Winning It All (Hometown Players Book 4) by Victoria Denault Page A

?”
    “I don’t speak French,” I mutter back. He knows Josh from Sutter Brothers? Josh works at one of the biggest wealth management companies in the Pacific Northwest. Does that mean Sebastian is also a financial advisor? Or is he one of their millionaire clients? I stare at the luxurious car I’m sitting in. Holy shit, I think he’s a client.
    “Does he manage your portfolio?” I ask, trying to sound casual. I don’t care about money. I honestly don’t. None of my boyfriends have had a ton of money…Mind you the last time I had a serious boyfriend was college. And I repeatedly turn down my parents’ money. I could be living in a much nicer apartment, with a car that works, if I wanted to take their handouts. Seriously, money doesn’t matter, but…did I just bang a millionaire?
    Frenchie shakes his head. “No. His coworker Paul does. Do you know Paul? Oberman?”
    I shake my head and swallow, but my throat is unexpectedly dry, and I cough. He slows the car to an acceptable residential speed as we pull off a main street and start through the more residential area that leads to the park.
    “You’re a millionaire?” I manage to choke out and instantly regret it. I probably sound like a gold digger or something.
    He reaches over and pats my hand on my thigh. His smirk slips a little, but then he shrugs his broad shoulders. “Yeah.”
    “I thought you were an accountant or a lawyer or waiter or something.” Seriously, why won’t my mouth stop spitting out words? At least I managed to stop coughing.
    “You sound disappointed.” He is still smirking. I amuse him. Nifty.
    “I don’t care what you do for a living,” I say airily, finally gaining control of my words and actions again. “It was a one-night stand.”
    “We’ll see about that,” he replies in a deep whisper filled with promise.
    I bite my lip and turn and stare out the window. He slows as two kids run through a crosswalk holding dripping ice cream cones, and I smile. When I glance at him, he’s smiling too, and it’s not cocky, it’s just pretty.
    Just past a newly renovated apartment building he takes a left down a road that looks like a dead end. There are only a few homes on it, and then the road narrows to essentially a one-way—even though it’s not—and the houses disappear. It’s nothing but overgrown grass and weeds. The property technically belongs to the city, but no one maintains it like they do the other park areas. It’s a popular place for locals because it’s less touristy than the other areas around the lake.
    Sebastian pulls over behind Josh’s red SUV at the top of the hill. Other cars line the rest of the narrow roadway. He turns the car off and hurries around to help me out. I ignore his outstretched hand, haul myself out of the smooth, deep leather seat, and storm ahead to the picnic tables by the water.
    I glance down the small rolling hill to the party. There are about a dozen people already here. They’ve set up chairs and towels on the long, slim strip where the grass gives way to sand by the edge of the lake. Josh and some other guy in a trucker hat whom I recognize as one of Josh’s friends are placing rocks in a circle to enclose what will become a fire pit. I march toward Audrey, who’s setting up camping chairs around the fire pit the boys are building. She’s grinning at me like a fool.
    “So, how was your day?” She winks at me.
    “Fuck you, you traitorous whore,” I say flatly and flop down in a chair.
    “I see you found a ride.” She wipes the condensation off the can of beer in her hand and flicks the water from her fingers at my face. It splatters all over my sunglasses.
    As I remove them to clean them, I glance over my shoulder. Josh has jogged up to help Sebastian with the two coolers he’s pulled from his trunk. I didn’t realize he brought stuff. So now I’m the jerk who grabs a ride and abandons him. Perfect. I stand to go back up there, but with Josh’s help he doesn’t need