Page 12 of The Billionaire Love Match

FIVE

Casey balled up anotherchocolate wrapper and tossed it on the coffee table with a moan.

“This is ridiculous,” she said. “Why am I behaving like such a...GIRL.”

Amanda laughed, then covered her mouth as Casey glared. “Sorry. It’s not funny. Yet.”

“You think I’ll laugh about this one day? You’re wrong. I was humiliated on live streaming TV or internet or whatever. I have a hashtag—”

“Two.”

“Ahhh! Two! I’m already a meme! And a gif! I was on Conan, for crying out loud.”

The show had streamed just early enough that clips made their way to several of the late-night shows and news stations.

“That’s a lot to achieve in one day,” Amanda said. “Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“No. I hoped to get some attention so I could get traction with my books. Maybe more followers on social media—”

“You’ve got that too. Numbers just went up again. Once again, though—you should stop hiding your pen name. Or at least connect your accounts so people can find your books. If that’s what you want out of this.”

Casey covered her face with a pillow. “But they aren’t following me because I’m a writer. Honestly, I don’t even know why they are. All I did was faint on live TV and not get picked by a billionaire to be on a dating show. Why did this go so crazy?”

Amanda grinned. “For starters, you looked amazing.”

“Thanks to you.”

“Thank you. Side note: when you’re out of your slump how about give my YouTube channel some love on Twitter? You could just mention who did your makeup. I’d love to cash in on your fifteen minutes. I mean—if you don’t mind.”

“Whatever. Might as well get something out of it. Still—why are people being so insane?”

Amanda shrugged. “Honestly, I think people love a good story with some drama. You looked as beautiful as those other women, but you are the only one who seemed human. People fell for the girl next door tonight as you were falling into Mr. Billionaire’s arms.”

Casey buried her face in the pillow again. “Don’t mention his arms.”

“So explain this to me—what exactly happened in that bathroom with Colt to get you so worked up? I’ve never seen you like this. You kissed him in a bathroom. Big deal. What’s so special about him?”

Casey let the pillow drop as she thought about it again: the banter with Colt in the bathroom, that mind blowing kiss, seeing him get decked by Lucas, and the sense she got that he was trying to tell her something all night with his eyes once filming started. It was stupid. Her emotions were more intense because of Lucas and seeing that dark side to him. She shuddered thinking about it. She really didn’t know how violent he was until that moment and hoped she could never see him again.

“Penny for those thoughts? Maybe a half dollar? They look heavy.”

Casey brushed her bangs from her eyes. “I don’t know that I can explain it. It’s totally stupid. I don’t believe you can really fall for someone fast like that. You know I make fun of people who talk about love at first sight. The whole situation—Lucas, the show, my class act fainting—it just intensified a physical chemistry we had when we kissed. That’s probably it.”

Amanda cocked her head. “Is it? Because you’ve never acted like this and I’ve known you for six years now.”

“Yeah, well, you also tell me I’m a terrible judge of character. So the fact that I wanted him to pick me just means I should be glad he didn’t.”

“Maybe.”

“You’re just seeing all the zeroes following his name.”

“Shut up. You know that’s not me any more than it’s not you. Every other woman on that stage had dollar signs in their eyes. You could see it.”

Casey tossed the pillow at the TV. “Let’s watch it again.”

“You want to watch yourself pass out again? How many times are we going to do this?”

“I don’t know.”

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