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She was seated at a private table, waiting for him. He’d had to take a call before they started shooting. Gail had pulled out her iPhone, but really she’d told her assistant, J.J., to handle all emergencies tonight. She knew she’d never have a chance at making this a success if she was distracted with work…. Her mind began to wander.
Was there more to Russell than met the eye? She knew there had to be, but thanks to years in publicity, she knew that usually what was beneath a shiny surface was less than appealing.
Russell rejoined her, and there was a lot of movement around them as sound techs and makeup people made them both camera ready.
“If my mates saw me with this makeup on, they’d never let me live it down,” he said.
She had to smile. “It’s just part of the package for being on TV, part of the glam life all celebs have to endure.”
“Never thought I’d be part of any ‘glam life,’” he said.
“Why not? You seem very at home in the jet set.” Just this morning, she’d seen a picture of him on a yacht with two Spanish royals on one of the gossip sites she monitored for her clients.
“It’s not really my thing,” he said. “I like to travel and I ski and yacht and go to club openings, but a lot of that is for my business. To keep it in the public eye.”
“Yet you get a lot of newspaper and internet coverage,” she said. She didn’t follow him, so she had no idea when the intense media scrutiny had started, but she’d be willing to bet it had been there since he’d become successful in the hotel world. He had looks that no woman would resist.
“I do, but I really don’t court that,” he said.
Their food was delivered, and Gail found herself unable to stop looking at Russell. She had met so many people who’d needed to have their images cleaned up that she freely admitted she often saw the worst in someone. But she wanted to give Russell a chance, not simply to be fair to him, but also for her own sake. She’d invested a hell of a lot more than money in these dates; she’d kind of thought of them as her last chance.
“You’re staring at me,” he said.
“You are a very pretty-looking man,” she said, being glib because that was easy when she didn’t want to be honest.
“Pretty … isn’t that a word for girls?” he asked.
“No. Boys can be very pretty.” And he was, with that classic jawline and thick brownish-blond hair. But he was also a bit on the rugged side, thanks to that square jaw and a small scar on the bottom of his face. His face had character, but she wasn’t sure if it was good. He had the build of a boxer and carried himself like a man who’d lived life—a very upper-crust one, but still, there was more to him than money.
“Well,” he said, lifting one eyebrow sardonically, “thanks, I guess.”
She smiled at him. He was an easy man to talk to, and though she was giving him the fifth degree in the hope of catching him out in a lie, she liked him. “I keep looking for some indicator that you are being honest with me.”
“And?” he asked.
“I’m simply not sure yet. But I think it’s making me overanalyze your every action,” she admitted. But if she was honest, she did that with everyone. She’d always spent a lot of time thinking about why people did things. It didn’t bring her any closer to really understanding them, but she tried.
“Then I’m not doing my job,” he said. He leaned in, and she could smell that one-of-a-kind, spicy aftershave of his. “Am I boring you?”
“No, you are not boring me at all. Tell me why you are here,” she said. It was a question she’d originally planned on asking her date before she knew it was Russell. In fact, she now made the snap decision to treat him the way she would have treated John Doe if that’s whom she’d been matched with. No need to change just because he was Russell Holloway, international billionaire and playboy.
He leaned back in his chair and looked into her eyes. “It’s time to settle down. I set out to make my fortune and a name for myself. I think we can both agree that I’ve done that.”
“I’m not buying that as the entire story. There must be more,” she said.
He laughed and tipped his head to the side, studying her, and she felt a little exposed for a moment, as though he was trying to see past the makeup and the facade to the real woman underneath. “The truth is that I like the party lifestyle, but it has lost its charm. I want to have a partner I can share all my life with, not just a couple of days.”
She wanted to believe him. Who wouldn’t? It was every young girl’s dream to have a playboy like him say he wanted to settle down, and to be the lucky one he chose. “I can understand that, but marriage?”
“Why do I seem so debauched to you?” he asked.
“You don’t,” she said, realizing she was being harder on him than she would have been on any other man. And she knew it was because she was mad. Mad that she’d been matched to this man and now had to make the best of the situation.
“I’m sorry. Tell me about your family,” she said.
“I had a traditional upbringing, and though my parents are gone, I know they wanted me to get married and have kids someday.”
He had a pensive look on his face, and he turned away from her for a moment. She felt bad about the way she’d been questioning him. He obviously had a reason for going to the matchmaking service just as she had, and she should respect that.
She cleared her throat, and he turned his attention back to her. “You have kids, right?”
“No,” he said. “There have been paternity suits that I have settled out of court, but I have no kids.”
“Why not just make a family of those blended children?” she asked. What did he mean by settling paternity suits but not having any kids? She wanted to know more but this first date wasn’t the time to ask questions.
“It’s not feasible, since they aren’t mine,” he said.
“What do—”
“Enough questions—it’s my turn. Why did you go to a matchmaker?” he asked, turning that direct, silver gaze of his on her. Suddenly she wanted to go back to being anonymous. She wanted to be the one in control, and she wasn’t the least bit interested in sharing that control with him.
She fidgeted a little in her chair. She didn’t want to tell him about herself. “The simple answer is that it’s the next step for me. I have a successful business and a good life.”
“Sounds idyllic, but since you are here with me, something must be missing,” he said.
“Yes,” she said.
“It makes sense,” he said. “And I understand where you are coming from.”
“Do you?” she asked. It was hard for her to believe that she had much in common with this man. Odd to her that the two of them were at the same point in their journeys. But they were here together and, no matter how wrong that felt to her, she decided she’d make the best of it for now.
“Yes, when I was young I knew what I wanted and went after my goals with single-minded intensity. I worked hard and played hard and then one day …”
“You woke up and realized that you had everything?” she asked.
“Yes. But I wasn’t satisfied.”
“Me either,” she said. Maybe she didn’t want to see the man behind the image. Because now that she saw him expressing the same doubts that she had, she was starting to like him.
Like was too tame a word. She was attracted to him and wanted to find something—anything—that would give her a reason to stay on this show with him. The legal reason—the contract she’d signed—wasn’t enough. But hearing him express himself this way … it was appealing.
“You’re staring at me again,” he said. “I’m trying not to let it go to my head, but you’re making me feel irresistible.”
“You’ll have to get used to it, if you keep surprising me.”
“Then I will, because I intend to keep you off balance,” he said.
“Why?”
“That’s the only way I’m going to get to know the real Gail,” he said.
“And that’s important?” she asked. She wasn’t too sure she wanted anyone to know the real woman she was.
“Infinitely,” he said. “I think that is the only way that you are going to let me know you trust me. I mean, really trust me.”
“I don’t trust easily,” she admitted. “I guess that’s another reason I’ve gone to a matchmaker.”
“You’ve been burned by a man before?” he asked, leaning closer.
“Yes,” she said, putting her head down and remembering that past love. Joe hadn’t meant to hurt her—she was still sure of it—but he’d been too much into what Joe wanted to never realize that he was stepping on her dreams to achieve his own.
Russell nodded and took her hand. “I know there isn’t anything I can say right now that you’d believe, but I do want to be very sure you understand I’m not like any other man you’ve had in your life before.”
“I already knew that,” she said with a grin.
“It’s my pretty face, right?” he asked with a sexy smile that sent shivers of awareness down her spine.
“Okay, that’s a wrap on dinner. Let’s get you two up to the rooftop,” the director said. The crew all bustled around them, and Gail realized she’d had enough. This matchmaking thing was going to take some getting used to. Add to that the cameras, and it was her definition of a nightmare.
Jack came back over and spoke to them again about their impressions of the first date. Gail was unsure what to say. She mumbled something and then thankfully was motioned off camera so Jack could talk to Russell. She stood to the side watching Russell and hoping this wasn’t a huge mistake.
Had she really thought she’d find Mr. Right like this? Through a matchmaking service that she’d found off an internet ad? But, really, what had her alternatives been? She’d dated all the guys she knew. Willow and Nichole had even tried fixing her up, but that had led to nothing permanent.
“Are we going to jump?” Gail asked.
“Not a bad idea. I guess that’s how we will get some ratings for the show,” Russell said. “I can see the headlines now. Respectable woman pushes rogue Kiwi playboy off roof in hopes of finding a better match.”
Gail had to laugh. “I won’t push you … yet.”
“I guess I better step it up in the charm department,” he said.
Before she could answer, Kat was back and taking her by the arm. “Chat on camera, guys. We need you on the roof now.”
They were escorted to a private elevator and soon were on the rooftop helipad, where a chopper waited for them. “Is this for us?”
“Surprise,” Russell said. “I thought an evening ride over Manhattan would be nice.”
“I am surprised,” Gail said. “I’ve always wanted to do this.”
“Good. Also, cameras can’t come with us, so we will have some time alone to get to know one another.”
Gail didn’t say anything else as their microphones were removed and they were escorted to the chopper. She saw the cameraman at a distance, no doubt filming them so they’d have something to show later, but she was relieved that they were going to be alone.
Russell gallantly helped her into the chopper and was seated next to her a short time later. He handed her some headphones, which she donned, and then she adjusted her microphone. “I’m sure I look pretty glamorous with these on my head.”
“You look great,” he said.
In a matter of minutes, they were in the air and flying over Manhattan. Russell’s voice was soft and intimate in her ears.
“When I first came to the States, I wanted to make my mark here. We started in Vegas because that suited the Kiwi Klubs’ reputation, but I wanted to own a building in New York City,” he said.
She looked over at him. “How did you get started?”
“With a small run-down hotel in Sydney,” he said. “I won it in a high-stakes poker game.”
“I though you were a New Zealander from the South Island?”
“I am. I left home when I was sixteen and never looked back,” he said.
“I didn’t see any of that on the internet when I was reading up on you,” she said. “I’m embarrassed to say, I only know the gossip I’ve read about you.”
He shrugged. “That’s the easy stuff to know.”
“But is it true?” she asked. “I’ve been in PR long enough to know that sometimes bad publicity can work in your favor.”
“Exactly,” he said. “I’m known for having rich and famous friends and for being a bit of a player, and that is exactly what my clientele wants.”
“So why change now?” she asked. “Is this more than a publicity stunt?”
“Of course it is. I’m not going to get married as a stunt,” he said.
“Many have done it before. Even if they weren’t just for show, marriages of convenience have been around for centuries.”
“I’d find it very convenient to have to look at you at breakfast every day,” he said in that flirty way of his.
“Me, too, but I need more sustenance than flash,” she said.
“Don’t we all. It’s easy to think that something or someone flashy has what you need, but after a short while you find that’s not true,” he said.
She glanced over at him. Surprised to hear something so … well, deep from him.
He arched an eyebrow at her. “I’m not just a playboy.”
She smiled at him. “You couldn’t be and be on the cover of Fortune magazine.”
“True. What about you?”
“Me?” she asked. “I’m not flashy at all. This is me at my most flashy.”
He chuckled. “I’m not shocked. You strike me as someone who is very sure of herself and where she is going.”
She shrugged one shoulder. “I love to have a plan and then execute it. But when I have to depend on someone else … well, let’s just say sometimes things get messed up.”
“Like this?”
She bit her lower lip. She didn’t want to lie to him, but then she had nothing to lose. Russell wasn’t the kind of guy she usually went for, so being brutally honest wasn’t going to cost her anything. “Yes, like this situation with you. I mean, I planned to go to the matchmaker and find the perfect guy. I have a checklist in my head with all his qualities.”
“And I don’t measure up?” he asked. “That’s not fair, Gail. You don’t know if I have those qualities yet.”
“You’re right. But you are flashy,” she said with a grin. “And I’m a bit afraid to risk getting to know the real man.”
“I can understand that. I’m coming at this from the opposite point of view. If you aren’t the woman I think you are … then I’m screwed.”
She laughed at how he’d said that. “I guess we both are.”
He reached over, took her hand in his and lifted it to his mouth, rubbing his lips over the back of her knuckles. “I don’t want that. Let’s start over. I’ll try to be more the man of your dreams and you can …”
“Yes?”
“Give me a chance and not judge me so harshly.”
“I will try. It’s one of my worst faults,” she said, liking the way her hand felt in his.
“What is?”
“Not being able to accept failure.”
“In others?” he asked, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand before slowly letting it go.
Chills spread up her arm, and she knew she wanted to keep touching him. It was unexpected. She didn’t know why and couldn’t really explain it, but there was something about Russell Holloway that made her forget about lists and plans.
“And in myself,” she said softly, almost to herself. But she knew he’d heard her because he nodded.
“I’ll try not to let you down,” he said.
And just like that, she was hooked on giving him a chance. She wanted to guard her emotions, to warn her heart to be careful where he was concerned, because her common sense told her there was more to Russell’s move than just his wanting to change. But she couldn’t help herself. For these next six weeks she wanted to be the kind of girl who’d allow herself to be caught up in a man. Even if she knew he was at his core a bad boy who would probably break her heart.
Russell knew that he was luckier than many men. He had his secrets and more than his share of hardships, but life had been good to him. And this was one of the moments when he realized he’d gotten lucky. He needed a woman like Gail and here she was, dropped into his lap.
Her skin was soft and smooth and he liked touching her, holding her hand. But he didn’t want to crowd her. She smelled nice and clean, a pretty floral fragrance that he knew he’d remember long after he left her tonight.
“Thank you, Russell,” she said.
“For?”
“This ride. It’s really nice being up here, and I needed some time away from the cameras.”
“I did too. I’m not used to conducting my dates in front of an audience,” he said. Even though most of the women he dated were famous and they always had their pictures in the tabloids, Russell did try to avoid the spotlight.
“Me either. In fact, this is the first date I’ve been on that has felt this … high profile,” she said. “Not at all what I expected.”
“Is it on your list?” he asked.
“What list?”
“The Mr. Right checklist,” he said. He liked the forthright way she spoke and how she always looked him straight in the eye when she talked to him. It made him aware that she was weighing everything he did and said. He needed to be careful to watch himself around her.
“Well … it’s not real. Just a bunch of feelings and qualities that I think a man should have that would be compatible with mine.”
He tipped his head to the side. “That’s a checklist.”
She shrugged delicately, drawing his gaze to her shoulders. They were left bare by the sleeveless dress she wore. Her arms were toned and muscled, so she must work out, he guessed.
“You’re right. It is a list. I’m looking for someone with a good job.”
“Easy! Check one off for me.”
She smiled at him. “I’ll give you that.”
“What else?”
“He has to be … committed to the person he’s dating.”
“Ah. That one will be harder to convince you of, won’t it?”
“Yes. You aren’t exactly known for monogamy.”
“I am here, aren’t I?”
“Yes. So that one is a maybe,” she said.
“What else?”
“Um …” She hesitated, then a pretty pink blush spread up from her neck to her cheeks.
“What could be next?” he asked. “Why are you so shy now?”
She wrapped her arms around her waist and looked out at the skyline of Manhattan. He saw the reflection of her face in the window of the chopper as she absently brought her hand up to toy with the charm on the gold necklace she wore.
“I have to be attracted to you. A healthy sex life is on my checklist.”
“When the time is right, Gail, you will have no doubts that I can fulfill your needs on that count.”
She turned back around to face him. Her thick black hair with the headphones on it made her seem smaller somehow. In the intimacy of the chopper, she didn’t seem as tough as she had in the ballroom when first seen her. Her mouth was full, and he couldn’t help but keep his eyes on her lips. He wanted to taste them. He needed to kiss her just to prove to himself that, even though she felt different to him, she wasn’t. He desired her. He knew that, but he wanted it to be just the normal lust he’d feel for any attractive woman.
Somehow though, in these close quarters with just the soft sound of her voice in his ears and her leg brushing his, it felt different. He felt different. He wanted to imagine he could check off all the qualities on her Mr. Right checklist, and he didn’t know why that mattered.
He leaned in close and she just stared at him. The microphone was in front of her face, and he reached to push it up and out of his way. He did the same with his mic, and then touched her face. Her skin was smooth and cool to the touch.
He let his thumb move lower to touch her lips. He traced them: the small indentation at the top and the full, fleshy lower one. Then he closed the small distance between them and kissed her. Just a simple brushing of their mouths at first, and then he slipped his tongue in over her teeth until he tasted her.
He tipped his head to the side; he wanted more of her. The thought that she was just like any other woman disappeared in an instant. This was more than lust. He lifted his hands, tangling them in her thick hair as he tried to get more out of the kiss. Gail’s hands fell to his shoulders, softly at first, and then as she moved closer to him, her grip got tighter.
He pulled back and took a deep breath. She said something, but he couldn’t hear it because her microphone wasn’t in position. He brought it down and she shook her head. “I didn’t expect that.”
“I didn’t either.”
She wrinkled her brow. “You were the one who kissed me.”
“I was trying to prove something to myself.”
“What?”
“That you were like every other woman I’ve ever kissed,” he said.
She narrowed her gaze. “That’s—
“Don’t get your back up. You weren’t. I don’t know why,” he said, genuinely perplexed. One of his good friends had married last year and Russell, while happy for him, hadn’t understood how one woman could be that important. Now he had an inkling of what Cam Stern had been experiencing and Russell didn’t like it for himself.
“Is that supposed to be a compliment?” she asked.
“Hell. No, it wasn’t. I don’t know what it was supposed to be. I only know that I have no idea how to proceed with this.”
“Why not?” she asked.
He shook his head. He wasn’t supposed to be this attracted to his match. But his blood was pounding in his veins and he had to shift his legs to make room for his growing erection. He wanted her. He wanted her right now. But that wasn’t going to happen tonight. He needed to ensure that this matchmaking thing worked first, and sleeping with her tonight would pretty much send her running for the hills.
Three
Gail didn’t know what had happened, but somehow in the last thirty minutes, Russell Holloway had started to become real to her. He was no longer that bad-boy cad whom she could keep her distance from. Instead she’d kissed him.
Oh, yes, she had. That was the most daring thing she’d done since skinny-dipping in high school. She shook her head; she had become a very staid person. In fact, it had been almost seven months since her last kiss.
Now her lips still tingled from the contact with Russell’s. And she wanted more than just a few kisses. She wanted to feel his strong chest against her breasts and his arms wrapped around her.
She had a feeling that Russell knew how to use his body for maximum effect, and she was definitely ready for more. But that wasn’t smart. She prided herself on making the “right” choices, but now she wanted to just forget that and do what felt right.
So what?
She’d been smart her entire life, and look where it had gotten her. She was alone and doing silly things like signing up for matchmaking services and reality-TV shows. She wanted something—someone—different, and Russell certainly was that.
“You’re staring at me again,” he said with that little half smile of his that she was getting very used to seeing. He used it as a shield to seem open and friendly, but she knew it was a mask.
“That is entirely your fault,” she said. “If you’d just act like I expected you to, then I could walk away and pretend I gave this a chance.”
“Where would you walk to?” he asked. “If you are on this show, I’m guessing you are out of options.”
“Very true,” she said. “I guess I’d go back to my safe little world where everything fits neatly in its place.”
“So I no longer fit in my place?” he asked her.
Frankly, she wasn’t too sure what she’d do with Russell in his place. She wasn’t cut out to date a jet-setting playboy, and no matter what the matchmaker thought, Gail knew he wasn’t right for her.
“No, you don’t,” she said.
“What am I doing wrong?” he asked.
She nibbled on her lower lip and tasted him. “Kissing me.”
“You didn’t like it?” he asked. “I can try to improve my technique.”
“I liked it too much,” she said. “Don’t be offended—”
He leaned down and arched one eyebrow at her in a way that made her feel as though she was amusing him. “Saying that pretty much guarantees I will be.”