Good Girls Do It Well (A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance) (8 page)

Sarabelle was quite a bit more health conscious than I was so I went a little healthier on her options. For appetizers, I started her off with warm winter vegetables tossed in sweet and sour Arbequina oil, toasted hazelnuts and mustard frills while I had butter poached Maine lobster with kumquats, Roman style polenta and a side of vanilla brown better. Her main course consisted of striped bass with cannellini beans, chorizo, Meyer lemon confit and Nicoise olives and I had dry aged sirloin with crispy onion rings, Tuscan kale, baby turnips and beurre rouge. There was no real way to go healthy with dessert so I had the chef bring something for us to share. We ended up with chocolate hazelnut dolly cake with Manjari chocolate mousse, marzipan, candied hazelnuts, and meringue.

Throughout the meal, Sarabelle seemed impressed by the fact that she enjoyed everything the chef brought out for her. I never told her that I’d looked into what she liked but I didn’t have to. I could tell she figured it out for herself. As we ate, she became more relaxed and the conversation came easier. That may have been because of my charm but if I had to guess, it was more likely the wine that managed to loosen her up. In the end, we both ended up having a fantastic time at dinner. The date went much better than I expected it to and I could tell that she felt the same way.

“I’m having a lot of fun with you Sarabelle,” I said as she finished off the last of the wine in the bottle. “It’s a shame that dinner is almost over. I don’t want this night to end.”

“This has definitely been a surprise,” she replied. “I expected tonight to be a disaster. Instead, this has been one of the best dates I’ve ever been on.”

“It doesn’t have to end, you know. I’ve got some great wine in my cellar. We could move this party to my place.”

“Christian,” Sarabelle sighed. “Please don’t ruin this by turning into a swine at the end of the night. I know your story and I know what happens when you take girls back to your place.”

“I know that I have a reputation with the ladies and most of what you heard was probably true but don’t get the wrong impression of what I’m asking you. I’m not going into this with any expectations. I’m just having a good time and now that I’ve been able to bring you out of your shell a little bit, I’d like to continue getting to know you. Come back to my place with me. If you feel uncomfortable at any point, you can leave and I won’t try to stop you.”

“I have a feeling I might end up regretting this. Fine, we can go back to your place but don’t put your hands in places where they don’t belong!”

“You have my word. I’ll be a complete gentleman until you give me the signal not to,” I replied with a wink.

“Don’t push your luck Mister Wilde,” she said with a laugh.

§

It was kind of strange bringing someone like Sarabelle back to my house. When I’m just trying to get a piece of ass, the types of women I target aren’t typically the most wealthy ones I can find. That’s not to say that they are broke, homeless hags but they simply aren’t as well off as the girl I was currently hosting. When it came to things that would usually make one of my other girls swoon, Sarabelle wouldn’t bat an eyelash. Neither my money nor any of the other things I owned would impress her much. She didn’t care about my collection of sports cars or fine art. She had enough money that she could have bought any of those items for herself.

Instead of trying to impress her with my wealth, I had to rely on just being myself, which scared the shit out of me quite frankly. I’d been a womanizer and a player for so long, I wasn’t sure that I knew how to be a genuine person. I wasn’t sure what to say when the immediate endgame wasn’t to get the girl into my bed. That’s not to say I didn’t want her here, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t going to happen tonight. As we walked around the grounds of my property, I suddenly found that I was the tense one. My heart rate was the one increasing for a change. Usually, a man who always has plenty to say, I suddenly found myself at a loss for words and decided the best course of action would be to allow Sarabelle to take the lead in the conversation. Fortunately for me, it didn’t take her long to start asking me questions.

“When I ran into you in the store, you were buying some Christmas gifts for you sisters and mom. It seems like you are really close to them.”

“I really am. When I was growing up, my mom took care of my sisters and me all on her own. She didn’t have any help from anyone and no matter how much she needed it, she refused to accept any assistance that was offered. There were nights that she went without food so that us kids would have something to eat. There were times when she would go without necessities so that us kids would have things we needed for school. My sisters and I helped whenever we could. She worked two jobs to make sure we were taken care of so we stepped in to make sure the chores were done around the house. We would have cooked meals so she wouldn’t have to do that but she would never let us. She was so paranoid about us using the oven. She swore that we would burn the house down or something.”

“That’s really sweet. It’s pretty surprising actually.”

“It is? What’s so surprising about it?”

“Well, if everything I’ve heard about you is true, I’m surprised to learn that you’re close to any woman, let alone multiple women.”

“Why? Because I enjoy the company of women? I don’t see what that has to do with my family in any way,” I said, getting annoyed at what she was insinuating.

“Never mind, I didn’t mean anything by it. So how come your mom had to raise you by yourself? What happened to your dad? Did he pass away when you were young?”

“No, unfortunately, he’s still alive and well. He’s a piece of shit that took off on my mom when she refused to stop taking care of him. She worked so hard to provide for us and he wouldn’t get off his ass and help her at all. The only time he felt like he had to work was when she started threatening to kick him to the curb. Even then, he would only get a job long enough to get her off his back. One of his favorite things to do was to go to landscaping companies at the beginning of fall. He knew that the work wouldn’t last long and by the time winter would come along, they’d have nothing for him to do. He’d have a built in excuse for why he wasn’t working.”

“That’s horrible.”

“It’s worst than that. On the rare occasions when he would work, he wouldn’t give my mom his check to pay bills. He would give her some but keep most of it for himself. Every night, he would bring home a case of beer and drink it all in one go. If my mom complained, he would say something stupid. His favorite line was that he worked hard and he deserved to be able to kick back with some beer at the end of the day. My mom got sick of it and one day, he was just gone.”

“I’m really sorry I brought it up. It must have been hard for you.”

“I don’t care that he left. I actually preferred that he wasn’t there. It was just hard to see my mom struggle all the time.”

“I bet it was. I can’t imagine seeing someone you love having to go through that. Was that the last time you saw your dad?”

“Hell no, and I don’t call him dad. He’s just Jessie as far as I’m concerned. He stayed far away during the rest of my childhood but you can be damn sure he popped his head up as soon as I started to become known around New York. As soon as he found out that I had built my investment company into a multi-billion dollar empire all by myself, he wanted to come back into my life. He wanted to apologize and start fresh. I called my sisters to see what they were going to do only to find out they hadn’t heard a word from him. He was just trying to get close to me for my money. I was smart enough to see right through him. I told him to fuck off and that was the last I heard from him. Now, I use my money to take care of my mom and sisters. My mom doesn’t like handouts but that doesn’t stop me. She sacrificed so much for us when we were kids and I don’t want her to ever have to worry about anything ever again.”

“That’s really sweet of you. You know, if anyone had told me that you had a soft side, I would have thought they were lying. It’s nice to see.”

“There’s a lot about me that would probably surprise you,” I admitted, even though I had no intentions on sharing anymore of my personal life with her; at least not yet. I’m not sure how she even got me to talk about my childhood in the first place.

“Listen, do you want to move this conversation inside? I’m freezing.”

“Sure thing. Besides, I promised you some great wine and I’m gonna keep that promise.”

We made our way inside, continuing our conversation as we went. I grabbed a bottle of 2008 Haut Brion, which is one of my favorite wines. It’s a combination of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc. It’s sweet with a long finish. At about a grand a bottle, I would never dream of wasting it on a girl that I would typically bring back to my place; that’s what the hard, cheap liquor is for—one-night stands. After pouring us each a glass, we moved our conversation to the living room.

While we sat on the couch talking about our pasts and I listened to what she wanted for the future, I realized how much I was enjoying the conversation. I never sit and talk to any of the women I bring home. Why would I? They’re there for sex and nothing but sex. I could give a shit less what any of them had to say. This was different. This was nice. Sarabelle was mid-sentence when she stopped talking and looked like her eyes were going to bug out of her head.

I swung my head around to see what had caught her eye. She was watching as a woman walked out of my bedroom wearing nothing but a pair of panties and one of my dress shirts.

“Christian,” she whined. “I didn’t think you were ever coming back. I’ve been waiting for you all night.”

“I’m not even sure what you’re doing here. You’ve apparently been drinking. Why don’t you go to bed and we’ll talk in the morning.”

I turned my attention back to Sarabelle to try to explain what she had just witnessed but I was too late. She was already running out the door, moving as fast as she could to get away from me.

CHAPTER 9

Sarabelle

I can’t believe how stupid I am. I never should have let him talk me into going on a date with him. My instincts were screaming no at me and I ignored them. That’s the kind of person I am. I’m always willing to give people the benefit of the doubt, regardless of how many bad things I’ve heard about them. It’s always been my biggest weakness and always seems to get me hurt. If anyone ever wonders why I choose to remain single, it’s because I seem to have no common sense when it comes to judging the character of others.

The sad thing about what had just happened was that I really wanted to believe everything he was telling me. Every word that came out of his mouth was so convincing that I thought there was no way he could making any of it up. He literally had me hanging on to his every word, thinking that I was getting a rare glimpse of a side of Christian Wilde that he never allows anyone to see. Instead, all I was doing was falling for the tricks of a playboy. I wondered how many other women he had tried this exact same method on. When his original pickup line failed to work on me, all he did was move to plan B. I should have known better.

As all of these thoughts entered my mind, I started to cry and that made me even angrier. This guy is nothing but a creep and here I am crying over him, balling my eyes out. I was crying so hard that I was having trouble seeing where I was going. I wiped the tears out of my eyes as fast as I could but I never stopped moving. I felt like I couldn’t get away from Christian or his house quickly enough. The problem was that I had no clue where I was and since we had used his limo for the evening, I had no way to get back home. I planned on calling my sister or Liam to come get me but I wanted to be far enough away that Christian wouldn’t know where I was if he came looking for me.

While his attention was on the half-naked woman who emerged from what I could only assume was his bedroom, I decided to make my escape. I wasn’t going to put up with someone who would disrespect me so much that he would still have one of his sluts at his home when he brought me over. I don’t know if he was hoping for a threesome or what but he should have known better. I moved quietly through his kitchen and den and was probably out his front door before he even knew I was gone. I ran down so many stairs and wished I wasn’t wearing heels. When I finally got to the bottom of the steps, I looked around and made my way towards the massive gate that the car had to drive through to enter the property. The gate was closed but fortunately, there was a way out just to the side.

Outside the gate, I had no idea where I should be going. There weren’t any houses around and he lived far from any type of businesses. His entire estate was surrounded by park-like areas. They may have actually still been a part of his property but I had no way to know for sure. Still crying, I made my way into the park that was straight ahead of me. On an average night, I would have thought that it was beautiful with the way the moonlight shone through the trees. Rather than taking in the sights, I suddenly realized that I had left my coat in his house and was freezing. I can’t believe I forgot it but was glad I had enough sense to grab my purse on the way out.