The Playboy Billionaire (The Romero Brothers, Book 3) (16 page)

“I don’t know, I just…” she shrugged her
shoulders feeling shy.

“You’re not shy now after what we’ve
just…had together, are you?” Zack playfully cocked a brow, squeezing her gently
around her waist. She felt tickled and giggled.

He seemed to be deep in thought about
something for a moment as if making some sort of assessment in his mind. Then
he spoke softly to her. “Don’t ever do that again, Blue,” he said, leaning to
her, pressing a soft kiss on her neck that sent her pulse racing.

“Do what?” she whispered, arching her neck,
enjoying the silky feel of his touch.

“Surround yourself with people who don’t
appreciate you,” he said.

“Wh-why do you think, I…”

“You have in the past. I can tell. You
should never doubt yourself again. Never doubt your inner beauty and power.
You’re a wonderful woman, Blue. You deserve the best. You’re worth it, Blue. You
deserve to be only around people who treasure your presence.”

Not
trash it, like
Elliot,
she
finished for him in her mind.

It was true then, wasn’t it? It really
showed. All that time with Elliot belittling her subtly and making her feel
inadequate any way he could possibly find, wore down on her emotions, on her
self-esteem without even realizing. Why? Because she had been too busy trying
to please others, trying to make others happy and figuring if she couldn’t do
that, something must be wrong with her. But it wasn’t. Something wasn’t wrong
with her. Something was wrong with her relationships. But this was a new phase
for her. Zack was right.

Blue always gave her best, she deserved
better.

Moments later, Zack explained to her about
his
one month
vow of celibacy. Blue didn’t know what
to think at first. She thought it was some sort of mind game. He had reassured
her that it had nothing to do with her. But he did not go further into any
details.

“That’s remarkable!” she commented.

“What’s more remarkable is that fact that
I’ve never been more attracted to anyone as you. Even all this time we were
platonic.”

“Will you try the celibacy thing again?”
she queried, looking into his eyes, amused.

“Hell, no! What do I look like to you?”

Blue burst out laughing, tilting her head
back. Zack was one heck of a guy. She was glad to
be knowing
him out of his professional realm. She’d grown to appreciate that Zack may be
from an affluent family and have impressive connections given his name, but he
was a real guy. A playful guy with a great soul and a genuine warmth that was
more sexually gratifying than any thing she’d known.

They embraced each other, gazing out at the
moon over the dark sky and the twilight of the stars against the waning night.
It was a perfect. Summer. Night.

Two more weeks had gone by at Romero Estate
and Blue had delighted in her time with Zack. They’d made sweet passionate love
every night since then, and each time, he’d shown her new things about her body
and her feelings. Zack was truly
an oh
, so sexy
incredible lover! Their bodies truly connected in a fascinating way. Being
intimate with Zack was a delicious soul-satisfying experience. Blue felt giddy
with radiant joy, every day, as cliché as that sounded. There was something to
be said about the gratifying hormones the body releases to the brain to boost one's
spirit when in a healthy relationship with someone who cares deeply about you.

Could this be it?

Was there really a chance for her to meet
the right guy? After Elliot, Blue doubted her ability to attract a good man in
her life, one who respected her, cherished her, understood her and supported
her. Zack seemed to offer all of that.

How lucky she was. So there was hope after
all.

Zack
and
 
Blue
continued to work closely
with the film project. She interviewed him on several occasions when he wasn’t
nibbling on her neck or playing games with her. They got a remarkable amount
accomplished way ahead of schedule.

To top things off, her sister, Courtney,
seemed to be enjoying her time over at the Romero Resort with her new friends.
Every day, Courtney would text her that things were cool and show share photo
attachments of the two of them.

Blue also had a wonderful chance to sit
down again with Toni.

“You are a good luck charm, my dear,” Toni
had told Blue, his wife sitting by his side.

“Thank you, Toni,” she had said. “Thank you
for believing in me and giving me a chance to work on the winery.”

She couldn’t understand at first why Toni
was so interested in learning how she truly felt about Zack and her long-term
plans relating to marriage but she tried to keep a cool head about it all and
not jump to conclusions. She was feeling so good about herself and her life for
the first time in her life since her parents died and since her nasty break-up
with Elliot.

She just didn’t want to jinx herself, God
forbid.

*
   
*
   
*
  

“So?” Courtney teased Blue after she’d gone
shopping for back-to-school clothes. Her sister agreed to let Blue take her to
the mall in Toronto for lunch so they could have a special sister's day
together. Normally, Courtney hung out with her friends and shopped with them.
She was excited about going in to college. Blue was even more thrilled that not
only was she able to pay for the entire year for her sister, including the cost
of those extremely expensive text books, but she had more time now that her
project was wrapping up.

“So what?” Blue looked at her sister,
incredulous.

“You still haven’t told me about you and
Zack getting married,” she grinned, picking at her chicken fried rice. They
decided on Chinese food.

Blue sighed, trying to hide her smile. She
playfully rolled her eyes. “Courtney, Zack and I are…seeing each other but
we’re sensible adults. We’re not rushing into anything.” Blue took in another
mouthful of buttered shrimp, savouring the taste.

“Yeah, whatever.” Courtney rolled her eyes.
“I see the way you guys look at each other whenever you’re together.”

“You’re not around us much.”

“Hmm-mmm. I know. Melissa and I have been
visiting the vineyard when you’re not there to um…taste some of the grapes.
We’ve heard the staff talk stuff.”

“Like what?”

“Oh, nothing, just…nothing.” Courtney gave
a knowing grin and continued eating.

Gosh, was it that obvious?

Blue should be glad that Courtney was more
relaxed now. After all, she was starting college soon and Blue wanted to see her
sister safe.

“It’s nice, anyway,” Courtney continued
with a full mouth.

“What’s nice?”

“Seeing you…what’s the word, happy for a
change, sis. I like to see you happy. You deserve it.”

Blue fought to keep her eyes from misting.
She reached across the table and squeezed her sister’s hand lovingly. Courtney
squeezed her hand back. They’d been through hell and back since the death of their
parents.

“I’m glad that both of us can be happy,
Courtney.”

Blue didn’t know how long this would last
with Zack, but for now, she was content.

“Channel 31 News, Elliot speaking.”

“Hi,” the sultry voice sounded on the other
end. “I’m…
My
name is Selina and I was told I could
reach this desk to provide…um…a scoop.”

Elliot became attentive to the phone caller
and peeled his eyes away from the screen of his laptop while he sat in his
office. It wasn’t all the time that he got “scoops” coming to his news desk
since he’d been demoted to covering local community news.

“I’m listening. What type of scoop do you
have, Selina, is it?”

“Yes. I can’t talk over the phone. Can we
meet in person?”

An hour later, Elliot was seated in his
office opposite a voluptuous woman with streaked blond wavy hair and bright red
lipstick. She looked like a tanned version of the late Guess Jeans model, Anna
Nicole Smith. Her eyes were stunning. But Elliot detected a lot of pain in
them. What the hell was this about?

“Well, I have some revealing information
about a very prominent family and well, the tape is all yours for the right
price.”

Elliot leaned forward, bursting with
curiosity. “What family?” Clearly, he didn’t want anyone wasting his time or
teasing him with probably fake information.

“An indecent night in a Vegas hotel room,
should I say,” the woman raised a brown, her lips pressed into a thin line.

The woman proceeded to tell Elliot about
the contents of the tape.

She was jilted. Hurt. She was getting back at
her ex.

 
“Wow,” Elliot said, scratching his head.
“You still haven’t told me the person involved.”

“Romero. Zack Romero.”

Elliot felt his heart give out. His jaw
fell open. “Zack Romero!”

He swallowed hard. His heart was thrashing
against his rib cage. His mind flashed back to that night.
That
thuggish mob-like guy who barged into this apartment, warning him about
troubling Blue.

Shit!

No way in hell was he going to touch this
one with the proverbial ten-foot pole.

“Do yourself a favour, lady. Run the other
way. And burn that tape.”

“What?”
Selina
looked incredulous.

She looked the same way Elliot felt inside.
What the hell was he doing? Throwing away a potentially huge story. The decent
and well-respected Romero men always made headlines with their sexual
escapades.
But now?
He had taped proof. This could go
viral. But hell no! It just wasn’t worth it. And if Blue really was seeing this
guy—which he had no proof that was the
case,
she
could get hurt as well. Not that he cared too much but deep down inside, he
knew he’d really screwed up with Blue. He’d treated her like shit! He knew that
now.
If he could only make it up to her.
She really
didn’t deserved to be hurt any more.

“Listen, what is it that you really want?
You know you could get hurt just as much as he could with this…tape. Not
everyone with a sex tape gets paid and lands a reality show and finds fame. It
could backfire big time and cause permanent damage to your rep. Do you really
want to do that?”

Selina bit her lip and looked out the
window behind him.

“Listen, besides, our news shows don’t
really get into that kind of stuff. It’s not like he’s running for office or a
married man or anything…um…Selina, right?”

“You have a bad memory for names,” was all
she said, before getting up. “Thanks for wasting my time.”

She slammed the door behind her with such a
force that it rattled the frame.

Elliot leaned back in his chair. He had no
idea what just happened or how the hell she found him. Heck, for all Elliot
knew, the Romeros could have set this up to catch him. Maybe it was a trap.
Entrapment. Well, it didn’t work, if that was the case.

He got back to his computer screen,
downloading intriguing pics of women scantily dressed in sportswear bikinis.
Heck, he was on break. He needed something to take his mind off his stress.
Sometimes it was better to look at women and not get involved.

He just couldn’t take that kind of trouble
right now.

“I’m not to be disturbed, Venus,” Zack said
through the intercom.

“Sure thing, Zack,” Venus's cheerful voice
boomed through the speakers. “Oh, and just a reminder that I’ll be going on
break soon.”

“Sure.”

Zack sat in his office typing away at his
notes on his laptop. He hated to be distracted when he was working on his notes
for his upcoming agenda. He needed his full concentration. He was figuring out
a new direction for his winery program and wanted to do a detailed proposal.
There were some things he assigned to his assistants. But others he preferred
to take matters into his own hands.

The doorknob turned and Zack looked up
annoyed. Usually, Venus knocked first. Only it wasn’t Venus.

Shit!

Selina.

“How did you get in here?” he said, his
tone clipped. He rose to his feet, jaw clenched. The nerve of that woman!

“Relax, Zack,” Selina said in a low voice.
“They’re doing a tour at the winery, remember. It’s open to the public.”

“Then you can leave the same way you came
in.”

“Zack, Zack, my baby, Zack.” Selina smirked
as she sashayed up to him. “I don’t want things to be bad between us, Zack,” Selina
whispered in her throaty voice. This time it had no effect on Zack whatsoever.
He was so over Selina. He was not addicted to her the way he was before. She
used to have some sexual magic power over him but after being with Blue,
nothing compared.