MATCHMAKER (A Billionaire Bad Boy Romance) by Bella Grant Read Free Book Online

waiting for him when he walked into McLaren’s, a coffee shop. She’d picked the place. Apparently, she didn’t drink. He didn’t know how he felt about that. If they married, would she insist he get rid of all the booze in his house? He wasn’t a drunk, but he liked to keep it around and had a drawer in his desk that he kept fully stocked, Mad Men style.
    He spotted her at once, sitting over a steaming cup of coffee, when he walked in. Shoulder length auburn hair and a red dress. Like all the women Cherise chose for him, she was beautiful.
    “Helena?” he asked.
    She took his hand, they shook, and she studied him. Her light blue eyes were unexpected against her dark hair and olive skin.
    “Do I know you?” she said.
    “No, I don’t think so. I’d remember you for sure,” he said.
    “You must look like someone I know, then. I swear I’ve seen you before.”
    He and Cherise had talked about this. He’d been on the news a fair amount, but she thought that being out of context in a coffee shop would make it close to impossible for someone to recognize him unless she really paid close attention to financial news. They’d talked about him going into these things with a nickname, maybe using a variation on his middle name, Gabriel, but he didn’t want to be a Gabe and didn’t want to have to explain to the woman who fell for him that he actually preferred Sterling.
    “Let me grab a drink,” he said, setting his light jacket on the chair and heading up to the bar. He ordered a decaf. He wasn’t big into evening coffee if he didn’t have a ton of work to get done. His phone buzzed with a text from Jenna.
    Hey, how’s your night going?
    He stuffed it back in his pocket, but the guy behind the counter was talking with the girl behind the counter, taking an unreasonably long time to pour a cup of coffee. He pulled his phone out again and opened his photos. He lingered on the picture of Cherise from the day they went rock climbing. He should take her again, just the two of them this time. He knew a spot near Cascade Lake that was usually deserted and so beautiful on an autumn afternoon where fallen leaves on the rocks would make a perfect mattress. He wondered if she’d be into that. Lying naked on a rock, the sun shining through the trees and dappling her perfect body.
    His coffee was ready. He thanked the barista, took a final look at Cherise’s picture, and stuffed his phone back into his pocket.
    “You’re smiling,” Helena said. “Why?”
    Like the visor on a motorcycle helmet, he snapped his public persona into place. They started the usual small talk, and he noticed Helena looking around. Finally, he said something.
    “Oh, I’m worried about my ex. He’s really jealous and still doesn’t want me out with anyone.”
    Sterling glanced around the coffee shop. “You don’t see him here, do you?”
    “No, not yet. I don’t actually think he gets out of work until nine. He still lives with me. He brought some girl home last night, but I’m not supposed to go out and get a drink.”
    Whoa. Hadn’t he asked Cherise to screen for drama? He sipped his coffee now that it was cool enough to drink. Helena rattled off the terrible things the ex had done to her.
    “I still think I love him, you know? Not like in love with him, not like I think we’re going to get remarried, but I’m pretty sure I’ll always love him. He’s the one that got away.”
    “So he left you?” She nodded. “But he won’t move out?”
    “He’s hopeless. He couldn’t make it on his own, not without me looking after him. It’s better this way.”
    Her blue eyes bored into him, and he dropped his gaze to his coffee. It was hard not to think of Cherise’s brown eyes. The way she’d looked up at him while they were in her bed. Sterling told himself to stop it, and instead tried to summon a picture of Jenna. His wife-to-be.
    “Are you sure we haven’t met?” Helena asked.
    “Like I said, I’d remember your pretty