JADE
I was gathering up my backpack the next morning when I heard my doorbell ring.
A quick glance at the clock confirmed that Eli was right on time.
I smiled as I realized that he was probably trying to prove that he didn’t always leave people cooling their heels because of him.
Picking up my things, I made my way to the door, trying not to admit that I was curious about what we were doing for the day.
But I was pretty unsuccessful.
I’d worn my swimsuit underneath my jeans and T-shirt, and I had clean clothes in my pack. So yeah, I had to assume that we were doing something near the water, but that wasn’t really a stretch since we lived on the coast.
Honestly, I was excited. I’d never really had much as far as adventures in my life. And I’d been too caught up in fear and guilt after I’d inherited a pile of money to do much with the enormous amount of wealth I’d inherited. Maybe because I’d been too damn scared to touch it.
Sure, I’d bought a beachfront home. But it was modest for a beach house, a two-bedroom waterfront cottage with a pool that I absolutely adored. Compared to my brothers’ mansions down the beach, my place looked like a second-rate condo.
I stopped as I approached the screen door that led out onto my deck, my eyes drawn to one of the most adorable dogs I’d ever seen.
Soulful brown eyes stared at me from outside, and my heart melted. The dog was a shaggy beast. He looked like a mix that had the markings of a shepherd, but floppy ears like another breed entirely.
He might have been enormous, but his tail was wagging, and his eyes suckered me in even after I opened the door.
“Hey, buddy. Where did you come from?” I put my hand out so he could sniff it.
“He’s mine,” a deep voice said from beyond the deck. As Eli came up the stairs and into my vision, he had a grin on his face. “He knows how to ring doorbells as long as they’re low enough for him to reach. I sent him ahead so I’d be exactly on time.”
The pup nuzzled my hand and I crouched down to give him the love he wanted.
“He cannot ring the doorbell,” I said in disbelief.
“He did,” Eli argued. “Charlie . . . go ring,” he commanded.
The dog actually stopped soaking up affection from me and put his paws on the side of the house before he smacked one of them against the doorbell.
I gaped at Eli as the doorbell chimed.
At Eli’s signal, the canine dropped all four paws onto the deck again.
“That’s incredible,” I said in awe as I resumed petting the dog.
“I hope you don’t mind,” Eli said. “Charlie hates to be left out. I take him along whenever I can. He was a mutt rescue that was abused, and he likes to be with me.”
My heart warmed as I realized that Eli seemed completely devoted to his pet’s welfare, and that he’d actually adopted from an animal shelter instead of getting some fancy purebred.
I stepped back and motioned for both of them to come in. “I don’t mind at all. I love dogs. But I’ve never been able to afford to have one of my own. Well, until now.”
I hadn’t even considered getting myself a pet. Maybe because I was gone so much overnight. Or possibly due to my freaky Sudden Wealth Syndrome or whatever it was that kept me scared of spending any of my inheritance.
But thinking about it, maybe a pet would help me feel less isolated.
“We can’t stay here long,” Eli warned. “Our ride is coming.”
“Coffee?” I asked as I entered the kitchen and Eli took a seat at the breakfast bar.
“Yeah. I always have time for that,” he answered good-naturedly.
“How did you get here if you don’t have a ride?” I asked as I poured us each a mug of coffee.
“I have a car, but I’m staying right next door during my little vacation,” he answered as he motioned for Charlie to lie down. The dog obeyed immediately.
My head shot up. “Next door. You mean here? In Citrus Beach?”
He gave me that panty-dropping smile that got me every time as he said, “I live in San Diego. I didn’t want to bother with the traffic and drive every day, and the house next door was for sale, so I bought it. I just drove up this morning. It was a vacation rental, so it came completely furnished.”
I poked a thumb to my right. “That house?” I remembered that the mansion was on the market.
He nodded as he motioned away the cream and sugar and took the black coffee from me.
I added cream and sweetener to my own mug as I said, “That place is almost brand-new, and it’s enormous.”
He shrugged his broad shoulders. “It’s not that big. Six bedrooms, maybe. I didn’t really have time to look.”
Maybe I was having problems processing the fact that Eli had just up and bought the place next door to me, but I couldn’t stop staring at him in disbelief.
Not that he was at all hard to look at. Dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a T-shirt, he looked so damn good that I could hardly force myself to look away.
“Who does that?” I asked, dumbfounded. “Who just buys a house sight unseen?”
He took a slug of coffee before he answered. “To be honest, I pretty much buy every home I have without seeing it. I have employees who handle the details.”
“How many homes do you have?” I asked nervously, almost afraid to hear his answer.
“I’m not sure,” he answered. “I lost track. But they’re all good investments. I have a few I haven’t had a chance to stay in yet, but it’s convenient to have homes everywhere.”
I swallowed hard as I stared at him. Granted, I was barely a billionaire and Eli was one of the richest men in the world. But I found the prospect of owning even one home I’d never lived in pretty daunting. “So what’s it like?” I finally asked curiously.
I was going to have to accept that Eli’s life was way different from what I’d experienced, but it might take me a while to let it all sink in.
He raised a brow. “What?”
“The house next door,” I said. “I’ve always wondered what that monstrosity looked like inside. And I can’t believe you bought a vacation house just to stay in Citrus Beach for ten days.”
“It will make things easier if I’m close to you,” he said nonchalantly. “And the house is a good investment. Like it or not, Citrus Beach is growing, and the real-estate prices are picking up pretty quickly.”
I leaned against the counter as I tried to figure him out. “So you bought it as an investment?”
His eyes met mine, and his intent stare made heat sizzle down my spine. “No. I bought it so I could be close to you for ten days. It’s too small of a purchase for me to buy only as an investment. If I didn’t have a purpose for it, I wouldn’t have bothered,” he answered earnestly.
Jesus! I really hate it when he says things like he just wants to be close to me.
Eli Stone was an enigma. One moment he was the quintessential aloof billionaire, and the next he was bluntly honest.
I still didn’t know what to make of him and his ten-day challenge. But I swore I’d have him figured out by the time we parted ways.
I let out a nervous sigh. “I guess sometimes having money overwhelms me,” I admitted. “My sister, Brooke, says I have some kind of Sudden Wealth Syndrome.”
He nodded and finished off his coffee. “She’s right,” he answered. “I’ve seen it many times. Not all of my friends were born wealthy like I was, and I’ve seen people struggle to deal with getting rich too fast.”
“Really?” I asked hopefully. “Does it go away?”
“Not always,” he mused. “But you’ll be fine.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because you have me to help you get used to it, and you have a good head on your shoulders. I know it’s hard when friends abandon you, and you’re stuck in a whole new world. But I’ll help you, Jade.”
“Why?” I asked. “Why do you care?”
He shrugged. “Because I want to.”
“Because you still want to sleep with me?”
He grinned. “You know I have ulterior motives, but I really do want to help.”
He looked a little bit like a mischievous boy, and my heart did an enormous flip-flop.
Eli Stone was the hottest man I’d ever seen, hands down. And it was almost surreal that he was actually at my house having coffee like we’d known each other forever.
I emptied my mug as Eli stood and said, “I think our ride is here.”
I put my cup in the sink and joined him at the door.
There was a helicopter overhead, and an enormous yacht that was getting close to shore, but I didn’t see a car.
“Grab your clothes,” he instructed as he walked outside with Charlie at his heels.
I hastily grabbed my things and locked the door, speechless as I turned around to watch the helicopter landing on the beach.
Eli held out his hand, but I hesitated.
I got the fact that we were leaving in his helicopter, now that I could see the Stone logo on the side of the aircraft. I tried to push down the panic that started to rise, the overwhelming feeling that all of this was some kind of dream, and I’d wake up very shortly.
I didn’t fly in helicopters.
I didn’t do impulsive things.
And I certainly didn’t fly away to places yet unknown with a billionaire.
This wasn’t me.
I wasn’t me.
After I took a deep breath, I looked at Eli.
I shuddered as I got the sense that he was trying to tell me that my whole reality had changed, and it was time to get on with it.
“Trust me, Jade,” he yelled over the sound of the helicopter.
My heart squeezed in my chest. I’d been lost for the last few months, unsure of where I was going or what the hell I was doing.
I’d been isolated and uncertain, emotions that I’d never experienced before because I never took a risk or stepped outside of my academic comfort zone.
But I was so damn tired of feeling misplaced and disoriented.
I needed to be me again without the fear and the panic. I needed to adjust or risk feeling this way for the rest of my life, and I refused to go down that road.
It’s time for me to trust someone again. It’s time for me to find myself, money and all.
The excitement of becoming fearless made me reach for Eli’s hand.
As he pulled me toward the beach, I let my negative feelings drift away.
It was hard not to be happy when I was going to be spending my time with a very rich, hot guy, even if it was just for a little while.