The Billionaire's Pretend Girlf - Leslie North Page 0,5
shouldn’t have liked guys like him. A hint of his cologne reached her—sandalwood and musk, mixed with something that made her ovaries jolt. It was too good. It probably cost a thousand dollars a drop. And maybe it was actually worth that, with how immediately her senses reacted.
“I didn’t mean to snoop. I was passing by when I heard the end of your conversation. And I had an idea.”
Jackie swallowed hard, unable to move her gaze from his face. It seemed wrong to stop looking at such perfection. His straight nose, ice-blue eyes, full lips that wouldn’t possibly be as soft as they looked if she were ever to kiss them…
“What is it?” she forced out.
“You need a place to stay,” he said, though it sounded like a question. “And, I’m not sure if you noticed, but you’re already staying in a place.”
She blinked a few times. “What?”
“You don’t have to leave. I have a guest room. I have four of them, actually. You could pick whichever one you like—or alternate between them, whatever you want.”
She felt her cheeks flaming again. This somehow seemed worse than imposing on any of her friends—one of her clients taking pity on her. “No, no, you don’t have to do that.” Even though if you don’t take him up on that offer, you’ll be sleeping in your car tonight. “I don’t want to intrude on your space. This is your home. I—”
“Jackie.” The way he said her name made a shiver race up her spine. “I promise you. This is fine. I know what it’s like to have things change last-minute. And if you were counting on staying here, and my dumb ass doesn’t tell you about the change of plans…I get it. Let me make it up to you. For coming back early, and for also almost scaring the piss out of you twice in a half hour.”
Jackie fought to hide the smile that threatened to cover her entire face. God, he was too nice. Could someone that handsome also be that nice?
“And besides, here’s the other part. I still need you to stick around for the last half of the original time block I booked you for.” This little detail made something tight inside her finally unclench. “I’m only going to be here for the rest of this week, and then I have to go to Napa for my best friend’s wedding. You saw him—the one who was here earlier. My original plan was to go straight from Seoul to Napa, but I came here instead. After the wedding, I’m heading straight off on another business trip. So we’d only be sharing a kitchen for the next six days, until I leave again for two more weeks. Of course, you’ll be paid for the full month—that was what you agreed to when you accepted the assignment, and it’s not your fault my plans changed.”
Jackie found herself nodding without even realizing. The hard, proud side of her wanted so badly to not take up him on his gracious offer, but the rest of her was dissolving with relief that she could still count on this penthouse for both a home and an income source for the three weeks.
“That sounds perfect,” Jackie said, offering a grin.
Daniel’s grin nearly sent her tumbling to her knees. “Great. It’ll be nice to have someone else around here for a change. I’m a pretty easy roommate. All I do is work and order takeout.”
“Sounds like my kind of time,” she said.
Daniel nodded, and they locked eyes for a long while. Longer than what felt normal.
But it was hard to look away. From the second she’d started coming into his home, she’d been so eager to know more about the man who decorated only in grays, blacks and neutrals. The man whose aquarium spread alone could have funded her entire last year of college. The man who actually included in his house-sitting profile, “Please talk to my fish.”
The man who she could have sworn was flirting with her via the infrequent notes they’d leave behind after house-sitting gigs.
Six days of cohabitating with this man—and then it would go back to business as usual. Which meant that he was going to go be model-grade hot somewhere else, somewhere far away from her, in his life that didn’t include a late-blooming, big hearted, homeless social worker.
There had been enough unprofessional incidents between them in one day to last a lifetime, so she didn’t need to tempt fate anymore by adding a