Page 9 of The Billionaire Dating Game

Two weeks later, Alexei hadn’t called her.

Perhaps he’d changed his mind. There was no doubt that after their last meeting he knew exactly who she was, the people she came from, and realized they were way out of each other's leagues. The thought should make her happy…relieved, but all it did was make her stomach hollow.

Empty.

Alexei Popova was the most interesting person she’d met, and his wealth had nothing to do with it. Each time he spoke, or she heard a tickle of an accent when he got angry, Candice wanted to know everything about him – his past, his present, and what he ate for breakfast. He was self-assured where she hid behind a ready smile. That confidence, the way he’d looked at her as if she was his whole world…kissed her with an intensity that curled her toes while his ex glared at them had been Candice’s kryptonite. She’d never felt sexier or more powerful.

The man had even invaded her dreams with determined consistency that made sleep restless and sometimes impossible when she’d woken sweaty and panting. She’d imagined it was his hands on her, parting her slick pussy, and him kissing the droplets of sweat from the quickening pulse along her neck.

She moaned in frustration, hugging her knees to her chest as she stared at Anna’s moving truck parked along the sidewalk.

“I knew I’d find you sitting on the window bench moping.” Anna walked into her room.

“Don’t you knock?”

“Why?” Anna wiggled her brows. “Nothing exciting happens in this room.”

Candice looked away. Anna wasn’t wrong, but that wasn’t because she was a prude or anything; she just wanted more than a slam-bam thank-you-ma’am. Quickies had also been nonexistent with her head often stuck in a textbook. She didn’t regret her lack of a sex life, even on nights she woke horny as hell because messing around could cost her everything—another semester, failing a class—and she literally couldn’t afford either. Becoming fluent in a new language was challenging enough!

“He hasn’t called, has he, and you hate not knowing what happens next?” Anna folded her arms.

“What’s wrong with wanting to know?”

“There is no spontaneity.”

Candice rolled her eyes. She was happy her friend enjoyed life on her terms, but Candice was never that lucky or free. From an early age, her parents told her she’d have to work hard for everything, and they hadn’t been wrong yet. They loved her and supported her every step of the way. She’d been a happy child, content, and never envious of what her friends had.

While her classmates went on vacation, Candice learned to cook with her mother—not to prepare to be somebody's wife—but her mom didn’t want her starving when she went to college. Shopping at the ethnic supermarkets was fun, not a chore, because it was there she learned to stretch a dollar and fall hard for other languages. Each trip she’d learned new words until she was stringing sentences together and bargaining as if Cantonese was her native tongue. There was nothing spontaneous about her childhood, but she’d loved it.

Come to think of it, her few spontaneous acts were because of Anna and none of them had panned out. “Look where being impulsive got me, Anna. Instead of finding a new place to live, I’m here waiting for a man to call like some schoolgirl after experiencing her first kiss.” That wasn’t the best comparison since she was absolutely that girl. She sighed. Blaming Anna wasn’t the solution. All her life she’d taken responsibility for her actions, and now was no different. She may not have initially accepted the Holidate, but in Paris, she’d agreed to Alexei’s terms.

Now he was a drug in her blood, and she hadn’t even sampled him yet.

Her friend was right about one thing though…nothing exciting happened in her bedroom. When her deal with Alexei was over, she vowed to end her dry spell.

Anna sat on the opposite side of the window seat. “On the bright side, it’ll be the easiest money you ever made.”

Candice winced. “I don’t mind hard work, thank you very much.”

“I’m just saying”—Anna flipped her hair over her shoulder—“It wouldn’t be a bad thing if he only wanted you for that one date to make his woman jealous. For all you know they’re back together.”

His woman.

That he’d wanted her solely to make another woman jealous, Candice believed, but she’d seen the way he’d looked at his ex, and that look of loathing didn’t come from a man who forgave easily.

“His lawyer—”

“For men like that, the down payment is pocket change.”

Candice wasn’t so certain. She believed he was capable of carrying out every threat he’d promised.

“Trust me,” Anna said standing, “it’s a good thing he’s forgotten about you.”

“Ouch.”

“I didn’t mean it that way. All I’m saying is that he might be a little dangerous, that’s all.”

Dangerous?Candice glared at her friend, a chill flooding her veins. “What do you mean?”

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