Secrets on the Sand (The Billionaires of Barefoot Bay #1)(15)
Author: Roxanne St. Claire

“Why?” she asked. “I have to think about it. I have to sleep on you, I mean, on it.”

He grinned and pointed to her with the check. “You’ve got sex on the brain.”

She had to laugh. “No, it was a slip of the tongue.”

“Don’t think about it, Mandy. You’ll think yourself right out of the offer. Take the money.” He took her hand and tried to pry her palm open. “Make a business plan and—”

She kept her fingers squeezed. “I have a business plan.”

“Good girl. Then put together a list of every step you have to—”

“I have that list.” She was ready. The only thing stopping her was…pride and self-respect and… Her fingers slackened a bit. “It could take me years to pay you back.”

“I don’t care.”

“I do.” She let out another sigh, almost opening her hand, but this was…so wrong. “I’m going to feel like I owe you.”

“You owe me nothing. I’m here for a week or so. I have some meetings and my dad’s party and, other than that, I’ll help—”

She snapped her fingers and pointed at him so hard and fast, he drew back an inch. “That’s it!”

“What?”

She snapped again, over and over, unable to contain her happiness. “I know what I can do for your five thousand dollars.”

“I don’t need anything, Mandy.”

“Oh, yes, you do.” She tapped his chest playfully, already loving this idea. “You need a bodyguard.”

“What?” He shook his head. “I’m not in any danger here. I’ve used bodyguards in certain countries, of course, but I don’t need protection on Mimosa Key.”

“Wanna bet?” She clapped her hands together, so completely happy with the idea. “You need someone to hold back the legions of single women your mother is prancing past you at that party.”

His eyes lit and his jaw unhinged—the look of surprise and delight making him even more handsome, if that was possible. “You’re right. I need a girlfriend for that event.”

“Or at least a date.”

“No, no, it would have to be official to get my mother off my case. But…”

“But she knows me and knows I’m a maid here, and she’d figure out in a New York minute that you’re lying,” she supplied, reading his expression.

“Except that I don’t lie. Ever.” He shook his head, his smile tight. “And she knows it. Because she has liedar.”

Amanda choked. “Liedar?”

“The ability to smell a lie a mile away.” He gave a self-deprecating laugh. “Of course, I am the world’s crappiest liar.”

“Oh, well. That’s a shame because I really… liked the idea.”

He was searching her face, thinking. “I love the idea.”

The way he said it made her toes ball up on the tile floor. “Then you have to lie.”

“Not if…it’s true.”

More toe-curling. “I’m not your girlfriend, Zeke.”

“But what if we make it official? You are my girlfriend, and I am not lying.”

Oh, that would be…not good. “Semantics,” she echoed.  “We obviously just met…” At his look, she conceded with a nod. “Okay, we knew each other in high school, but it’s a stretch to say I’m your girlfriend and it not be at least a white lie. Can you tell one? Or can’t I just be a really clingy date?”

His eyes narrowed, and he took one step closer. “No. There’s a much simpler answer.” Tipping her chin with one gentle finger, he lifted her face to his.

“Which is?”

He annihilated her with the intensity of his gaze, crazy-sky blue looking right through to her soul. “Mandy Mitchell, will you be my girlfriend?”

“Zeke…I…”

“Don’t say no.”

No, no, no. But not a word came out as he lowered his face and covered her mouth with the sweetest, softest, sexiest kiss she could ever remember.

Chapter Six

Zeke angled his head but purposely kept the kiss air-light, no more than a brush of a promise, because Mandy was about as secure in his touch as a wisp of smoke. Everything in him wanted to push her against that counter, crush her open-mouthed, and move his hands up and down the delicious body that was all too visible under the flimsy top.

But then she’d disappear. He knew that. But he lingered one second longer, taking one tingly taste of her lower lip. Only then did he back away. Her eyes were still closed, her lips parted, her chest rising and falling with one strangled breath.  She’d flattened her hands on his chest, either ready to push or pull. He didn’t know which.

“Now I won’t be lying,” he said softly. “You’re my girlfriend.”

She opened her eyes, the green rimmed with a darker emerald, her golden lashes fluttering up to her brows. “You’ll…still be lying.”

“Nope.” He shook his head. “It’s official. Sealed with a kiss.”

“That’s not enough.”

He couldn’t help smiling. “Oh, well, there’s more where that came from.”

“No, no…I…” She lifted her hands as if she suddenly realized she’d splayed them across his pecs. “I can’t. It would be…wrong.”

“Wrong? Why?”

“Because…I’m not…” She closed her eyes for a second, gathering her wits, slowly taking her hands to her sides, being careful not to touch him, as though he might burn her. “This has to be strictly business,” she finally said. “Absolutely, unequivocally, no doubt about it…a business deal.”

Which was about as sexy as a rock, but okay. Maybe he could get her to change her mind. Or maybe not.

“Strictly,” she repeated, pointing a finger at him.

He tried to ignore the punch in his gut, but it was hard. Of course…that’s what Mandy Mitchell wanted. She wasn’t like most women who saw dollar signs and private jets and a life of luxury with him. She saw…Ezekiel, the kid she’d never noticed in high school.

What was it going to take to erase that lifelong first impression? Trust, first. “Absolutely a straightforward business arrangement,” he assured her. “In fact, why don’t we draw up a contract?”

Her eyes widened at that, and he could have sworn he saw a glimmer of horror. “A contract?”

“So you know I’m serious.” He glanced around, reluctant to walk away and not get this close to her again for a while. His eyes landed on the roll of paper towels. “Here.” Reaching over, he snagged one and tore it off.