Page 21 of Billion-Dollar Dating Game

But he’d torment her in other ways. He’d spar with her. Provoke her. Because when he didn’t hold back, she bit.That’show she was different now. She wasn’t silently watching any more. She snapped back. He wanted more and that hecouldhave. Hell, maybe he’d even provoke her sensuality—just a little. But even so, what little honour remained in him dictated he be honest about his intentions regarding Helberg. He’d told her up front that her plan was going to fail. Apparently that wasn’t going to stop her from trying. Though if she thought he was going to sit around waiting for her summons, she had another thing coming.

Zane didn’t wait for anyone any more. Certainly not Skylar Bennet. He’d done that once before, and he wasn’t being burned by her again.

He cleared his schedule, cancelled meetings and postponed delivery dates for reports from his stunned underlings.

At nine on Monday morning, Zane deMarco walked through the atrium of Helberg Holdings and threw the blinking receptionist a wide smile.

‘I’m here to see Skylar Bennet,’ he said suavely. ‘She’s expecting me.’

Skylar’s jaw ached from gritting her teeth so hard in the ten seconds it took for the elevator to take her from the fifth floor down to the atrium.

He was here. Unexpected. Uninvited. Wasn’t that just typical of the man, to try to throw her off her game?

She was already off. She’d barely slept in the last forty-eight hours as she’d struggled to process what she’d done with Zane. And the only regret she could summon was that it had been only the once.

She was angrier than ever with him. Why him? Whyonlyhim? It was a chemical catastrophe. Why hadn’t she met anyone else she wanted any of that with? It was horrifically unfair.

Because it had been so, so good and it was all she could think about. The delicious aches in her body reminded her with every step of the intimacy, and heaven help her, all she wanted was a repeat. Withhim. Which was appalling. She hated him. They were polar opposites and they wanted wildly different things. And she’d gone her whole life without needing sex so why did she have all these nymphomaniac urges now?

Because it had been so, so good.

But after that shocking conversation when he’d told her about thatbet, he’d politely led her back to that immaculate bedroom with its enormous beautiful bed. That she’d not slept a wink in. The next morning, he’d offered her a stunning breakfast of French pastries and fruit. She’d opted for black coffee. He’d stuck by her side all the way back to Manhattan and she’d struggled to stay calm the entire time. Her nervous system was caught in a cycle of chaos. It was the most appalling attraction. But thank goodness she’d had enough nous to block any idea of them sleeping together again, becauseheclearly wasn’t interested in anything more than her ‘help’ in winning that ridiculous bet. She shouldn’t have offered to assist him. She should’ve left him to stew in his mess. She should tell that magazine about their outrageousness and humiliate them all.

The problem was Helberg. It was more than her job—it was her whole life. Yes, as a student, it had been her safe place—she’d interned in the various departments during her varsity holidays. Then she’d come to live and work full-time in Manhattan. She’d workedhard. Her father had been so proud and she’d begun saving to get him into a better home—because he’d worked hard for her for years. She’d slowly got to know some colleagues, cared about them. And she’d kept working hard—because that’s what you had to do to remain valued. Needed. Wanted.

When her father had passed, she’d buried herself deeper in her work. It was what he’d have wanted. He’d be devastated to see the company go under. She had nothing much outside of it. So she had to stop it from happening. And Zane was her one and only access point to the elite power brokers.

She spotted him the second the elevator doors slid open. Hard to miss him given he was leaning against the pillar opposite and looking appallingly gorgeous. Apparently he’d slept well, given he was such a vision of vitality. That charming smile curved his lips but the ice blue eyes were sharp. Her nerves tightened. Her lower belly basically burst into flames.

She gritted her teeth harder, feeling as if she’d just run down the twenty flights of stairs instead of taking the lift. It took everything to keep her chin up and her gaze locked on him as she walked over.

‘What are you doing here?’ she asked through a forced smile, aware that everyone in the atrium was watching.

He straightened and stepped closer, staring right into her eyes, and his smile deepened in intimacy. ‘You promised to show meeverything.’

Skylar stalled, needing a second to snatch a breath. His ability to imply innuendo in every other comment was impressive. And annoying. Because for all that huskiness, he didn’t mean it. He truly was a one-date wonder.

‘I told you I’d text you a suitable time,’ she said crisply.

‘I didn’t get where I am today by waiting—’

‘No,’ she interrupted firmly. ‘You just turn up whenyoulike and take whatyouwant.’

He cocked his head ever so slightly and that arrogant charm lit his eyes, but she was determined not to be swayed by it.

‘I apologise for misunderstanding.’ His smile was shamelesslyunapologetic. ‘Naturally I assumed you’d mean first thing Monday morning given saving Helberg from my evil plans is surely your highest priority.’

‘Right.’

He leaned close—too close—and dropped his voice even lower. ‘Saturday night for our date, by the way. I’ll pick you up from your apartment. I have the address locked in.’

Skylar was aware of the receptionist hovering—watching, listening—and the other people in the atrium all not-so-surreptitiously staring. She needed to get him somewhere private because he was putting on a show. She just needed to remember that itwasa show and there was no need for her body to react as if his flirtations were real.

‘Of course.’ She held her stance and smiled super politely. ‘If you’ll follow me.’

‘Gladly,’ he said so meekly that she just glared at him.

He remained silent in the elevator while she was too steamed to speak. She briskly walked to one of the meeting rooms on the executive floor. A million people milled in the corridor. Yes, word was out and everyone was out to see for themselves that Zane deMarco was here. And definitely wondering why. Hopefully her boss wasn’t going to ask any difficult questions later. The perils of her plan presented themselves in rapid succession. She would never show Zane anything commercially sensitive—never jeopardise her own career or Helberg’s reputation. Plus regulatory bodies might get involved—their bet was dodgy enough, surely?

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