The Billionaire's Challenge (3 page)

Friday
came around, and I was busy tapping away at my computer when the door
opened. My breath hitched when my gaze met the deep blue of Garret
Fabel's eyes. He smiled with them before his mouth snaked into a grin
that I was beginning to find absolutely adorable.

“
Mr.
Fabel,” I stood respectfully, though I wasn't sure why. I
certainly never stood up when anyone else walked through that door.

“
It's
Garret, remember?”

“
Yes,
Garret,” I choked on my own spit, having to grab a quick drink
of water to recover.

“
Are
you alright?” His look was genuinely concerned.

“
Fine.”
Just a little surprised to see you here. “Have you come for our
PR services?”

“
Actually,”
he began to say when Charlise came charging out of the back office,
followed by Mrs. Eddison. They must have caught a glimpse of him from
the security cameras.

“
Mr.
Fabel, what a pleasant surprise?” Mrs. Eddison greeted him
gracefully while Charlise did her very best to contain her
enthusiasm. Her large brown eyes seemed twice the size as normal. I
could tell she was practically jumping out of her skin for the chance
to speak to him.

“
Likewise,
Mrs. Eddison.”

“
This
is Charlise,” Mrs. Eddison quickly introduced the perky young
girl at her heels, and I couldn't help but scowl on the inside as
Charlise extended her hand to him all too eagerly. This was the point
where I lost him, as if I ever had him to begin with.

“
What
can we do for you today?” I asked loudly, trying my best to
hide my jealous voice.

“
I
just came by to see if you wanted to go out for coffee.”

For
a moment, I thought my heart stopped. Here he had a beautiful young
girl standing before him, ready to spread her legs if he asked, and
he wanted to take me to coffee, not her. It had to be a mistake, or a
trick.

“
I
would love to go to coffee with you, Garret.” I made sure to
let them both know we were on a first name basis.

“
Excellent.
What time do you get off work? I'll come pick you up.”

“
Five
o'clock,” I replied, and thought of cracking some snarky joke
about how most normal people worked nine to fives, but I didn't want
to piss off Mrs. Eddison.

“
I'll
pick you up then.” He flashed a breathtaking smile before
turning for the door, and I'm pretty sure all three of us watched his
ass as he walked out. The way his distressed jeans cradled his
posterior was most pleasing to the eye. Then again, so was the
t-shirt that hugged all parts of him. Definitely fit.

“
Well,
that was a bit rude,” Mrs. Eddison said when Garret was safely
out of ear shot.

“
What
was?” Charlise asked, and we both turned to look at Mrs.
Eddison curiously.

“
He
has the nerve to ask my secretary out, but yet he won't even consider
our services.”

“
Maybe
that's what he wants to discuss,” I suggested.

“
Well,
if it's not, would you mind bringing it up? We could really use a big
name like him. It would boost business immensely,” she sighed
before returning to her office.

Charlise
lingered, displaying the enthusiasm that I felt inside. “O M G,
you're going on a date with Garret Fabel,” she squealed.
“Didn't he look gorgeous? What do you think he wants to talk
about? What are you going to wear?”

“
Well,
considering that he's picking me up from work, I guess I'll wear what
I have on.”

Her
smile faltered for a moment before brushing off my rude tone. “What
I wouldn't give to be you right now.”

“
Trust
me, the feeling would pass as soon a the date was over. Now get to
work before Mrs. Eddison gets onto us both.”

It
was enough to send her back to her filing, which I was grateful for.
One of the few times that having a short-tempered boss came in handy.
Mrs. Eddison liked to get every pennies worth out of us while on the
clock and had no tolerance for dawdling.

I
spent the rest of the workday watching the clock and daydreaming
about what Mister Sexy Blonde Adonis could possibly want with little
ole me. I really hadn't felt much of a connection between us in the
limo or at dinner, except for my raging hormones desiring his naughty
bits inside of me. The thought made my cheeks flush, even though he
wasn't even near.

By
the time five o'clock rolled around, my heart was in my throat,
choking me with a nauseous feeling of suspense. Both Charlise and
Mrs. Eddison came to the lobby to wait with me, something that would
only happen in the prospect of nabbing such a high profile client or
a sinfully gorgeous boyfriend.

Garret
arrived on time, and I was thankful for his punctuality. Sitting with
the rest of the hens was less than comforting, and they kept asking
me questions that only he would be able to answer.

After
another sales pitch from Mrs. Eddison and more googly eyes from
Charlise, we were out the door. I looked for the limo in the parking
lot but didn't see it. Instead, he led me to a silver Porsche Boxster
convertible. Like a perfect gentleman, Garret came around to my side
first to open the door. I stood in awe of the car for a second before
slipping into the smooth leather seat and buckling up. The experience
was so surreal. I never imagined getting to ride in a car like this.
To make things even better, he put the top town, which forced me out
of my usual hair tie. The wind blowing through my long black hair
felt incredible as we rolled down the street, and I could feel my
tension melting away the longer I was with him.

This
time I didn't feel quite so nervous around Garret. Maybe it was
because I was too busy admiring the car, or perhaps it was because he
looked like any other normal college kid without the suit on. He had
changed since earlier, but he was still in jeans and a t-shirt.

I
took a few minutes to admire his beauty before I finally spoke up,
“Thanks for rescuing me.”

“
Was
that a rescue?” He raised his eyebrow in amusement.

“
Those
two were drowning me in questions about you.”

“
What
were they asking?”

“
Mrs.
Eddison was mainly interested in who is doing your PR. I think she's
trying to brainstorm a way to one up your PR company and bring you
over to the dark side. Of course, I told her I knew nothing about
that.” I purposely omitted mentioning Charlise. If he wanted to
know anything about her, he would have to bring it up on his own.
Otherwise, I wasn't about to give my competition a chance.

“
I'm
actually quite fond of my PR company and believe that they do a good
enough job,” came the soft rejection that I couldn't have given
two shits about. I wasn't the one who wanted him as a client. I
wanted him as something more.

“
She
told me to try to convince you to switch, but to be honest, I
couldn't care less. That place is just a paycheck for me, and it
doesn't go up if I help bring you on board.”

“
You
make it sound like you hate your job,” he laughed.

“
Well,
it's certainly not where I wanted to be, that's for sure.”

“
Where
do you want to be?”

Here,
with you
, my subconscious spoke before a more logical answer left
my mouth. “I always wanted to be an author.”

Almost
as soon as I finished my sentence, the car pulled into the driveway
of Barnes and Noble. There was a Starbucks attached to the side,
which I could only assume was where we were going to get coffee. It
seemed a funny coincidence for the words I had just spoken.

Garret
and I stood side by side to order. There was a strange sense of pride
in standing next to him, knowing that people were seeing us together,
even though most of them probably didn't recognize him. He kept a
fairly low media profile. I could only imagine what our PR firm would
do to him. Mrs. Eddison believed in being aggressive. She'd probably
plaster Garret's face on every place she could find, destroying the
anonymity that I was certain he worked hard to preserve. No, I
definitely would not be trying to bring him over to the dark side.

Garret
ordered a caramel macchiato with a double shot of espresso and a
cream cheese danish, while I ordered a passion fruit tea, trying to
watch my calories around him. Had I known that he genuinely wanted to
see me again, I would have been on a strict diet. Lord knew I could
stand to lose about fifty pounds. We must look like an odd pair. Him,
thin and fit. Me, beyond pudgy. I was almost embarrassed for him,
allowing my self-consciousness to spoil my good mood.

The
wait for our drinks was short, which I was thankful for considering
that my smugness at the thought of people staring at us had melted
into discomfort. We took a seat nearest to the books, and I watched a
warm smile curl across his lips as he wrapped his hands around his
coffee, feeling the warmth of it beneath his fingertips.

“
What
are you smiling about?” I dared to ask.

He
looked up, a bit surprised by the question. “I smile because
I'm happy. Isn't that why anyone smiles?”

“
I'm
glad you're happy,” I replied, feeling a wave of awkwardness
kicking in. For a moment, I thought about asking him why he was
happy, but did it really matter. If I was ridiculously rich, I would
probably be smiling all the time too.

“
So,
you want to be author. Have you written anything yet?”

It
seemed like a dumb question, but I decided not to fault him for it.
“I have an eight hundred page epic fantasy sitting on my hard
drive at home right now, and a three hundred page drama.”

“
Wow.”
He seemed genuinely impressed. “And have you tried to get
published?”

“
I
sent the fantasy to about twenty different publishing houses, almost
got picked up by one, but then got rejected in the end. It's a bit
soul crushing.”

“
I
can imagine.” Garret nodded. “I'd like to read what
you've written, if you don't mind.”

This
made me feel weird, though I wasn't exactly sure why. Maybe it was
because I couldn't tell if he was being serious or just being nice. I
never really trusted it when people said they wanted to read my
writing.

“
Why
did you want to see me?”

“
I
just wanted to take you out for coffee. Is there something so strange
about that?”

“
Kind
of,” I admitted. “I honestly didn't think I'd see you
again after the charity dinner.”

“
Why
not? I gave you my number. Usually when someone does that, it means
they want you to call them,” he said teasingly, and I couldn't
help but grin.

“
I'm
just . . . I don't know.” My eyes left his. There were so many
confusing thoughts bouncing around my head. I still didn't understand
why he was interested in seeing me again. What did he want?
Friendship . . . or something more? I tried my best not to over
analyze the situation, but it was something I was prone to do,
especially when it came to men.

“
I
kind of thought we hit it off at the dinner the other night.”
He shrugged and leaned back in his chair, suddenly looking uncertain.

Had
we? “I guess we did. I was so nervous. To be honest, I didn't
really know how the night was going.”

“
You
shouldn't have to be nervous around me. What I like about you is that
you're honest. Few people are. Most try to kiss my ass from here to
high noon. It's nice to hang out with someone who is genuine for
once. That's why I wanted to see you again.”

I
was ever thankful for the explanation. Friends, that's what he
wanted. This new knowledge partly put my mind at ease, but it also
stung. Of course, he would never want me in the way that I wanted
him. Who was I kidding?

I
could feel my whole body relaxing. If honest friendship was what he
wanted, I would give it to him. No holding back my thoughts and
opinions. We could play this game until he got sick of me, or I said
something too honest. I had a really bad tendency of doing that. Most
people found it a humorous quality, but I hadn't been around him long
enough to gauge his tolerance for dry dark humor.