All That He Loves (Volume 2 The Billionaires Seduction) by Olivia Thorne Read Free Book Online

grateful.
    Thank you, he mouthed wordlessly.
    I couldn’t bring myself to answer You’re welcome, but at least I nodded.

13
    “No,” Connor said after five more minutes of talk. He was still resisting the idea.
    Sebastian gripped his fingers in his hair like he was going to pull it out by the roots. “CONNOR. Leave Lily out of this for a second.”
    “But – ”
    “PURELY as a thought exercise, alright? Say she’s some random floozy you picked up. Oh, wait, that’s kind of the current situation…”
    “HEY!” I yelled.
    “Alright, say she’s Miranda.”
    “That’s even worse!”
    He waved me off. “Don’t take offense, it’s a thought exercise.” He turned back to Connor. “What do you do?”
    “It it’s Miranda? Knowing what I know now?”
    “Of course.”
    “I let her hang in the wind.”
    “And you know every talk show in America is going to want you on. Oprah, Ellen, Letterman, Leno, they’re all going to want you. Every magazine, every news program, every talk show host in America.”
    “$100 million in free advertising,” Connor said bitterly.
    “Which I’m pretty sure I can turn into $200 million. Complete media saturation, with hundreds of millions of eyeballs glued to their TV sets, just waiting to see what you’ll say. And you can say anything you want. What do you do?” he asked, then stressed, “If Lily were out of the picture.”
    Connor sighed. “I go on the offensive. I go on every show I can over 24 hours. I tout the entire package. I tell everyone that my parents and ex are trying to blackmail me.”
    “And you frame it as you saving the world, versus old, evil assholes trying to keep everyone else down for a buck.”
    “But Lily – ” Connor protested.
    “Lily is ready to make the sacrifice to make this work… and for all the right reasons,” Sebastian said, not looking at me as he said it. I was grateful for that. “Now suck it up and show as much cojones as she is.”
    I giggled.
    Connor, Sebastian, and Johnny all looked over at me.
    I cleared my throat. “Um… you know… me having cojones… plus, ‘ cojones’ sounded funny coming out of Sebastian’s mouth.”
    “There’s a really dirty joke in there somewhere – ” Johnny started.
    “STOP,” Sebastian shouted, holding up his hand like one of the Supremes.
    Connor was standing close to me. I took his hand and looked up at him.
    “Sebastian’s right,” I said. “They just handed you a golden opportunity, and they’re going to screw you if you don’t take it. You have to do this.”
    Connor stared down at me, his face conflicted.
    “I would totally give this up for you,” he whispered.
    “I know,” I said. “That’s why I don’t want you to.”
    He was quiet for a few more seconds.
    “I’ll protect you as much as I can,” he promised.
    I smiled. “I know.”
    Then he was quiet for almost ten more seconds.
    Finally he turned to Sebastian. “Alright… what do I do?”
    “ You don’t do anything,” Sebastian said, happy as a clam as he pulled out his cell. “I handle it from here.”

14
    I had never seen a real-live version of the Tasmanian Devil – you know, the brown, whirling cyclone from the Bugs Bunny cartoons? – until I saw Sebastian go into action. He paced back and forth in the suite, one phone glued to his ear while he paged through his contact list on the other. Apparently he knew just about every television news and talk show producer in New York and LA.
    “John, you are the first person I’m calling about this.”
    “Ingrid, you are the first person I’m calling about this.”
    “Aliya, you are the first person I’m calling about this. What, John texted you? Fuck John. John’s a liar.”
    “I’m in Vegas. Do I know what time it is in New York? Yes, of course I do – it’s time to shut the fuck up and listen carefully.
    “Neil, there’s a massive sex scandal that’s going to break tonight, and you’re going to want the star player on the show tomorrow.