. She
softened the formal look on her face, and donned a flirty smile.
She had to, at least, arouse this man’s interest. “I’m here because
of this…” she mumbled softly as she fluttered her eyelashes. She
walked towards his desk, put the canary yellow tote bag that she
was holding in her hand on top of the table. She was clutching at
the bag the entire time that he was making her knees shudder under
his penetrating gaze.

She rummaged through the contents of
her bag, then, she pulled a newspaper. She flipped to the pages,
and stopped at somewhere where she made a dog-ear as a mark.
“This…” She showed the part of the newspaper that she was referring
to him, carefully spread the folded page on the table so that he
could take a good look.

She was hunting for a job when she got
a hold of that newspaper. She was waiting for her turn to be
interviewed, and was waiting for the time to pass by reading. That
was when something caught her attention. It consumed the whole
page, and it was difficult for her not to notice it when the big
words were literally screaming in her eyes.

BANKING MAGNATE, LOOKING FOR A WIFE TO
BEAR HIM AN HEIR. ONLY LOVELY, HOT WOMEN WITH MATERNAL INSTINCTS
NEED APPLY.

The ad took her attention. She
couldn’t help but read the entire advertisement, which looked
ridiculous at first glance. She found out that a very rich man was
looking for a wife, and the lucky, chosen one would be paid one
million pesos in cold cash, would receive a generous monthly
allowance, and would get a big chunk of shares from the family’s
established banking business.

For someone who was in a dire need to
look for money, the ad was very tempting, like an answered prayer
to her predicament. So she folded the newspaper and sneakily put it
in her bag, keeping it.

When she got home, she texted right
away the contact cell phone number that was provided in the ad.
Someone answered her text, asking her to email her resume and
recent picture to a yahoo email account. Which she did.

She got a call the next day from a
woman who introduced herself as Xavier Yuchengco’s personal
assistant. She was given little information about the filthy, rich
banker who was looking for a wife who would bear him an heir. She
was informed that she was qualified to apply to the ad, and was
given his name and the address where she had to go for a personal
interview.

She wrote all the information she
needed. She was serious in considering to apply to the ad. But she
was from the far South, and she couldn’t leave in an instant. There
was her sick father who needed to be taken care of. Though Brenda
could look after him, she still had to make sure his needs were
properly addressed.

It took her two weeks to fix what she
needed to do so she could fly to Manila and stay for a few days
there, or maybe longer, depending on the outcome of her almost
desperate mission. She was hoping for the better, so she took care
of the long term plan.

She just arrived in the city
yesterday, late at night, and she didn’t waste her time. She
prepared the next morning to meet the billionaire who had the money
to save their farm from foreclosure. Her only hope when they had
one month left to pay off their debt with the bank.

“
Please have a seat…” he
said, as he took a look at the newspaper that she spread on his
desk.

His voice stopped the trail of
thoughts in her mind. Her knees were really turning into a jelly,
so she sat on the chair that was at the side of his
desk.

Thank God, she now had a chair to
support her weight!

She grabbed her tote bag, and
deposited it on her lap. Her hands clutched around the handle, firm
and hard, as if her life depended on it.

He scanned the newspaper with his
eyes, and when he looked at her again, she saw how his eyes sparked
mysteriously. “Oh, so you’re applying to this ad?” His voice
sounded calm and relaxed.

She nodded her head in confirmation.
“Yes, I am.”

His eyes riveted on her. He was
looking at her intensely as if his eyes were piercing even to the
deepest recess of her soul, assessing her from head to foot, sizing
her up. He just stared at her, lips pressed firmly, as if he was
contemplating.

She didn’t know what was going on in
his mind. The crease on his forehead and the strain on his brows
didn’t give her a good feeling. Her heart pounded nervously as he
remained silent for some time.

Didn’t he like her? Oh, how she hoped
not! She knew she had some extra-ordinary good stuff to boot,
enough to warrant every man’s attention, but he was looking at her
as if her physical assets didn’t interest him.

“
Do you know, Ms. De Leon,
that this ad had been suspended for two weeks already?” he said, as
he casually shifted position in his swivel chair.

She instantly panicked at what he just
said. That couldn’t be! He just couldn’t cancel his ad, just like
that! Not now. Not when she had already spent the last dime of her
money just to be here.

She took a deep breath. She felt as if
the world had mercilessly crashed on her shoulders, thumping the
stubborn sense of positivism which she refused to let go in the
midst of their financial woes.

She came here with the hope that,
finally, it was the answer to her prayers, but sadly, it wasn’t.
And she felt hopeless.

“
Did someone already fill
the position?” Her voice became wobbly. It was difficult to act
okay when all she wanted that moment was to break down, and cry in
helplessness.

But he chuckled, as if amused, while
she was losing hope. “You sound as if it was a job position,” he
blandly commented.

Well, it was. At least, for her. But
she kept her mouth shut.

What would she do now? Her world was
crumbling down, and it wasn’t a good thing. She traveled all the
way from down South just to try her luck. She spent her last dime
of money for this. She hadn’t bothered to double check if the
ad was still active after two weeks, as she was really determined
to snatch the coveted position. Now, she felt stupid for doing so.
If she had just used her common sense, she hadn’t wasted her
precious money for nothing.

She started to hyperventilate. What
would happen to her now? To her family? To their farm? Oh my God!
She couldn’t think of the darn possibilities. Her brain refused to
process the unwanted thought.

“
Well, to answer your
question, no, I haven’t had someone filled the ‘position’ yet,” he
gave emphasis to the word ‘position.’

He was still sporting that amused look
on his face, but that was enough to ease the boulder of rock in her
chest. It was good news, at least. Hope sprang in her heart again.
“So, can I still apply?” she asked eagerly. If she could just beg
at him, she would do so in a snap of a finger.

He looked at her intimidatingly, but
she did her best to remain calm. She fought his intent stare,
oblivious of the fact that he seemed into her. Her stomach wanted
to lurch, as his eyes bored into her soul, but she toughened her
resolve. She knew that she had to use her charms to get him under
her spell, but she was so overwhelmed by his bloody presence, that
she couldn’t flirt with him anymore.

“
Would you like me to
consider you for the position?” he asked, after some
time.

“
Of course!” she answered
in an instant. That was the reason why she was here in the first
place! She wanted to be picked as his choice.

He ran his pinkie over his lip again,
his eyes hooded at her. There were a lot of things that mirrored in
his eyes, intensifying the mysterious smoke in his irises, making
his gray eyes appear darker. Her throat constricted in tension, but
she tried her best to fight his intent stare.

Making an eye contact was
one of the things that men watch out for when they want to hit on a
woman, she reminded herself. But when his stare landed on her lips,
something in his eyes flickered, a burning flame of desire, that
gave her chills. She looked away, and darted her eyes to the glass
wall. She saw the magnificent backdrop of the flourishing Metro. It
was breathtaking. But not as breathtaking as Xavier
Yuchengco.

“
But tell me this first,
Katrina…”

Her eyes darted back at him. He looked
serious this time around.

“
Why should I consider
you?”

She was about to open her
mouth when his stare landed on her chest. He didn't hide the malice
in his eyes, as he raked the swell of her breasts as if he was
undressing her. She felt as if something envelope through her, like
a surge of heat that instantly lighted a fire under her seat, and
her body shuddered involuntarily. She gasped silently at her body's
reaction. My, but that was carnal!

Her cheeks burned. It was
hard to feel at ease under his intense gaze, and the feeling of
uneasiness tripled when he made it apparent that he was sexually
checking her out.