BILLIONAIRE FOR KEEPS: Book 3 (Point St. Claire, where true love finds a way) Read Free Page A

Holding back had been so worth the looks Griffin had slid her way from the stage while dozens of eager women had kept the offers flying.
    When the hammer had come down, a determined cougar from Denver sashayed up in her slinky silver evening gown and, coiling her arms around Griffin’s neck, had planted a full-on kiss smack on the mouth. Vanessa had laughed along with the rest. Funny, right? The winner had let everyone know she planned to get her money’s worth. And while the media didn’t paint Griffin as a playboy, nor was he known for his halo.
    Good luck to them both. She didn’t exactly plan on seeing ‘the man of the moment’ again anytime soon.
    But Griffin had other plans.
    Wednesday the following week, her VP, Jacinta Burrows, had knocked on Vanessa’s office door.
    “Delivery for you in Reception.”
    Vanessa had glanced up from a sketch she’d been agonizing over for hours. Her new designer’s vision for the fall didn’t convince her. It failed to convey VeeTee Fashion ’s mission, which was not to suck up to society’s crazy pants ideal of ‘normal’ and/or ‘beauty’.
    She and the designer had a meeting in ten minutes to figure out ‘where to from here’. So, “Unless it’s urgent―”
    “Yeah. You need to come see this now.”
    Vanessa set her pencil aside and flexed her fingers while the other woman leaned against the doorjamb, arms crossed. “Jace? You’re grinning like the time you discovered inca berry chilli chocolate.”
    “This is something just as special.”
    Vanessa wandered out. The delivery man held a saddle―the kind that belonged on a horse. A blue saddle encrusted with rhinestones and other ‘jewels’.
    Jace stood beside her boss, eyebrow cocked. “This makes sense to you, right?”
    Grinning from ear to ear, Vanessa was already reading an attached personal note written in strong sweeping strokes.
    I don’t give in .
    She laughed and nodded. “It makes perfect sense.”
    Back in the office, with the saddle glittering away on top of her desk, Vanessa tracked down Griffin’s business number.
    “I owe you a silver dollar,” she said when he picked up.
    A sexy chuckle rolled down the line. “Sorry. The price has gone up.”
    She sat back and grinned. “Because the saddle’s bigger?”
    “Uh-huh. Everyone’s grown up, including your pony with the long blue tail.”
    “Hate to tell you, but I don’t have that horse anymore.”
    “You don’t, huh?”
    “It’s a really nice thought though.”
    “I have another one.”
    “Another saddle?”
    “Another thought. You and I going out to grab something to eat.”
    Vanessa’s stomach filled with butterflies a heartbeat before she winced. There were those sketches, that meeting, the fact that she had a mountain of work to get through by Monday…
    “Casual,” he said. “Oysters and cocktails.” A pause. “You like oysters?”
    “I love oysters.”
    She imagined his smile, slow and on the brink of satisfied.
    “Later, a comedy show,” he said, “followed by lobster rolls and live music.”
    Vanessa dropped her forehead to the desk. Since that auction night, she’d thought about Griffin and his sultry brand of charm more than once. She’d imagined the next time they might meet. Her father must have his successful mentee over from time to time. But right now.
    “I seriously have a hundred hours to get through before the week’s done.”
    “Trust me. The work never goes away.”
    She was shaking her head. Griffin had called it himself. Vanessa Toomey was a person who got things done. That meant putting effort first every time.
    But then the saddle caught her eye again…all that bling and planning and absolute cuteness. And an image popped into her head―an eleven-year-old boy searching day and night through the sand dunes.
    I don’t give in.
    *
    Griffin arrived at her door that night wearing jeans and a pale blue shirt rolled up at the cuffs, unbuttoned at the throat. Standing on her porch, with the