The Billionaire’s Pretend Girlfriend (The Billionaires Club Book 2)

by Leslie North

  His words were a knife to the heart. But his best friend was right.

  “You’re right. I don’t want to keep doing this shit forever.” Daniel pinched at the bridge of his nose, already dreading what the conversation with his father might be like. “There’s gotta be a happy medium.”

  “And I promise you, buddy,” Grayson said, “there is.”

  Daniel drifted around his penthouse that night, trapped between two worlds. On the one hand, it wasn’t the first time he’d imagined cutting ties with his father’s business and striking out onto his own. But on the other, the threat of being directionless, unsuccessful, or worse always loomed around the corner.

  Around ten that night, his father called while Daniel was splayed out in bed. He answered it on speakerphone, not even having the energy to lift the phone to his ear.

  “Hope you didn’t get too comfortable,” his father barked, in lieu of a greeting.

  “What now?”

  “Cairo deal fell through.” His father tutted. “No fault of yours, of course. But now, you have to go make it right.”

  As soon as the words sank in, Daniel sat up in bed. Something hot and wild was coursing through him, stirred to life by his father’s demand. Drop everything; jump when I say jump. This job wasn’t prestigious. It wasn’t even fun. He was an overpaid bitch worker. Kept around to do whatever his father commanded.

  It was clear now. Clearer than ever. Paycheck be damned. What good was it having money that he was never around to spend?

  “I don’t know if now is a good time,” Daniel started, his fist already clenched.

  “What do you mean, it’s not a good time? We have fix this. Now. I’ve already got a flight lined up for you. Leaves tomorrow—you just need to confirm if you want a three p.m. departure or a six p.m.”

  Everything in Daniel’s body went taut. His mouth hung open, equal parts stunned and enraged. “I just got home, Dad. I want to sleep in tomorrow. I want a day off.”

  “You’ll rest when you’re dead.” The phrase that had haunted Daniel for years.

  “But I don’t want to live like this anymore,” Daniel blurted. “This isn’t even living. This is just going wherever you point your finger, whenever you point it.”

  “And what’s the problem with that? You love this job. This is our business. This is what we’ve built—together.”

  “No, it’s what you’ve built.” Finally, some of the words that had been locked up inside his chest for too long were ready to spill out. “Of course I want to help your business. Of course I want to help you. But how much will be enough? I can’t give you everything at the expense of my own happiness.”

  “You’re happy—look at your penthouse. Look at your bank account. Now tell me that isn’t happiness.”

  “There’s more to life than that, Dad. You used to know, didn’t you? Or maybe you never did.”

  His father scoffed. “Please. I have a family. I have you. I know what happiness is.”

  “Then give me the chance to know that for myself. You want grandkids? Not gonna happen when I have to fight tooth and nail for twenty-four hours of freedom.”

  “Listen, we’ll look at cutting back your hours—"

  “No.” His tongue met parched lips, and for a moment he wondered if the words would pass his lips.

  And then they did.

  “I’m quitting.”

  His father was silent—maybe for the first time in his entire life. When he finally spoke, it was more of a sputter. “What do you think you’re going to do, huh? You think you can walk away from what you’re making here and find it anywhere else? You’re insane. What, you want to start from scratch, like your friend Grayson? Be my guest. Don’t call me when your savings dry up and you need a hand.”

  Daniel grimaced. He’d expected this. But it didn’t matter. The worst was over. Now, all he needed to do was figure out a game plan, and take a step forward.

  “I’m sorry it had to be like this,” Daniel said. “You’re still my dad. But you can’t be my boss anymore. We need a new arrangement. This isn’t working for me. It hasn’t worked for a long time.”

  By the time Daniel hung up, his pulse was racing and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to scream swear words from his balcony or go puke in the bathroom. In the end, he did neither—instead, he paced his penthouse, overcome with freedom and options and wild ideas. It was late, definitely bedtime. But with how he was feeling, he might not sleep for two days.

  It didn’t matter. He was a free agent. He had the money to sit back and figure out what came next. And for the first time in his life, he was ready to undertake the challenge of creating something for himself.

  And maybe, at the end of it all, Jackie would be there to cheer him on.

  But even if she wasn’t, he owed her a big thank you for lighting the fire under his ass.

  18

  Six weeks after the wedding that changed her life, Jackie was finally heading to her friend Geri’s house to pick up some mail she’d had forwarded there.

  It was one of the consequences of being homeless. Using different mailing addresses, depending on whose home she was using between gigs. It wasn’t ideal. In fact, it was the least ideal situation ever.

  Still, she tried not to dwell on it too much. To remind herself that her life was no different than before she’d met Daniel. Still broke; still working paycheck to paycheck; still finishing out her last year of school.

  But it didn’t feel the same. Nothing felt the same since Daniel, actually. Even though she tried to convince herself otherwise, every day.

  “Heeey, there you are!” Geri grinned, wrapping Jackie in a hug as soon as she stepped into her apartment. This place was more like home than anywhere else for Jackie—a lived-in townhouse with comfy couches and lots of natural sunlight. A place where she could just unwind and feel accepted.

  “Sorry I’m running late. I just came from my last house-sitting assignment in Marin.”

  Geri headed for her living room. “Was it better than the last one?”

  “Yes, thank God.” Her first assignment post-Daniel had been a disaster—carpet stains, a tower of dirty dishes, and piled-up laundry while claiming they only wanted ‘light housekeeping.’ “This new family had a smaller house, and the best part? They have a dog.”

  “Aww, what’s his name?” Geri settled on the couch and Jackie sank in beside her.

  “Henry,” she said, picking at her cuticles. Was it wrong to still wish she could visit Daniel’s fish…and the man himself?

  “You don’t seem very happy about the name,” Geri said with a laugh.

  Jackie sighed, her head dropping back on the couch. “It’s just that…no. I don’t to want to go there.”

  Geri swatted at her friend’s leg. “What is it? You can tell me.”

  Jackie frowned. “It’s another Daniel thing.” She hated how many times she’d mentioned this short-lived romance to her best friend over the past month. “One of his fish was named Henry.”

  Geri nodded, understanding creasing her expression. “You still miss him, don’t you?”

  Jackie covered her face with her hands, groaning. It was so like her best friend to call her out like this. “Yeah, I mean, I guess so? I think I’ll be missing him for the rest of my life. Even though that’s so ridiculous to say.”

  “It’s not ridiculous,” Geri said, crossing her legs beneath her. “It sounds like true love.”

  Jackie pouted. “I think about him every day. I’m always wondering if he’s taking care of himself; where he’s at in the world; whether or not he’s happy. What we shared happened fast, but god, it was so real.”

  Geri squeezed Jackie’s arm. “Sounds like the real thing, hon. We can’t control this stuff. We can only manage the consequences.”

  Jackie laughed but it faded quickly. “I’m sure he doesn’t even think of me anymore. I think the part I hate the most is not knowing what might have happened if I’d stayed.”

  “You mean stayed for
the last night at the wedding?”

  “Yeah. Even though I’m convinced we were just heading toward a messier, uglier breakup further down the road if I’d stayed…part of me still wonders if maybe he would have proven me wrong.”

  Geri heaved a sigh, squeezing her friend’s knee. “You know…I get why you did it. It’s part of who you are. You’re Strong Jackie, because that’s who you’ve always had to be. But the other side of that coin is knowing when to tell someone what you’re feeling. Especially when you’re involved romantically.”

  “But I told him how special he was to me,” Jackie protested.

  “Did you tell him you were afraid that it wouldn’t work? Or that you worried he worked too much?”

  Jackie deflated. “No. It just…seemed obvious.”

  Geri sent her a severe look.

  “He openly and freely talked about his lack of free time. How he could barely get one day off per year—one day per year, Geri. That doesn’t sound like he’s in any position to have a girlfriend. Not one he’d actually spend time with, anyway.”

  “But leaving without talking to him about it? Like, actually opening up to him and hearing his side and hashing things out? You were only ever shooting yourself in the foot.”

  Jackie’s pout deepened. “I wasn’t shooting myself in the foot. I was protecting myself.”

  “Were you protecting yourself? Or were you really just punishing yourself?”

  Silence settled between them as Jackie mulled over her best friend’s words. Jackie finally sighed, feeling the clarity of her friend’s perspective settling over her. “You know I hate it when you make too much sense.”

  Geri laughed, squeezing her friend’s arm. “It’s because I love you. I want you to be happy. And every time we’ve met up or gone for coffee this past month, you’re still moping.”

  “I’m not moping—” Jackie started, but then cut herself off when she noticed that hard look from Geri returning. “I was moping a little.”

  “You should talk to him. At least text him from your new number so he has it.”

  Jackie sighed. “I don’t know. We’ll see.”

  The friends chatted for a little while longer before Jackie scooped up her mail and headed back to her car. Now it was time to head to her newest assignment—back to Marin. It was a quick little house-sitting gig that had cropped up earlier that day. And good timing, too, since the family with the dog named Henry’s assignment got cut short.

  She punched in the address to the new assignment in her GPS and got moving. Geri’s words haunted her the whole way there.

  Because she was right. Jackie’s defense mechanism—pull away before anyone could hurt her first—toed the line with self-punishment. Instead of taking a risk and diving into something that might be worthwhile and fulfilling, she’d chosen to just end it herself to avoid the threat of hurt or rejection. To just punish herself by closing herself off to the chance of anything, good or bad.

  Is that really how you want to start the next chapter of your life?

  It was a thought that kept returning to her ever since the wedding. Now that she was less than a year away from graduating and beginning her long-sought-after career, it stood to reason that other things in her life should begin clicking into place.

  But she wasn’t going to be obtaining new results if she didn’t try new things. And ditching Daniel on the last day of the wedding, well…that was just one more example of how she tried to protect her heart. She’d been battered enough by growing up in the system. Wasn’t that enough?

  She gripped the steering wheel of her car as she drove back to Marin, the cycling thoughts making her teeth clench.

  As far as she saw it, she had two options: she could continue to do things as she’d always done—close off, shut down, run away—or she could take a risk on something new.

  Choosing college and an eventual career—that had been a big risk. And it was working out. She was succeeding.

  So maybe her love life deserved the same risk-taking.

  Just this once.

  By the time she arrived to the new assignment—after a little bit of circling the wrong block—she had made her decision. She wanted to reach out to Daniel. And if it meant she had to show up at his penthouse and stand by the front door until he came home? She’d do it. Even if that meant waiting for days. Possibly weeks.

  She just needed to try. To let him know that she had acted out of fear, instead of the love that she felt for him. To apologize, if nothing else.

  On her way up to the front door of the cute little townhouse, she paused to really look at the place. The house was actually slate gray, an uncommon color but she loved it. Dark mulching made interesting flowers and bushes pop. She’d been to so many houses and slept in so many strangers’ spaces, but she could say one thing for certain: if she had her pick of places? This one might be at the top of her list.

  She scrolled through her phone to find the check-in instructions. She found the key card under the hollow frog in the landscape, next to the ivy climbing a trellis, and then swiped herself in.

  But the second she stepped inside, she knew something was wrong. For starters, her footsteps echoed.

  The house was entirely empty.

  “Shit,” she said, fumbling to find her phone. This had to be a mistake…though it couldn’t be. She’d followed the instructions. She was in the right house. Why was there nothing here?

  She checked the email again, stepped outside to verify that she was indeed at the right house number on the right street, and then walked back inside, heading cautiously down the main hallway. Maybe they just don’t have any furniture in the living room. Maybe the rest of the house is furnished.

  The story was the same in the kitchen. And as she poked her head around the corner to look into the dining room, she gasped.

  Someone was in here. Someone tall, with dark blond hair that had grown a little longer at the edges, hands shoved into the pockets of dark gray sweatpants as he looked out the back window into the tiny backyard.

  Jackie gasped.

  It was freaking Daniel.

  He turned slowly toward her, looking more vulnerable than she’d ever seen him. “Please don’t be mad at me for doing this.”

  Tears immediately sprang to her eyes and she shook her head. “I’m not. Not at all.”

  His throat bobbed and he watched her for a tense moment. Jackie didn’t realize she’d started crying until she tried to talk and tasted the salt of her tears. “Why are you here?”

  “I didn’t know how else to get ahold of you. So I started a new account and rented this house so I could offer you the assignment.” He paused, shaking his head. “God, that sounds like I’m a stalker.”

  She laughed in spite of the situation. “Maybe. But I was just planning on heading to your penthouse and sitting by your front door for the next week—or however long it took until you came home. So, I think we’re equally matched on the stalker front.”

  Some of the tension in his face relaxed and he took a step closer. “You were going to come to my house?”

  More tears arrived then and she nodded, unsure if she wanted to faint or sob for a full hour from how fucking good it felt to see him again. She’d missed him so much more than she’d allowed herself to fathom. And that should be all the sign she needed.

  “God, that makes me so happy to hear.” He paused, a few steps away from her, his fingers twitching. She wasn’t sure how to bridge the distance between them. She owed him so many apologies. So many conversations.

  “I’m sorry,” she blurted, “for everything.”

  Daniel closed the gap between them and scooped her into his embrace. His strong arms went around her, squeezing away the last vestiges of confusion and pain. Now, these tears were born from relief. From happiness. From the possibility of building something with Daniel at her side.

  “I’m sorry too,” he murmured, slowly swaying back and forth with her. “I’m sorry I didn’t realize sooner that I ha
ted my life. But I guess that’s why meeting you was the best thing that happened to me.”

  She propped her chin on his chest, looking up at him, drinking him in after all this time away. “So what has changed since I saw you?”

  He hefted with a laugh. “Oh, only everything. I quit my job.”

  She gasped so hard it echoed. “Are you serious?”

  His grin went ear-to-ear. “Yep. I’m officially self-employed now as a business consultant. I make my own hours. I work from home. Lowest stress levels I’ve ever had. Sounded like a pretty good time to make things right with this girl I met in my bathroom a month and a half ago.”

  Laughter cascaded out of her. God, the pieces weren’t just coming together, they were melting into the most gorgeous image she’d never thought possible. “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah. Not sure if you’re still looking for someone to go to puppy cafés with, but I’m available if you need someone.”

  Tears filled her eyes again, and he swiped a few away with the pad of his thumb.

  “I love you, Daniel,” she whispered. “I wanted to tell you at the wedding, but I was scared. I got so scared and I ran away.”

  “I know, princess.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I was scared too. And that’s why I didn’t change things right away. But look at us. This is meant to be. Because I love you too.”

  Jackie pushed up onto her tiptoes and their lips found each other’s. Kissing him again was like coming home, in the realest and deepest sense she’d ever known. Because he’d felt like home to her since day one. Since before she’d even met him, there was something about his house and his energy that she’d connected with.

  And really, the signs had been there all along. She just hadn’t known how to read them.

  “Is this our new house?” she asked, half-joking.

  “If you want it to be.” Daniel snagged another kiss from her lips before continuing.

  “I love the wood floors and all the sunlight in here,” she whispered. “But really, I want to be where you are. Because you’ve always felt like home.”

  Daniel pressed his forehead to hers. “You trying to make me cry?”