The Billionaire's Girl

by Bella Fontaine

  I felt like marching back into Miranda’s office and demanding a piece of the pie.

  But I didn’t. I bit the bullet and worked like the good worker I was.

  I even stayed late to continue my prep of questions.

  I had a lot to ask old Conrad Arnaud. I just wasn’t sure if I could seriously manage it without the nerves.

  My questions were fierce, which is exactly what was needed. It was that feeling of this being personal again that hit me.

  Mostly, aside from all the professional questions I was supposed to ask, I wanted to know why he thought what he was doing was right. It wasn’t, and I wanted to ask why he couldn’t build his luxury apartments someplace else.

  I understood that New Town was part of the inner city, and with all the crime there, they probably wanted to make their mark by changing up the community. But that wasn’t the way.

  I made a list of forty potential questions and decided to call it a night. I wanted to go see Mom before it got too late. I’d spoken to her at lunch, and she’d sounded awful. I thought I might stay over if she needed me to.

  It was eight. I was the last person here. Even the janitors had gone home. The only people left were the night security guards.

  I made my way to the parking lot, which had a few cars parked in it from the accountancy firm next door. We shared the car park with them and a real estate agency.

  I’d just gotten up to my car when a hooded figure moved from the shadows.

  My heart jumped in my chest, and I clutched my bag, holding it close and hoping like hell I’d brought my pepper spray.

  It was a man dressed in a gray hooded sweatshirt and a pair of black slacks.

  I went to scream, but my voice stilled in my throat when I found myself gazing at the handsome face of Chad Arnaud.

  Chapter 4

  Billie

  My heart was still racing in my chest, and my palms were so sweaty my bag was slipping out of my hands.

  He held up his hand and pulled down his hood, then he gave me that smile from last night that filled my stomach with butterflies.

  From that distance last night in the hall I’d thought he looked gorgeous.

  But up close was a whole other story. The man was a masterpiece and a half.

  I would even say that God must have taken his own sweet time with him to sculpt him to perfection.

  But I wouldn’t be fooled by his good looks.

  Why was he here?

  Why was he here waiting in the shadows for me? And by my car. He knew this was my car.

  He was here waiting for me. To do what?

  “Don’t be scared of me. I know how this looks.” His smile widened. When he came closer, I stepped back and bumped into my car.

  The car keys were in my bag. I couldn’t remember if I’d tossed them in or put them in the little pocket to the back.

  If I’d tossed them in, there was no way I could quickly retrieve anything if he decided he wanted to grab me. I was screwed.

  In fact, I would be screwed either way because he was a big guy, tall, and me, with my mere five feet and four inches, in heels, would be a goner.

  “What do you want?” I managed, trying to keep the fear out of my voice.

  “I thought that would be perfectly obvious. Came to see you.”

  “Why?” Jesus, please calm my heart and my nerves because I couldn’t do it myself.

  And…

  Definitely not when he gave me that look of seduction I‘d seen from far away last night.

  Shit. He came closer, so close, too close. Right into my personal space.

  I pressed right into the side of my car, still holding my bag to my chest.

  He hovered inches away from my face, lingering there.

  “I came to see you, Billie.”

  “Is this the way you do damage control, by sneaking up on helpless women in the parking lot?” I didn’t know what the hell I was saying or why I said that.

  Right now, my body was going through every emotion under the sun.

  “Nah, just for you.” He winked at me, continued to linger before me, and searched my eyes.

  I couldn’t breathe or look away from those piercing eyes of his, and he seemed to know the effect he was having on me.

  He chuckled and stepped back.

  “Been busy today?” he asked in a sing-song voice.

  I tried to regain my composure. “I’m busy every day.”

  “Probably, but especially today. The Chronicle doesn’t print twice a day.”

  “It did today.”

  He looked like he liked that I was able to give as good as I got.

  “Sure did.”

  “It was necessary, and I’m sure people will love to hear how you confronted me in the parking lot to do God knows what.”

  He laughed like it was funny. “Billie, I have reporters coming from everywhere at me. We have interview requests pouring out of our asses. I can’t even take a leak without someone asking me for a story, and that’s just day one. This was the only way I could get to see you.”

  I released a slow sigh and blinked several times. I knew a request to see me would happen at some point, but there was no way I could have guessed this was how it would happen, and not by him.

  “What did you want to see me for?” I asked coolly. As if I didn’t know.

  He laughed again. “I’ll accept your interview request if you go out with me.”

  What the hell?

  What in the hell?

  Maybe I hadn’t heard right. “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me. I’ll do the interview if you go out with me. I’ll answer the questions you have if you go for a drink with me tomorrow night.”

  “No.” I wouldn’t be used as some damn… I didn’t know what. “Do I look like a toy to you or one of those airheaded girls you play with?”

  I tightened my grip on my bag and straightened.

  He came closer again. “No, Miss Harrington, you do not. And I respectfully ask that you meet me for a mere drink tomorrow night.”

  “Why?”

  “I think you’re beautiful and sexy, and since you want something from me, I’m using that to my advantage to get you to go out with me.”

  At least he was honest. I couldn’t pretend that I wasn’t over the moon flattered, or that the whole damn nest of butterflies in my stomach didn’t go crazy.

  “I wouldn’t have thought I was your type,” I pointed out.

  “My type is beautiful. Beautiful women, no matter their shape, size, color, whatever. Do you have a type?”

  “No, and I’m still saying no.” My type was handsome and gorgeous with heart. End of story. A good-looking guy was nothing if he had no heart or compassion, and so far, Mr. Gorgeous here hadn’t shown me anything that resembled heart.

  He gave me a tight-lipped smile. “Why?”

  “I want to interview your father. He’s in charge.”

  “On this occasion he is not. I am.” He backed away with a smile. “I decide who I want to speak to. That just happens to be you. So, if you want your interview, meet me at the Mandarin. Tomorrow night at seven. I’ll send a limo to pick you up.”

  With one last wink, he walked away.

  I groaned inwardly and bit the inside of my lip.

  I didn’t know what the universe was doing to me, but it just dished me a date with Chad Arnaud.

  Chad

  Perfect, she was here.

  She was here, and she looked stunning. She wore a sleek black strapless bodycon dress that hugged her tiny frame and caressed her skin the way I would love to.

  Her hair was sleek too.

  Yesterday, it was wavy, but tonight, it was super straight and shiny. So shiny the black sparkled against the overhead lights.

  The ends danced about her elbows as she walked toward me holding a light brown jacket in her delicate hands.

  The maître d’ ushered her over to me in the private booth I’d selected that overlooked the river.

&nb
sp; The scene outside was beautiful but not comparable to the woman before me. Such a pity this wasn’t an actual date.

  She made that all too clear when she produced a notepad from her little purse before she sat down.

  “I’m here,” she said.

  I smiled at her. “Thank you for coming. You look beautiful.”

  There was a slight hint of color to her brown skin that I liked as she tried not to blush, and her eyes darkened with desire when she looked at me.

  “Thank you. If you don’t mind, I’d like to start straight away, so I can wrap this up.”

  I had to laugh. “You really are something else, aren’t you?”

  “I want my story. That is all.”

  “Cut the damn act, Billie. I can see straight through you.”

  She looked truly pissed off when I said that. “What act? I don’t like playing games, Mr. Arnaud, so please don’t play with me.”

  I leaned forward against the table and eyed her with stern interest. “I think if I agree not to play with you, you’ll have to agree not to play with me.”

  “I’m not playing with you.”

  “Then stop pretending you don’t like me.” My lips arched.

  “Mr. Arnaud, I don’t like you.”

  “Chad. My name is Chad, but you already know that, so since I clearly said this is a date, call me Chad.”

  “Chad, I don’t like you.”

  “What’s not to like?” Not that I was big headed; I knew she was going to have a very hard time answering that question.

  “Everything.” She was lying.

  I didn’t know her enough yet to guess when she was lying, but I could see the rigid expression on her face.

  The tenseness told me everything.

  “Okay, if it helps you to believe that, then believe it.”

  “Can we please just get to the questions? I really want to wrap this up.”

  “What’s the hurry?”

  “I don’t particularly want to be seen with you in public like this. And second, this isn’t a real date.”

  I had an idea.

  “That’s way harsh, don’t you think?”

  “It’s meant to be harsh. I don’t want to look like I’m sleeping with the enemy or something crazy like that.”

  I smiled at her and rested back against the soft leather of the chair. “But you aren’t sleeping with me yet, sweetheart.”

  Her mouth dropped, and I admired her glossy pink lips. The shimmer was perfect against her gorgeous caramel-colored skin.

  “What the hell makes you think I’ll be sleeping with you?”

  “What the hell makes you think you won’t be?”

  Her beautiful eyes widened, revealing pure disbelief. “Am I seriously supposed to answer that question?”

  “You can if you want to.”

  She huffed and frowned. “This is business, Mr. Arnaud.”

  “Chad.” I smiled.

  “Chad, this is business. I came here for a story, and here you are talking to me about sex. You don’t even know if I have a boyfriend or a love interest.”

  “Billie, the first thing you should know about me is, I don’t ask questions or make statements I don’t already know the answer to. You confronted me at the press conference to destroy my reputation, so of course I had you checked out. I know you don’t have a boyfriend or a love interest. I also know it was your mother who told you what was going on.”

  She stilled when she heard that.

  I hadn’t known that last night. I’d just known the basics. Maurice told me about her mom earlier today. The result of me trying to get more information on her for my own personal reasons.

  “Well, if you know that, you know this thing with your family is personal, and since you’re in charge, you must know I have a personal vendetta against you.”

  “I’m in charge of the project but not the decision-making capacity behind it. But if I don’t do shit, the project can’t happen. Unless they replace me, which won’t happen.”

  “What do you mean?” She narrowed her eyes at me.

  “I mean, work starts when I say so, and I’ve decided not to start work just yet.”

  I shouldn’t be telling her this. Who knew, by tomorrow it could all be in the papers. I didn’t expect her to keep it quiet, but since everything was a mess anyway, it didn’t matter.

  “Why? Why would you do that?” Something changed in her appearance.

  “Because until I met you at the press conference, I didn’t know there were plans to tear down anything.”

  “How could you not know? You said you’re in charge.”

  This part I wouldn’t explain, because how did I go into depth and tell her that I thought my father and brother were using me? And that since I wanted to have some form of say in the company, I might allow myself to be used?

  It sounded bad. It was shameful, and the only thing I could think of doing was delaying things. It drove Dad and Patrick insane, but as of today, I’d used my company voting powers to postpone everything until I thought of a solution and checked it all out properly.

  Over the years, I did what I was told. I wanted to get by and climb up the ranks in the business. Of course, I would. It was my birthright.

  However, I’d had to work hard for everything I had achieved. More than Patrick. So much more than Patrick.

  To get this plan of mine in action, I had to invoke my voting powers and disagree with the plans set out for the project. We all had equal voting powers, but for something like this they needed me to be in agreement. When Grandfather left us the company he put in place certain procedures that would need to be conducted to out vote me. Procedures that weren’t exactly easy to initiate. Maybe he saw something like this happening. I always wondered why he gave us equal voting powers and not more to Dad.

  So, since they needed me and it would be far easier to get me to agree, Dad and Patrick had to come to some sort of agreement. Meet me halfway or quarter way.

  I’d left that meeting with no resolution, only that I needed to review the proposals for the project myself and get back to them when I was done. I didn’t even say when I’d get back to them. I’d just left it open.

  Something was up. I could feel it, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it because it felt off-key. More than just a mere decision to run with a project like this.

  So, right now, I didn’t have an answer for her.

  “You’re going to have to trust me on that one.”

  “Trust you?”

  “Yup. So, what now?”

  “That’s it.”

  Something that looked like fear filled her eyes. “I will take care of my mother, but there are families in the complex who are freaking out because they know they only have a month to move.”

  “No, they don’t. I’ve moved the date to three months.” That was the best I could do. I’d requested a year at first, and that’s when Dad went crazy. He’d started throwing in all the losses the company would make if we allowed a year. I’d then gone down to six months, causing the same response.

  Three months was the agreement we’d come to. I was, however, still going to push for a year if the plans went ahead. Dad and Patrick just didn’t know that yet.

  I had other ways of delaying things. I just hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

  “That’s good of you. It’s all still bad though.”

  “I know.” I did know. I definitely knew that, and I was working on it.

  “So, if you know, what does that mean?”

  “It means you get to tell your mom and her friends to stop worrying. You also get to be the first paper to print that too, and long before I issue my public statement tomorrow at lunchtime. And you get to share with everyone else that Arnauds has chosen the Chronicle to follow through on the story.

  She looked a little stunned to hear that. “Why has this project suddenly come about? I don’t understand how something so big could just happen without warning. It must be illegal.”

&nbs
p; “Unfortunately, it’s not.” I would at least have the law on myside if it were. The agreement the tenants had with Arnauds stated that we were entitled to give notice to quit the lease agreements and provide twenty-eight days’ notice. Some of the contracts went back decades to well before I was born. Right to the days of my great-grandfather.

  The contracts had merely been renewed over time. The terms never changed. That was another warning sign to me.

  The people in the Winsor Estate complex were some of the longest-serving tenants we had. I didn’t get how we could treat them like this.

  “That’s all you can say? I appreciate you changed the date to vacate and they get three months, but it’s not enough.”

  I smiled at her, but it wasn’t a smile I felt. It was more of a forced smile that was me trying to sidestep her question.

  I didn’t want to, but I didn’t have any answers for her. I felt like an ass for sidestepping her, especially since I knew she had a personal stake in the situation; however, it really was the best I could do right now.

  “My dear Billie, that’s enough questions for tonight.”

  She frowned at me. “What? I haven’t started asking you anything yet.”

  “Save it for tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?”

  “Yes. Dinner. This was drinks, tomorrow is dinner.” Back to my interests in her.

  She frowned again. “This is ridiculous. Tonight was a chance for me to get my questions answered.”

  This time when I smiled, it was real. She was even more beautiful when she was upset. “You know, you should try for more inscrutable expressions if you aren’t trying to turn me on.”

  “What is the matter with you?” she snapped. A little breath escaped her lips.

  I could see that she was trying to show me she had no interest in me but was failing miserably. It was fine. I was forward and blunt about what I wanted, and I never beat about the bush.

  If I wanted something, I seized it. If I felt something, I acted on it. I didn’t shy away from what I wanted.

  No way, that wasn’t me.