MATCHMAKER (A Billionaire Bad Boy Romance) Read Free

Ricky.”
    “It’s just weird, is all.”
    “You’ve said that. Weird and very lucrative.” And it was fun. She’d never been in a place like his office, all sleek steel and glass and leather. She’d have the opportunity to go to his house and attend a party with Hollywood A-listers and people with more money than God. While she was there, she’d be making fifty dollars an hour, an incomprehensible sum. Why did Ricky have to shit on everything good?
    She tried to derail him. “What are you working on?”
    “Nothing. It’s not ready for anyone to see it.” His stock answer, and she wondered what he really did in there all day. Sometimes, when he was out, she’d sneak in and peek. There were tons of unfinished canvases, all of them with the potential to be really strong pieces. She’d tried encouraging him, helping him, but he didn’t want it. When he was ready, he’d get over the fear, and not a minute before then.
    “Okay. I’m going to bed.” She braced herself for his protest, but he went back to Halo and she stole away.
    She pulled the dress off and hung it carefully, marveling at the pretty sleekness of it. It cost fourteen hours of work at her new rate. The very idea of it made her dizzy. She pulled on her favorite purple pajama pants and one of Ricky’s old t-shirts. She listened to the sounds of the game from the living room and wondered if they’d cover the sound of her vibrator. It wasn’t like she wasn’t allowed to masturbate, but she could only imagine the fight they’d have if she didn’t want to have sex with him but did with herself.
    It was worth the risk. She brushed her teeth and washed her face before slipping into bed and turning the vibrator onto its lowest setting. She let her mind roam.
    The huge glass topped desk in Sterling’s office, the city laid out before them… She imagined herself sprawled across it, completely naked, the seven-hundred-dollar dress crumpled on the floor.
    She imagined Sterling standing over her, pants around his knees.
    She spread her legs for him, and he slid into her like a hot knife into warm butter.
    Cherise came on her vibrator much harder than she usually did, her heart pounding and breath creeping out of her in hot gasps. Feeling guilty, she glanced at the door, but the sounds of the video games continued.
     

STERLING
    Sterling sifted through the six pages Cherise presented to him. Each held a large photograph of a woman with several smaller photos.
    He ran his eyes over each page, took one—a red-headed woman who was full figured. She had a nice face and beautiful eyes, but…
    He ripped the page up.
    “Nice work,” he told Cherise, meaning it. He pointed to a photo of a smiling blonde woman. “She’s my favorite. See if you can get her.”
    Her pictures showed her in a tight dress with less attractive girlfriends by her side, all of them holding fruity-looking cocktails; her on a bicycle somewhere upstate; standing in a sarong on a beach at sunset; and her sitting on a rock by the ocean, her knees drawn up to her chest.
    Yes, she would do just fine. Any of them would, really.
    He stole a glance at Cherise. She stared intently at her laptop as she sent messages to each of the perspective candidates. She bit her full bottom lip as she concentrated, and watching her made his pants fit funny.
    Well, at least his new girlfriend/fiancée/wife would be someone to have sex with. He thought about going out and trying to pick someone up or, even lazier, using one of the agencies in town. But he supposed since those days were rapidly coming to an end, he might as well stop now. Damn Ben Bachmann. He loved the man like a father—more than his father, perhaps—but this stipulation hurt. It shone a spotlight into parts of Sterling that he preferred to ignore.
    He checked his watch. He was meeting Evan at three, and they were going to take the helicopter upstate to go rock climbing for a bit.
    “I’m sorry. Am I boring you?” Cherise’s accent