Sharing the Billionaire (Billionaire Ace #1) (2 page)

Why would a guy like Ace Pearson want to do this show?
I thought. It didn’t really make any sense. He guarded his personal life intensely, only revealing what he needed in public. Nobody had ever been inside his gargantuan mansion in West Texas. Everyone knew his story: an all-around winner his entire life; he played every sport possible in high school. Unfortunately he hurt his knee playing basketball his senior year and lost all scholarship opportunities. He was too poor to attend college so he joined the Air Force earning his “Ace” nickname. After that he returned to his family’s destitute land in West Texas to care for his ailing mother who passed soon after. A large deposit of oil was found on his land and he was instantly a millionaire. Turned out he was a savvy businessman too, despite never having any formal education, and through a series of smart investments he became a billionaire. That was all anyone knew of him though. He liked to hit the red carpet with beautiful women and undiscovered models, but he never hosted anything at his home and never granted interviews about his life. If he was interviewed at a red carpet event he only wanted to talk about the event, never himself.

What is he hiding?
I wondered. Everything he put out seemed like a façade to hide who he really was.

I began flipping channels, unable to watch fake women receive roses anymore. Appropriately “Batman Begins” was on HBO and I began to laugh at the thoughts racing through my mind. “Maybe he’s Batman. That’s what he’s hiding! Beware evil-doers from Lubbock to Amarillo!” I cracked myself up, nearly falling out of my chair laughing at the thought of Ace Pearson swooping down on cattle rustlers.

My laughter was interrupted by my phone ringing, it was a number I didn’t recognized. Nerves immediately put my stomach into a steel vice, nearly doubling me over. This could be it, the phone call I was waiting for. I sat up in my chair and composed myself, wanting to sound as nonchalant as possible.

“Hello?” I said.
Nailed it.

“Hi Amy! It’s Tracy! How are you?”

What the hell? How did she get my number?

“Uhhh hi Tracy. I’m doing pretty well, what about you?”

“I’m a little bummed out. I just got a call from the studio; they didn’t pick me for the show.”

“Well I’m sorry to hear that.” I silently fist pumped. The thought of being stuck on that show with her flew through my mind. Thank god.

“It’s ok, onward to bigger and better things right? Have you heard anything?”

“I can’t say that I have. I thought you might be them. How did you get my number?”

“It’s not hard to find somebody’s phone number these days silly. I was getting worried you weren’t going to text. I thought we could help one another’s career with positive encouragement.”

“Ok, sure.” She was probably harmless, just a naïve girl in a new city trying to find her way. I was like that six months ago, I should sympathize.

“Ok sure what?”

“Do you want to get a drink? I’ve already had dinner, but I could go for a mixer.”

“That sounds great!” Her scream nearly split my eardrum. Was I ever this clingy?

“Where do you want to meet?”

“You name it and I’ll be there sister!”

Did she really just call me sister? Oh boy. “How about McFlannagan’s on Eighth Street?”

“I know the place, see you there!”

I quickly threw on an old sweatshirt and jeans and began to head out the door. Right before leaving I turned back to my apartment and sighed. It was tiny and messy, but it was home now.

“I hope I see you again,” I said to the place. “If I’m not back by midnight then call for help, she’s probably chopping me up into little pieces.”

McFlannagan’s was just around the corner from my apartment, but somehow Tracy was already there with a giant beer in front of her.

She’s from Texas, of course she drinks beer.

I sat down across from her and ordered a Cape Cod. The bar smelled like stale cigarette smoke and there was a general haze hanging over everything; combined with the black walls it made the place feel pretty seedy. Smoking was outlawed indoors everywhere in California, yet the police never ventured here to crackdown. People lit up whenever they chose at McFlannagan’s.

“I’m glad you decided to meet me!” she squealed. “I had a lot of fun talking to you today!”

“So did I,” I lied. She was dressed way to nice for this place. She wore a red dress that barely covered her small breasts, revealing a pretty big tattoo on her right shoulder. Her hair was done up, almost professionally, and she wore bright red lipstick. “You look really nice.”

“Thanks, so do you!”

“I just threw some clothes on. This place isn’t fancy; I guess I should have told you that.”

“I just wanted to look my best; you never know who you’ll run into!”

“That’s true, I guess I wasn’t thin…..” I never got the sentence out. Everyone in the bar jumped up and ran to the windows. There was a huge commotion out front and people were staring in shock.

“What is it?” I asked, starting to stand up. I turned to look down at Tracy who was sitting in her chair, smiling smugly. Something clicked in my brain and I squatted down beside her. “What do you know?”

“I’m so excited for you!” She yelled, grabbing me and pulling me in for a hug. My face buried itself between her breasts as she squeezed hard. “I wish I could join you!”

It took all my might to yank myself away from her tiny herculean grip. “What is going on?”

“Look outside!”

I heard the unmistakable sounds of tires screeching outside and, was that a helicopter? I knew I heard a helicopter outside as bright lights began to shine in the front windows and door. There was a rush of cool outside air as the doors flew open and a tall, broad shouldered man walked in like he owned everything he saw.

My eyes adjusted to the lights, which I realized were spotlights for a camera, and the man came into focus.

“Oh my god,” I said, about to wet myself with excitement. “Ace Pearson!”

“That’s right Amy,” he said, walking forward and taking my hand. I felt electricity shooting up my arm from his manly touch. Was it possible that a billionaire’s skin was better than a normal persons? It certainly felt that way right now. His piercing green eyes were here in person, staring straight at me. There was no mistaking the eye contact now.

“Pleased to meet you,” I said. I was half-aware there were cameras trained on me, so I tried not to look like a screaming teenager meeting Justin Timberlake.

“Amy please,” he said, pulling me in close to his body. “We’re going to be spending several weeks on a private island together. We have to hug.”

He smelled musky, like I would expect a rugged man to smell. His suit was soft against me and I could feel the muscle in his arms and chest. I felt my nether region begin to tingle as his mere touch turned me on.

I held the hug as long as I could before he broke contact and looked down at me. “Are you ready to be on “Sharing The Billionaire”?”

“Yes I am!” I said, excitement taking me over.

“As part of the rules of the show you are allowed one lifeline to run to when things get too heavy. That’s right you won’t be going to the island with just me and the other girl. You will have backup if you need to gossip or need a break from us.”

“Nobody told me that,” I said. The thoughts began to fly through my head wondering who I should ask. Would my mom want to go on such short notice? My best friend from home, Selina, had just had her second child at the ripe old age of 22. My brain wasn’t functioning correctly and I just blurted out the first name that came to mind. “Tracy.”

“REALLY?” Tracy jumped up from her seat and began to hop up and down. “You want me to go on the show with you?”

Ace turned to the cameras, his magnetic smile beaming across America. “Well folks looks like she’s closer with our fetcher than we thought! Amy will be competing for my hand and she’ll have Tracy, who just narrowly missed making the show to back her up.”

The camera lights flipped off and Ace turned back to me, his smile still radiating through the dank bar. “I’m sending a limo to pick you up tomorrow morning. Tracy you will be taking a different ride to the island. The show will actually begin on my private jet as we make our way to the island, so be prepared.”

Prepared for what? Nobody had actually told me the rules of this game. “Excuse me Mr. Pearson?”

“Please honey, call me Ace. You can bet I won’t be calling you Ms. Davis the entire time we’re out there.”

“What exactly are the rules of this show? Nobody has told me what the prize is or what I’m doing.”

“The prize is me darling,” he said, putting his arm around me. I was definitely getting turned on now, feeling the warmth between my legs growing. “As for the rules. You just have to impress me.”

He winked at me and turned towards the door about to leave before stopping and turning back. “You look incredibly sexy dressed down. Make sure you bring that sweatshirt.”

As he left I nearly melted to the spot I was standing on. Ace Pearson had just called me sexy and all I was wearing was a college sweatshirt!

“This is so exciting Amy. I can’t believe you picked me!”

I turned back towards Tracy, now aware of what I had done. “Well yeah, you’re all I really have out here.”

“I guess we should cut our drinks short right? We have to get home to pack!”

“Did you know that was going to happen?”

“Of course I did!” She was beaming at me; it was going to be hard to be mean to this girl even if she did grate on my nerves. It would be like yelling at a puppy; the poor animal is too dumb to know any better, it just wants to love you. “I was actually fourth place and they asked me if I wanted to lure the winner out to meet Ace. They gave me your number and I called you.”

This was all happening very fast; these TV executives didn’t waste time.

Wait a minute, Tracy almost got picked?
That just didn’t seem right to me. Sure she was cute, but she was so short and perky it bordered on cartoonish.

“Do you know who the other girl that got picked is?”

“Yeah she’s some model that’s only done a few minor shoots. She’s kind of tall and has big fake boobs.”

“Wonderful,” I said, looking down at my C-cups. I thought I was down-home pretty, but there’s no way I was Hollywood pretty.

“Well I’ll see you when you get there!” Tracy said, tossing some money for the drinks down on the table. “Thanks again for picking me!”

I stood there in the bar alone as she walked out; I was the object of everyone’s attention. I sheepishly waved at the stunned bar patrons and edged my way out the door.

“I need to call mom,” I said, rushing back to my apartment.

Chapter 3

Of course my mother didn’t answer, so I had to leave her an extremely long winded message telling her the good news and apologizing that she wouldn’t hear from me for the next month or two. It was kind of upsetting to hit my big break, run away to paradise with the perfect man and not get a chance to tell the most important woman in my life.

I wanted to call Selina, but she was probably already in bed. I sat down at my computer and sent a group e-mail to my mother and Selina explaining everything, and then I sent a separate one to my boss at Staples before logging off and heading to bed. My bed was soft and comfortable, the best bed I’d ever owned. I crawled into it and let it envelop my entire body like a cocoon.

I wonder if the beds on the island will be this comfortable?
That was my last thought as I drifted to sleep.

The next morning came way too quickly, as it usually does. I hadn’t even gotten a chance to pack, but there I was dragging myself out of bed to the sound of intense knocking at the door. It was only seven; I was never up before nine on most days. I opened it to find the female TV executive, from the day before, standing at my door.

“Are you not ready?” she asked with absolutely no emotion in her voice. “Please be downstairs in ten minutes.”

“I need to pack,” I said, barely able to speak. It was so early and her perfume was not the first thing I wanted to smell.

“Pack the bare essentials,” she said, looking at a sheet of paper. “We’ll have clothes provided for you on the island as well as toiletries.”

“Ok,” I said, shutting the door in her face. “I don’t think that woman feels emotion.”

I tried to look as cute as possible with the limited time I had. I quickly dressed in a shiny top I went clubbing in with some tight jeans and heels. Then I threw on some makeup, made sure to toss the sweatshirt into my bag and left. Nine minutes later I was downstairs and ready to go.

“How’s that for ten minutes?” I asked the executive as she opened the limo door for me.

“Not bad Ms. Davis. Watch your head.” I don’t know if I can communicate with words how robotic her voice was at that point.

Inside the limo I found several men in suits, each with a pad-folio and stacks of paperwork.

“Ms. Davis,” the robot lady said. “I’m Tina McBride, producer for this show. These men are some of the show and Mr. Pearson’s lawyers.”

Each of them gave me a curt nod, barely looking up from what he was reading.

“We have some paperwork we need to go over with you before we get to the airport. At the airport you will be boarding Mr. Pearson’s private jet and the show will begin. You will also meet the other contestant, Cookie Miller, when you board the plane.”

“Wait a minute,” I said, trying to hold back my laughter. “Her name is Cookie? Like that’s her given name?”

“Is something funny?” she asked. I studied her eyes trying to figure out if she was serious or not. She was serious.

I let out a long sigh and sank back into the seat of the limo. I was the only one on the rear bench; the others were in front of me, like a pack of Jackal’s moving in for the kill. “Nope. Nothing is funny at all.”

“Ok then,” she said, returning her gaze to the paper she was holding. “You and Ms. Miller will begin the competition onboard the plane. The competition is simple, be yourself and try to impress Mr. Pearson.”