Seducing the Billionaire's Wife(2)

Only she didn’t want to lie to him.

She settled on a half-truth. “Because boys like girls who look like Alexis George.” Alexis had boobs, curves, and long, pretty blond hair. Hannah had nothing, and her hair was the color of a log that had been sitting in the sun for years. Ash-blond her grandmother called it.

Dirty like ashes, Alexis had sneered once.

“Yeah, they do,” he agreed.

She blinked up at him. “I can’t believe you’d say that.”

His lips twisted. “There’s no reason to lie to you.”

“I guess,” she grumbled, wishing he had, in fact, lied to her.

He sat down beside her, stretching out his long legs. They were tan all the way down to his toes. “Besides, when you get older, you’re going to look way better than all the Alexis Georges out there.”

Cheeks heating, she rolled her eyes. “Now you’re lying to me.”

Shaking his head, he grimaced. Hannah had never seen him look so serious… or angry. “I’d never lie to you. Ever.”

“Really?” she whispered.

“Never. You don’t treat me any differently.” He ran a hand through his dark hair. “Ever since we first met, you’ve never wanted anything from me either.”

Confused, she sat all the way up and pulled the towel around her. “Why would I?” Except, she did want one thing from him. Okay, two things. A kiss and for him to look at her like she was Alexis George.

“A lot of people around here do. They treat me differently because of my dad’s money.”

“Oh.” She frowned. “But everyone who stays at The Majestic Dunes has money. How else could they pay for their vacation?”

Turning his attention to her, his forest-green eyes searched her face. “When you get older, you’ll understand why people act the way they do. But I hope you won’t become like them.”

“I won’t,” she promised.

A grin kicked up the corners of his mouth. “Good.” Then he turned serious again and leaned into her. So close that she could see the rings of blue around the pupil of his eyes. “Promise me something, Hannah. Two things, actually.”

“Anything,” she said.

“Don’t ever change. And don’t ever go out swimming alone.”

“I promise.”

He arched a dark brow. “Swear it.”

“Geez. You want it in writing?”

“Smart-ass,” he muttered, but she could see the smile in his eyes.

She looked around for her beach bag and found it only a few feet away. Scrambling to her feet, she said, “Stay right there.” She ran to her bag, grabbed it, and brought it back. Plopping it down in the sand, she began to dig through it, producing a journal and a pen.

“You’re really going to write it down?”

Hannah sat down in the warm sand. “Yep.” She pulled the cap off the pen with her teeth as inspiration struck. “And I’m going to reward you for saving me.”

“You really don’t have to,” Drew said, placing his hand on her arm. “You don’t owe me anything.”

He was such a hero. “I know, but one day you might need something from me… so…” Ignoring the heat of his hand, she quickly wrote out her promise, added a little extra note at the bottom, and then signed her name. With a flourish, she ripped it out of her notebook and held it out.

He let go of her long enough to take it. “A promise and an IOU?”

She gave him a firm nod. “You never know what the future holds,” she said, repeating one of her grandmother’s favorite sayings.

“Have you, uh, written a lot of IOUs before?” he asked, still staring at the paper.

“You’re my first.”

His gaze flew to hers. “We’ve known each other for a long time, right?”

She nodded happily. “Since I was eight. And you were ten.” She’d met him the summer she had to go live with her grandparents, after her mother had died in a car accident. Her dad’s family didn’t want her. They didn’t even believe Hannah was their grandchild in the first place, or so she’d overheard one of the maids on floor six say to the bellman.

“And you know I would never do anything to hurt you,” he added.

Drew always made her smile. He spent an entire summer cheering her up after her momma had died. “You saved me, Drew.”

He swallowed. “Hannah, it’s not a good idea to give a guy an IOU for anything they want.”

Face flaming in embarrassment, she stammered, “I didn’t mean anything. I meant… we’re friends, Drew. I want to reward you for doing something so heroic.” The flyaway hair around her face smacked her in the eyes.