The Billionaire's Jackpot: Betting on You Series: Book Four (2 page)

It was obvious these women didn’t understand the male code.
We stay out of each other’s shit.
Or at least try to. And when he had gotten involved or given an opinion, it was to his buddies. He was able to say what he wanted, not worrying about hurting someone’s feelings. He was already sucked too far into this to back out now.
Might as well soak it for what it’s worth.
“So, as I said before, what do I get out of this?”

He waited and finally the answer came. “How about next time you are in Napa Valley, I’ll cook you a homemade meal? Will that suffice?”

Now we’re talking.
Drew wasn’t about to pass up the open-door invite. “I’ll take you up on that offer. Hope this means you are free this coming weekend.”

Shocked, she asked, “You’re coming back so soon?”

I am now.
“I have business in the area this week. So do we have a deal or are you backing out?”

“I never go back on my word.” Her serious tone caused him to laugh softly to himself.
If I would have known, I would have bargained for more than dinner.

She proceeded to give him her address, which he wasn’t about to tell her he’d already researched. “In case you really want to make something special for me, I can’t resist chocolate cake.”

“You think this earns dessert too?” she joked.

You don’t want to know what I think it earns. But you might just find out.
“I do.”

Her voice softened. “Guess you’ll have to see what you get when you get here. Now go to sleep. It’s almost morning there.”

The sun was almost up. Drew opted for hitting the gym to burn off his tension. Later that morning he would reach out to Ross, once he had time to plan it through. If he was going to have to do this, then he was going to make it so he got some enjoyment out of it. After all, that’s what friends are for, right?

‡

B
reakfast with Ross
that morning had been entertaining at least. Drew could have come straight out and told him about Katherine’s call and what Jill was up to, but that wasn’t his style. He almost caved when Ross’s face turned an angry red and said he thought Jill spent the night with another guy. But when Ross added that he thought Jill had accidently sent the pictures to him, he almost burst out laughing. Drew had to dig deep into his acting skills to avoid Ross knowing he was privy to the entire plan. Of course that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to use that information to mess with his friend. Ross looked like he was going to blow an artery when Drew had bet he didn’t know where Jill was right now.
Ross, you’ve really got it bad, don’t you?
Drew had watched first Jon, then Trent, and now Ross go through the same battle:
understanding the opposite sex.
It was great watching as a bystander what seemed like hell for his friends. Of course that didn’t mean he didn’t bust on them while he doled out his ever-so-valuable advice. Ross was the worst; he needed someone to shake him up.
And Jill was just the person to do it.
What kind of friend would he be if he interfered and ruined the little game of chase Jill had planned for Ross?
One that wasn’t such a jerk,
he laughed softly.

What happened
? In no less than twelve months, all his friends seemed to have fallen into the trap. Drew sat smiling to himself as he stretched out on the couch of his jet.
Last man standing.
He remembered there had been a bet back in college who that would be. Trent thought it would be Jon, but everyone else, including himself, had put money on it being Trent.
Should have put some money on Trent getting hitched; God knows I love letting it ride on a long shot.
And that summed Trent up perfectly.

Drew was fast approaching thirty-five, and surprising to all, marriage had never even crossed his mind.
Not once.
Every time a woman even looked like she was getting serious he broke it off. It wasn’t intentional; it was something more subconscious. Women all seemed the same and only saw his money and comfortable lifestyle. He could ignore how shallow they were as long as the sex was good. If it began to become anything more than that, it was time to move on.

Katherine, on the other hand, was definitely unlike anyone he’d met before. She carried a confidence, not entirely shocking given she’d been a Marine, but there was something else about her. She presented herself in a way that was refreshing. To describe her in one word?
Real.
From the moment he’d looked into her eyes, he’d seen it. Maybe that was why he had hesitated reaching out to her. He was a lot of things, but real wasn’t one of them.

No matter how often he told himself this wasn’t a wise choice, he still flew cross-country to what, have dinner with Katherine? No. His intentions were not so honorable. They never had been. He was a gambling man and always would be. His stakes only got bigger as he got older. His friends considered the way he played the stock market a game. Whatever it was, he was extremely successful at it, and he never needed to put on a damn tie if he didn’t want to. No, it wasn’t a game; it was a challenge. Search out what others couldn’t see, snatch it up cheaply, and wait for the right moment. One thing he had learned over the years: timing was everything. Katherine’s call fell into that theory. What he wasn’t able to adequately predict was the result of this endeavor, and that was uncharted territory for him.

When she called
Drew Navarro it had seemed simple, the only rational thing to do. A friend was about to do something stupid, and she wanted someone to help her stop it. That is what friends do, they watch out for each other.
She had only done this for Jill to ensure she wouldn’t become brokenhearted
, she’d told herself.

Of course, once she heard Drew’s voice, her body’s reaction told her otherwise, and she used her friend’s plight as a valid excuse to do what he should have done a few weeks earlier.
Make the first move.
She’d never been afraid to go after what she wanted, yet that never had included male interest.
First time for everything.
That also seemed to extend to her name. Since childhood, she’d corrected anyone who called her Katherine.
It’s KJ.
There were many afternoons spent in detention after school for correcting her teachers as well. However, when Drew had said Katherine in his deep, sensual voice, it had sent chills down her spine. Everyone else can call her KJ the rock, unshakable. But for Drew, she’ll be Katherine the woman.

These were the thoughts she’d been replaying in her mind ever since he’d asked her to join him and his friends after the pet therapy fundraising event a few weeks ago. Normally she would have turned down such an offer, but she had been lost in his smile.

What she thought would be a short after-party lasted several hours. The room had been filled with some of the biggest egos, normally not approachable, but that night it wasn’t about business, they were gathered as friends. By the end of the night, she had made some new friends. She’d even heard from a few of them since then.
What had he been waiting for?
They had exchanged numbers by the end of the night, and she had hoped to hear from him. She wished it wasn’t true, but there was no denying the disappointment she felt when his call hadn’t come. KJ hadn’t had troubles securing male attention.
Yet this one hadn’t called.

Jill’s situation provided the opportunity to reach out to him without actually being the one to make the first move, not that she normally cared about such petty things. She prided herself in knowing what she wanted and not being afraid to go get it.
Good thing I like the simple life.

But Drew hadn’t been like anyone she’d met before. Yes, he was hot and sexy, and she could get lost looking into his eyes, but he was also laid-back and relaxed, and she envied that. At times, she felt as though she would never feel like that again—relaxed, at peace. When she’d talked with him at the event, and then again on the phone, she had felt the tinge of it creeping back in. It had felt . . .
wonderful.
She couldn’t stop thinking about him during the rest of the week. And his curls, mmmm . . . She could picture running her fingers through that hair while he made love to her.
Wow. Easy girl. He is only coming by for dinner. You hardly know him.

The past few nights had been filled with detailed dreams of him holding her, loving her so passionately she’d woken filled with an ache both physical and emotional. How could even a dream make her feel so . . . alive? It was something she wasn’t sure she would ever feel again. It felt good and terrifying all at the same time.
Am I ready for this?
Her heart beat quickened as she was filled with panic.
Why did I invite him here?

It had been more than two years since she’d been intimate with anyone. That night had only been to hide from the overwhelming pain she’d felt at that moment: a need to be held by someone, anyone, so she wouldn’t break down and let her emotions take control. Thankfully there had been ample men to choose from on the base where she’d been stationed in Herzegovina, Bosnia. One of the MPs she had befriended had been more than willing to oblige. Her poor choice for an intentional one-night stand still bothered her.
It was a different time. I was a different person.
She had been at her breaking point at that time. Never had she acted so rash, even though she had been deployed overseas for longer periods of time
. Foolish behavior.

It had been a night she wished she could forget for many reasons. She had received her weekly call from her sister, whose last two calls had been shorter than usual, and it had been obvious something was up. Katherine had hoped it was a boyfriend monopolizing all her sister’s time, but her hopes quickly shattered. “It’s not good. I really need you. Please find a way to come home.” One moment she knew who she was and where she was going; her life in the Marine Corp was as far as she could see into the future. In the blink of an eye, her world as she knew it crashed down around her. The words written on her reenlistment paperwork, sitting on her desk waiting for her final signature, became a blur. What she thought was going to be her life’s career, one she wasn’t going to ever let anyone come between, suddenly changed.
Everything changed.

When she returned home to care for her younger sister, there hadn’t been time for anything other than what she needed medically and emotionally. Katherine never understood why she had hidden her illness from her. To this day, the oncologist’s words echoed in her mind: “There’s nothing further we can do.”

Three months. Three awful months watching her sister’s health deteriorate so quickly that there hadn’t been enough time to face the reality of what was to come. After she had passed, Katherine was left all alone, numb and emotionally shut down. Unfortunately death was something she had experienced more than a person should over her years in the Marine Corp. It would be a lie if she said it hadn’t taken its toll on her. But losing her baby sister?
That
pain went deep to the core, and she still struggled with it daily.
I miss you so much, Sis.

Blossom was trained to sense Katherine’s change of mood. Getting off her doggie bed across the room, she came and laid her monstrous head on KJ’s lap.
Good girl.
Wrapping her arms around her bull mastiff’s huge neck and pulling her closer, the tears flowed. First for the loss of her sister, which felt like it was only yesterday, then for the feelings of not belonging, as she struggled to fit into her civilian lifestyle. Why were these feeling coming back to her now? For almost two years she had successfully suppressed them. It wasn’t a healthy choice, but it had been hers. She sobbed.
Why now?
Over the years she had cared for so many soldiers facing a loss of one form or another. She knew exactly what she needed to do:
face it head on.
That was much easier said than done. Somehow meeting Drew at the Wounded Soldiers fundraising event opened her emotions all over again. He’d made her laugh, smile. It had been a nice change.
Can’t feel the good without feeling the bad.
The words she herself had spoken many times to the injured as she encouraged them not to give up.
Always easier to give advice than take it.

Understanding the issue wasn’t helping any. It was like removing a Band-Aid: you know it’s going to hurt, and you have to take it off, but you tell yourself you’ll leave it on. Maybe it will fall off on its own in the shower tomorrow, and then it won’t hurt much—if at all. The more she got to know Drew, the worse this internal pain was going to get, and he, naturally, was clueless. How was she going to explain her emotional roller coaster? Should she tell him, give him some sort of heads-up?
Not unless you want him to run.
What was she going to say anyway?

“Hi, I’m KJ, and I have emotionally shut myself down so nothing can ever hurt me again.”
Not really prime first-date conversation.
No, this was something she was going to have to figure out for herself.
Alone.
God, she had learned to hate that word.
When will things go back to normal?
The truth was, what was once normal no longer existed. She would need to find a new path, a new direction in life, and through that, somehow find her new normal.
And maybe, just maybe, some happiness again.