MATCHMAKER (A Billionaire Bad Boy Romance) (6 page)

“It wouldn’t be the first time.”

“I apologized! I got caught up in some work and had no idea it was past ten.” Sterling’s real smile brought out a boyish charm. If he understood the power he could wield when he was being genuine, he didn’t let on. A few hits with that smile, and Jenna would be his, for sure.

STERLING

Tonight’s conquest, Helena, sat waiting for him when he walked into McLaren’s, a coffee shop. She’d picked the place. Apparently, she didn’t drink. He didn’t know how he felt about that. If they married, would she insist he get rid of all the booze in his house? He wasn’t a drunk, but he liked to keep it around and had a drawer in his desk that he kept fully stocked,
Mad Men
style.

He spotted her at once, sitting over a steaming cup of coffee, when he walked in. Shoulder length auburn hair and a red dress. Like all the women Cherise chose for him, she was beautiful.

“Helena?” he asked.

She took his hand, they shook, and she studied him. Her light blue eyes were unexpected against her dark hair and olive skin.

“Do I know you?” she said.

“No, I don’t think so. I’d remember you for sure,” he said.

“You must look like someone I know, then. I swear I’ve seen you before.”

He and Cherise had talked about this. He’d been on the news a fair amount, but she thought that being out of context in a coffee shop would make it close to impossible for someone to recognize him unless she really paid close attention to financial news. They’d talked about him going into these things with a nickname, maybe using a variation on his middle name, Gabriel, but he didn’t want to be a Gabe and didn’t want to have to explain to the woman who fell for him that he actually preferred Sterling.

“Let me grab a drink,” he said, setting his light jacket on the chair and heading up to the bar. He ordered a decaf. He wasn’t big into evening coffee if he didn’t have a ton of work to get done. His phone buzzed with a text from Jenna.

Hey, how’s your night going?

He stuffed it back in his pocket, but the guy behind the counter was talking with the girl behind the counter, taking an unreasonably long time to pour a cup of coffee. He pulled his phone out again and opened his photos. He lingered on the picture of Cherise from the day they went rock climbing. He should take her again, just the two of them this time. He knew a spot near Cascade Lake that was usually deserted and so beautiful on an autumn afternoon where fallen leaves on the rocks would make a perfect mattress. He wondered if she’d be into that. Lying naked on a rock, the sun shining through the trees and dappling her perfect body.

His coffee was ready. He thanked the barista, took a final look at Cherise’s picture, and stuffed his phone back into his pocket.

“You’re smiling,” Helena said. “Why?”

Like the visor on a motorcycle helmet, he snapped his public persona into place. They started the usual small talk, and he noticed Helena looking around. Finally, he said something.

“Oh, I’m worried about my ex. He’s really jealous and still doesn’t want me out with anyone.”

Sterling glanced around the coffee shop. “You don’t see him here, do you?”

“No, not yet. I don’t actually think he gets out of work until nine. He still lives with me. He brought some girl home last night, but I’m not supposed to go out and get a drink.”

Whoa. Hadn’t he asked Cherise to screen for drama? He sipped his coffee now that it was cool enough to drink. Helena rattled off the terrible things the ex had done to her.

“I still think I love him, you know? Not like in love with him, not like I think we’re going to get remarried, but I’m pretty sure I’ll always love him. He’s the one that got away.”

“So he left you?” She nodded. “But he won’t move out?”

“He’s hopeless. He couldn’t make it on his own, not without me looking after him. It’s better this way.”

Her blue eyes bored into him, and he dropped his gaze to his coffee. It was hard not to think of Cherise’s brown eyes. The way she’d looked up at him while they were in her bed. Sterling told himself to stop it, and instead tried to summon a picture of Jenna. His wife-to-be.

“Are you sure we haven’t met?” Helena asked.

“Like I said, I’d remember your pretty face.”

Sterling knew he was done with her and was giving her the business side of his personality. Tell her what she wanted to hear, and extract himself ASAP.

“What’s your last name?”

Damn. “I feel like—“

“You’re Sterling Waters. I knew you were familiar. What are you doing here? Why didn’t I make you pay for my coffee? Oh, my God, you could, like, buy this whole place, couldn’t you?”

“Probably with the cash I have in my wallet,” he joked.

She just stared at him. “Do you want to come home with me tonight?”

“To the house you share with the ex who doesn’t want you seeing other people? No thank you.”

“He’s not an asshole. He wouldn’t be a dick about it. We could go back to your place. I bet it’s real nice.”

“It’s been a pleasure, Helena. Something has come up, and I have to run.”

“You’re leaving just because I realized you’re Sterling Waters?”

People were looking at them. “Goodnight, Helena.”

Sterling slipped out into the warm spring night. He told his phone to call Cherise as he walked back to his car. He couldn’t wait to tell her about Helena.

“I thought I told you no crazy people,” he said to her hello.

There was a heartbeat of silence while Cherise got on the same page as him. “Helena didn’t work out? Wait, you’re done already? What did she do?”

“I’ll tell you when I get back. Can I come up? You’re going to love this.”

She hesitated for a split second. “Sure.” They ended the call.

He knew he shouldn’t go to her. She’d been distant since they slept together—or had she been distant since she’d broken up with Ricky? He couldn’t tell. Besides, she’d started it. He texted Jenna on the way back to his car.

CHERISE

Cherise waited in the living room, anxious for Sterling to arrive. She paced in front of the big windows, wondering what on earth he could possibly be so fired up about, what had gone so wrong with Helena that he needed to tell her. She chewed her lip in anticipation of his arrival.

She glanced at the clock. 8:45. She didn’t remember what time he’d met Helena, but she thought she remembered eight. It must have been a really rough date.

Sterling knocked on her door—which seemed weird since he owned the place, though she figured it was the polite thing to do. She opened the door for him. His physical presence affected her, and she hoped he didn’t notice the flush on her cheeks.

He came into the room like a tropical storm and poured out the whole story of the evening. The crazy ex she still lived with and took care of, plus, she’d recognized him. Cherise thought of the spread where she’d seen all the tattoos on his chest and back, and it didn’t seem all that strange.

Once he was done, he flopped into a leather chair, draping his legs over one arm. Cherise sat primly on the edge of the sofa. She didn’t think she could relax in his presence.

“So what are you going to do if she goes to the press or something? I wonder if she’s tweeting about it.”

“I’m not on
Twitter
,” he said.

“I am.” Cherise pulled out the amazing new phone and opened the
Twitter
app. She tried #Waters, #SterlingWaters, #Sterling and got her hit. “Thonggrl69H?”

“What?” Sterling looked at her like she’d sneezed.

“Does that sound like it’s her
Twitter
handle?” He shrugged. “Well get this: ‘Just had drinks with #Sterling Waters. A millionaire afraid of a real woman!’”

“Billionaire,” Sterling corrected. “And I wasn’t afraid of a real woman; I was afraid of a lunatic.”

“One woman responded saying she thinks you’re really hot,” Cherise said. She scanned the other responses. One person accused Thonggrl69H of lying. Good… There are more like that. “I don’t think you’ve got too much to worry about.”

“Did I look worried?”

“Not especially. But if you had…” He had his phone out, and every few seconds, it would buzz. “Is that Jenna?”

He didn’t look up. “Uh huh.”

Cherise wanted to grind her teeth, but she didn’t. “Things are going well, then?”

“Real well.” Now he gave her his attention. “As soon as I feel like it’s not too premature, I want to bring her to meet Ben.”

“Where’s Ben?”

“I think he’s headed to his winter house soon. Dominica.”

“You’re going to take her to Dominica?”

“And you. I need you there to keep my head on straight.”

Cherise stared at him. Did he not get that this was totally weird? No, you know what, it was all economics. Sterling getting Jenna right where he wanted meant a PhD for Cherise.

She’d leave the details about sleeping with him out of her book, of course, but everything else was fair game. He’d pay off her loans and get her the doctorate, she’d write the book, and it would sell well because it would be about rich, sexy people, and they’d part ways amicably. Maybe she’d get Christmas cards.

“Do you want kids?” she said.

“Kids?”

“Well, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes little Sterling Jr. in the baby carriage.”

“Love’s not coming.”

Cherise made a show of rolling her eyes. “Fine. First comes grudging tolerance, then comes marriage.” She paused. “That looked like more than grudging tolerance, though.”

“She seems cool.” He glanced down at his phone. “I haven’t really thought about kids.”

“Like not at all? How old are you?”

“Thirty-six”

“And with all your money, you haven’t thought about kids? What’s in your will?”

“Big secret. And even when I get married, I’m not changing it. There’s gonna be a prenup.”

“Makes sense. But who’s in the will?”

“My lawyer advised me not to tell anyone.”

“You’re so unnecessarily mysterious sometimes.”

“It’s going to keep you up at night wondering.”

“Hardly.” She was curious, though. It was so much money. Amounts that seemed so big they didn’t even make sense to her. He’d flown them upstate in a helicopter, for heaven’s sake, for an afternoon of rock climbing.

Jenna was a lucky lady. No. She wasn’t. This was the man who proudly professed he would never fall in love. The woman would be spoiled but not adored.

“Anything new on
Twitter
?” Sterling asked.

Cherise checked, glad for an excuse to do something with her hands. “Yeah, a bunch of people calling her a liar, one of them asking if she lifted your wallet.” Cherise paused. “She didn’t, did she?”

Sterling patted his pockets and withdrew a small, plain, leather billfold. “Nothing gets between me and this little baby.”

“Anything else I can do for you tonight?” Cherise asked. “I have some work to do.”

“For school?”

“Yep.”

“What are you working on?”

“A paper about mating habits.”

“In monkeys?”

“Humans.”

“Oh yeah?”

Was he flirting with her? She honestly couldn’t tell. She shut him right down. “Did you know that when two people kiss, they exchange between ten million and one billion bacteria?”

“That’s gross.”

“Yeah. People talk about sharing a toothbrush like it’s the grossest thing. Kissing is pretty nasty.”

They sat in silence for a moment, and Cherise picked up her laptop, staring at the text of her paper. Really, the topic was about how the female body showed arousal and what the different indicators meant in different social situations, but there was no way she was going to tell Sterling that.

Finally, he took the hint and stood up.

“Let me know how it goes with Jenna,” she said.

“Will do. Have a good night, and let me know if you need anything.”

“Thanks.”

When the door closed behind Sterling, Cherise let out a long breath. It was one stupid mistake. She never should have kissed him. Never should have let it happen.

She put her head down and focused on her paper.

STERLING

Time passed. Cherise went home for a few weeks at Christmas to spend time with her family in Johannesburg. She’d settled in at the guest apartment, right where Sterling wanted her. He’d amended her contract to read that it was part of her stipend. It was handy having her so close. She’d taken a leave of absence from school for the spring semester and taken on a bunch of his admin assistant’s duties. She’d go back in the fall, presumably right around the time he and Jenna would be back from their months-long honeymoon. Assuming she agreed to marry him. Things were progressing on that front, and Sterling was packing his suitcase for the flight to Dominica.