Read Online Stranded With a Billionaire by Jessica Clare - Free Book Online Page A

out those panties helped, too.
    He’d have to proceed carefully. Not too aggressively, or she might be frightened away by his interest. But strongly and surely enough that she could not mistake his intent.
    “You’re frowning,” she said quietly. “Everything okay?”
    “Just thinking.”
    When he offered no more than that, she delicately licked her thumb in a movement that fascinated him and made his cock hard. “Thinking that we need more chicken?”
    Logan shook his head. “Thinking about rescue,” he lied. They had food, they had shelter, and he had an ironclad insurance policy on this place that would cover repairs. Rescue could wait a bit longer. “It might be days before anyone finds us.”
    She nodded and gave him a small shrug before reaching for a water bottle, not distressed by this news. “I’m thinking we’ll just be really close friends by the end of this.”
    Friends, or more if he had his way. But he gave a quick nod of agreement. “We don’t know enough about each other to be friends,” he said, letting the statement hang in the air to see if she’d take the bait.
    Brontë pulled her knees up, exposing the backs of her creamy thighs to his gaze. “I guess we could learn, then, couldn’t we?”
    “We could.”
    She tilted her head and regarded him. “So how long have you lived here on the island?”
    Ah. Damn. One of many lies. “A year,” he told her tersely.
    “What made you decide to take a job here? Did you live on the island?”
    “No. A friend . . . referred me to the owner.” Not a lie, not really. “I came here when I got the job.”
    “Where did you move from?”
    “New York City.” Seemed a harmless enough truth. Even though he was a billionaire, it wasn’t as if his name was splashed all over entertainment magazines, and he was in the news only when he made a sizable charity donation. She’d have no idea who he was. “Where are you from?”
    “The Midwest. Kansas City. Have you ever been there?”
    “Once or twice. For business.”
    “You’ve got one up on me, then. I’ve never been to New York City.”
    “You should go sometime. I’ll show you around.” Direct and to the point, and there would be no mistaking his interest.
    She smiled softly. “I’d like that. Have you been to many shows? Visited the Statue of Liberty?”
    “No and no.” He avoided the shows because he didn’t like singing. And he saw the Statue when he looked out the window every day. No need to go visit it.
    “That’s a shame,” she told him, hugging her legs and rocking a little. “If I went to New York, I’d want to visit it. Go get my picture taken and do all the touristy things.”
    “You and a million other tourists.”
    “True. I guess it’s different when you’re there. In Kansas City, those tourists just end up here at Seaturtle Cay,” she joked. “Courtesy of 99.9 Pop Fever.”
    “Pop Fever?”
    “Radio station. I won a trip. It’s a little out of my price range to go anywhere normally. Too busy making ends meet and all that.”
    For this trip? He’d thought Seaturtle Cay was a budget hotel. That was one reason he’d taken over the place—to turn it into a luxury Bahamian resort. “Out of your price range?”
    She sighed in disappointment, as if she were disgusted with herself. “Remember that I’m a waitress. Pretty much everything is out of my price range.”
    “You’re smart. You can do something other than waitressing.”
    She laughed. “Actually, I like the waitressing. I like working with people. But the pay stinks. It covers the bills, but just barely. That’s why I’d been really hoping to enjoy this trip. It’s the first vacation I’ve had in two years, since I graduated.”
    “I don’t get away for vacation much, either,” he told her, trying to level the playing field. “Isn’t every day here like a vacation, though? Sun and sand and palm trees—”
    “And hurricanes.”
    She laughed again. “True. Is this your first one?”
    He