The Barefoot Groom: Bachelor Billionaire Romance (A Last Play Companion) by Taylor Hart Page A

book.”
    “Now you’re plagiarizing me.”
    Taking a step closer to her, the Irish Spring scent got stronger. “We could team up. You could be my personal assistant. I’m not a diva.”
    She smiled, liking he’d remembered what she said the night before. “I don’t know if I would go that far.” His proximity put her off balance. “Billionaires don’t have to be diva’s, they can get whatever they want.”
    His eyes narrowed and the side of his lip tilted up. “Whatever I want?”
    The question felt intimate, like he was asking for her.
    She turned away from him, taking in the view.
    He started humming “London Bridges.”
    The center of her heart felt like it was beating so fast it would burst out of her chest, but she only smiled. “You had me until that dang song.”
    They both laughed, and there was the connection thing he’d been talking about happening again.
    They stood side by side, looking over the valley.
    Rattled, she pointed to his watch. “Better check the time, I think you’re going to go over.”
    He didn’t move. “Watch doesn’t work.”
    She frowned, not understanding. “Why are you wearing it?”
    He shrugged.
    Her reporter self sniffed something. “You don’t seem like the type to worry about a fashion statement.”
    He ran his hand through his hair and exhaled. “Uh, no.”
    One of the biggest problems with her, as her mother always said, she couldn’t just let it be. “Then why do you wear it?”
    He pulled his arm up and tapped the watch and then grimaced. “My fathers.”
    Somewhere in the files of her brain, when she’d frantically been researching him last night, she couldn’t remember much about his father.
    “He left when I was three. I…don’t really even have memories with him. It’s at the point I don’t know if the memory is one of mine or if it’s just one my mom told me so many times.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    He sighed. “Pathetic, right? I wear a watch that doesn’t work, belonging to a man who never wanted me.”
    Suddenly all of this made her nervous. Unsettled. He shouldn’t be telling all of his secrets to her. She whipped out her phone and checked the time. “We have to get back. You’re way over your one-on-one time.”
    With the flash of a grin, he spread his hands. “Rescheduled the next one. We have time.”
    “What? Why?”
    He flashed a smile. “Can’t I just hang out with you?” His eyebrows lifted. “I guess that makes me a loser too, right?”
    Okay. No, no, no. Was Cooper Harrison looking at her that way? In a … dating way? No.
    “Um …”
    “Is that okay?”
    This was exactly what Marcia would want. What had she said? “You’re his type.” Marcia couldn’t have expected anything like this. London could hear her boss’ voice urging her to get closer, to dig, to turn this man inside out on the pages of Rage .
    Turning away from him, she twisted her ring finger with the other hand. “Fine. Sure. Yeah.”
    He moved closer to her.
    She tensed. She couldn’t do this. No. No. No.
    “Hey, I don’t want things to be weird. I just …” He let out a laugh. “It’s ridiculous, right? I feel all out of sorts.”
    This was a journalist’s dream, so why did it feel wrong all of a sudden? She turned to him. “You do?”
    He stood there in bare feet. Alone with her. He pushed his hands into his jeans and let out a breath.
    Seriously, he looked like a model. So perfect. His facial hair was two-days long, just right. And there was something about him, something softer than she’d initially thought he’d be. There was also less ego than she’d expected from someone who’d achieved all he had.
    “What?” she asked.
    “Okay, I …” He cleared his throat. “You’re the first woman I’ve wanted to get to know for a long time.”
    Immediately, she was suspicious. She’d believed in the fairytales until Dillon. She scoffed. “Look, I don’t think we should do this. I’m not your Frozen kind of spark thing.”
    For a