Lazer Focused: A Jet City Billionaire Romance (The Billionaire Matchmaker Series Book 1) Read Free

a move. If he could just screw up his courage. But they know every other guy is watching you, too. That makes any move he makes public. No one wants to be shot down in front of all their peers and look like a fool. It's just too damn risky."
    Her answering smile was radiant. "And you? You're not afraid."
    I shrugged. "This isn't a move. I'm not hitting on you. Just being friendly. And hoping to have a nice chat with a woman who looks like an interesting person."
    "You really do know what to say." She gave me an admiring look.
    I held out my hand. "Lazer Grayson. Welcome to Seattle. New Yorker?"
    She blew out a breath. "Manhattan. But I'm a transplant from the Midwest." She paused. "Don't tell me I've picked up an accent."
    "It's very slight."
    She studied my face in the most flattering way. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Seattle's Hottest Billionaire." She laughed again and slid her hand into mine as her bracelets jingled brightly on her wrist.
    Her touch shouldn't have affected me as much as it did. She wasn't as beautiful as many of the women I'd dated. Or slept with. But there was something magnetic and fun about her.
    "Ashley Harte." She gave my hand a firm shake and released it too soon.
    Going so long without sex was catching up with me. Sex. Sex. Sex!
    "So you've heard of me?" I joked, secretly pleased. People did recognize me. I was a local celebrity. I'd been featured in Forbes, Money , and Inc . But celebrity was a soul-crushing thing. One could never tell who would recognize you and who wouldn't. Even though my buddies teased me about my ego, I never assumed.
    Ashley made a quick, dismissive gesture, almost modestly. "Your reputation precedes you." She paused, still studying me as if I was an exotic animal, and she a huntress.
    I'd seen that look in the eyes of too many women. Sometimes it was a turn-on. Sometimes not, depending on the woman and my appetite at the time.
    "To be fair, it's my business to know all about men like you," she said. "A billionaire in the wild is an exciting sighting. It could make my fortune."
    "Now I'm intrigued. Buy you a drink?" I flagged the bartender without waiting for an answer. I turned to Ashley. "What are you drinking?"
    "Apple craic on ice."
    I hitched my thumb toward her. "One for the lady. And another whiskey for me." I turned back to her. "Apple craic?"
    "The bartender told me it's a specialty of the distillery. They make it from Washington apples. When in Washington State…"
    I nodded, impressed with her choice. Men like women who drink straightforward drinks. Like anything either neat or over ice. If this had been a brewery, or a regular bar, she would have gotten even more points for ordering a beer.
    "I see," I said. "Apple everything. Playing tourist or here on business?"
    "A little of both. This is my first time in Seattle." She hesitated.
    The bartender set two drinks on the bar before us.
    "This is where I ask what you do for a living." I grabbed my glass.
    "That is the usual question." As she wrapped her long-fingered hand around her glass, I caught a whiff of her expensive perfume. Yeah, definitely packed with pheromones. "This is where it gets awkward."
    She was lovely. Perfectly beautiful. Her hands were feminine and graceful. Her nails expensively manicured. And best of all, she was filled with almost childlike delight at our encounter, and doing a good job of holding it at bay. And yet she was anything but naïve.
    "Awkward?"
    She nodded. "Before I tell you, you have to promise you won't run for the hills."
    "Are you a serial killer?" I said, amused. "Do you cut off men's balls for a living?"
    She laughed again. " Worse . I'm a professional matchmaker."
    It took a second for her words to register with me. I leaned away from her automatically. "Damn." I held my fingers up in a cross to ward her off.
    She shook her head and laughed. "See! You just made my point. Men . They're such cowards when it comes to commitment and their own happiness."
    I looked her directly in the