The Playboy Billionaire (The Romero Brothers, Book 3)

by Richards, Shadonna

  Blue shook her head trying to push the thought out of her mind. How awful to judge this man based solely on his reputation and what was said about him. Even having worked in the media, she knew too well, not every sound bite was captured. There was always more to a story. Always.

  But for now, it seemed as if he were making it clear. She would only be Miss Monroe to him. A worker. A contractor. And…to her private disappointment, she could be nothing more to him.

  Later that day, after touring the premise, assisting in the vineyard and doing tons of paperwork, Zack and Blue walked through the enchanted-looking garden leading to the driveway where her car was parked. “Are you sure you don’t want me to call a car? It’s been a long day. You look pretty beat.”

  “Oh, no. I can get myself home, thank you.”

  “You know, it’s interesting that you left your job at Channel 31. I thought you were the most annoying reporter there, but you were gifted. You often got to the heart of a story.”

  She turned around looking stunned and surprised, her folders clutched to her chest. “Annoying?”

  He grinned. “In a good way, Miss Monroe. People in my position never like to see media personnel swimming around their fish bowl.”

  She laughed. The wind swept her dark, beautiful strands of hair into her face and he automatically brushed the tresses away before she could. Her hands, after all, were full. An electric surge rushed between them. He wanted to touch more than her hair. He wanted to lower his head to hers and press his mouth to her sweet berry lips.

  He realized then that he probably shouldn’t have done that. Her eyes widened. But a look of amazement flashed in them. Was she blushing?

  “Sorry. Your hands were full.” His voice came out more authoritative and rigid than he intended.

  She chuckled sheepishly. “Thank you. And to answer your question, I didn’t leave Channel 31. They fired me.”

  “Fired you? Oh. Because of that debacle with your cell phone?”

  “Yes. My crazy ex.”

  “Your crazy ex?” So there was a man in the picture. An ex-boyfriend.

  Zack opened the car door for her after she squeezed her starter and remote key from her keychain.

  “Thank you.” Blue placed the folders and her recorder on the passenger seat of her car. She turned to face Zack. “It’s nothing really. Like I said before, he was trying to get back at me for…ending our relationship and…well…”

  “The man sounds like a real lowlife.” Zack’s tone was harsh. His lips curled in disgust. “What kind of man would do that to a woman?”

  “Clearly not a gentleman.” Blue smiled, though Zack could see the pain in her eyes.

  “You deserve better, Miss Monroe.”

  She seemed surprised at his response. And a smile of appreciation graced her face.

  “What is his name?”

  “What? Oh, no. It doesn’t matter. Leave him be. I’m not like that.”

  “Like what? Allowing people to walk all over you?”

  “No. I’m not about revenge. I have better things to do with my time.”

  Now it was Zack’s turn to be taken aback. His eyes widened with amusement and surprise. He’d met a lot of women in his time but many of them who were wronged had a whole lot of bitterness and revenge seeping through them, so much that it was unattractive. His stomach clenched at the audacity of his ex-girlfriend, Selina! She was a winner in that category for sure. He still had to deal with the ramifications if that sex tape ever got out! God help him.

  But Blue? Heck, she was all heart. Here was a man who ruined her reputation and career and she wasn’t even the least bit interested in seeing him suffer. The very thought of Blue’s delicate, forgiving nature caused more desire to burn through Zack's body.

  “You can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat their enemies, Miss Monroe.”

  “Well, I guess, it’s the way I was raised. Revenge is a time waster. Time is better spent trying to get ahead in life.”

  “Not to mention, harboring resentment is like sipping on a glass of poison and expecting it to lead to the demise of one's wrongdoer.”

  She grinned. “You’re a man of many words, Zack.”

  “I’ve been there before, Miss Monroe. You get to meet all kinds of people in my line of work. And in my position. Besides, our experiences of the past are what shapes us into who were are today.”

  “That’s so true,” she echoed.

  “Still, it’s the ones who make the best of their experiences instead of taking the bad, who will go further in life.”

  “You’re so right. There’s always two ways of dealing with the past.”

  “Yes. You can become bitter or strive to become better!”

  “Hey, I like that! I’m going to write that down and add that to the documentary notes.”

  Zack grinned. “I’m glad you decided to set up business for yourself, Miss Monroe. I like to support anyone bettering him- or herself and creating his own path in life. Outside of this documentary that you’re filming here at the vineyard, you must let me know if there is anything I can do to help you.”

  “Oh, my. Thank you. I…don’t know what to say.” Blue swallowed so hard that he could see the lump in her throat move.

  The sun in the sky was beaming, a vibrant orange hue amongst the clouds. The breathtaking scenery made it hard to want to go indoors. Zack felt as if he could stay talking with this woman until the sun set. He was actually enjoying her company. Enjoying her aura. Her mannerisms. Her thoughts.

  He couldn’t remember the last time he was so entertained in the company of a beautiful woman before.

  In the past, women often flirted with him and were after his body and his wallet, not about conversations about daily life, living, politics, socializing. Nothing like that. This was…refreshing. For Pete's sake, he’d been saying goodbye to this woman for what? The last twenty minutes? And she didn’t seem to want to get to where she was going any time soon either.

  “I’m really glad to leave the media. Trust me.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, I’ve made one too many enemies,” she laughed humorlessly.

  “Enemies? You? I find that hard to believe.”

  “Well, unfortunately, I got assigned some dirty stories to dig up on dishonest businessmen and ex-politicians. Sort of an expose segment on our other TV show at the station.”

  “Oh, right,” he groaned. Zack knew the show and hated it with a burning passion. “Thirty-Minutes!”

  “Yes, The Thirty-Minutes Show. I was working on this one story about a former senator who was caught cheating on his wife and …well, that’s the past now. I’ve handed over my research to my colleague over there. That’s their problem now. Not mine. Well…”

  “What is it?” he asked in a low voice. She was holding back again. What was with this woman and her secretive demeanor? “Blue? Are you okay?” She seemed to stare off into space for a moment. That caused a ripple of concern to shoot through his body. What was going on? Zack was often good at reading people. As nice as this young lady was, he could sure as hell tell she had life that was more complicated than what was seen on the surface.

  “Thank you for everything Mr…I mean, Zack. I’ll be in first thing in the morning.”

  “Good. Be sure let Venus know if you need anything at all.”

  “I will,” she said but Zack could see a shred of disappointment in her lovely face.

  “I’ll be off site periodically on meetings and other engagements. But if there is anything critical, she knows how to reach me.”

  “I’ll be sure to do that.” Blue gazed into his eyes. Then she started the ignition. He saw that she got off safely before heading back to the main house.

  There was something mysterious about Blue Monroe, and one way or another, he was going to uncover it. Ordinarily, Zack would be inside a woman’s heart and ultimately her bed within twenty-four hours of meeting her. But thank God, he was going to rise to the occasion for this
abstinence challenge. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise and not some curse as he originally thought. He would get a chance, as hard as that would be, to know Blue intimately without getting into her bed, but inside her mind and soul first. If he could do that and still hold interest in her, that would mean a hell of a lot. It could mean, that she could be "the one." Damn!

  Zack was officially on a diet of cold showers and probably self-serving gratification for the long haul. He was not going to screw this up. He could do this. Keep your distance from her, Zack. Blue was beautifully tempting, a sweet threat to his celibacy run.

  His lips curled into a grin.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Almost four weeks later, Blue felt as if she was finally getting a grasp on things. It was early in the morning on a clear, cloudless summer day in the country. She could see off in the distance the blueness of the lake blending with the bright horizon. Her eyes drank in the vivid colors of aqua blue and gorgeous turquoise as the sun reflected off the water. She had already set up her tripod, video editing equipment, digital camera and microphone on the site and thought about the subjects she was going to cover during her tenure filming the short documentary.

  During the past few weeks, Blue came into work early—before the first sign of dawn to capture footage of the land as the sun rose inviting in warm hues of rouge and orange rays of light blending with the horizon. One day, Zack had turned up and was surprised to see her there at 5:47 a.m. sunrise time. She learned that rising with the sun meant a lot to the brothers, something to do with their mother, who had passed away, but they never got into what really happened to their mom. She knew there were unlocked chambers in Zack’s life that would never open. She wondered how badly he was hurt, so bad that he could not even talk about it. Blue's heart ached for him. She knew how that felt, when she lost her own wonderful parents so tragically. There was nothing that could heal some heartbreaks, she figured. Death was so final. All one could do was to focus on the fond memories and be glad that they were a part of one’s life.

  It was clear Zack was passionate about his work and Blue really wanted to capture that fully. She had grown to genuinely respect Zack based on knowing him personally, as much as he allowed, and learning more about him through his workers. And…best of all, he never tried to get "fresh" with her. So much for his playboy image persona.

  Blue was so focused on getting all the footage just right. Her main focus now was to capture hundreds of shots from various angles and then decide on which to narrow them down to and where to tighten the focus.

  Blue gazed off at the magnificent scenery of the estate while inhaling the calming scent of the grapes from the vine that filled the atmosphere.

  Divine.

  She could work here forever.

  “This is the Romero Winery and Vineyard,” she began recording against the backdrop of the vineyard from up on the hill. The wind rustled her hair as she faced her video camera propped on the tripod. “Thousands of acres of glorious land that stretches across the city of…” Blue bit down on her lip. She shook her head. “No. Wrong.” She fiddled with the buttons on the remote to press the pause button on her camera.

  And she blew a deep breath of air that caused her bangs to swing up off her face. She then started the recorder again. “This is the fantastic Winery and Vineyard of Romero…” she stopped herself again, then growled while hitting the pause button.

  What the hell had gotten into her so suddenly? Zack.

  Why was this man possessing her mind again? Because no man had ever made her feel the way smooth, sexy Zack had. And they hadn’t even touched…yet.

  Not that she thought she could even get there with him. The man clearly had other things on his mind. Blue had been there for four weeks and outside of very brief fly-by conversations, nothing much happened.

  Heck, they hadn’t even had a chance to spend an ample amount of time alone so that she could really interview him one-on-one.

  The summer breeze may be on the calm side today but inwardly she herself was a nervous wreck. This was, after all, her first time actually filming a documentary—even though it had been a few weeks. She started off with bits and pieces of information and capturing different shots of the vineyard and speaking with a myriad of vineyard workers. She saw Zack on a few occasions to her heart’s chagrin. Whenever she did catch a few glimpses of him, her heart sped up and it felt like bumblebees were dancing in her belly.

  This charming and alluring man was overwhelming her senses. Gorgeous wasn’t even the best word to describe his royal handsomeness. Still, he had kept their conversations brief and clipped and she wondered why he was being more distant with her than his other staffers. Did he still, deep down, hold her accountable for what happened to his brother, Lucas, last year?

  Why was Zack really distancing himself from her? Blue couldn’t help but feel terrible inside. But she mustered up the courage to plug on with a cheery smile. She kept reminding herself she was there to do a job. Nothing more.

  She’d overheard him speaking with his brother when she was out in the vineyard capturing the method in which workers pruned vines with grapes. His brother, Carl, had apparently teased him with a "watch out, she’s not on the menu, remember?" Not on the menu? And then she’d heard Carl say something about Zack being on a strict diet to which Zack had imparted a scathing look.

  Later in the afternoon, her heart turned over in her chest. Zack had returned. They would finally get a chance to sit down for the first time in four weeks since she’d first spoken with him. This was not the casual walk by, idle chitchat but a real sit down conversation.

  After Zack participated in a yet another wine tour and showed Blue around another area of the estate, they settled back in his office. No matter how much she thought she saw of the Romero estate, there was much more she hadn’t seen. The place was massive! But then it shouldn’t surprise her much since Toni Romero was a real estate mogul. Land and property were his business. It looked as if he’d bought up most of the town of Mayberry Hill.

  Blue sat down in the plush chair in Zack’s spacious office for a follow-up meeting. He was so busy with errands that she barely got a chance to sit down for some quality film time. The sunlit office with windows that stretched from the floor to the ceiling was marvelous. Ample sunlight shone in but that did nothing to warm the nerves in her body.

  The man was gorgeous as hell and he made Blue nervous.

  Blue Monroe never got nervous around a man. But this wasn’t just any man. She watched him as he keyed in some information on his silver laptop on his desk. He had told her he wanted to discuss a few things but decided to respond to some urgent emails. She noted his fingers brushes against the keys. His long fingers were slender and his skin looked smooth, glowing tanned and healthy. His fingernails were a healthy in appearance too. Something she’d learned in a health class in college. You could tell a lot about a person’s diet through their fingernails.

  “I’m impressed by your work, Miss Monroe. You show up here early before dawn and yet you leave late, which, by the way, is not necessary.” She loved the way Zack highlighted all her strong points and encouraged her as he did his employees. She thought she would be working for a boss from hell, but Zack was kind to everyone from the garden help to the garbage men who came to collect the rubbish. A true man treats all people in society well.

  That impressed the hell out of Blue. The man was solid with a heart of gold and a body of steel. So…unreachable to her!

  Oh, why couldn’t she ever land a good guy?

  “Thank you. I just want to make sure I get all the work done.”

  “You are very passionate. I admire that you only proffer kind words. I know some of the older staff members can be quite a challenge to work with.”

  “I always give people the benefit of the doubt, Zack. Life’s too short to…”

  Oh, God! That was embarrassing she lost her train of thought. There she went again. Why did Zack have that mind-bending effect on her?
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br />   Her eyes kept drawing to his sweet lips. They looked so irresistible. So…kissable. And his classic facial features. His perfect nose, his marvellous chiselled cheekbones and dark, lovely eyes that captivated her. Was this man even aware of how enchantingly gorgeous he was?

  Stop it, Blue. Focus on your job. He is so way out of your league. Don’t even go there, girl. You’ll just be making a damned fool of yourself.

  She remembered seeing clippings online of Zack with gorgeous Hollywood actresses, socialites and super models. An actress and super model, Blue was not!

  “What are you thinking, Miss Monroe?” Zack’s silky, smooth deep voice interrupted her fantasy daydream.

  “Um…” She swallowed hard. He caught her gaping at him, didn’t he? How embarrassing.

  “Excuse me?” she finally squeezed through her nerve-tightened throat. She felt the color drain from her face.

  “You seemed to be gazing intently. I want to know what you were thinking about.” He leaned back in his leather chair behind his desk. His hair shined as the sun shone through the windowpane behind him creating a divine halo.

  She thought she could see his luscious lips curl at the sides slightly. Was he amused by her ogling him? Well, she was not one of his corporate groupies. She was going to keep herself in check and not give him that smug satisfaction.

  She cleared her throat and drew in a deep breath, hoping he wouldn’t notice how incredibly inadequate she felt. “I was just thinking about the angles of the documentary.” Blue shuffled some of her notes in front of her.