Page 54 of The Billionaire Love Match

Colt gave her a tight nod and seemed to relax a tiny bit.

Casey went on. “Let’s up the ante. I’ll spend an hour with this fool on camera in exchange for three hours off camera with Colt, not two. And Colt chooses the restaurant. Final offer.”

Chris Haversham sputtered. “You don’t get to make deals.”

“We’ll see,” Casey said.

Production paused for a few minutes while the crew talked to Chris, one of them on a phone. To whom? She wondered. Who was the man behind the curtain of the show?

Colt looked ticked. She knew he wanted to protect her. But before this whole crazy train screeched to a halt, she needed to know if any of it was real. That alone time with him was the only way. She still didn’t know if it would work. But she had to know. In a little over a week, the show ended. What would be next?

Lucas alternated between a sick grin facing her and whispering things to Colt that she knew had to be picked up by the mics, but would likely never make it on the show. She knew what he was doing. She had watched him do it before. He was lighting Colt up. Instigating him. Trying to pick a fight.

“Colt,” she called across the pool. “I like Italian. And I’ll wear my boots.” She grinned and gave him her best flirty look. Look at me, don’t listen to him.

N-O-T W-O-R-T-H I-T, she tapped out on her elbow, her arms crossed over her chest.

S-A-Y N-O, he said back.

C-A-N-T

She giggled. They were having a silent fight using Morse code in the middle of a TV production, with no one the wiser.

Lucas now looked ticked, seeing he hadn’t rattled Colt or her.

But it was the best acting of her life. The only thing that kept her knees from buckling was the knowledge that the cameras and crew would be there. They would not be alone.

And maybe, if Lucas happened to fly into a rage, she could get a restraining order.

****

COLT USED EVERY OUNCEof his control to keep his feet rooted in place, his hands by his sides. Whenever they formed fists, he breathed in and thought of Casey. He didn’t want her doing this for him. But she was. The least he could do was not give this guy the satisfaction he so clearly wanted.

“You think a few weeks of reality TV will win Casey?” Lucas had been speaking in whispers for a few minutes, testing him. Trying to find the weak spots. “She’s looking for fame, not you. Just your money so she can get out of her broke down apartment. She’ll be gone before you know it. And you know where she’ll be.”

“That so?”

“I’m saving you, man. You should be grateful. This girl is so filthy that you won’t need to just wash your sheets, but burn down your house. She’s feral. And well-worn, if you know what I mean.”

Spending the last ten minutes next to Lucas made his heart hurt for Casey. What kinds of words had Lucas spoken to her? She’d mentioned that he wasn’t so bad when they were dating, but Colt couldn’t imagine Lucas cleaning himself up that much. If he was this emotional manipulative and abusive, she had likely escaped before things got physical. This guy had an impressive degree of control, more than Colt would have thought after the bathroom incident. But when he blew, he blew.

“You can’t seem to get enough,” Colt said. “You’re here, right? What’s that say about you?”

Lucas laughed, the sound like a warning. “Oh, me and Casey are meant to be together. I like dirty. And man, is she—”

Chris Haversham saved him. Which was maybe the first time that could ever be said about the toupeed host.

“Well, Casey. We have thought about this offer.” Dramatic pause. Colt wanted to roll his eyes, but fixed them instead on Casey.

She was so still. Like an animal that chose to freeze instead of fight or flight. Though she had fought, and her words moments earlier had filled him with—

Love. That’s the word he wanted to use. The one his subconscious dragged up for the very first time in his life.

He loved her.

How, he did not know. Since their time alone consisted of a stolen bathroom kiss and fistfight. Morse code messages hidden in plain sight.

But he could see her, the way she held herself under pressure. She had sweetness and vulnerability, but a raw strength she wasn’t afraid to use. Casey was smart, kind, and funny. And had a beauty that had stopped him in his tracks the very first moment he saw her.

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