Bedroom Rodeo: A Billionaire Romance
Page 105
“My legs are insured for a million dollars. Maybe I should check into getting my smile insured, just in case.”
Drake made his way out to the living room to get his cell phone and check his messages. It was appealing that Allison also had a busy life like he did and had to check her phone every now and then. It would be difficult to be with a woman who didn’t truly understand what his life was like.
“Are you expecting someone?” Drake said from the living room.
“No, why?”
“There is a car in your driveway that just pulled in.”
Allison jumped up and threw her t-shirt back on as she ran out to the living room. She looked out the window and saw one of her least favorite people in the world. There weren’t many people that Allison could honestly say she hated. But the person sitting in her driveway was probably as close to hate as Allison had ever felt.
“Crap, it’s the Sun News Tabloid. Anytime I have someone over, even if it is just to visit. They come and run the license plate to see who it is. They are the biggest jerks in the world.”
Allison had dealt with the media and paparazzi for years and had thought she could handle them. But their underhanded tricks and ability to twist the truth made it impossible to even trust one of them.
Even when the story was very simple and clear, the paparazzi twisted it to their favor so they could sell it or make more money. Nothing they did was about sharing real honest facts with the public. Because the truth was that Allison’s life was really boring and that didn’t make for very good news stories.
Drake pulled his tuxedo pants on and before Allison knew what was going on, he had the door open and went straight up to the vehicle that was parked out there. Allison couldn’t hear what was said, but the conversation seemed pretty friendly and ended with Drake shaking the man’s hand and the man pulling out of the driveway.
As Drake walked back into the house he smiled from ear to ear at how easy it had been to get the man out of her driveway. He really didn’t know why people complained so much about the paparazzi. That man had been more than willing to have a decent conversation and said he had no problems with staying on the sidewalk next time.
“Geeze, what did you say to him?”
“I just reminded him that your driveway was private property and he could be arrested for being there. I suggested in the future that he park on the street and read your visitors license plates from there.”
“Drake! I don’t want him reading anyone’s license plates. And did you tell him who you were? Is that why he left so quickly?”
“No, I didn’t tell him, but I’m sure he’ll find out soon enough when he runs my plates.”
“You don’t understand. Those paparazzi are vultures. They won’t stop just because you asked them to.”
“He’s gone for now. Let’s get some rest and we will head back over to my house in a little bit.”
They climbed back into bed and within moments both Drake and Allison had fallen asleep. It was comfortable to be at her house and have the peace and quiet they both wanted. They didn’t have to worry about what time it was or where everyone else was at.
Unfortunately, they were so comfortable that they ended up sleeping right through the night and all the way to the next morning when the sun came up.
Drake was the first one to wake up and he looked at his watch and just smiled. He didn’t feel bad about spending the night with Allison. She had missed out on time with him all morning because he had been at work. But Drake did have a bad feeling about something and he just couldn’t figure out what it was. He felt like he was being watched or something like that.
He tried to shake the feeling as he looked around the room to see if Allison had a security system or something like that. But he couldn’t see anything that looked like a security camera. As he moved and adjusted himself in bed, Allison started to wake up as well.
“Good morning,” she said as she stretched her arms over her head.
Her hand hit the blinds and there was a quick movement outside the room. Drake jumped up and looked out the window just in time to see a man running away.
“I’ve got him,” Drake yelled as he ran toward the front door and flung it open.
“Drake, be careful. I’ve had stalkers. They can be dangerous,” Allison yelled after him.
She slid a pair of sweat pants on and made her way out to the front door to see if it had been a paparazzi or a stalker who had been looking in her house. But the closer she got to the living room the more noise she heard and it sounded like the click of cameras.
“Get back in the house,” Drake said as he stepped backwards from the front porch back into the house and shut the door.
He started to laugh at the crazy scene that was going on in Allison’s front yard. Obviously, the paparazzi didn’t care about threats of getting arrested. The man he had threatened was now in the front yard with a dozen of his friends taking photos of shirtless Drake as he ran out of the house to chase the man who had been looking in Allison’s window.
“Oh, yeah, that sometimes happens when they know the person who is staying over,” Allison said as she calmly went to the kitchen to get some coffee.
“That is insane!” Drake said as he looked out the window. “Does this happen often?”
“Not too much, but they all know I don’t drive, so when there is a car in my driveway they get excited. And seeing you last night probably got them really worked up. I bet they will get a couple thousand dollars for those shirtless photos of you.”
Drake couldn’t believe what he saw outside and he was impressed with just how well Allison handled it.
“So, what do we do now? How do we leave?”
“Oh, we can wait them out and stay in here, or just go out there and get our picture taken for them so they will leave.”
“That’s blackmail!” Drake said in disgust. “They can’t just stay out there until we come out.”
Drake obviously hadn’t been exposed to the level of paparazzi-hounding like Allison had. She knew that he was being naive but she just didn’t know how to describe just how ruthless they were to her. Most people thought that paparazzi were just like normal people and would follow normal people logic; but they weren’t normal people. The paparazzi followed their own rules and didn’t listen to the confines of society’s.
“Oh, yes. Actually, I’ve had them stay out there for two whole days before just waiting for me and a friend to leave. They are determined. If you actually want to get back to your house today we should just get dressed and go out and pose for a picture.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
Allison laughed at how angry Drake was about the paparazzi. She was so used to them that it wasn’t something that bothered her at all anymore. Instead, she had learned to deal with it.
“There is one other option,” Allison said with her huge smile.
“What’s that?”
Just as Allison was about to tell Drake about her plan to distract the paparazzi, one of them jumped up from behind the couch and started taking a ton of flash photos before he ran out of the house.
“I’m calling the police,” Drake yelled out after the man. “Are you alright? He must have gotten in the house when I ran after the other one. Do you want me to call the police?”
Allison had shrunk down to the floor of the kitchen out of shock when the man jumped up. She had been in the home when a stalker jumped out before and tried to kiss her. It was scary as hell and she felt her body start to shake as she thought back to that incident. Luckily, this time it was just a paparazzi.
“I’m okay,” she said as she stood back up and steadied herself against the counter.
Drake locked the front door and made his way over to Allison. She trembled in his arms and he just wanted to do something that would help her calm down. Her hands shook as he wrapped them up in his.
“I’m sorry, that was all my fault. I shouldn’t have gone out and talked to that guy last night.”
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“No, no, it’s alright. They are jerks. There is nothing I can do to change that.”
Drake held onto Allison as he pondered the situation. He hated that she felt so exposed to those paparazzi. They treated her much differently than they treated him anytime he had interactions with them.
“Is that your phone?” Allison asked as they both acknowledged the buzzing noise coming from the couch.
“Hello,” Drake said
“Turn the television to NBC, what the hell are you doing, Drake?” Samantha said into the phone.
“What do you mean?”
“Just turn it on and get back to the house, we need to do some damage control.”
“Where’s your remote?” Drake asked as he looked at the television.
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, Samantha just said to turn on NBC.”
As Allison flipped the television on and turned it to NBC they both covered their mouths in shock as the entertainment news show of the night blasted their headline story.
“Drake Leblanc found having sex with two men in Hollywood,” the reporter said as a picture of Allison’s assistant and his boyfriend popped up on the screen.
“Oh, shit,” Drake said as he dropped his phone.
The Billionaire’s Hunt
Cynthia
The Billionaire Bachelor Series 6
Chapter 1
“Well that was an interesting day,” Drake said as he and Allison pulled back up to his house.
After spending the night with Allison, they had just finished watching a news story stating that Drake was having sex with two gay men in Allison’s home. Of course, the story wasn’t true, and Drake had just been talking to Allison’s assistant and his boyfriend as they left, but the news media didn’t care about the truth. It was a salacious story that had a lot of people’s attention, and that was all that mattered to the people who made television.
“Yes, it was an interesting day for sure,” Allison said as she cuddled up to Drake in his car.
Their day together had been as close to perfect as she could have wanted. Allison had worked with the local charity group that she loved, and she and Drake had gotten a small taste of what life would be like if they were to date for real. People asking for their signatures, paparazzi at her house and lots of people wanting to know more about them at all times. It was exhausting, but Allison liked that she had someone who at least knew what she was going through.
They stayed in the car for a little bit while they talked one last time before going into the house. Allison knew that she wasn’t going to get much more alone time with him after that day, so she wanted Drake to know just how much she had enjoyed their time together.
“I know that the news was a little crazy, but I did still have a great time with you today,” Allison said, leaning over to kiss Drake.
“I enjoyed our day as well. It was lots of fun. I’m sorry about the fiasco with the press.”
“Drake, it’s not your fault; they are always like that.”
As the two of them made their way into the house, Drake paused to give Allison one last kiss before they walked in the door. He knew that the women in the house had probably seen the news story already and hoped they knew it wasn’t true. Obviously, he didn’t like men, he was living in a house full of seven women at the time. But he was prepared to explain to them what had happened if they needed that explanation.
“Drake, come over here,” Samantha said the second they opened the door.
“Yes, ma’am,” he teased.
Drake walked into the office just off of the main living area, finding both Samantha and Robert waiting to confront him about the current press coverage..
“This isn’t good, Drake; you work with some very traditional companies and they aren’t going to like even the hint of you having sex with men. Not just one man, the news story says you were having sex with multiple men,” Samantha said, reading from the notes she had.
Drake couldn’t help laughing at how worried Samantha was about the press. There he was in a house with seven women that he had been dating, and sleeping with, over the last few days. He couldn’t help wondering what kind of stories the press would be running if they knew what was going on in his house at that very moment.
“So, you’re not worried about the seven women I have in my home and I’m sleeping with, but you are worried about the two men that are not in my home and I’m not sleeping with?” Drake said as he continued laughing.
“You know what I mean, Drake. It’s bad publicity.”
“Why? I bet I’m getting great ratings with the gay community.”
“Drake, this is serious, you need to listen to Samantha,” Robert added.
“Robert, it’s not serious. We aren’t talking about world hunger here. We are just talking about a tabloid story that isn’t true. Let it cycle through at least one news cycle, and then let’s talk about it if it’s still a story.”
“Drake I’m not sure why you think this is alright.”
Drake understood why Robert and Samantha were so worried, but in the scheme of things, it really wasn’t that big a deal. Drake really didn’t care if people thought he was gay; it didn’t bother him at all. In fact, he found it rather humorous.
“I’m done talking about this; I’m going to go talk with Cynthia and the other women for a little bit. Why don’t you two discuss what needs to happen and then let me know what you decide.”
Drake turned and left the room before either Samantha or Robert could respond. He really didn’t have time to worry about things like the two of them did. He had a life to lead, and he had to talk with Cynthia. It was already almost 9 a.m., and he didn’t want her to feel like she had missed out on her time with him.
Cynthia was sitting with Scarlett and laughing when Drake walked into the living room. He paused and watched the two women as they talked and laughed before realizing that Drake was there. Both Cynthia and Scarlett seemed oblivious to the gossiping going on around them. The other girls appeared to have the news on and were watching as they talked to each other.
Drake didn’t really care if people were watching the news story, even the women he had living with him. Anyone that knew him had to know that the story wasn’t true. There couldn’t be any doubt in anyone’s mind about whether Drake was gay or not. He loved his women and had been seen with more than any of those news reporters could even count.
But the news and tabloids weren’t interested in the real story; they just wanted something interesting to say on television. It was actually kind of sickening how little they cared whether a story was true or not.
“Do you ladies mind if I join you?” Drake asked, facing Cynthia and Scarlett.
The other ladies in the living room suddenly realized he was there and turned their attention to him. But when they realized he wanted to talk with Cynthia and Scarlett, the others resumed their conversation.
“You two look rather cozy over here,” he said as he sat down between the two women.
Scarlett was well put together in a flowing teal colored dress with her ample breasts pressed up against the top of the dress. It was impossible for Drake not to pay attention to her breasts when Scarlett was anywhere near him, but the more he got to know her, the more he realized that she was much more than just her boobs. She was a smart, level-headed woman who never seemed to let anything get to her.
Cynthia was Drake’s date for that day, and he was really quite excited about the opportunity. She was going to be a unique date for him and not for the reasons that Samantha or Robert might think. Drake was excited to have a date with Cynthia because of her professed love of being a dominatrix. He had never dated or been involved with a woman who liked that sort of thing, but Drake had secretly been attracted to that lifestyle for a long time.
It wasn’t like you could just come out and tell a woman that you wanted to try some S&M stuff, though. Either a woman was into that stuff or she wasn’t, and if you asked a wo
man who wasn’t into it, they got scared off and didn’t want to talk to you much more. Although, Drake LeBlanc knew that any woman who he told would probably still stick around because of his money. He did genuinely want to talk with a woman who found the S&M lifestyle exciting. He was intrigued by it and couldn’t wait to have a real conversation with Cynthia during their day together.
“We were just talking about your fondness for the gay man,” Cynthia said as she and Scarlett laughed.
“Yes, we like how sexually free you are,” Scarlett added.
Drake couldn’t help laughing at how easygoing both of the women were. They obviously didn’t care if the news was true or not, and that was exactly why he liked them. It didn’t really matter what the truth was, Drake wanted to pick a woman who was sexually free enough to not care about homosexuality.
“Scarlett, how was your day? I’m sorry that I didn’t get much of a chance to talk with everyone yesterday.”
“My day was good; I’ve enjoyed getting to know all the other women,” Scarlett said sweetly.
Cynthia couldn’t help laughing a little.
“You haven’t enjoyed getting to know the other women?” Drake asked.
“No, most of them are way too high-maintenance for me. That’s why I’m over here talking to Scarlett.”
Drake didn’t have to ask for any further explanation, he knew that the women were all very strong-willed and probably a little hard to get along with when they were all cooped up in the house.
“If you don’t mind, Cynthia, I was going to say hello to everyone before we start our date,” Drake said, standing up.
“That’s fine, I’ve got a pretty exhausting day ahead for us, though, you should grab yourself some breakfast,” she said with a wink.
Scarlett gave Drake a raised eyebrow at the news. She knew what Cynthia had planned and thought it was a great idea for Drake to give Cynthia’s lifestyle a try.
“I’m a little afraid now,” Drake added as he walked off to the next group of women.