The Billionaire's Jackpot: Betting on You Series: Book Four (7 page)

Katherine forced a smile and said, “I don’t know what came over me. It has been two years since she has been gone, and this morning when I woke and the house was so . . . empty. I lost it like it had happened just yesterday.”

He felt like a jerk for slipping out quietly and taking her dog with him. It had been thoughtless of him. He hadn’t even left a note.
I never leave a note.
That was because what he normally shared with other women served its purpose but was shallow. Most times he didn’t even call or see them again. His feelings, though not yet clear, were very different for Katherine. And considering how she was sharing with him, opening up, she must have felt something as well. “I’m sorry, Katherine. I didn’t want to wake you.”
Lame excuse.

“Really, I appreciate you taking Blossom for her morning run.”

Run? Blossom?
He looked at her, her ears perked up, then she turned away looking guilty.
Yeah, you played me this time.
What was he thinking? Like there is going to be a next time. He wanted, no needed, to get back on track. Being here was only going to make things more difficult. Yes, they had a connection of some sort, but eventually it would fade and they could go back to their normal lives. “Why don’t you take a shower, and we’ll get out of here for a while.”

“Where do you want to go?”

He wanted to say
back to your bed
, but she needed, no they both needed, a distraction. Then he remembered he had prior commitments in New York which he couldn’t avoid.
Like Jon and Lizette’s wedding.
He knew he was going to regret this, but it appeared they came as a package deal. “How does Blossom do on a plane?”

Did she hear
right? She had thought maybe out for lunch or even an ice cream or something. Neither of which required boarding a plane. Totally bewildered she asked, “What? Why?”

“New York. I have a wedding to attend. I would like you to be my date.”

He had to be joking?
Looking at him, he appeared to be serious. Blossom took her head out of Katherine’s lap and went to sit beside Drew.
Traitor.
How do you protest when even your dog likes him?
Okay, think this through.
I don’t know him well enough to jump on a plane and go to the East Coast with him.
KJ laughed to herself.
But I knew him enough to sleep with him.
She was losing the argument with herself. That couldn’t be a good sign.
More details needed.
She couldn’t just go to someone’s wedding. What if it was a family event? That would not be a good place for her.

“Whose?” Like it really mattered. Her heart was already pounding with excitement thinking about dancing with him to some slow love song.
This is wrong.

“You remember Jon and Lizette?” Drew asked.

She nodded. That’s right, they had mentioned the upcoming nuptials.
A sweet couple.

“They have a rehearsal dinner and a wedding in two weeks. Since I need to get back to take care of some business before then, I thought maybe you would like to come and stay with me until after the wedding.”

Her head was spinning. He had just witnessed something no one else had seen: her falling apart. Why had he stayed? Most men would have run out the door at the first tear.
Yet, he not only stayed, he held me through it. God, it felt so good not to be alone.
Surely she wasn’t considering going. KJ had no idea what he was thinking of her, but she didn’t want him to think her weak.
An extended stay, though? Surely he was not serious. Maybe he just feels bad.

“I can’t just get up and leave like that. I have responsibilities, like a job.”

“Would you like me to call your boss for you?” His tone actually said he wasn’t joking.

God, no.
It was apparent Drew was used to getting what he wanted and on his terms. That wasn’t the way real life went. “I’m not sure if you understand how the real world works, Drew, but you cannot just take a last-minute vacation for a few weeks and expect to come back to a job waiting for you.”

“If you could, would you come?” His eyes searched hers till she turned away.

“It’s not that simple. I have Blossom, too.”

“I believe I already said she could come.” Laughing deeply he added, “To my penthouse that is, not the wedding.”

There was a twinkle of mischief in his eyes and she couldn’t help but laugh. He did have a way of easing her anxiety. It was . . .
nice.
“How about I meet you next week if I can make arrangements with the hospital for coverage?” That seemed like a fair compromise. Though deep down she wished she didn’t always have to be the responsible mature person who would never call out sick when she truly wasn’t.
Damn, I need to learn to let loose.
There was only one problem, the Marines never taught her to unlearn that behavior.

“I need to go make some calls myself. Why don’t you ask your boss for the time off and if he says no, then ask him for time off starting next week. Is that fair?”

Since she was positive her boss wouldn’t agree to that, she had no problem agreeing to his terms. KJ was scheduled for the next four days, twelve-hour shifts. Getting coverage at the last minute was going to be impossible, never mind giving them one week’s notice.
Looks like you’re going to have to get another date.
Once she thought about it, a sick feeling overcame her. She didn’t want to think of him holding another woman in his arms.
What is wrong with me?
She had gone from controlling all her emotions to trying to hold back the floodgates. “It’s a deal. If they grant me any time off, I will spend it with you in New York.” That was as good as saying no.

“Fair enough,” Drew said and kissed her on the forehead lightly. He got up. “I’ll be back in a few hours for your answer.”

Blossom wagged her tail and followed him to the door. KJ sat stunned.
What just happened?
When she heard the click of the door shutting, her dog came running back to her. “Oh, now you’re my friend?” Laughing, she gave her a scratch behind the ear and said, “I know, I can’t resist him either.” Drew wasn’t the man she thought he was. Sure, he was charming, sexy, funny, but she hadn’t thought him capable of empathy. He was probably resenting that now and trying to work out how he could get out of his offer.
That won’t be an issue as there is no way my boss was going to grant me one week, never mind two.
Patting Blossom on the head, KJ said, “It was a great fantasy while it lasted.”

‡

“I
’m not sure
how I will ever be able to go back to flying commercial after this,” Katherine said as they disembarked from his jet, her dog following closely behind.

After all the bullshit he’d had to go through to pull it off, he was glad she was enjoying herself. He wasn’t about to let her know how close it came to not happening. When he’d first reached out to the Chief of Staff, he’d encountered more pushback than he’d expected. Drew wasn’t one to ever give up on anything he wanted, and he’d wanted a few weeks with Katherine. After heated negotiations,
and
a new MRI machine for the hospital, Drew had made his point. The Chief of Staff agreed Katherine could take off whatever time she needed.

Normally Jon would have given him the third degree as to why he wanted such information, as he took business way too seriously, but not this time. Instead, Jon dropped everything and, using his connections in the medical field to find out what the hospital needed most, within a few hours had all the information Drew required to seal the deal.
Always know your opponent’s weakness.
It was a pricey, but sweet, victory. The Chief of Staff had known the game was over when he’d played the “donation” card.

When Drew had returned to Katherine’s bungalow, she still had a look of surprise on her face. All those years playing poker does come in handy. She’d never suspected a thing when he’d said, “I told you. You never know until you ask.” Katherine had been so excited that she’d never asked him if he had been involved in any way with the Chief of Staff’s sudden change of mind, so technically he hadn’t lied.
So I live in the gray zone. Not the first time and it won’t be the last.

Drew spent many hours flying both cross country and internationally. Unless he was piloting his sea plane to his private island, he normally spent those long hours either sleeping or working. Neither was possible this trip. His computer may have been open on his lap most of the time, but his focus had been on the view: Katherine’s sexy-as-hell body and eyes that told everything. If it wasn’t for Blossom’s constant interruption, prancing from one window to the next with a look of disappointment when she found they didn’t open, he might have enjoyed the flight as well. “Sorry, guess she prefers convertibles,” Katherine explained. Whatever her problem was, the pilot was going to need to get a cleaning crew in.
Damn, that dog can drool.

As the driver held the limo door open, Drew thought of his: his pride and joy, the thing he enjoyed reminding his friend Trent that
he
didn’t own, his 918 Spyder.
Ross, you so owe me, buddy.
The text he’d received from Ross earlier left him with mixed feelings. “Had an accident. Only a few bruised ribs. Your car is a total loss. Sorry.”
Sorry? Damn, I’d loved that car.
He was grateful his friend was okay. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to kill Ross when he saw him next.

Katherine slid into the limo first and sat on the far side by the window. Blossom took the seat by her, leaving Drew to sit opposite them both.
And this is why I like a two-seater.
Shaking his head, he looked at the two of them. It was apparent they shared a bond. What sort he wasn’t exactly sure, but over the next two weeks, hopefully, he would come to know and understand her better.
Without the dog around.

“I really can’t thank you enough for letting me bring her along. Since my sister’s . . . well, Blossom has been there for me.” She patted the dog’s head then continued, “I don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t have her.”

He could only imagine what it had been like for her. Did she have to go through it all alone? Was Blossom all she had? Drew had enough contacts to find those answers for himself, but that wasn’t how he worked. He made his fortune by reading people, seeing what lay beneath their words. No amount of research could ever replace that. It was all in choosing the right question. “How did you find her?”

After a quiet moment, she smiled and answered, “That really is a great question. One I haven’t shared with anyone before, but I guess it’s time I do.”

She took a deep breath as though gathering her courage, for what he wasn’t sure. The look on her face said it wasn’t going to be what he thought.

“I wasn’t looking for a dog, or anything else for that matter. I was going through . . . a difficult time. It had been almost a month since burying my sister, and I decided to go for a jog in the park. That was when I saw this woman who had about seven or eight dogs, all shapes and sizes. At first I thought nothing of it, thinking she was a dog walker or something. But then I saw her take all the dogs off their leashes. That stopped me in my tracks because I knew that woman had to be crazy and was never going to be able to catch all of those dogs again. When I approached her I saw the signs posted stating: ‘Service dogs in training, do not pet.’ It intrigued me so I put my run off and found myself sitting on the grass watching her as she gave command after command. Each dog obeyed without hesitation. It was like watching boot camp but for dogs, and she was one hell of a drill sergeant.” Laughing, she said, “Blossom here was in that crazy mix. Of course she towered over all the others, and all I could think was how huge and scary she looked. Any moment I anticipated her to sit on one of the other dogs by mistake. Just look at her, she is almost two hundred pounds. But the handler had full control of every one of them without even raising her voice, using mostly hand motions.” Blossom, now content, moved to hang her head out the window as Katherine told her story. “You would’ve been equally impressed by her techniques.”

Drew wasn’t about to tell her that he had absolutely no interest in watching dogs at a park no matter how many tricks they could do.

“Before I knew it, there was a crowd gathering to watch too. What was a quiet prime spot, had filled with families all around me. Two young girls skipped by right in front of me as they were trying to fly their kite.”

Drew noticed her eyes darken and fill with sadness. Swallowing hard, she bit back the tears that threatened to flow before she spoke again. He wanted to stop her; reliving it was causing her pain, and that hadn’t been his intention.

Before he could say a word, she continued. “One moment I was watching kids playing and the next thing I knew I was thinking of my childhood with my sister. A flood of memories, both happy and sad ran through me. I knew what was coming. The agony of the loss was hitting me there in the park where everyone could see me.” Her voice cracked with deep emotion. “Tears came down uncontrollably. I didn’t want anyone to see me bawling my eyes out, wasn’t ready for anyone to console me, so I lay in the grass face down, my head pillowed by my crossed arms. And for the first time, I didn’t hold back; I let it all out.”