Romance: The Billionaire's Demands (4 page)

Chapter 10

By the time I had opened the door the sixth instance, I was flabbergasted.  

Each guest was a beautiful woman dressed stunningly in a cocktail dress and high heels and ecstatic to see Bradley.  

“Are you his sisters?” I finally had the nerve to ask one of them.  

She giggled like a schoolgirl. I’m sure if we were still in school, she would tease me about that. Actually, she didn’t look like she had left school too long ago.

Each of the girls that entered the mansion looked at me with distaste or ignored me altogether as I welcomed them into Bradley’s home.  

They tossed their coats and handbags in my direction, and I hung them up in the cloakroom.  

Bradley charmingly kissed each of them on the back of the hand, and then led them into the room where he entertained his guests.

I watched him move around and greet each girl one by one, touching each of them and kissing each one’s cheek.  

It didn’t take long before I realized that Bradley hadn’t kissed me on the cheek the way he had greeted these girls.  I guess I wasn’t anything special to him after all.  

Foolish girl, imagining being his bride was just plain silly.  

“Jasmine, would you bring a platter with glasses and a bottle of champagne?  Ask Gretta.”  

Of course.  

I had to get back to work.  

After all, that was the reason I was here, wasn’t it?  

I nodded and fetched the bottle and glasses, pouring each girl a glass of wine.  

They were falling all over themselves in front of the billionaire’s eyes and throwing themselves at him. It was hard to watch.

I truly hadn’t realized until that moment how desirable Bradley and his money really were.  

The whole situation was making me sick.  

I couldn’t believe that I had signed up for this and was quite puzzled as to why the billionaire would have ever invited me here.

Surely there were other waitresses or chefs that he could have used?

“What is this…?” I stuttered when I was back in the servants’ kitchen.  “I mean, I didn’t sign up to cater to Bradley’s harem.  Is this some kind of a cruel joke?”  

I watched Gretta as she slapped the hand of one of the dishwashers who was trying to sneak a piece of cheese from one of the serving trays.  

Then she turned to me and tried to give me an explanation. 

“Sorry, dear.” She could see the look on my face. “This is no joke.  Bradley is a very eligible bachelor.  Those are the daughters of some of the most successful business men in L.A., most of them beautiful models whose families are very well off.  They have been bred to marry a wealthy man like Bradley.  Everyone is vying for Bradley’s attention until he picks his bride, of course.”  

She seemed to be so matter-of-fact about the topic.  

“He has plans to marry by the end of this year, you know.  It is our responsibility to ensure that his guests are treated like royalty while they are here.  All eyes are on this event; Bradley is getting a lot of publicity out of this to improve his business relationships, and it is likely that the woman that comes out on top of Bradley’s list tonight will be chosen to be his lifelong wife.”  

The more she talked, the more my insides sank. Everything had seemed so perfect only minutes ago.

“Like a royal family marrying into another royal family?” I asked.

Gretta laughed heartily. “Ah yes, I suppose that could be one way to look at it.”

I recalled what Brianna had said about the article in the newspaper.  

Of course.  I’m so stupid.

This dinner party was scheduled in order to find him a suitable mate.  

I was foolish enough to think that he had been coming to the restaurant regularly to see me. Of course he wasn’t. It’s the best restaurant in town – of course that’s where he would dine.

I was puzzled at why he told me that I was beautiful and flirted with me all of those times at the restaurant.  

A billionaire dating a lowly chef… it was a preposterous idea after all.  

I felt a little silly that I had believed such a childish thing.  All through my school days, my mother always teased me for having quite the imagination.  

What broke my heart and spirit the most, and made me envious of these women, was that all of the ladies were wearing diamonds and the most expensive designer dresses and they got no shortage of attention from Bradley.  

My little earrings wouldn’t even land on his radar.

In short, I had no remote chance in showing off my beauty to Bradley when held up to these women.  

Even the artwork hanging on the walls of his mansion looked nicer than I did in my worn-out waitress outfit.   

The dinner party started to get more high-spirited as the participants consumed more wine. I was surprised by how much the girls could drink – they must be quite seasoned at it.

But soon enough, they became quite inebriated.  

They were playing games and becoming quite rowdy each time I returned to the table with more food.  

Eventually, each time I came in the room to bring more food for the participants, I noticed articles of clothing were being removed.  

First, their shoulders were naked.  

Their silky skins were beautifully exposed. Even I wanted to touch their soft skins.

Then other parts of them subsequently were revealed.  

They laughed and chuckled as if they expected this of Bradley and had come for the very purpose of showing him their nudity.  I could tell that Bradley was getting more and more excited as the night wore on.  

I brought a salad bowl to the table, filled with greens, and some salad plates for the women.  

He was no longer looking at me as I brought out the food, almost as if I were invisible.  I really started to wish that I were in fact invisible. 

As I approached the table with the crackers and cheese, I realized the girls were all ridiculously gorgeous, and they had been wearing the sort of dresses that I could only have dreamt of wearing.  These women looked so insanely beautiful, that I felt quite inadequate standing next to them.  

I knew I didn’t stand a chance against them.  

As I laid the cracker tray with the rest of the food, I realized the woman to my left was peeling off her blouse right at the table.  Everyone at the table hooted and yelled in response to her flashing her bare chest.  

At first, I waited for Bradley to get up and leave the table.  

After all, with the news crews outside, how could he possibly let something like that go on at a dinner table of such a publicized event?  

I couldn’t imagine that he would ruin his reputation like this.  

Some of these girls were daughters of rich businessmen that he worked with on a regular basis.  

Surely, they wouldn’t want their daughters treated like this in Bradley’s mansion.  

My father would be furious if he knew a potential suitor was being so disrespectful towards me at a party like this.  

As I brought out more food, I realized Bradley had no intention of leaving the table, nor did he have intention of chastising the girls for exposing their tops in front of the others or acting so uncivilized at such a party.  

I was caught by complete surprise when I realized they were playing strip poker right at the dinner table.  

Then it dawned on me.  

Was this guy really going to pick a wife by eliminating these women using a game of strip poker?  

Was he going to take the winner to bed with him at the end of the night, seeing as how the girls would all be naked?  

Or would he take all of them to bed?    

I don’t want to be here for that.

I don’t want to witness an orgy on the dinner table.

“Think of the money, Jasmine,” I whispered under my breath as I brought out another plate. “Think of the money.”

Chapter 11

For the next hour, the inappropriate behavior got worse.  

I’m no prude, but I felt like a dressed-up waitress at a strip club.

I could hear cheers and squeals from the drunken girls every time I went back into the kitchen to get more food for the partygoers, and I knew that it signified another girl had taken off another article of clothing for Bradley.  

I felt jealous and hurt watching Bradley reacting to the beautiful girls while I hopelessly tried to finish my work.

I thought at first that the strip poker game would end when the girls’ tops had been removed.  Surely one of them would have the decency to stop the madness.  I imagined that these women were at least wholesome and honest, having come from good families.  

But they continued on with their game until many of the girls were sitting around the table and crossing their legs so that the wait staff couldn’t see their intimate feminine parts.  

I was shocked to see all six models without their dresses on.  I felt like I was in the middle of a girls’ locker room back at high school.

All those feelings of inadequacy came racing back.

These women were not only beautiful, they were also perky.

Damn.

I wish I were born with that sort of body.

Lucky bitches.

Amongst all this, the wait staff was just expected to continue delivering the meal one course at a time.

I saw that Bradley also was completely naked at some point.  

I tried not to look, but a few times my curiosity got the best of me, and I couldn’t help but look.

Wow.

His body was like a work of art.

He was ripped in all the right places, muscles bulging out of his arms and chest. 

His body looked exquisite with the lights of the brilliant chandelier shining down on him.  

Every curve made my body ache for what I couldn’t have.  

While I was in the kitchen again, two of the women evidently moved to sit on Bradley’s lap, one strategically placed on each leg.  

I tried to stop the images of him and the girls in his bed from invading my brain, but they crossed my mind anyway.  I nearly threw up in my own mouth when I realized what a player he was.  The sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach sucked away every last ounce of respect I had for the guy.

When I brought out the dessert – the dessert that first caught Bradley’s eye – I saw him looking at me from the corner of his eye.  

He looked my body up and down seductively as if I didn’t have any clothing on either.  

He licked his lips, as if he were trying to tempt me.  

But I wasn’t taking the bait.  

I wasn’t one of those girls. I couldn’t stoop to the level that this guy and these girls had stooped to.  

I had values and morals and I would never do something like this just to catch some guy that maybe wasn’t even worth catching.  

It made me wonder if the news crews were going to come in and take photos of the naked girls to place them in Playboy magazine later or something.  This whole situation was completely out of my realm.

Or maybe this was all normal for these people?

Maybe this is what they did all the time?

Eventually, I couldn’t take the crazy games anymore.  

I snuck a bottle of wine and a wine glass from the spread when no one was looking, and I crept into the first floor bathroom.  

I needed to do something to calm my nerves for the rest of the night.  

Due to my high levels of stress, the tonic didn’t take long to work, and the warmth spread throughout my body.  

After about ten minutes, my head felt a lot lighter, and the serious migraine that was tugging at my brain earlier was almost just a faint memory now. 

Then I heard a knock at the door.  

“Jasmine, are you all right?  You’ve been in there quite a while.  Are you feeling ill?”

It was Gretta, calling me in a concerned voice.

My cheeks flushed, but I couldn’t tell if it was the wine or embarrassment at my behavior.  I had never been a closet drinker, but maybe today was a good day to start.    

“Yes,” I answered quickly.  

My voice crackled, and I started to worry that she was sent by Bradley to check up on me.  I put the cork back into the bottle and thrust the wine into the linen closet to hide it.  

“I’m sorry, I was just feeling a bit of a migraine coming on.  I’m okay now…” I stammered as I walked out the door, trying not to breathe in her general vicinity.  

“Miss Jasmine!” she exclaimed suddenly. “Have you been drinking!?”  

Now she was starting to sound like my mother, and I got flashbacks of stumbling home late after drinking at some underage parties.   I shook my head and followed her back to the servants’ kitchen.  

Once I stepped foot into the kitchen, my boss from the restaurant also noticed that I was a bit tipsy. Wow. That wine hit me quickly.

I dropped the Chardonnay bottle on the kitchen linoleum.  

Luckily, it didn’t smash.

It was a good thing we hadn’t popped the cork to open it quite yet.  Both Gretta and my boss stared at me suspiciously.

“Pull it together,” I whispered to myself as I bent over to pick up the bottle.

I had to finish out the night at least, and then I could go home and back to my normal life.  

I couldn’t afford to lose this job, nor could I afford to lose the job at the restaurant.  

Great.  

This was just way too much excitement for me.  

Even dull Jim looked like an improvement to hanging out in this joint.  

It was upsetting that Bradley didn’t respect my feelings.  

I was even more upset that he would think to invite me to something like this.  I had no idea why he thought I would be game for it.  

Did I come across that way to him?  

Was I just some pawn in his game?  

I thought that he had more respect for me than this.  

When I first met him, he seemed charming, suave, and sophisticated.

Now, he just seemed like a big dumb jerk.  

After the feast was over, it was expected of me that I see the girls out.  I was actually surprised that it didn’t turn into a full-blown orgy, but I could imagine that I would only be seeing out five girls – not six.

But I didn’t stick around to fulfill that duty.  

By the time the beautiful girls had started to look for their coats at the end of the night, I had returned to my room to grab my luggage and belongings.  

It was almost like musical chairs – whoever was left sitting on his lap when the music stopped would be his bride.  

And I wouldn’t have to wonder which one it was either. Almost certainly it would be splashed all over the newspaper headlines by morning.  

Exiting the mansion, I felt ignored and humiliated. I had never felt worse than when I walked down the staff steps to my car.

I felt completely inadequate.

Before I started the car, I looked down at the check in my hand, and somehow now it didn’t seem like the effort had been worth what I had gone through.  I chastised myself for not keeping my emotions in check.  

It was always a weakness of mine and probably the reason why I couldn’t keep a nice relationship going.

I thought I heard Bradley calling out to me as I climbed into my car, but I just kept going.  

On the slow drive past the gates, I could see the girls talking to the media, as they got ready to leave.

I’m sure they had a lot to tell.

As for me, I was simply happy to drive away from the embarrassing evening and forget about it. 

Forever.