The Billionaire's Bridal Bid by Emily McKay Read Free Book Online

back, eyed them through her camera and said, “Closer.”
    Matt stepped behind her, so his chest brushed against her shoulder. His hand settled between her shoulder blades and the musky scent of him muddled her senses.
    “No, closer,” Bella ordered cheerfully. “Put your arm around her.”
    Matt slung his arm over her shoulder, leaning close enough to whisper, “I swear I didn’t tell her to do this.”
    “Oh, I believe you.” She was beginning to realize the plucky young reporter was an instrument of the devil,gratingly cheerful and a total kiss-up. Evil geniuses weren’t this diabolical.
    “So tell me, Matt,” Bella asked as she snapped some pictures. “Why did you bid so much money on Claire?”
    “Maybe she’s the love of my life.” Matt made a show of nuzzling her hair.
    The gesture sent warmth spiraling through Claire, which only annoyed her even more, especially in light of his sarcasm. She should not be attracted to him. She knew better. He was a first-class jerk and only an idiot would fall for his crap twice in her lifetime. She jabbed him in the belly, but he retaliated by grabbing her hand and bringing her knuckles to his lips.
    She jerked her hand away. “He’s joking. Aren’t you, Matt?” She gave him a sharp nudge in the ribs. “We’re just old friends.”
    “Really?” Bella looked up from her camera, her expression baffled. “I looked up your records at the high school. You were three years apart. I assumed you barely knew each other.”
    “We knew each other in college,” Claire said through gritted teeth.
    “Oh, I didn’t realize you went to college, Claire,” the evil Bella said with wide-eyed innocence.
    “Just one semester.”
    Bella smiled brightly, meeting Matt’s gaze over Claire’s shoulder. “I graduated magna cum laude from the journalism school at UCLA.”
    Again, with the flirting.
    Claire smiled sweetly at Bella. “In that case, the job market must be really tough for you to have ended up at a weekly here in Palo Verde.”
    Bella’s smile turned down at the corners, but shegot the message. She wrapped up the interview quickly after that, but not before offering to send Matt a copy of the article if he’d give her his email address. When he told her to send it to his secretary, Bella’s smile turned sour. She shot Claire a what-did-you-do-to-deserve-all-your-luck look then slunk away to her perky car. On the bright side, at least Wendy would have someone new to torture.
    Claire didn’t have long to enjoy her victory though, because a second later, Matt was guiding her into the jet. She’d never been in a private jet before and had no idea if the sleek leather upholstery and swiveling lounge chairs were standard-issue. Her fingers all but itched to caress the leather as she moved past the seat. Instead, she twisted the strap to her purse around her hands.
    “I can practically hear Robin Leach.”
    “Who?” Matt asked.
    “From Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous? Gram used to watch it obsessively. Every week.” Matt just stared at her blankly. “Really? You’ve never seen it?”
    He shook his head with an amused shrug. “Let me get you a drink and you can tell me all about it.”
    “Well, too late now,” she muttered. “You’re living it.”
    Before she could feel even more self-conscious, a smartly dressed woman in a navy suit and jaunty little cap stepped out of the cockpit and extended her hand.
    “I’m Melissa. I’ll be your pilot this evening.”
    “Oh.” She glanced to the back of the plane to where Matt stood at a bar in the galley pouring drinks. “I assumed…” But she didn’t finish the sentence.
    She was so outclassed here, she should probably stop making assumptions of any kind.
    “That Matt was going to fly you?” Melissa asked.“He does have his pilot’s license, so he usually flies himself, but he uses his smaller plane, The Dove, for those trips.”
    “Of course he does.” Naturally this wouldn’t be his only plane. Why