Read Online Sugarbaby by CRYSTAL GREEN - Free Book Online

how he got his kicks these days, by conjuring up his own amusements?
    Simmons was leaning against the buffet table, his hands in his jacket pockets. “He needs to stay busy, keep himself occupied.”
    â€œAnd how busy have you been?” I asked, clearly referring to the shenanigans Simmons had been playing on the phone with me.
    His smile was barely there. “I understand your frustration, Jadyn. You’ve had a lot of questions that haven’t gotten answered.”
    â€œYou said your texts amounted to a long story. Am I about to get it?”
    â€œIt’s . . . very long.” His face was unreadable again.
    I had to ask, even if I sounded full of myself. “Is there any chance that you came down here to meet
me
?”
    â€œThere was curiosity involved, yes.” No trace of amusement on him now. “There’re days that are dark, and your text came during one of those times. You’re not the same as most girls we meet. You’re not as . . . coy.”
    â€œYou’ve said ‘we’ a couple times now. What’s going on with that?” And how was
that
for not being coy?
    Carley squeezed my arm in appreciation.
    Simmons seemed just as respectful of the straightforwardness. “After you mistakenly contacted the phone”—he picked up an hors d’oeuvre from the table and idly inspected it—“it was a forgone conclusion that we’d be paying a visit to Aidan Falls.”
    So Simmons
ha
d wanted to see the girl with the klutzy text-thumbs?
    He added, “As you might know, Noah’s been . . . in need of some fresh air, anyway, so getting him some seemed like just the thing.”
    He sounded protective of Noah. Too protective, and suddenly I wondered if I’d misinterpreted
everything
that was going on.
    â€œAre you his . . . ?” I started to ask.
    â€œValet?” Simmons said, biting back the hint of a smile. “That’s an old-fashioned, crusty word for it. It’s more accurate to say ‘assistant.’”
    Oh, phew. I’d almost expected the word “boyfriend” to make an appearance. You never knew.
    â€œOkay,” I said. “It’s just that I did my own research on you two, after I started to suspect you were sending those texts.” I faltered. “I’m sorry to hear about what happened to Noah.”
    Something in Simmons’s eyes softened, but it was gone in a flash. He looked at me longer than usual, and it was so unlike yesterday, when he wouldn’t gaze at me at all, that I frowned.
    I wasn’t sure if that was what put him back on guard, but he stood away from the table, grabbing a plate and setting the hors d’oeuvre he’d picked up on it. “So there you have it—the short version of the long story.”
    â€œI’d hoped for more.”
    â€œI only said it was long. I didn’t say you were going to get all of it. Besides, you did your research, and I’m sure there’s not much more for me to fill in.”
    Bull. But what could I say? That I’d hoped there would be some kind of surprising romantic angle here with Noah? That I’d been wishing he was more interested in me than in Aidan Falls?
    Yeah, I was a regular Cinderella, all right. The two richies had definitely come down here to sweep me off my feet. In reality, Simmons had only invited me here to apologize, to offer the Angel’s Seat waitress a big night out after he’d fulfilled his curiosity about me in a way that only an affluent guy with a rich friend could. Noah had been
his
wingman.
    Or could it be that they were tag teaming the poor, textually inept waitress in some kind of perverse billionaire game?
    As I thought hard on that idea, Simmons filled up the rest of his plate and began to walk toward the door. I noticed that he was taller and lankier now that he wasn’t sitting in a café or leaning back against a