The Billionaire's Secret (5 page)

Slowly, reluctantly, Lizette opened her eyes
to the sound of her cell phone ringing. It had only been a dream. A
sweet, wonderful dream, but a dream nonetheless.

The clock on her nightstand read 8:00 a.m.
Not answering you today,
she silently informed the phone.
It’s Saturday.

The ringing continued.
Who could be so
cruel as to call so early after the night I had?
Still, she
didn’t reach for the phone; it would eventually go to voice mail.
She would deal with it later. Much later. She rolled over and
pulled the sheets back up around her neck, fully intending to sleep
the morning away, and maybe continue the dream where it had left
off. Then the annoying sound started again.
Must be
important,
she thought, and then said out loud, “This had
better be important.” Grabbing the phone, she checked the caller
ID. She didn’t recognize the number. Fumbling with the buttons, she
answered, “Hello?”

An unfamiliar male voice said, “Good
morning. May I speak with Miss Lizette Burke?”

“This is Miss Burke,” she said with a yawn.
This better not be a political poll or sales call, because they
were going to get an earful if it was.

“Hello, Miss Burke, my name is Matt
Phillips. I am calling to schedule the Date of Your Dreams.”

“The date of my dreams?” she asked. “I think
you have the wrong number.” If she was still dreaming, then this
dream took a wrong turn and was fast approaching her worst
nightmare.

She was about to hang up when the man said,
“No, I have the correct number. Miss Burke, Mr. Vinchi asked me to
contact you this morning to schedule your dream date. Will you be
available today at noon?”

Had he said Mr. Vinchi? “Who are you again?”
she asked.

“My name is Matt Phillips. I am Mr. Jonathan
Vinchi’s personal assistant.”

Ah, of course, his personal
assistant
. “Mr. Phillips, do you know what time it is?”

“Yes, Miss Burke. I do apologize for calling
so early. However, Mr. Vinchi asked me to update you on the
scheduled plans for today.”

“Plans for today? What are you talking
about, Mr. Phillips? I have no plans with Mr. Vinchi today or any
other day, for that matter.”

He cleared his throat and continued, “I was
informed you were the winner of the raffle last night. I am calling
to finalize the arrangements regarding the Date of Your Dreams with
Mr. Vinchi.”

Lizette was fully awake now, trying to
process what she had just heard. Jon couldn’t even be bothered to
call her himself. Instead, he had had his personal assistant call
her. And she bet Jon apparently was too busy to be bothered to make
the arrangements for this so-called Date of Your Dreams himself.
That was probably all being planned by his personal assistant too.
None of this surprised her. She actually would have been shocked if
he had made any effort. The almighty important Mr. Vinchi was going
to find out her time was valuable too, and she had no intention of
spending a minute, never mind the day, with him. “Mr. Phillips,
please inform Mr. Vinchi I do not wish to claim my prize. They can
draw another name.”

“Sorry, Miss Burke, but that’s impossible to
do at this time. The event is over and your name was drawn as the
winner.”

“Fine. Please explain to Mr. Vinchi he can
consider himself off the hook.”

“All the arrangements have been made. If you
can be packed and ready by noon, I will send a car to pick you up.
I promise you will love the place I have chosen.”

“That you have chosen?” Yep, she’d called
it!

“Yes, Mr. Vinchi asked me to take the
liberty to arrange the activities for the day.”

“Really? Mr. Vinchi could not even be
bothered to call me himself to ask me what I wanted to do?”

“Mr. Vinchi is unavailable this morning,
however, he has rearranged his schedule so as to meet with you this
afternoon.”

Oh, yes, too busy to make a five-minute
phone call himself. And little ol’ me, sitting by the phone, just
waiting for someone to save me from my boredom. Yeah, right!
“You are assuming
I’m
free at that time. Has Mr. Vinchi
considered I may already have plans for today?”

After a brief pause, Matt said, “I am sorry,
Miss Burke, if today is not convenient for you, I can see if Mr.
Vinchi can reschedule for tomorrow.”

No, not today, not tomorrow, not
ever!
she wanted to scream. She did not want anything to do
with him and definitely did not want to spend a dream date with
him. He’d lied to her last night, letting her ramble on about what
she does, pretending to listen, pretending to care. Oh, God, she’d
even asked him to speak to
his
boss for a donation. He could
have cleared up the misunderstanding at that time, but no, instead
he’d chosen to continue with the lie. Well, he may have gotten the
last laugh last night, but today almighty Mr. Powerful wasn’t going
to play her.

And yet, she realized if she didn’t meet him
today, he would continue to bother her until his obligation had
been fulfilled. Lizette didn’t have the time or the desire to spend
the day with Jon, but if she had to, it was going to be on her
terms, not Jon’s, and most certainly not some corporate personal
assistant’s.

In a much more professional tone she said,
“Mr. Phillips, you will need to cancel the plans you have made. If
Mr. Vinchi wishes to move forward and fulfill the obligations of
being the date of my dreams, he may accompany me to the event I am
scheduled to attend today. Please ask him to be here at eleven
o’clock this morning, as we need to be there by eleven thirty. Let
Mr. Vinchi know this is the only convenient time for me.” She
smiled to herself.

“Miss Burke, I will update Mr. Vinchi on
your request. Please enjoy your day.” Matt rattled off a phone
number in case she needed to reach him anytime in the future. She
jotted it down while thinking,
Why would I ever need to
call?

She hated surprises or last-minute changes.
Both of which seemed to be following her for the past twenty-four
hours. She made schedules and lived by them. Lizette believed those
who didn’t plan were those who lost everything. She had seen it
happen to many people and wasn’t going to let it happen to her.
There had been no way out of last night’s change of plans—they had
been made for business reasons. But nothing was going to make her
change her plans for today. If Jon was adamant about fulfilling his
obligation as a Date of Your Dreams, then it was going to be on her
terms.
Let’s see how he feels out of his element.
After
today, her life would go back to normal.

Her normal Saturday morning consisted of
staying in bed until ten while enjoying her morning cup of coffee,
reading the
Providence Journal
and watching the local news.
Usually it was a lovely, stress-free way to start the day. No
matter how hard she tried, stress-free was no longer in the cards
for her day.

Looking at the clock again, she saw it was
already nine
. Oh, my God!
She had told Mr. Phillips to have
Jon pick her up
here
at eleven. What had she been thinking?
She didn’t want him coming here, to her home. But it was too late
to call and change plans now.

Forcing herself to throw the covers off, she
let out a long sigh. No matter what lay ahead, she was going to
start this morning off with yoga, hoping its peaceful effects would
last throughout the day.

More than an hour later, she grabbed her
robe from behind the bedroom door and entered the bathroom. This
morning called for an extra-long hot shower to melt away any
lingering tension in her body.

As the hot water beat on her back, she
thought of the day ahead. Lizette looked forward to this every
month. Rain or shine, it never ceased to amaze her how many people
turned out for them. Okay, she had to admit, she did prefer the
warm sunny days over the rainy or, worse, snowy days, but they
never, ever canceled for weather. Yes, this was something she
looked forward to all month—well, that was before Jon was going to
be there. The only consolation was this was her type of event, not
his. She could not wait to see the look on his face when he saw
what she had planned for their dream date.

Out the shower, she went through her
wardrobe, looking for the right outfit. It not only had to be
appropriate for what she was going to be doing, but she wanted it
to make a statement too. From the bottom drawer of her dresser, she
grabbed the pair of Levi’s that fit her perfectly. All she needed
now was the right shirt. She pulled several T-shirts from another
drawer. Some were adorned with flowers, one with a kitten, another
with a puppy. None of these were right. They were all too nice and
said, “I’m a sweet girl, feel free to walk all over me.” Okay, so
she normally would wear these, but today she needed something bold,
something
not
her. Then she remembered getting a free
T-shirt with one of the romance books she had ordered online. At
the time, she couldn’t picture herself ever wearing it and had
planned on donating it to Goodwill. Digging through a box she had
set aside for donations, she found the tight pink T-shirt. Holding
it up she knew it was perfect. She slid it over her head, tucked it
in at the waist of her jeans, and turned to look at herself in the
mirror. It was definitely a snug fit. Probably should have been a
size bigger, but it made the right statement. “Yep, perfect,” she
said. Lizette could not help but laugh as she read the saying again
on the shirt: Real Men Know How to Get Down and Dirty. Today it
fits the situation perfectly and somehow she could not picture Jon
getting dirty. Yes, this T-shirt said it all.

She brushed her long straight hair and
twisted it into a French braid—a practical choice for today, but
still less conservative than the tight bun she wore each day at
work.

One last item to put on, then she was ready.
Digging in the bottom of her closet she grabbed a pair of beige
Timberland work boots with steel-tip toes—a wardrobe addition she’d
discovered was essential two years ago when she dropped a hammer on
her foot and badly bruised a toe.
Accidents happen, but
prevention is the key
.

All she had left to do was pack her supply
bag, which included a hammer, heavy work gloves, protective
goggles, bug spray, sunscreen, plenty of hand wipes, and a small
first-aid kit. Done.

The morning had flown by, but she was ready
now, with fifteen minutes to spare. “Excellent, I still have time
for coffee and the news.” Knowing her time was limited, she only
made one cup, since she had no intention of offering any to Jon.
She opened her front door, grabbed the local paper, and walked back
to her couch, coffee in hand. Leaning back she slowly flipped
through the paper. Page one: local taxes on the rise. Yes, no
surprise there. It seemed to be the topic every day, everywhere.
She continued to turn the pages until she came upon the wedding
announcements. Another one of her high school friends had found
happily ever after. Had it really been ten years since they had
last seen each other?
That would explain the lack of an
invite
. Next page was full of local and national sports,
neither of which interested her.

Taking another sip of her coffee she turned
to find her horoscope. “Leo: Your day will be filled with adventure
and surprise. Open your mind and heart. Today the stars are aligned
for love!”
Yeah, they are way off today.
Well, that only
left the entertainment page. She hated to admit it, but she always
enjoyed those cheesy gossip stories. Some star was always doing
something outrageous that you couldn’t help but read about. To her
horror, today’s main article was about the charity event she’d
attended last night in Boston. And whose picture was front and
center but Jonathan Vinchi’s. date of your Dreams with billionaire
jonathan vinchi. Thank God she hadn’t gone up to collect her prize
or her picture would have been in the paper too. Resisting the urge
to rip up the newspaper and throw it in the trash where it
belonged, she began to read the article.

“Three hundred thousand dollars were raised
to benefit the Fight Against Hunger at a party that was held at
Boston’s Venezia Restaurant Friday night. The highlight of the
evening appeared to be the extraordinary raffle prizes, which
included new cars and extravagant vacations. But the one that
seemed to bring the crowd to a roar was a Date of Your Dreams with
one of the most eligible bachelors, billionaire Jonathan Vinchi.
Without a doubt, Mr. Vinchi’s participation was a major draw to
make this charity event such a huge success. Unfortunately, the
winner of the raffle, local Miss Lizette Burke, seemed to have left
the event early and was unable to claim her prize in person. One
can only imagine the shock and excitement Miss Burke will feel when
she is informed of her luck.”

She was so absorbed by the article that she
did not hear the first knocks on her door. She only noticed when
the knocks grew into a frustrated pounding. It was obvious that
someone was losing his patience. There could only be one person who
would fit that bill. She debated letting him wait even longer, but
eventually she had to open the door.
Well, let’s get this over
with.
Folding the newspaper neatly, she laid it on the coffee
table. She walked to the kitchen and placed her now-empty coffee
cup in the sink, then went to answer the door.
Remember, this is
on your terms, your turf,
she reminded herself. The knocking
had continued even as she turned the knob and began to open the
door.

It took all her strength not to burst out
laughing when she saw Jon dressed in what she guessed to be a Ralph
Lauren suit, ready for another “Who’s Who” charity event.
Perfect!