Page 6 of The Billionaire Dating Game

“If you’ll excuse us, Jasmine,” he said.

Jasmine cleared her throat.

Damn, Candice had forgotten about his ex.

“Zv?ljnitisya v?d nyeyi, Alexei,” Jasmine said in Ukrainian. “I want to talk to you alone.”

Candice bristled at the woman’s rudeness. It was bad enough she ordered Alexei to send her away, but to do so in another language was meant as a blatant jab toward Candice. Let them believe she didn’t understand. She untangled herself from Alexei. Playing their little game wasn’t fun anymore and his nearness was wreaking havoc on her nerves.

“Where are you going?”

“Don’t you want…” She looked between the two of them. Jasmine was giving clear ‘fuck-off’ vibes.

“Do not leave my side.”

And just like that, his playfulness vanished and he was back to growling warnings that made her insides purr. She didn’t do dominant men…did she?

One weekend, Candice.She could last that long.

“We have nothing to say to each other that my lawyers can’t take care of.” Then he dragged Candice away from a very pissed-off Jasmine.

When they were far enough away, she whispered, “Is this why you bought this expensive dress and flew me to Paris…to get back at your ex?”

“To be clear, I didn’t buy you anything.”

She swallowed. “I already apologized for not—”

“You didn’t, but not to worry. My lawyer will make sure you and your friend repay every cent you owe me.”

“What!” Her knees buckled. His grip tightened. She couldn’t pay him back. That would take at least three jobs over the next two years or more. “Look, it’s one weekend. Can’t I just do the job and I don’t know…you could never hire Anna again?” While this wasn’t her crowd and she wasn’t nearly as graceful and seamless as her roommate was around wealthy people, so far, it wasn’t so bad. She had managed to smear muck on Jasmine’s face. That had to count for something.

“Did you think that deposit was for an evening?” Came his rhetorical question. “As nice looking as your friend is, she is not worth that much to me.”

Candice had a sinking feeling this man was about to deliver a blow of his own.

“That deposit was for an entire summer.”

“The whole s-s-summer…” she stammered. Was he serious?

This was a mistake. A mistake she had to get out of.

“Welcome to team Alexei.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Alexei

Saturday

“Mr. Popova,” his driver said the moment Alexei answered his phone. “Your lady is heading toward a taxi. Would you like me to stop her?”

He knew the moment she’d checked out of her suite at the hotel. He’d anticipated the move when her eyes had widened upon finding out he’d hired her to accompany him on all his social events this summer – especially the gatherings meant to rattle Dalyi Enterprises and its dwindling investors. Investors who had hung him out to dry when Jasmine and her father publicly cast doubts on his reputation, and now they wanted him back. Too bloody bad.

“No,” he said to Andrew. “Follow her, pay the fare, and bring her to my room.”

“Yes, sir.”

After disconnecting the call, he faced the lawyer handling his UK affairs in the small office space of his hotel room. Ten years into investing in start-ups in America, Alexei, his brother Dmitri, and sister Katya all agreed to invest internationally. Besides moving to Wheelcaster over nineteen years ago, it was the smartest thing they’d done. When the American tabloids had taken a frenzy to the allegations of him being connected to arson, his international investment barely took a hit.

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