Dangerous Deception (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Series) by Judy Angelo Page B

collapsed into a chair and covered her face
with her hands.  “I love you.  You know I do.  Why would you torture me like
this?”
    “Lola, please.  I’m not doing this to hurt you.” 
Storm let out a heavy sigh.  He hated to see a woman cry.  “You don’t love me,
Lola.  Its just infatuation.  It’s only because our parents expect-”
    “Don’t tell me what I feel for you.”  She lifted her
face and spat the words at him, her eyes flashing with a rage that made her
look crazed.  “For years I’ve waited for you.  Years.  And you led me on,
making me think you felt the same way.”
    “But we never-”
    “It doesn’t matter.  I was waiting for you till we
were married.  I know you had other women, playboy that you are, and I let you
have your flings.”  She sucked in her breath, her nostrils flaring.  “I was
giving you time to grow up.  He’ll come around when it’s time, I told myself. 
He’ll settle down one day soon and when he does it will be with me, the woman
who's loved him faithfully all these years.”
    Now Storm was getting pissed.  What kind of guilt trip
was Lola trying to throw on him when he’d never made any commitment, not even a
promise, to her?  Despite what their parents wished, as far as he was concerned
he was not about to be forced into an arranged marriage.
    “Get serious, Lola,” he said, his voice cold.  “We
were never going to get married and you know it.”  He shook his head.  “You
turned up here suddenly and started with your usual antics, acting like we’re
lovers...which we’re not.  I had to tell you because this behavior has to
stop.  I can’t play those games with you anymore.”
    “So that’s all it was to you, a game?”  Her voice was
a bitter, broken whisper.  “All this time I was loving you, you were only
playing a game.  With my heart.”
    She stood up then and hugged her purse to her chest
like a protective shield.  “And now you tell me you’ve got a fiancée.  Where
the hell she came from, I don’t know.  Well, if this is something you cooked up
to humiliate me you can give yourself a pat on the back.  It worked.”  With an
injured sniff she turned on her heel and walked to the door.  This time,
instead of her usual ‘Love you, darling’, she opened the door then turned and
said,  “Don’t think this is over, Storm.  We are not going to end like this.”
    Storm let out his breath and shook his head then he
dropped himself onto the leather sofa by the window.  He hadn’t meant to reveal
the engagement - fake though it was - until after he’d announced it to his
parents, but Lola had been more annoying than usual.  She’d always been
expressive with her feelings but today she’d become more physical, throwing her
arms around his waist and planting an unexpected kiss on his lips.
    It wasn’t that he had anything against her.  He was
just tired of playing her game, a game that their parents wholly endorsed.  And
that was why he’d seized onto the idea of Dani as his fiancée.  She was the
perfect solution to getting everybody, including Lola, off his back.
    The sad thing was, it looked like he had just created
a brand new enemy.
    ******
     
    Dani dashed around the apartment for the too many-eth
time, making sure everything was just right.  Her heart was pumping like she
was on the edge of a cliff ready to bungee jump.
    She could beat herself.  She’d invited Storm to join
her in making a quilt, not even thinking about where they’d be executing the
project.  Of course, it ended up that it would be at her apartment.  She
couldn’t very well lay out fabric and put him to work in the lobby of the
apartment building.  And it wasn’t like she had any other place she could take
him to do that.  It was too bad she had blurted out her idea without thinking
about the consequences.
    Number one question - what would he think of her
modest apartment, with him being a billionaire and all?  Number two