Billionaire Bear's Nanny - Alicia Banks Page 0,16

the same direction as Rio with a knowing smile on his face.

“Don’t let your wife hear you say that,” Rio replied, still staring at Pearl. “Plus, it’s nothing but lust.”

“Nah, mate,” Jake said. “For bears, there ain’t no such thing as lust. If you feel so strongly about her and your inner bear howls with need and want, she is the one.”

“How can she be the one?” Rio asked, frowning. “I don’t know anything about her as a person.”

“Well, then I suggest you find out,” Jake said. “Especially before it’s too late.”

He gestured towards Pearl, and Rio looked up to see Logan, the leader of the Akatsuki clan, talking to Pearl. He was clearly flirting, and she was blushing and laughing in response. He reached down to kiss her hand, and Rio felt the jealousy burning in his chest.

Rio didn’t reply, staring daggers at the duo as Logan slowly led her towards the dance floor. He suddenly felt furious, and he found himself marching towards the dance floor, anger fueling his moves.

“Pearl!” he snapped, walking over to her on the dance floor. “What exactly are you doing?”

“Easy now, Rio,” Logan said. “I just asked this young lady to dance with me.”

“This young lady is the nanny of my ward,” Rio said through clenched teeth. “And instead of performing her duties, she is going around seducing men.”

For some reason Rio was extremely angry and the bear in him just wanted to punch the man in front of him for dancing with Pearl.

“Now, Rio,” Logan said, pacifying. “I was the one who approached her.”

Rio barely heard a word of what Logan was saying, his eyes fixed on the frozen expression on her face. Her eyes were wet with tears, and at the same time, she had a defiant look on her face.

“You have no right to accuse me of such things,” she said, her voice cold. “I apologize for straying from my duties, but I will not apologize for dancing with a man! I will go back to looking after Laura, but let it be clear, I have lost all respect for you tonight.”

Rio opened his mouth to speak, but Pearl turned around and kissed Logan on the cheek. “I hope we meet again sometime, and I can finally dance with you.”

She threw one last angry glance towards Rio, before walking away.

“Not a good move, my friend,” Jake, who had been watching all this, said.

“I know,” Rio said, cursing his temper. He had always lost control of his anger easily and ended up saying things he regretted. Now, his temper might just be the reason that things between him and Pearl were ruined even before they started.

Chapter 13

Pearl felt angry tears prickling the back of her eyes as she walked back towards Laura. She knew she shouldn’t have agreed to dance with Logan, considering that she was here on duty, but Rio had no right to go around accusing her and shouting at her. She wasn’t sure what was going on between the two of them, but whatever respect she had for him was long gone.

She walked through the crowd, making her way toward the kid’s side of the party when her eyes caught something. He stood in front of her, an evil smile on his face, the scar on his face prominent even from far away. He raised his hand to wave at her, and the next second disappeared into the crowd. Pearl stood there, frozen, and unable to move. She couldn’t believe that he had actually found her.

A loud scream startled her, and she instantly looked around. One of the mothers of Laura’s friends came running over and said, “Laura, she is gone! We can’t find her anywhere!”

Pearl ran towards where she had left Laura, panicking as she did. The kids were all playing around, but Laura was nowhere to be seen.

“Laura is missing!” Pearl said, running over to the bodyguards that she had left in charge. “I left you here to watch over her! Where is she?”

“She was right there, playing,” the guard stammered.

“Find her!” Pearl hissed, before realizing that she would have to inform Rio about this. Feeling the dread setting in as she started to worry about Laura, she ran all the way across to the room where she could see Rio.

“Laura,” she interrupted the conversation, panting. “She’s missing! Can’t find her!”

Rio froze for a second before instantly shouting for all his guards. She stood there, fear and panic coursing through her as she watched him shout