JADE
“I don’t really know how to be a billionaire,” I confessed quietly into the darkness.
Eli and I had settled in, and he was in the bunk bed above me. I’m not sure why I’d uttered the words, but talking to the dark seemed safe.
And I couldn’t sleep, an affliction that rarely happened to me.
I had no idea whether or not he was still awake, and I almost hoped he hadn’t heard my pathetic comment. It was kind of stupid. If my biggest problem was adjusting to having money, I was pretty sure most people would love to be in my shoes.
“People think having a lot of money is easy, but it really isn’t,” Eli answered in a husky voice. “From now on, you’re always going to wonder what somebody wants from you when you meet anybody new. And if you put yourself in the social circle of ultrawealthy people, you’ll never have your privacy. Once you get known, you’ll always be in the public eye. There’s not a lot of privacy sometimes. On the other hand, there are lots of benefits.”
His voice was low and smooth, and I was relieved that he didn’t laugh at me for saying something silly. Eli actually sounded like he understood me to some extent.
“What benefits? Being able to buy things?” I asked earnestly.
He chuckled. “There’s definitely that. But it could also open doors to things you’ve never been able to do before. Money can be a trap or freedom. It is what you make of it. And you can do a hell of a lot of good. Billionaires can be excellent fund-raisers and benefactors to charities if they choose to be.”
I already knew that Eli was a huge philanthropist. All of the causes he donated to came up frequently in his interviews.
“I’d like that,” I murmured. “I have my own charity, but there are others that I’d like to work with, too. I know my twin sister is taking an active role in fund-raising.”
“You have a twin?” he asked hoarsely, sounding surprised.
“Her name is Brooke. She married a guy in Maine, and I really miss her. I’m happy for her, but having her so far away is like losing my right arm. There’s a twin bond that will never go away.”
“You’re lonely?” he probed. “That’s completely understandable, especially now. You were thrown into a whole new reality, and she’s not around for you to work things out together.”
“I just feel like a part of me is missing,” I shared. “Brooke was always my best friend.”
“Keep busy,” he suggested. “Eventually, you’ll find your own way.”
“So maybe I just need to try to experience new things?”
“You definitely should,” he agreed. “Have you ever done an African safari? You love wildlife, and it’s pretty amazing.”
“No.” Seeing places and traveling to experience the wildlife in other countries was pretty appealing. I’d done plenty of studies on African wildlife, but most of it was genetic, and I’d only observed the animals in captivity. To see them running in the wild would be extraordinary.
“Australia? The animals there are pretty unique.”
“South America? China? Europe? Canada?”
“Nope. I’ve never been in any foreign country,” I admitted.
Honestly, maybe I hadn’t thought about foreign travel because I really didn’t want to go alone. If I got a job abroad, it would be different. I’d be working in another country. But just to see the sights, it would suck not to have anybody to share it with. And now that Brooke was married and across the country, I had no idea who would want to go with me. My friends all had full-time, busy jobs.
“You have to start thinking like a billionaire, Jade,” he said with obvious amusement. “I know you love food. Have you hit any of the great restaurants in San Diego?”
Dinner for one? That would be awkward.
“No. But you own most of them. So I can see why you’ve been to every one of them. The only place of yours that I’ve tried is the spot we celebrated Brooke’s engagement. I saw you there.”
“You know I saw you, too,” he said. “I made sure dinner was on the house for your whole party before I left.”
“Noah didn’t tell me that,” I said. “Why did you do it? It’s not like my family doesn’t have the money now.”
“I could tell you were celebrating. I wanted to do it. Besides, your brother Noah just took the amount of the bill and tipped his waitress with it. I had one very happy waitress that night. I doubt that story will ever stop circulating around the place.” He paused before he added, “And I go to places I don’t own. I told you that I love food.”
I wasn’t surprised that my eldest brother had given the waitress a monstrous tip, but I felt a little guilty about the fact that I hadn’t exactly had kind thoughts about Eli that night. He’d actually done something really thoughtful.
“I’m not much of a socializer,” I said, feeling defeated. “And going to dinner in nice places alone isn’t all that much fun.”
“You could have gone with me,” he reminded me. “Fuck knows I’ve offered over and over again.”
“I didn’t like you,” I said bluntly.
“You don’t know me,” he argued. “And you have no reason to dislike me.”
I stared into the darkness for a few minutes, contemplating his statement.
He’d pretty much cleared up why he’d left me waiting in his office. He didn’t want to sell the land I wanted, but it wasn’t like he had to do anything he didn’t want to do. He said he had his reasons, and the acreage in the backcountry obviously had some deep meaning to him personally. And I could hardly fault him because he had extreme hobbies. It was his life. He had a right to do whatever he wanted.
“You’re right,” I finally muttered. “We don’t have much in common, but that’s no reason to dislike you.”
“You’re attracted to me, and you don’t like that,” he said. “Do I scare you, Jade?”
“Sometimes,” I confessed, the total darkness making me braver.
“Why?”
Because every time I see you, I get mesmerized. I want to crawl up your gorgeous body and ease the painful ache I have every time you’re near me.
“Because I don’t like losing control,” I finally answered. “I’m not the type of woman who makes any man drool. Brooke was always the more feminine one. I was a tomboy, remember?”
“Maybe you like being outdoors, but you’re gorgeous, Jade. You have a natural beauty that would knock some guys on their asses.”
“Like you?”
“Especially me,” he confessed. “You’re so connected with nature and the wildlife you’re fighting to protect. I love the way you handle an axe, and I’m in awe that you can identify nearly any plant. It makes you pretty irresistible.”
I couldn’t help it. I laughed out loud. “Eli, there aren’t a whole lot of men who find a dirt-smudged woman with no makeup, and who chronically has bad-hair days, all that pretty.”
“Not another comment about how you look, or I swear I’ll swing down into your bed and make you realize just how damn fuckable you really are,” he growled.
Every part of me wanted to say something that would make Eli bring his ripped body into my bed, but I still had a tiny portion of common sense, so I stayed quiet for a moment before I simply answered, “Okay. I’ll stop.”
“Damn!” he said hoarsely.
He sounded so disappointed that I smiled into the darkness and changed the subject. “So how did you get so comfortable with being a celebrity?”
“I’m not a celebrity,” he said. “I was born rich. So I pretty much grew up in a privileged world. But I never really wanted to be noticed. It just . . . happened.”
I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn’t see me. “Please. Every news organization loves to show you doing your extreme hobbies, or talk about how you’re one of the most eligible bachelors in the world. You’re not exactly what I’d call a low-profile billionaire.”
“Now I want to be noticed sometimes, especially when I’m raising funds for charity.”
I supposed getting attention for his causes was probably worth being in the public eye. “Do you like the publicity?”
“You probably won’t believe me, but I actually don’t. I’m a private kind of guy. But I’m willing to sacrifice some of my privacy for a good cause. Sometimes I have to keep the crazy going.”
Keep the crazy going?
It was an interesting way to refer to his insane hobbies and fund-raising.
He hesitated before he said, “You’ll get used to having money, Jade. It doesn’t change who you are, and once you start enjoying the benefits of being a billionaire, you just might find out it isn’t so bad.”
“I’d like to travel,” I mused. “And I do like raising money for my charity. I wouldn’t mind doing as much as I can for other fund-raisers.”
“I can teach you what billionaires can do for fun. And then I can show you how we can make a difference in the world. Give me some of your time, and I promise that I’ll make you feel differently about having money,” he said gruffly.
“By taking me to dinner in a nice place?” I asked curiously. There was something very appealing about having someone to show me the billionaire ropes, because I was clueless as to how I could become a good philanthropist.
“Among other things,” he answered. “Give me ten days, Jade. I can take that much time off. I might have emergencies come up, but I’ll otherwise be at your disposal. I can help you get used to being rich, and prove that it doesn’t change you.”
My heart tripped. I couldn’t imagine spending every single day with Eli for over a week. But I would be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted. Eli seemed to understand my fears about the money, and I could talk to him. “I have classes,” I argued.
“No, you don’t,” he replied smugly. “I bought them all out for the next month. I was hoping you’d agree to spend some time with me.”
“I know I had some people who wanted to sign up.”
“Classes were already booked. Those potential students got pushed to the following month.”
“How in the world did that happen? How did you manage to buy out all the classes?”
“I have a lot of friends in San Diego,” he answered. “And I was desperate.”
My schedule was put together by some of the rec centers who recommended my classes. So it irritated the hell out of me that somebody had just . . . fixed it for Eli.
There was part of me that was annoyed that he’d high-handedly stripped me of the ability to teach classes for a month, but there was a soft spot inside me because Eli was trying so damn hard.
And really, I didn’t have much desire to fight him. I wanted to get to know him. He did some great things for charity, and I wanted to be part of that. And I had the chance to work with a man who had grown up rich. If anybody knew the ins and outs of being a billionaire, he did. “Are you going to try to kiss me again?”
“Undoubtedly,” he said firmly.
I wasn’t sure whether the thought terrified me, or if I was secretly glad.
“I suppose you did donate a lot of money to my charity,” I mused.
“Don’t agree because of that. I wanted to donate,” he said huskily. “Do it because you want to or not at all. I donate millions to charity, but I’ll make you a deal.”
“What?” I answered in a breathless voice.
“Do the days with me, and on the last day I’ll throw a fund-raising event for SWCF. I’ll get every person I know with money to attend. You’ll raise a fortune for your nonprofit, and I’ll teach you how to keep doing it. I’ll introduce you to every influential person I know.”
The thought of learning to do charity fund-raising from Eli was a dream come true. But being with him for over a week was even more tempting. “I’d like to,” I admitted.
“But? I definitely hear a hesitation. What is it, Jade?”
“I’m not sure what your motivation is,” I admitted. “Are you trying to get me into your bed?”
“Yes,” he said bluntly. “But I’d really like to get to know you. I haven’t had any real time off in a long time. And I’d like to spend those days with you.”
“What are we going to do?” I asked nervously.
“I get to arrange the days,” he insisted.
“I don’t like surprises,” I muttered.
“You’ll learn to love them,” he countered.
I knew it was way past time I got more into the human world. I’d spent too much time in the backcountry conducting research. I’d been isolated, and I was starting to get lonely, especially with my twin across the country.
“Okay. I’m not going to be seduced,” I said firmly. “But I think I’d like to be your friend.”
“We’ll see,” Eli said mysteriously. “I very much doubt we can be friends, Butterfly. We’re too attracted to each other. And I don’t really do girlfriends or commitment. I have . . . arrangements.”
I already knew that about him, but hearing the words come from him directly made me sad. At times, he could be a really nice guy. So I was having a hard time figuring out why he could also be a jerk.
Something is haunting him.
Brooke would say that it was my closet romantic, thinking that Eli was better than he really was, but I just had a weird sense that he wasn’t always showing his true face. I’d seen it in his interview, and I felt it even stronger now that I’d spent some time with him.
“I’m not going to give in on the sex thing, so you’re wasting your time if that’s all you want.”
“Spending time with you would never be a waste, whether we burn up the sheets or not.”
His comment silenced me momentarily because he sounded so sincere. “I want to spend time with you, too, Eli. But I don’t want to sleep with you. I’m a commitment type of woman, and if I have sex with somebody, I’d at least like that option to be open.”
My statement was a little white lie, a comment that was much more about convincing myself I didn’t want him to fuck me than letting him know how I felt. But most of it was honest. I did want to have a committed relationship if the right guy came along.
“Let’s just spend the time together and see what happens,” he suggested.
I already knew what would happen. I’d be hot and bothered every moment we were together. I was seriously starting to wonder if I had masochistic tendencies.
“Did you hope I’d end up giving in tonight?” I asked curiously.
“Yep. But I did accomplish one thing,” he said thoughtfully.
“What?”
“I have your body underneath mine, even if it isn’t exactly how I’d planned it.”
I snorted. My bunk bed was underneath his. “You’re crazy,” I told him.
“I have been since I met you,” he agreed readily.
I rolled on my side with a long sigh. Eli had a quirky sense of humor that I was quickly beginning to like. And I was slowly getting used to his sexual innuendos.
I could handle them in the dark with him in another bed.
But I wasn’t too certain I’d do as well if I could see him.
“Good night, Eli,” I said sleepily.
“Sweet dreams, Butterfly.”
I was asleep moments later, and I was pretty sure I conked out with a smile on my face.
For some reason, it never occurred to me that I should be wary of sleeping in the same cabin with a guy who wanted my body.
As long as I professed to be unwilling, I knew I was safe.