Arranged: A Clean Billionaire Romance (Mixing Love and Business)

by Trisha Grace

  “I love you, Kerri.” The guy’s widened eyes stared at her, his sienna eyes boring into hers, and his brows were pushed all the way up, scrunching his forehead.

  Whoever this person was, she didn’t like how he was staring at her, but the gaunt-looking guy didn’t seem capable of causing too much harm. Besides, they were still in church. What could the guy do to her?

  “Thanks for getting my car, but I need to go now.” Kerri pressed her back against the door while reaching over to the seat belt buckle.

  The guy grabbed her hands. He clasped his scrawny hands around hers and tugged them to his chest. “I love you so much.”

  Kerri swallowed and tried to pull her hands from his, but the guy’s hands clutched hers, his fingertips digging into her skin.

  “I can’t believe I’m holding your hands.”

  “You’re hurting me.” She jerked harder, but that only caused the guy to further tighten his grip.

  Her heart pounded harder then.

  “Kerri, I’m your biggest fan,” the guy said, leaning closer.

  A chill glazed over her shoulders, but she managed to release the breath she’d held and screamed, “Help!”

  The guy moved forward and cupped his hand over her mouth. “Shh … it’s okay. It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.” Despite saying that, his hand remained over her mouth.

  Before she could scream again, the passenger door opened.

  “Get away from her.” Nick grabbed the guy’s hair and yanked him away from her and out of the car.

  She unbuckled her seat belt and scrambled out of the car.

  Nick pounded his fist into the guy’s face.

  “Nick!”

  He stopped and looked up at her. In that split second their eyes met, he seemed to see something in her that fueled his rage. He threw one more punch that knocked the guy out, then threw the guy onto the ground and ran over to her. “Did he hurt you?” He held her shoulders and leaned forward.

  Kerri shook her head.

  “Are you all right?”

  Her chin jerked downward shakily.

  “Let’s get you back inside.” Nick wrapped his arm around her shoulders and led her forward. “I’ll tell Pastor Jay about the server.”

  “I don’t think that guy’s a server. His shirt doesn’t have the church logo.”

  “So he just figured out how the system works?”

  “Where’s David? The church wouldn’t hand out my key to someone they didn’t know.” Kerri took his hand. “You have to talk to Pastor Jay and find David. He could be hurt.”

  “I’m not leaving you alone.”

  “What’s going on?”

  Kerri recognized her father’s voice, and she turned to find her father staring at Nick, then down at their hands. She let go of Nick’s hand and explained what had happened.

  “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine,” Kerri said.

  Her father stared at her for a moment, then shifted his focus to Nick. “How did you know she was in trouble?”

  “I didn’t. I couldn’t get any signal in the storeroom, so I came out.”

  One of her father’s eyes twitched. He seemed to be contemplating something in his mind, but Kerri wasn’t sure what. “Stay with her,” her father finally said.

  It took Kerri a whole second before responding with a blink.

  “I’ll find David.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked.

  Her father looked at her. “About what?” He glanced over at Nick, then back at her. “Go into the room and stay there.”

  “Maybe you should get someone to go with you,” she said.

  Her father laughed. “I’m not old and useless yet.”

  “I don’t like the idea of him going alone,” she said when her father disappeared from her sight.

  “The crazy fan is lying next to your car.” Nick placed his hand on her back and led her back into the storeroom. “Your father will be fine.”

  She exhaled heavily and sank onto one of the chairs. That was when she saw Nick’s knuckles, which were stained with blood. “You didn’t kill that guy, did you?” She lifted his right hand.

  “I didn’t.” He sat next to her before pulling his hand from hers and wiping the blood on his jeans. The blood camouflaged itself against his dark blue jeans, and some of it remained smeared across his knuckles. “Are you all right?”

  “You’ve already asked me that.”

  “I just wanted to make sure.”

  She smiled and nodded. “I am.”

  “What a day, huh?”

  “You have no idea.”

  Nick frowned, and she immediately regretted her choice of words. “What else happened?” he asked.

  “Nothing.”

  His eyes narrowed. “You mean nothing you want to tell me about.”

  “Can’t you be nicer? We haven’t seen each other for three years.”

  “Did that guy scare you out of your mind?” He grinned. “I just saw you a couple of minutes ago. But I can understand. A few minutes away from me can feel like years.”

  She laughed softly, and he ran his thumb along the edge of her lower lip. She turned her eyes to him when he did that and watched his light brown eyes give way to his black pupils.

  That touch and look were so familiar, but the familiarity didn’t stop her heart from fluttering.

  “Now that you’re in a better mood, do you want to tell me what got you so upset?” Nick said after a moment. “Are you having problems with stalkers again? Is it that guy?”

  She blanched. “He must have been following me to find out how the church deals with our cars.” If that guy had been following her, he could have noticed a lot more than just the church’s parking system for VIPs. He could have seen her various illegal purchases.

  “It’s all right.” Nick shifted closer. “It’s over. He can’t hurt you anymore.”

  She shook her head and pressed her face into her hands. “It isn’t him. I haven’t been receiving strange letters.” At least none got to her.

  “Then what’s wrong?”

  She wanted to tell Nick what was going on, but she couldn’t. She knew how much the news would hurt him. “I can’t talk about it.”

  “You can’t?” He arched a brow. “Kerri …”

  “Kerri? Nick? What are you still doing here?”

  Kerri and Nick leaned away from each other when they heard her mother’s voice.

  “Mom.” She turned and saw Pastor Jay with her mom. “I’m fine,” she said and repeated the story.

  “I’ll find your father,” Pastor Jay said and ran out of the room while pulling out his phone.

  Her mother came over to her side. “Thank you, Nick.”

  Nick shrugged.

  “Look at your hand.” Her mother reached into her bag and pulled out her phone. “I’ll get someone to bring a first aid kit.”

  “I’m all right,” Nick said.

  “Don’t be silly. You’re bleeding; you’re not all right.” Her mother stepped away and told the person on the other end of the line to bring a first aid kit and to call the police.

  “It isn’t my blood.”

  Kerri almost laughed when her mother blinked, her face void of expression. After a moment, her mother glanced toward the door.

  “Nick didn’t kill that guy,” Kerri said.

  “Okay.” Her mother shrugged. “Then someone will need the first aid kit.”

  Her father and Pastor Jay carried an unconscious David back into the storeroom and laid him on the floor. He didn’t seem hurt, just unconscious.

  Pastor Jay’s wife, Pastor Yvette, came down with the first aid kit before the police arrived. Throughout the whole time, Nick refused to budge from his seat. The only time he got up was when he walked Kerri back to her car.

  He watched her put her seat belt on, and they looked at each other for a moment. She thought he wanted to say something, but her mom walked over. “We’re ready to go.”

  Kerri glan
ced at the rear-view mirror. Her father’s car was right behind hers. “I have to go.”

  He nodded.

  “Thanks, Nick,” her mother said and walked away.

  “Yeah.” Kerri looked up at Nick. “Thanks for everything.”

  His lips curled. “Anytime.” He held her gaze for another moment before closing the door.

  Kerri drove away from the church while Nick turned and walked away with Pastor Jay and Pastor Yvette.

  She knew she would see Nick at church sooner or later, but she hadn’t thought it would be this soon and with this much drama. She smiled as she thought about his thumb against her lips.

  Nick looked different. His brown hair was now blond, with both the sides shaved and the rest pushed back. He had grown a lot more muscular as well and filled out the long-sleeved T-shirt rather nicely.

  But everything else felt exactly as it used to.

  Her favorite thing about Nick was still his eyes. The way he looked at her; the way his concern shone through his light brown eyes. And he was still able to tease her into a better mood.

  She looked out of her car and clenched her jaw as she saw the tree that she and Nick had crashed their car into.

  Before she had time to dwell on the fuzzy memories from the night of the accident, her phone started ringing.

  A familiar unsaved number lit her phone’s screen.

  Refusing to answer the call, Kerri allowed it to ring through. But Stephanie wasn’t giving up. The call came in again, and Kerri exhaled heavily before answering it. “Yes?”

  “Have you gotten the stuff?”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “Kerri.”

  “Yes.”

  “Can you meet me now?”

  Kerri hated how Stephanie always phrased her questions as if she really had a choice. “Something happened at church. My parents are with me. They won’t leave me alone for the rest of the day.”

  “Kerri, this isn’t how we work.”

  “I’ll meet you if you can get my parents away.”

  A minute of silence followed.

  “Tomorrow,” Kerri said.

  “All right,” Stephanie said after a moment.

  “I do have a problem. I may have a stalker who’s been following me. I don’t know since when, and I don’t know how much he knows.”

  “Do you know who the guy is?”

  “I’ve made a police report, and the police have arrested the guy. I don’t know how long they’ll hold him.”

  “All right.”

  Kerri ended the call. When would her entanglement with drugs be over?

  It had been three years. Three years since the car accident; three years since her entanglement began. The claws of the night of the accident had dug deep into her, and she hadn’t been able to shake free from them.

  At least Nick appeared well, and things seemed to be getting better for him.

  Please, Lord. Let the past be the past. Let me move on as well.

  Chapter Three

  Kerri had just settled into the red velvet seat on set when her assistant, Dana, bent below one of the six lightings, hopped over a thick black wire, dodged and mumbled an apology to the cameraman, and hurried over to her.

  Kerri arched her brow as Dana’s red hair that was tied up in a messy bun bobbed around in her haste to get over. “What is it?”

  Dana handed the phone to her, her brandy-colored eyes swimming with apprehension. “I think you should look at this before the interview.”

  Kerri skimmed through the article, and the muscles along her jaws twitched. “Thanks.” She handed the phone back to Dana, and Dana hurried off the set after straightening her light gray T-shirt.

  Glaring down at her bright red heels, Kerri inhaled deeply through her nose.

  “Is everything all right?” Marissa Bates’s apple-red lips curled as she took a seat in one of the two empty red seats on the other side of the white squarish coffee table. The tight curls in Marissa’s brownish copper shoulder-length hair brought out the vivacious spark in her otherwise dull blue eyes.

  Kerri nodded with a polite smile of her own.

  “I’m so glad you’re here,” Marissa Bates said as she gave her black jacket that she had worn over her royal-blue shirt a tug and dusted off a white speck on her shoulder before looking over at a man who had just walked onto the set.

  The man in a light gray suit and short blond hair stood in front of the cream-colored wall with the show’s lapis blue title on it.

  “Glenn,” Marissa Bates waved him over, “Kerri, this is my co-host, Glenn.”

  Glenn gave Kerri a firm handshake and stretched the over-taunt skin on his face into a small smile before taking the last remaining seat.

  “All right, all set.” The guy from the production crew looked over at them, then at the cameraman. “Ready, in ten, nine …” The man counted down to four and signaled the last three numbers with his hand.

  Kerri closed her eyes. Back straight, shoulders squared and relaxed. Her mother’s voice in her head helped her run through a mental checklist of her posture. Kerri didn’t have to make any adjustments; she rarely ever did. But her mother’s voice always surfaced whenever cameras were around.

  “We have a treat for our viewers today. The first interview since her hiatus. We have America’s sweetheart, Kerri Adams, with us.” Marissa Bates turned to her. “Welcome to our show, Kerri. I’m very excited to have you here.”

  “Thank you.” She smiled and nodded at Marissa. “I’m excited to be here.”

  “I love your new movie,” Marissa said. “What a sweet story.”

  “Was the script written just for you?” Glenn asked.

  Kerri chuckled. “No. The casting director called me after he saw the script.” She answered all the questions Marissa and Glenn had about the movie. With over ten movies under her belt, Kerri was more than prepared for the usual questions regarding her movie.

  Glenn leaned forward. “Did you get along with your co-star?”

  She nodded. “We got along very well. Taylor took very good care of me.” Here goes.

  “What a shame he couldn’t be here,” Marissa said. “I love seeing the two of you together; you guys have such great chemistry.”

  “Thanks, but we’re not dating or seeing each other. We’re good friends. That’s all.”

  Marissa laughed. “So you’ve seen the magazine covers.”

  How could she not? And even if she had missed the magazine covers, the paparazzi swarming Taylor and her had no problem pushing cameras in front of their faces.

  “The rumor mill has been going wild,” Marissa said.

  “And that’s all they are—rumors.”

  “I have to admit. I was hoping there was some truth to it. I’m such a fan, and after what you’ve been through with Nick Evans …”

  Kerri forced a smile. “Taylor and I are just good friends.”

  “Well, speaking of Nick.” Glenn leaned back on his chair. “I heard you had an eventful Sunday.”

  Kerri cast a knowing smile over to Dana. She thanked God for Dana, her third assistant since her return to work. “I did. A fan somehow infiltrated the church, pretending to be a server, and got too close for my comfort.”

  “Oh? I thought Nick was jealous and got into a fight with the server. He has gotten into several fights due to jealousy.”

  “That was years ago. We were younger and … less wise,” she said and continued before Glenn could ask another question or make another statement. “And as I said, the guy isn’t our church’s server. Even our church has come forward to say that. You should get your facts checked before accusing anyone.” She smiled sweetly at Glenn.

  “I’m not trying to accuse Nick. I’m merely stating what someone wrote.”

  “Well, the person wrote nonsense that isn’t worth reading.” She maintained her friendly demeanor. “If Nick hadn’t been there, if he hadn’t pulled the guy away from me, I don’t know what could’ve happened.” She added a shudder for eff
ect.

  “I’m glad you’re safe,” Glenn said, and Marissa nodded. “But something bad always happens to you whenever he’s around you, doesn’t it?”

  Kerri inhaled slowly through her nose. “My mistakes were my own. They had nothing to do with him.”

  Glenn shook his head. “All that partying and drinking. Not to mention the drugs. You don’t do any of that anymore. Once he was out of your life, everything calmed down.”

  “I chose to take every drop of alcohol; I chose to go to all the parties, but I never took drugs.”

  “But he did.”

  She sighed. “Right, but he never—not once—tried getting me to take cocaine with him.” Her entanglement with the drug was her own choice, too.

  “You’re still very protective of him. I hope you’re not still in love with him. He isn’t good for you.”

  Kerri looked down at the glass of water on the coffee table in front of her. She entertained the thought of picking up the glass and splashing the water into Glenn’s face.

  “Glenn,” Marissa said and looked at Glenn. “Be nice.”

  Kerri picked up the glass, took a sip of water, and returned it to the table. “It’s all right.” She looked right at Glenn. “I’m still protective of Nick because he’s my friend. Before we were a couple, we were good friends. He has always been blamed for all of my mistakes, which isn’t fair to him.” She turned to face a camera and paused for a moment, waiting for the producers to switch the focus of the screen onto the camera she was looking at. “I want to officially apologize for all the mistakes I’ve made. I’m sorry I wasn’t a better example. I’m sorry if I disappointed you, but none of that was Nick’s fault. I take full responsibility for my actions.”

  “Even for the car accident?”

  Her eyes almost narrowed into a glare. But by God’s grace, she managed to stop herself. “Absolutely,” she said as sweetly as possible. If she were to lose her cool now, it would somehow be Nick’s fault again.

  Marissa nodded, and her bright smile returned. “I think it is clear that Nick cares about you as well.”

  “Yes—”

  “Anyway,” Marissa continued, interrupting Glenn. “Do you have any other movies lined up?”

  She would make sure to tell Dana to accept all of Marissa’s interviews in the future, sans Glenn, of course. “Yes, but everything is still hush-hush now.”