Page 5 of The Billionaire Love Match

The thought made his stomach turn. He groaned.

“Your face, darling? Do you need some pain relievers?” she asked.

He nodded. The pain in his face was nothing compared to the twisting of his insides when he thought about what he was giving up for this chance. Colt hoped the sacrifice was worth it.

The pain in his face certainly was.

He replayed again in his mind the beautiful girl in the men’s restroom and the kiss that had sent adrenaline rushing through him before her psycho ex even walked through the door. She was definitely worth chasing down. Though her ex seemed genuinely scary.

“Hey, Mike,” he said quietly to the bodyguard who was standing beside the couch. With few people he could really trust, Mike was the one Colt often turned to when he needed something. His mother was talking to one of the production assistants and out of earshot. “Can you make sure that we press charges against that guy? Keep it on the down low if at all possible. I don’t want it in the papers, but I’d love to talk to legal about making sure he gets jail time. Or something to keep him away from...her. Speaking of—can you also try to find her? Her name?”

Mike nodded and left the room quietly, sending the other bodyguard, Hector, in his place.

It was just a kiss. Not that he did a lot of kissing. His relationships were basically limited to first dates with women he hoped never to see again and one long-term relationship in high school. Lame.

Maybe it was for lack of comparison that the kiss was so...incredible. But no—he knew it was more. There was something about her. Even before she had grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him in, he had been drawn to her. Her blond hair had been pulled up at the back of her neck, but she had one piece that hung over her eye that she kept pushing back with her hand. He wanted to reach out and tuck it behind her ear himself. She was petite—probably a foot shorter than he was even in her boots. Boots. He smiled just thinking about the nickname, which he hadn’t meant to give her. But it was perfect. He’d never had a thing for cowgirls or country, but she looked amazing in a dress with boots. Different. Beautiful.

Maybe it was all the differences that drew him in. She didn’t seem to have a clue who he was. She looked nothing like the other girls in LA. And then there was the whole shock of finding her in the men’s bathroom and the kiss. It was forward, but somehow not at all aggressive. Not the way so many women he’d dated had tried to make a first, desperate move.

What if she was here for the show?

His mother had given him the list of girls he was to choose. She had just handed him a paper with photos and names of the women she had chosen for him. He scanned it again, but the girl from the bathroom was not on there. He was both disappointed and relieved.

If she had been on the list, he wouldn’t have called her name, whether his mother said to or not. The last thing he wanted was a woman he actually had feelings for to be caught in his mother’s web. Even though the moment in the bathroom had been brief, he did have feelings. Something real. Hopefully Mike could track her down.

And if she was one of the contestants—or Potential Love Matches—what did that say about her? Who actually went on those shows by choice?

She must be money-hungry or fame-hungry, though the fact that she didn’t recognize him meant that was unlikely. Unless she was an actress, which was also highly feasible. He wouldn’t put it past his mother to hire actresses so she could control the narrative even more. Hopefully he wouldn’t see her in the group of thirty that he would meet momentarily. Though his heart sped up at the thought of seeing her again.

“Colt,” his mother said. “It’s time.” She held out her hand.

All the happy thoughts of the mystery girl disappeared. He felt like he was walking to a sentencing rather than to a stage where he would be picking the top fifteen women from a group of qualified—which he assumed meant attractive—Potential Love Matches. Everything from the name of the show to the terms it used sickened him. He didn’t have a lot of faith in love, but he hated seeing it cheapened like this: made into a spectacle that had more to do with ratings than anything else.

He had seen these kinds of shows from behind the scenes and how they could wreck a person’s whole life. If you were lucky, it would only be fifteen minutes. But sometimes it seemed that these kinds of shows stuck with people like a dark fog they couldn’t escape. He had a few actor friends who had been involved in some scandal—real or not—that tanked their careers.

Colt felt guilty thinking of the women he would be choosing. He had the benefit of money and Hollywood royalty to hide behind. And he was used to seeing lies plastered about himself all over the tabloids, who chose to think of him as a bad boy or playboy or both, though he was much more of a nerd when it came down to it. Often he wondered if his mother fed the vultures stories about him because it worked better for BeaconWood to have him in the press, even if it was bad press. He was used to it and didn’t care anymore what people thought about him.

Hair and makeup gave him a last once-over. He winced when they got near his eye and chin. When they were done with touch-ups, he followed his mother and several production assistants with headphones down the hall toward the stage. He could hear the voice of the host Chris Haversham and faint cheers from the room as they neared the side of the stage.

“We’re spinning your face as a protective thing,” his mother whispered to him before he left the darkness for the lights of the stage. “Just go along with Chris.”

Colt nodded. He was used to going along with his mother, even if he hated himself for it. But he hoped all of that would change as soon as he could escape this blasted show. Maybe he could escape with his movie studio, then track down the girl and have it all, none of his mother’s strings attached.

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