Romance: The Billionaire's Demands (2 page)

Chapter 4

When Bradley came back to the restaurant, there was a commotion among the staff.

“He’s back!” one of the wait staff came into the kitchen to announce to us.

It was like every single woman, and some married, were to be part of this marriage lottery. And whether the prize was the man or the lifestyle, it was well sought after.

“I’ll make his dessert tonight if you don’t want to.” Brianna grinned.  

“And why is that?” I raised my eyebrows.

“For the pleasure of serving someone so handsome,” she explained.  “And I also wouldn’t complain if I were his new choice in women...”  

“Ah, the truth comes out…”

She giggled. “Only if you don’t want to, of course.”

“It’s fine…” I thought about it for a moment.  

It would be easy to have fewer dishes to make, especially since my feet had been complaining lately.  

But part of me wanted to be involved in the commotion.

Although I was unsure about the race to be his bride, I did know that he took my breath away last time we met.

Rich or not, he was hot as sin.

“I’ll serve him. It’ll be good for my ego.”  

I had moved to the city after running out of tuition for college, and I had used the last bit of money to rent a tiny studio apartment in a building that should have been torn down years before.  

Although I loved being a chef, I didn’t like the lifestyle. It was every night, every weekend, and the pressure was enormous. I loved creating pieces of food art, but I really struggled with pressure.

I was at a point in my life where I didn’t want a change. So I tried college but quickly ran out of money.

Returning to the kitchen was only meant to be for a short time before I could afford to continue studying law.

I was lucky that someone would even rent to me, with my lack of credit history and rental references.  I couldn’t even think of many people to put on the friends and family list, being a loner myself.  

The landlord had been nice enough to hike up the rent by a little bit each month in lieu of the security deposit that I didn’t have to put down on the place.  I had to either put up with this or resort to moving back home to New Jersey with Mom and Dad.  

I had really tried hard to get out on my own, so that wasn’t yet an option in my mind. I want to make it on my own, no matter how hard the road gets.

I was glad that I hadn’t given up the Bradley’s business.  

It gave me something to strive for, sort of a challenge to outdo my own work. When you’re plating up to the hottest male in town, a little bit of extra is always good. 

It also made the job a lot less mundane.  

Bradley Clifford frequented the restaurant even more often in the next few weeks - though maybe I only noticed because I was now so very aware of his presence.  

He always asked for the same dessert and he was always seated by himself.  

Bradley came into the restaurant after each dessert and thanked me personally.

I smiled and nodded each time, barely able to thank him.

By the third time he came to the kitchen, I didn’t even talk. I just smiled like an idiot while he thanked me.

He must think I’m mute.

The other girls teased me that he had taken a liking to me, but I imagined that a billionaire would flirt with most any lady in his presence.  

Or maybe he just had a charming demeanor towards everyone.  

The head chef and boss mentioned it was odd that he always requested my dessert, but they always obliged a high-paying customer like Bradley. 

Each time he came into the restaurant again, the rest of the night I would struggle to stop thinking about him.  

My hands would shake endlessly and I couldn’t think straight.

I wanted no part of the marriage chase, but he had done something to me.

He had control over me.

Chapter 5

“What’s gotten into you lately, babe?” Jim asked as I climbed into his busted-up car after work.  

I shrugged and he looked at me with his head cocked, as if waiting for a better answer.  

I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek to distract him.  It worked, and he turned his focus to his steering wheel.  I cranked up the radio and sank back into the seat with my eyes closed.  

It was nice to sit down for a bit after such a long day.  My back and feet often ached from sweating in the kitchen all night. 

We weren’t dating but we were close friends.  I did ask Jim out on a date before but he said it wasn’t the right time for him.  And that was fine with me. 

Jim and I met on an online dating site a month ago when I had first come to L.A.  He was my first real friend before I had met Anne and Brianna at my new job.  He didn’t mind sitting in my apartment when it didn’t have any furniture in it and when I didn’t have cable television or snacks to offer him.  

I didn’t have any money to go out, so we mostly stayed in and played cards.  

Working so much meant that it was hard to get out and meet anyone nice, and my boss didn’t really encourage us to flirt with the patrons at the restaurant before Bradley, not even the single ones.  

I was really no good at picking good guys, and Jim was no exception.  

He bored me with his endless explanations of science fiction characters, as if he thought I would ever find any of that interesting.  He had gone so far as to ask me to learn how to play some lame card game that he had collected in high school.  

The worst part was his wandering eye, particularly for girls that barely looked of age.  

The best thing I could say about Jim was that if we ever agreed to date, he probably wouldn’t cheat on me with my best friend like my last boyfriend had.  

Jim was so average and shy that no girls had ever even noticed his advances, much less taken an interest in him.  

“Can you just give me a ride home tonight?” I opened my eyes, reached over, and squeezed his hand for full effect.  

The past few weeks, I had been going back to his place to hang out after work or he had been coming back to mine to keep me company.  

My apartment was painfully lonely, and I was still struggling to get over my ex-boyfriend, Shawn.  

Jim let out a loud sigh, but I knew he would never be pushy toward me.  And being wimpy wasn’t that attractive either.

He turned the car around and headed back to my place at my request.  I was glad that he didn’t protest too much at my need for being alone.  

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come up?” he asked as we pulled up in front of my place.  

He took off his seatbelt and turned to face me like he was going in for a kiss.  

Immediately I moved to block his efforts.  I shook my head, kissed his cheek, then opened the car door and stepped out onto the sidewalk.  

“It’s okay... I will see you tomorrow after work.”  

I watched him as he drove off, thinking he was probably disappointed.  

I could tell that Jim liked me quite a lot, and that made me feel really bad.

This was one of the worst rebound boyfriends that I had ever had, and I was really starting to wonder why I was even bothering with him.

He was sapping what little energy I had left.

I climbed the three flights of stairs into my apartment.  Walking in, I noticed one of the blankets had fallen down – I had blankets and towels covering the windows because I didn’t even have enough money for curtains.  

Even though I had placed a lot of scented candles throughout the place, the place still really smelled like mildew.  I was sure the cockroaches came out of the moldings to play with my belongings while I was away.

“You’re quite the watchdog, Jack.” I found my little black-and-white Jack Russell puppy sleeping underneath my bed.  

He had separation anxiety and often hid there when the other dogs in the building would start to bark.  My handbag was tossed on the bed and I started to remove the smelly restaurant clothes that clung to my figure.

The hamper was full so I threw my dirty clothes over in the corner of the room. Sighing, I realized another trip to the Laundromat was needed. 

But where would I find the time?

Or the energy?

The warm spray of the shower eased the aches and pains in my body.

A nice warm bubble bath would be magic to climb into, but mine was the only apartment in the building that didn’t have a tub.  

No one tells you that if you drop out of college, you’ll be ending up in a rathole like this and working in a job as an underpaid chef in a high-priced restaurant.  

As I toweled off, I saw the newspaper from this morning still spread out on the table.  I was looking for a real job, but I dreaded leaving the restaurant because I liked the people that I worked with there.  

It was like a huge family, and I had finally started to feel like I belonged somewhere, even if the pay stank.

And all I had to do was make it one year there and I could work anywhere.

My plan was to survive a year, then become a chef on the yachts of the rich and famous over the summer months, and study my butt off during the winter.

That plan was the only thing to get me out of bed some days.

Throwing on my sweatpants, I watched reruns of old television comedies, hoping something might make me laugh and distract me from all this.

None of the jokes did.

They were sad old lines that I had heard a thousand times before.

Sigh.

KNOCK. KNOCK.

Damn.

Am I late on my rent payments again?

Oh man.

That means I have to climb off my comfortable couch.

Oh wait.

Why would the landlord be knocking on my door at this time at night?

That mustn’t be my landlord.

Maybe it’s Jim.

Of course, it’s Jim.

He wants what he can’t have.

I sighed again, heaved my body off the couch, and flung the door open.

“Uh? You’re not Jim.”

Chapter 6

The man standing in front of me wasn’t Jim.

Nope. He definitely wasn’t Jim.

Standing in front of me was an older man dressed in a tight suit, standing tall and elegant.

I had seen him before.

“Miss.”

Bradley’s limousine driver…

He stood in front of me bearing three dozen red roses and an elegant card covered in gold foil.  

Still holding the roses and their enormous crystal vase, he handed the card over to me, encouraging me to open it right away.  

Nervously opening the card, I pulled out its contents.  

It appeared to be an invitation addressed directly to me.  

The driver could clearly see that I was puzzled.

“Mr. Bradley is requesting your presence,” the limousine driver said in a cordial tone.  

“When?” I asked him.  

I was a bit embarrassed to be standing at the door in my sweatpants and cartoon slippers.  

My hair was still dripping wet and wrapped in a towel, which was fashioned like a turban.        

“He is waiting for you as we speak, miss.”  

I looked around my empty apartment.  

It wasn’t like I had anywhere important to be – but I resented being beckoned like some cheap help.  

Not that it was any different from being a chef.  

But what would I wear? I had only done my laundry at the Laundromat a few times since I had moved in a month ago.  Surely none of my nice clothes were clean.

“Well, mister,” I said to him, not sure of his real name.  “I’m gonna have to pass on this one.”  

I didn’t really relish going out tonight, so I wasn’t going to.  

Even if it was for a billionaire.

I saw a frown tugging at the driver’s face, but he accepted my answer and made a move to leave.  

Before he started back down the many flights of stairs, he bent down and set the three dozen roses on the floor.  

I tried to object to him leaving them with me, but he ignored me and left.  

Surely Bradley had many more women he could give these flowers to.  

Who does that anyway? Who sends their driver to a woman’s place to ask her out?

What does he think I am?

Some sort of dog that’s just waiting for his next command?

Sigh.

Men.

After I closed the door of my apartment and poured a bowl of cereal, I noticed that Jim had sent a text asking if he could come over to cuddle and watch a movie.  

I was feeling pretty vulnerable after the invitation from Bradley, but I was afraid Jim would be suspicious of the roses.  

I didn’t know why I cared about that, but I did.  

Before he showed up to watch a superhero movie, I visited old Ms. Smith downstairs and hand-delivered the huge vase to her.  The woman was hugging me and crying so hard, you’d think she’d never gotten flowers before.  

At least I had done one good deed today.