Page 13 of The Billionaire Player

“No. I originally thought it would be about a spoiled billionaire playboy who only opened up a restaurant because he was bored and needed a new place to pick up women. I was going for the angle about how he’s bringing the restaurant industry down by his ways and he doesn’t care about helping anyone but himself.”

“Is that what you’re going to write?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t figured him out yet. Whatever I do the story on, it isn’t going to be about how good looking he is.”

“You admit he’s good looking. What is he like? Is he nice? Is he as sexy in person as he is in his pictures? Do you just swoon when you see him?”

“There’s no swooning going on. At least not by me.” She wasn’t very far off. There was a certain feeling I got whenever I saw him though I wouldn’t call it that.

“You like him. I can hear it in your voice.”

“I’m going to be doing a story on him. There’s nothing that’s going to go on. It wouldn’t be right. Would it?”

“You’re asking me?”

I realized I was. I kept telling myself that I shouldn’t even think about getting involved with JD Bennett but that was all I could think about when it came to him. I was almost glad Taylor had called because I knew she would tell me that there was no way that I could.

With the one conversation JD and I had, I had felt the chemistry between us. So much so, that I had stayed away for a few days, hoping that it would go away. I took my time to do more research, making sure I had as much information about him as I could before I talked to him again. And I would talk to him again.

“The story sounds amazing and needs to be written. There are some rich kids even at my college who are just there to pick up women and party. It’s annoying and it takes away from the people who want to be there. I know Dad would love for you to write an exposé that pulls the curtain back on people who have too much money and no brains or business opening up a restaurant. You wouldn’t be sticking it to the man who took over ours but it would be a good start,” Taylor said.

When my parent’s restaurant went out of business, the spot had immediately been bought up by a billionaire restaurant developer who had put a chain restaurant in its place. It had taken all the ambiance and joy out of the location. It did well, but we were sure it was because he kept advertising specials and drawing in a young college crowd, not because there was quality food. Our father hated seeing his old restaurant space being used like that and even went as far as to not drive down that street if he could help it.

“He isn’t the same man who took over Maria’s.”

“I know that and Dad will know that, but it’s the institute as a whole. They think they can just throw money at a problem and fix it. Is JD like that?”

“Not that I can tell. He actually seems to know what he’s doing and might actually be successful,” I admitted.

“Which makes you feel better about liking him but doesn’t help you decide what you should do.”

“Exactly,” I said.

“You’ll do your job. You love being a journalist and you wouldn’t let anything, not even some guy you’re interested in, and don’t try to tell me you aren’t interested in him, get in the way. Especially that. If you need to flirt with him a little bit to get him to open up to you, then do it. If it leads to something more, then you need to address that when it happens. I can’t see you getting involved with him until the article is finished. If after it’s written and you’re still attracted to him and he still wants to talk to you, then you can go from there.”

“You think my article will be that damaging?” I asked.

“I have no idea. I can’t see him wanting to get involved with a woman who writes a damaging article about him. You may not. He might be on the up and up. You don’t know.

“You need to see what you can find first and go from there. If it’s damaging, then let him know. Give him an opportunity to defend himself, which I’m sure you would do no matter who they were. You’ve always been fair about everything and you will be the same with this article. I’m sure you know that already and you only want me to tell you what you wanted to hear.

“If it turns out he’s a good owner and not just doing it because he can or he’s bored or wants to impress a girl, then write that. By the way you’re talking about him, you believe he might be, or you’re hoping he is because that would make it easier to like him, but not so easy to write your article.”

“I will go wherever the story takes me. There are a lot of holes in his history and his life and I need to figure that out. Is he hiding something, protecting someone, or what?”

“Protecting? What makes you say that?”

“It’s in the way he talks about his family. The look he gets on his face, like he wants to say something but also that he doesn’t, if that makes sense. He’s someone who cares deeply about his family and is very protective of them. There are rumors that the whole family is when it comes to his sister. There might be something there but I can’t find anything in my research. I need to talk to him”

“So, talk to him,” Taylor said.

“He kicked me out of his restaurant and I’ve spent the last two days doing research and trying to find a way to get him to talk to me.”

“You could post a bunch of crap about him on social media. it seems to be working for his ex, Lizbeth.”

“That isn’t me and will never be me. I’ve decided I just need to suck it up and go and talk to him. See if he’ll at least hear me out.”

“Then what are you waiting for?”

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