Page 64 of Undercover Billionaire

Kelsey breathed a sigh of relief as Ari took his coffee, bade everyone goodbye and left. Seeing her mother walk in on his arm had been a real punch to the gut. Kelsey knew he was just assisting her, but they were laughing and chatting like old friends and she’d felt a sudden spike of jealousy at their ease with each other.

She still felt awkward around him, a squall of feelings descending upon her every time he was near. Hot and itchy. Angry and sad. And so damn horny she could barely see straight.

Honestly, the man oozed sex wherever he existed and it was getting harder to deny just how much she wanted to tear his clothes off.

He’d handed over another paper umbrella and smiled at her as he’d left like he knewexactlyhow horny she was, and that made her even itchier. She tossed the umbrella in the rubbish but Janice, as per usual, fished it out. Apparently, her boss had taken a liking to kitschy crap if the number of umbrellas taped to things in the café was any indication.

Janice sighed as they all watched Ari cross the road and greet three men. ‘If you don’t say yes to that man, I will.’

Three other women in the café said, ‘Me too,’ in unison.

‘And me,’ her mother agreed, chiming in just after.

Hermother. ‘What the hell, Mum?’

‘What? I’m notthatblind. And besides… I like him.’

Kelsey shoved her hands on her hips. ‘You liked Eric.’

Her mother opened her mouth to reply but Janice got in ahead of her. ‘Honey, it’s not like you’ve got any money the man can steal.’

Kelsey’s jaw clenched. She loved living in Pelican Cove, but the disadvantages of being in a small town – like everybody knowing your business – were sometimes glaring.

‘Hell, that man doesn’t need to steal money,’ one of the customers piped up. ‘He’s been throwing it around ever since he got here.’

Yes, he bloody well had.

Red lashed Kelsey’s vision. Okay.Enough. This had to end. She whipped her apron off, snatched up the cocktail umbrella and said, ‘I’m taking five.’

No one stopped her; in fact, nobody said anything, but Kelsey knew without having to look there’d be several noses pressed to the window of the café as she stalked across the road to the beach.

‘Ari,’ Kelsey snapped as her feet hit the sand, and she stomped towards the four men standing in a huddle about ten metres from the old jetty. They were peering at what appeared to be architectural plans, but all four heads turned in her direction.

Kelsey wasn’t concerned that three guys she’d never seen in her life were going to be bystanders to her fury, but she did make a mental note not to kill Ari in front of witnesses.

‘Kelsey?’

Ari excused himself from the group and met her halfway. At least with the wind blowing in from the ocean, his companions might not hear the half dozen F words that were already forming on her tongue. Her mother and everyone at the Pelican’s Belly behind her, however, would hear them loud and clear.

‘Stop it,’ she hissed at Ari as he drew to a halt. ‘Just stop it.’

The wind whipped her hair back and plastered her T-shirt against her breasts and, as suspected, snatched her words away. He heard them though; she could tell from the set of his jaw.

‘Kelsey.’

His voice was calm and reasoned and the itch under her skin intensified. He looked so goddamncool. But also really freaking hot in his standard Pelican Bayuniformof board shorts and T-shirt – fitting him in all the right places.

She wanted to push him down in the sand andimpaleherself on him.Jesus.Her hormones were out of control.

‘Stuff like this doesn’t happen to women like me,’ she said, lowering her voice as far as she could and still be heard over the noise of the wind.

He cocked an eyebrow. ‘Stuff like what?’

‘Like Greek billionaires moving into caravan parks for me. I don’tfitin to your world, Ari.’

‘When we were in Mykonos, you said you could live there.’

Kelsey blinked. Was he mad? ‘It waswishful thinking.’ She yelled this time but… Jesus, was he serious? She’d never in a million years have thought it was possible. ‘It was afantasy. Wishing for something and having it actually come true are two very different things.’

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