The Billionaire’s Girlfriend Bet - Leslie North Page 0,10

back on his heels, looking up at her. Her soft face showed concern, and mixed with the spicy vanilla perfume she wore, it was impossible to move away.

“I can call for a tow,” Blake said, finally yanking his gaze off her face. It was too easy to get lost there. “And have my driver bring out another car, but we’ll be late.”

Michelle shook her head. “No. I mean, sure, let’s do all that, but after the event, so we can still get there on time. We can take my car for now. Then when we get back, you can tow it and take care of everything.”

Blake hesitated, unsure how to respond. He’d seen her battered sedan in the driveway. That was not exactly how he’d planned on arriving to the event.

“I don’t know, you shouldn’t be driving to something I invited you to,” he said, trying to figure out another option. Even calling an Uber would be better—but he doubted Michelle would agree to that when her car was already there, and free of charge. He wouldn’t be able to refuse her offer without flat-out admitting that he didn’t want to be seen in a run-down, outdated car.

“It’s no bother at all,” she insisted. “I would have been driving myself there anyway.”

Blake slowly stood, his gaze on her car. It was the simplest solution for getting them there on time.

“Yeah. Let’s take your car.”

“Mr. Blake is coming in our car!” Mollie cheered.

Michelle grinned up at him. “And this time, I’ll be driving.”

Blake was amused by how much enjoyment she seemed to take in that. Maybe it was linked to why she’d specifically asked for him to not bring his driver. It was clear that he and Michelle had very different lives, and came from very different worlds. This wasn’t odd, exactly—the majority of his dating experience was with women who had less money than him. But honestly, most people had less money than him.

Blake was used to showing the women he dated a taste of the finer things in life that were out of the average person’s reach. They enjoyed the luxuries and so did he, so it was a win-win. But Michelle didn’t seem to want the excess of creature comforts.

She wanted to pack her lunch and drive herself. Which practically made her an exotic animal.

One that he was more curious about than he wanted to admit.

4

Two hours later, Blake had basically recovered from the shock of arriving to a work event in a ten-year-old car and was riding high on the joys of watching his employees’ families meeting baseball players and throwing baseballs around.

Of all the excitement around him, there was one thing that kept catching his eye.

And that was Michelle’s smile.

Every time he looked over at her, she was beaming down at her daughter. Mollie was certainly stuck to her side, her shyness out in full force now, but she seemed to be enjoying the general ruckus of watching baseball players autograph baseballs, pose for pictures, and play catch with their families. He watched Michelle joke around a few times with the baseball players she worked with. She got along with them like they were old friends, not new work colleagues.

The woman was a beam of light. She was sexy and soft and subtly sarcastic. And really, he wasn’t minding these dates. Not one bit.

Which reminded him that it was time for his best friends to see how well he was doing with the bet. They thought he’d fall flat on his face if he had to go on more than one date, but Blake was here to prove to them that he would stop at nothing to get DJ Fiesta in his nightclub. He trotted over to Michelle and Mollie, his phone in hand.

“Hey, girls. Let’s get a selfie.”

Mollie jumped at the opportunity, and Michelle pulled her daughter into her side. Blake held out the phone so he could fit them all in the frame, and the three of them made silly faces for the picture.

“Can I see? Can I see?” Mollie hopped up and down at his side, so Blake showed her the picture he’d just taken. She clapped her hands together.

“Mommy, you look so pretty!” Mollie said. Blake grinned, catching Michelle’s eye as a blush stained her cheeks.

“Thanks, sweetie,” Michelle said, smoothing her hand over Mollie’s head. “But not as pretty as you.”

Blake thought it better to keep his mouth shut about how pretty he thought Michelle was, so instead, he said, “Mollie, I