Page 4 of The Billionaire's Obsession

“Honey, I miss you too. I’ll be there soon,” I said into my cell, following the script I’d prepared earlier. No potential boyfriend liked the thought of a woman already being emotionally involved with someone else. I hung up, and grabbed my bag. My only regret was not getting to finish the cheeseburger.

“I’m sorry, something’s come up with my friend. He’s my yoga teacher and he’s just such a special person.”

“Nothing serious, I hope,” Cole said coolly, studying me like someone would a specimen in a lab.

“No, just a groin injury that needs regular massage to take away the pain. I have to lend a hand,” I said, cringing at the words. Why was this so embarrassing this time? Usually, I didn’t care.

Cole’s mouth tilted up in a smirk. “Is that right? Well, I wouldn’t want to keep you from massaging a friend’s groin. You’d best go,” he said.

I stood up, so embarrassed I wished the floor could open up and swallowed me, but there was nothing to do but commit to it now.

“Yes, it’s for the best. It was lovely to meet you. Good luck with, er, business and everything,” I mumbled, surprised that Cole had stood up as well. Standing so close, I had to tilt my head back to see him. The man was a machine, and so hot it should be illegal. He smirked as he looked down at me. He reached out and took my hand again before I could pull away.

“It was lovely to meet you, Ella. I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other again soon,” he said, his huge hand locked around mine. His thumb ran across my palm, which made me jolt slightly. How could such an innocent touch feel so incredible?

“I wouldn’t bet on it. It’s such a huge city,” I said, tugging my hand from his, and edging away. I needed to get out of here before I embarrassed myself any further or lost my cool and confessed all. I was halfway down the stairs, tugging my coat on, face flaming, before I heard his soft words.

“Oh, I would.”

CHAPTER2

Cole

Ella Clarke, the only daughter of Elton Clarke, was nothing like I’d expected her to be.

That was, of course, because the woman who showed up on the blind date wasn’t Ella Clarke at all.

I’d already done my research on her before we met for dinner. While she wasn’t a social media darling, pictures of her existed, and therefore my assistant could prepare me for the meeting. I had no intention of getting married, never mind entering an arranged one, and I didn’t need an old nosy family members setting up dates for me, but Elton Clarke was interesting, and I’d entertained the idea that perhaps I could get to him through his daughter, however briefly. Also, I could admit, the first months in a new city were wearing on me. I was lonely. I’d been lonely before, I was well-suited for it, given my disposition to work all the hours of the day and night, and find little patience for those who didn’t want to talk investments, but I’d decided, against all odds, to go to this dinner with Ella Clarke.

It had been interesting as hell when another woman had shown up in her place.

As I watched her shining cap of red hair moving quickly out of the restaurant, I pulled my cell from my pocket.

“Melanie, I need you to look into someone for me,” I drawled, as the line connected to my assistant.

She sighed in my ear. She’d been with me from the beginning, the only assistant on the floor of the tech start-up I’d got my first position in, who hadn’t been claimed. The other managers had thought she was too old and grumpy. I’d been stuck with her, and together, we had risen through the ranks faster than anyone could have expected.

“Ella Clarke. Why? Do you finally like someone?”

“No, not Ella Clarke. The woman impersonating her, and… perhaps.”

After a year of moving cities, and setting up my company on the West coast, I was looking for a new challenge. The woman who had sat across from me tonight, sweetly lying to my face, had been intriguing as hell. She’d also been funny and smart, not to mention strikingly beautiful. A curl of curiosity that was impossible to ignore stirred in my chest.

“First, find out who she is, where she lives,” I said, signaling for the check, as I stood up. “Find out everything you can. I want to know it all.”

* * *

The next night,I knew I’d have the chance to actually sample the cuisine at The Camelia, seeing as I had an important meeting there. It seemed to be that once a place qualified as a hot spot, you could depend on having to eat there a few times a week until it was pushed off the top spot for somewhere else. In my world, it was a flex to secure a seat at the hottest place in town, and my potential clients and investors knew it.

It was all so tedious and numbing; it made me wonder if there had been any point in moving from New York after all. The scenery might have changed, but my industry and the type of sharks who swam in it hadn’t. Therefore, the view from the window on the East Coast was looking depressingly like that from the West Coast.

I entered that night and headed toward my party, ignoring a call from my uncle as I went. Uncle Charlie was the only family I had left, and he wasn’t keeping well in his old age. He seemed to have set his sights on seeing me marry before he died. Another reason I’d agreed to met Ella Clarke last night was to please him. I wondered what the old, eccentric billionaire would have made of the woman who’d shown up in her place. I knew Uncle Charlie enough to know that he’d have liked her at first sight. My uncle and I were cut from the same cloth, after all.

The first half of dinner droned on. The execs who were hosting the dinner were interested in how Preston Technology might build them an interactive new space for their clients, and blow the competition out of the water. About three minutes in, I knew that my company wouldn’t be doing anything of the kind, considering the condescending way the higher ups referred to the public. I’d just resigned myself to another hour of boredom when I saw her.

Shining red hair that glowed under the low lighting, and creamy, pale skin, dusted with amber freckles. A green dress tonight, velvet and curve-hugging, and my fake ‘Ella’ had curves for days.

She entered the dining room and made for a table just out of my eyeline. I shifted my chair around the table, startling the man droning on next to me to silence.

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