The Billionaire's Pretend Girlf - Leslie North Page 0,1

dined over the weekend was still a shoo-in for the business deal Daniel’s father had been pushing him toward for the past three months. If Daniel didn’t snag this, he’d never hear the end of it. From his father, and from himself.

Just as Daniel sat on the edge of the bed, laptop loaded and ready, he heard a strange clank from the bathroom. Or at least it seemed like it came from there. Daniel paused, listening more intently.

Silence permeated the room once again.

And then he heard the faintest sloshing sound.

Like water.

Like maybe a pipe had burst.

Anxiety streaked through him and he tossed his laptop aside, rushing toward the bathroom. Before he’d even pushed through the door, he’d already calculated a running tally of how much money a burst pipe inside the master bedroom would cost. He could exactly imagine the upcoming days of work, the ruined closet, the forgotten pair of Italian leather shoes in the back of his wardrobe that would be ruined from water damage and mold.

He scanned the master bath wildly as he stepped inside, finding the lights already on. The next thing to catch his eye: the very naked woman in his clawfoot bathtub looking at him with wild green eyes.

Breasts hidden by a layer of bubbles while she wielded a decorative vase, cowering in the corner of the tub.

“Don’t come any closer!” she shrieked, her short, punky hair sticking up at wild angles. Shock made him mute. He didn’t even realize he was stepping toward her until she moved suddenly, water sloshing over the edge of the bathtub and onto the tile.

“I told you, don’t come any closer!” she screamed, standing up, brandishing the vase like a weapon.

Daniel couldn’t believe his eyes. And he wasn’t sure what was more outrageous: the fact that there was a completely naked twenty-something with curves for days basically waiting for him inside his home, or the fact that she was about to spear him to death with a decorative Grecian urn he’d picked up on a work trip years ago.

It was when she kicked at him—coming nowhere close to reaching him, of course, but managing to fling water droplets across him like a warning—when he broke past the shock and found his voice, and his logic.

“Are you my house sitter?” he asked.

Her grip went tighter around the vase but some of the fire went out of her. Still, she kept it at ear level, like she’d swing it at him bat-style if needed. “Maybe. Are you Daniel Trent?”

“Yes.”

Finally she lowered the vase, her chest heaving. He knew the gentlemanly thing to do would be to avoid looking…but he was a billionaire, not a saint. Her entire body shimmered, like she’d bathed in oil prior to the bath, highlighting breasts that looked like perfect handfuls. Dark rose nipples standing at attention. It wasn’t an ideal time to be checking her out, but her standing buck naked in front of him didn’t offer many other options.

“How can I believe you?” she demanded through gritted teeth.

“Do you want to see my ID?” His heart raced, though he wasn’t sure why. Maybe because he was finally putting a face—and a naked body—to the mystery house sitter who had been in charge of his penthouse during all his absences for the past six months. Sometimes, the notes she left behind seemed almost flirty, and he’d found himself wondering on more than one occasion what SitMyHouse.com’s Miss Jackie Stone, Accomplished House sitter and Aspiring Social Worker might actually look like.

And now he knew well enough. All the way down to the tightly trimmed patch of dark hair between her legs.

Jackie set her lips in a determined line, jerking her chin like she was beckoning him to step closer. “Let’s see it.”

As he dug his wallet out of his back pocket, he fumbled to find his driver’s license tucked into the folds. His fingers were shaking. This was ridiculous. Had it been so long since he’d been around a naked woman? This wasn’t even a sexy situation. This was an intrusion—him on her, since he was the one who’d hired her and forgotten to inform her that he’d cut his trip a little short.

“Show me the ID first,” she commanded, her tone hard. He finally managed to rip it out and held it up so she could see. When she indicated that she wanted a closer look, he stepped forward.

But some of her weapon-wielding had gotten the floor wet. And Daniel noticed too late when his