Page 54 of The Billionaire Player

“I’ll be good. For now. But just remember what’s waiting for you when you get back,” he said.

“As if I could ever forget,” I admitted.

“Good,” he replied and sucked on my earlobe one more time.

As quickly as he was standing next to me, he was gone. The move was so abrupt, I stumbled a little bit but quickly caught myself. JD had moved across the room and I could see he was just as affected by his teasing as I was.

“It could be a while. It might not even be back tonight,” I said.

“I’ll wait.”

His eyes held mine as he spoke, telling me that he wasn’t just talking about waiting for me to be done with the article. There was so much he was saying in those two words and I wanted to know more about it. I wanted to know what he was thinking and feeling, but it was a conversation that I would have with him at another time.

“Good,” I said and then hurried into my room to get dressed before I changed my mind.

Chapter 23

JD

“No. I’m not taking any calls from any reporters,” I said.

“But, Mr. Bennett,” Samantha, one of my hosts, began.

“I mean it. Not a single one. We don’t have a comment, we aren’t going to give a statement. If they continue to pester you, give them the number for Bennett Liquors’ Public Relations Department,” I said.

“Yes, Mr. Bennett,” Samantha said.

I threw open my door and then stopped in the doorway, I put my head down and took a deep breath. Slowly, I turned around to look at Samantha. She was in her early twenties and as sweet and innocent as they come. She didn’t need me yelling at her, nor did I need her saying that I created a hostile work environment and caused yet another scandal. I turned to look at her, plastering a smile on my face.

“Samantha. I’m sorry. I’m not mad at you and I shouldn’t have directed my anger at you. I appreciate you trying to help. Please, be as polite but as forceful as you can with the calls. If they get to be too much, please let me know,” I said.

“Yes. Mr. Bennett,” she said with a nod.

“Thank you.” I turned away from her and into my office, resisting the urge to slam the door.

“Bad day?” Mac asked.

“You don’t think that’s how he normally walks into his office?” Walker asked.

“How the hell did you two get into my office?” I asked.

“The front door,” Mac said.

Walker pointed at it. “Yeah, the one you were about to slam closed,” he said.

“I’m not in the mood for you two,” I said as I sat at my desk.

“Oh, you aren’t. We had no idea. He must be having a bad day? That’s unfortunate, then we’ll just be going,” Mac said and started to get up.

“Shut up. I’m fine. I didn’t need you two coming in and checking up on me,” I said.

“Good. If you’re fine, there’s no need for us to stay,” Walker said.

He and Mac made no move to leave, not that I expected them to. The article on our family had come out the night before and it had been scathing to say the least. I had woken up to a full voicemail box, more text messages than I knew what to do with, and a mob of people outside my apartment complex.

I had turned off my phone and immediately headed to the restaurant. It had taken longer than it should have as there were reporters shouting questions to me along with other people. By the time I got to my office, I had no patience for anyone, not my host and certainly not my brothers.

“Paps has already printed a retraction. Georgia Montague has resigned and Uncle Charlie is pissed and called Dad to personally apologize. He told Dad the article has been taken down and he will find out personally who is responsible. Saying there’s going to be an internal review of exactly what happened and how the article got published,” Mac said.

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