Page 15 of Chosen By a Billionaire (Rags to Romance #24)

But he could not bring himself to admit any of that. “We just had a very intimate moment. And I enjoyed it.” And want more of it , he wanted to add. “You were never meant to be my servant,” he said instead. “You’re my guest. My date for this evening. Now do you understand?”

It sounded too good to be true. Which meant to her it wasn’t true. She was so distressed that she couldn’t stop searching his eyes. “But why? You aren’t telling me why. Why would you want me, of all people, to be your date?”

He wasn’t ready to tell her why. But he was ready to tell her the truth.

“I found you to be a fascinating person when I saw you for that extended period of time at the restaurant. You impressed me as a strong, independent, go-getter who seemed interesting enough to get to know better. And spending these moments on this terrace with you only reinforced that belief for me.”

But it still didn’t have the ring of truth to Jayda.

He was a rich and powerful man. Why would he want to choose somebody like her, a waitress , out of all the women in this world he could have chosen?

And that feeling of being placed in a position she wasn’t accustomed to being placed into caused tears to appear in her eyes again.

She never felt these many swing of emotions in her life!

Her distress concerned him. And his voice softened. “What’s the matter, Jayda?”

“You don’t understand,” she said to him, shaking her head.“I’m not like that.”

He smiled and attempted to pull her into his arms. “Oh I know that already.”

“No you don’t,” she said, refusing his embrace.

“I just met you and already I’m allowing you to .

. .” She shook her head. “I’ve never allowed anybody to come onto me like that.

Not after just meeting them. It’s never happened before.

” Then she looked at him as if she had to be clear.

“And it never will again. I don’t know what came over me, but it’s gone now and I won’t let that happen again.

I was told I could make good money if I worked this party.

That’s the only reason I came. I need the work,” she said heartfelt.

“I don’t need to be your guest. And let’s get this one thing straight: I’m never going to sleep with you. ”

He was disappointed by the definitiveness of her comment, but he was more concerned about her.

His heart melted when he saw just how distressed she was.

“Your work is to be my dinner guest. That’s your job.

Nothing more and nothing less. And you will be generously compensated.

You were not asked to come here to serve me.

You were asked to come here to be my guest. I need somebody who isn’t looking for love, but who can use a good payday, because love is not something that I can give.

Since you aren’t looking for love, either, I’ve decided that you would be perfect. ”

Not looking for love? Was he insane? Love was all she’d ever been looking for her whole life. Love was all she ever wanted her whole life. But apparently nobody on earth believed she deserved it.

Harrison could tell she was still doubtful and ashamed. And that was why, despite her protestation, he pulled her into his arms again. She resisted, but he insisted, and his will won out.

“I know how you feel,” he said as held her and as her cheek pressed against his chest . I’m a very experienced man, but I’ve never experienced feelings like this before either , he wanted to add. But he couldn’t bring himself to do so.

Then he pulled her back and looked into her eyes. “I’m not going to disrespect you, Jayda. I’m not going to hurt you. And no clothes will come off just like I said in that breakroom. I promise you that.”

“I’m not going to sleep with you,” she said with all sincerity. “I promise you that.”

He smiled, although it did hurt him. It felt like a rejection. “Understood,” he said.

He seemed truthful, but she was still worried.

“What is it now?” he asked her.

“This dinner party. I’m sure you aren’t having dinner with people like me. You’re having dinner with people like you. How can I possibly fit in with people like that?”

“You can’t,” said Harrison honestly. “And I don’t want you to try. I want you to be yourself. That’s all anybody can ask of you. That’s all I’m asking of you. Be yourself.”

Jayda stared into his eyes. She knew there had to be more to this than he was telling her.

It felt like a Trading Places kind of story where Eddie Murphy was treated like a laboratory rat than a real person.

“Am I an experiment for you?” she asked him bluntly.

“Is this one of those let’s see how the poor girl behaves around the rich folks test? Is that what this is about?”

Harrison stared at her. He loved her perceptiveness, and her intelligence. And he wasn’t going to lie to her. “Yes,” he said. “That’s why I need you to be yourself. This dinner party is one part of it. Of which you’ve already been compensated.”

A part of her felt rejected again. Here she was getting all worked up over this man, while he was getting worked up over his experiment! Was she ever going to be enough for anybody in this world?

But he told her the truth when he could have lied to her.

She had to appreciate that. “You don’t have to pay me to be myself.

I don’t know how to be anything else.” Then she shook her head, disgusted with herself for not seeing it sooner.

“But you said this party is the first part. What’s the second part? ”

“That depends on how the first part goes.”

Jayda didn’t like that answer. “You aren’t going to tell me?”

“Not right now, no.”

Her temper took over. “Then count me out,” she said, and began reaching for her shoulder bag.

He seemed genuinely perplexed. “What do you mean?” he asked her, only this time he was the one with distress in his voice. He didn’t want her out of his sight! “Why do you feel a need to leave?”

She frowned. “Why do you think? I’m not going to be some rich man’s experiment. I may be poor, but I’m still a human being.” She placed her shoulder bag strap across her chest. “Get another guinea pig.”

“Name your price.”

When he said those words, Jayda stopped in her tracks and turned and looked at him. “Why would you allow me to do that?”

“Because you’re the one I want,” he said in a way that sounded so loaded to Jayda that it could have meant nearly anything. “Name your price,” he said again.

She stared at him. Then she shook her head. “I don’t want your money. Not like that. That would come with too many attachments.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s no such thing as a free lunch, or something for nothing.

That’s what I mean,” she said bluntly. “But I need a job. A good paying job. Giving me money is feeding me for a day, or even a month. Giving me a job will feed me for much longer than that. I need a job. I saw you going into the Bainbridge building. You work there?”

Did he work there? Other than owning the whole shebang, he certainly did. “Yes, I work there.”

“If you can get me a job there, and I don’t mean no job in the mailroom or waiting tables in the cafeteria.

I don’t need no help to get those kinds of jobs.

But if you can get me a good job there, a good-paying office job with benefits and where they won’t lay me off after just a few years, then you have a deal. I used to work in the corporate world.”

He seemed surprised. “Did you?”

“Not in any big-time position or anything like that. I was an executive assistant. It was a small company, but I did it really well and made a decent salary too.”

“Why aren’t you still there?”

“They had to cut costs and laid off a bunch of people. Mainly those of us that were hired last. They didn’t care how good your work was, they needed to untie revenue. Since I’d only been there a few years, I got axed in the first batch.”

Harrison was pleased to hear that she had experience.

“I can’t promise you a high-level executive position since I don’t hire people who aren’t qualified.

But I will have HR look at your resume and see what position they can offer you.

I can promise to give you a position that’s at least comparable to your previous one, and triple the pay. ” He extended his hand. “Deal?”

Jayda’s heart swelled in relief. A job that paid triple what she made previously? Which meant she could give up her piece of jobs and only have the one job? That would be worth being a guinea pig for a night any night of the week! “Deal,” she said as they shook hands.

Harrison placed his second hand on top of her hand. He was pleased. “Sure you don’t need it in writing?”

She studied his face. Amazingly she believed he was the kind of man that would honor his pledge. “I’m sure,” she ultimately said.

Harrison could not have been more satisfied. He needed to see her in action. He needed to see if she could handle the wolves. Because if she couldn’t, there was no way he was taking her around his father: the wolf of wolves.

He extended his arm to her. “Now may we go downstairs and greet my other guests?”

Jayda’s heart pounded at the thought of being around these uppity-muck kind of people, but she smiled and placed her arm around his arm. “I’m ready to get it over with, so yes,” she said.

He smiled again. “You’re ready for it to be over when it hasn’t started yet?”

She wasn’t going to back down. “Yes. That’s how I feel.”

Harrison smiled again. “Good. Because that’s how I feel too,” he said, which pleasantly surprised her. As they made their way downstairs.