Page 12 of The Billionaire Player

Walker and Morgan had started working together and pretended to date so that it would help Walker’s reputation when he was in the middle of a scandal. Their feelings for each other had grown and they’d been together for over a year.

Mac had started to pretend to date his now wife, Hope, after Lizbeth and I had broken up to take the pressure off of our relationship. It had resulted in Mac and Hope getting together. They had just gotten back from Germany where Hope had been doing some research on a novel she was writing.

“Not really. Having a woman on your arm would keep Lizbeth from trying to get her claws into you. She’s being pretty persistent and if you don’t do something soon, she’s going to say you two are engaged and you’ll be married before you know it,” Mac teased.

“Only in her delusional world,” I muttered.

“A world that’s starting to gain some traction.”

“Thanks for the advice, but I have enough on my plate without finding a woman to pretend to be my girlfriend. In case you forgot, I have a restaurant I’m opening in two weeks. I can’t deal with this on top of everything else.”

“Which is why I suggest we get in front of this before it gets out of hand. You want Lizbeth out of your life, by having another woman in it would accomplish that. Don’t you have a friend, some woman who you haven’t slept with that would be willing to pose as your girlfriend for a couple of weeks?”

In answer, I just glared at him. Mac knew full well I had never had a woman who was a friend.

“What about Rosie?”

“No. First off, she’s an employee and a valuable one. I would never mess up our working relationship by being with her. Second, she’s not into men. Thank you for stopping by, but if you don’t have anything useful to add, can you leave me alone? I have a lot of work to do.”

“Fine, fine. I know when I’m not wanted. But seriously, think about it,” Mac said as he stood.

I gave him a half-hearted wave as he walked out the door. As soon as he was gone, I leaned back in my chair. Lizbeth wasn’t taking any of my hints and certainly didn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. Having Mac with Hope had only fueled her belief that we were meant to be together.

The more I thought about it, the more I thought I might need to do something a bit drastic. I had been too busy with the restaurant to date anyone but it was the one thing I hadn’t tried in order to get Lizbeth out of my life. Was Mac right and that was what I needed to do?

I didn’t want to admit it but he might be onto something. If I did it, I would need a woman who knew that it was only for show. There was no room for actual romance or to think that it would go anywhere. I would need her to see it for what it was, a way to help me out, but I couldn’t see any woman doing that unless there was something in it for her. I could find some woman who was looking to get ahead, make her presence known on social media, but I didn’t want to get involved with another potential Lizbeth.

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, the perfect woman to do it was the last one that I wanted to ask. It annoyed me almost as much as the whole mess that Lizbeth was putting me in.

Chapter 6

Alexandria

“Hello, little sister,” I said.

“Hello, big sister,” my sister, Taylor, said.

It was the same greeting we had given to each other since we were kids. I was five years older than her but we had always been close. My whole family was close. Taylor was in Long Island going to junior college to become a doctor and was busy with school and her boyfriend. It didn’t give her much time to talk to me and the reason that no matter when she called, I always answered.

“How are things?” I asked.

“Good. The semester is almost over and then I’ll have my first decent night's sleep in months.”

“Until you start worrying about the next semester.”

“I’m trying to worry about that when it happens. What I’m more worried about is this new assignment that you’re doing. What is this that I hear you’re investigating a billionaire playboy?” Taylor asked.

She whispered the last word as if she didn’t want anyone around her to overhear, though I wasn’t sure how that was possible. I was sure she was sitting in her room at our parents’ house far enough away from anyone to overhear. She might be wise as our parents did love to know what was going on in our lives, even if we didn’t always want to share it with them.

“Yes, I’ve been given the assignment to do an article on JD Bennett. Or at least I’m trying to see if there’s a story to be told or not,” I admitted.

It was later in the morning and yet the streets of New York were full of people walking about. I didn’t think anyone would really care enough to overhear my conversation or be close to me long enough to understand what I was saying. Still, just to be on the safe side, I ducked down a side street and away from the crowd as I continued towards my destination.

“A story about a very sexy and eligible man,” Taylor said.

“That isn’t what the story is about,” I said.

“You’ve figured it out already?”

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