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

didn’t look up. “Uh huh.”
    Cherise wanted to grind her teeth, but she didn’t. “Things are going well, then?”
    “Real well.” Now he gave her his attention. “As soon as I feel like it’s not too premature, I want to bring her to meet Ben.”
    “Where’s Ben?”
    “I think he’s headed to his winter house soon. Dominica.”
    “You’re going to take her to Dominica?”
    “And you. I need you there to keep my head on straight.”
    Cherise stared at him. Did he not get that this was totally weird? No, you know what, it was all economics. Sterling getting Jenna right where he wanted meant a PhD for Cherise.
    She’d leave the details about sleeping with him out of her book, of course, but everything else was fair game. He’d pay off her loans and get her the doctorate, she’d write the book, and it would sell well because it would be about rich, sexy people, and they’d part ways amicably. Maybe she’d get Christmas cards.
    “Do you want kids?” she said.
    “Kids?”
    “Well, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes little Sterling Jr. in the baby carriage.”
    “Love’s not coming.”
    Cherise made a show of rolling her eyes. “Fine. First comes grudging tolerance, then comes marriage.” She paused. “That looked like more than grudging tolerance, though.”
    “She seems cool.” He glanced down at his phone. “I haven’t really thought about kids.”
    “Like not at all? How old are you?”
    “Thirty-six”
    “And with all your money, you haven’t thought about kids? What’s in your will?”
    “Big secret. And even when I get married, I’m not changing it. There’s gonna be a prenup.”
    “Makes sense. But who’s in the will?”
    “My lawyer advised me not to tell anyone.”
    “You’re so unnecessarily mysterious sometimes.”
    “It’s going to keep you up at night wondering.”
    “Hardly.” She was curious, though. It was so much money. Amounts that seemed so big they didn’t even make sense to her. He’d flown them upstate in a helicopter, for heaven’s sake, for an afternoon of rock climbing.
    Jenna was a lucky lady. No. She wasn’t. This was the man who proudly professed he would never fall in love. The woman would be spoiled but not adored.
    “Anything new on Twitter ?” Sterling asked.
    Cherise checked, glad for an excuse to do something with her hands. “Yeah, a bunch of people calling her a liar, one of them asking if she lifted your wallet.” Cherise paused. “She didn’t, did she?”
    Sterling patted his pockets and withdrew a small, plain, leather billfold. “Nothing gets between me and this little baby.”
    “Anything else I can do for you tonight?” Cherise asked. “I have some work to do.”
    “For school?”
    “Yep.”
    “What are you working on?”
    “A paper about mating habits.”
    “In monkeys?”
    “Humans.”
    “Oh yeah?”
    Was he flirting with her? She honestly couldn’t tell. She shut him right down. “Did you know that when two people kiss, they exchange between ten million and one billion bacteria?”
    “That’s gross.”
    “Yeah. People talk about sharing a toothbrush like it’s the grossest thing. Kissing is pretty nasty.”
    They sat in silence for a moment, and Cherise picked up her laptop, staring at the text of her paper. Really, the topic was about how the female body showed arousal and what the different indicators meant in different social situations, but there was no way she was going to tell Sterling that.
    Finally, he took the hint and stood up.
    “Let me know how it goes with Jenna,” she said.
    “Will do. Have a good night, and let me know if you need anything.”
    “Thanks.”
    When the door closed behind Sterling, Cherise let out a long breath. It was one stupid mistake. She never should have kissed him. Never should have let it happen.
    She put her head down and focused on her paper.
     

STERLING
    Time passed. Cherise went home for a few weeks at Christmas to spend time with her family in