Wife Wanted (A Billionaire Bad Boy Romance)(24)

 

“I work in money. I know people. Using your middle name and mother’s maiden name…pretty clever, but it all leads back to you. Next time, use a full fake name if you don’t want to be found.”

 

She barely nodded, eyes glued to the numbers on the page before her. She was that much in debt? How had she let it get this bad and not even notice? There was no way she could keep paying to take care of her mother for another three months! It was going to wipe out her savings completely. She knew her mother already had nothing left. They’d spent what little there had been to bury her dad and pay for her prescriptions. It was all going to come crashing down on her in three short months…and her only option stood in the hallway, looking like the million-plus dollars he was worth.

 

“Listen, Mitch…last night…if you want to date me, that’s fine,” she said, trying to stay strong and think of her mother. “But you have to understand, I’m not just some gold digger who wants your money, and I’m definitely not going to just have sex with you because of it.”

 

“So…what are you saying?”

 

“I’m saying that we can date, try this out and see if it works. If—and that’s a big if—we think we can handle each other…then we’ll talk about future arrangements.”

 

He stared at her for a long second before his eyes softened and looked like the picture Phoebe had judged him by. He bobbed his head and ran his hand over his buzzed hair. “That will work just fine. Now then, since we’re dating again, I have a function to go to this coming Wednesday night. Would you do me the honor of being my date?”

 

“Function? Like black tie function?”

 

“Yes, is that a problem?”

 

She remembered the comment he’d made, and she glanced at her typical Sunday clothes of jeans filled with holes and baggy sweatshirt. “I don’t know, I’m a bit poor, remember?”

 

He cringed and hung his head with a shamed smile. “Yeah, I’m sorry. The people I’m used to being around, they’re not very nice. Makes me a bit of a brute.”

 

“Well, brute, keep it in check or our deal is off.”

 

He laughed. “Deal. But if you’re worried about something to wear, don’t worry, I’ll have something sent over. Pick you up around seven?”

 

Don’t say yes, don’t do it! This guy is crazy…you can’t possibly be considering this?

 

“I’ll see you at seven,” she said, ignoring the nagging in her head.

 

“All right, then.” He slid his sunglasses back on, waved, and headed down the hall as Charlotte was coming up the stairs. He passed her with a smile and a very happy hello, leaving Charlotte with a very confused look on her face.

 

“Did I miss something? I thought you said last night was horrible?”

 

“It was.”

 

“But isn’t that the picture you texted me? What’s going on, Phoebe?”

 

“Pretty sure I just made a deal with the devil,” she muttered. “How about some wine?”

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 10

 

 

 

Riley tapped away at his keyboard as he set up the new security program for a client. Most of the work was done by his techs, but he was still a geek at heart and messing with programs, getting to write the code that would be used by his company, was what he lived for. He worked just as hard as the rest of his guys. And now that this dating nonsense had started, all he wanted to do was stay in his office and keep on working.

 

“Riley,” Linda said as she knocked on his open door. “Your one o’clock is here.”

 

“Already?”

 

“Yes. You haven’t taken a break all morning, sir. Would you like some coffee? Lunch?”

 

He saved his work and locked his desktop. “Coffee, please, and let them know I’ll be right in. Where’s Ben?”

 

“He’s getting them settled into the conference room.”

 

“Good, that’s good. I always hated having to do that part. I’d rather just go in there, give my speech, and disappear while he deals with all the messy bits,” he said as he met her at the door. “Don’t tell him I said that.”

 

Linda laughed. “Don’t worry, my lips are sealed.”

 

Riley headed down the hall and through the main workspace of the upper floor where his supervisors worked out of their offices. Everyone was hard at work as usual, but they made a point to say hello when Riley passed by their doors. He was a social CEO, liked to know his employees, liked to know they were doing well. It was what his grandfather had done, and he was going to continue to carry on that legacy. As long as he got to keep the company.