The Playboy Billionaire (The Romero Brothers, Book 3) (13 page)

Blue tossed and turned beneath the silky
sheets on her bed in the guest room at Romero Manor. How could she possible
sleep? Who could possibly sleep at a time like this?
First,
her job with Zack working under his direction for the documentary.
And
it had to be perfect, too. She still had a whole lot of filming and editing to
do. Then…there was that crazy accident.

Somebody
was
following her. It wasn’t her imagination, after all.

Her mind was tormented with a whirlwind of
confusing thoughts. Her heart pounded like a bass drum inside her chest. She
was breathing hard and fast. So hard it was almost painful to inhale and exhale.
After gazing up at the magnificent star ceiling art that twinkled in the darkness
of the room, the ceiling created the illusion of gazing up at the stars at
night on a clear night. It was
awe inspiring
. Under
normal circumstances she would be soothed.
But not now.

Blue had one thing on her mind. A crushing,
pressing thought.

Zack Romero.

Would she ever be able to break through his
barrier and get close enough to him—again? Tonight at dinner, she felt
ashamed for the arousal she felt seated across from him. The man was uber sexy
in every sense of the word. He was breathtakingly stunning. Why in God’s name
was her mind so obsessed over this hot man?

She wished she could wipe him out of her
mind. Right now she had to be thinking about doing a damn good job in putting
together what must be an award-winning documentary on the Romero Winery and
Estate for the National Wine Awards show. It was a prestigious industry award
and he
was selected to be featured
. She couldn’t
afford to screw that up. Then she had to find out who the hell was trying to
murder her.

How long could she keep under Zack Romero’s
protection? Really? Not forever. Then what would happen to her? What would
happen to Courtney? Who wanted to run her off the road? Was it her imagination?
Zack didn’t want to impart too much information on the matter. He told her the
police were on the case. He also mentioned he had some men on the case, too.
Whatever that meant.

Blue propped herself up on the bed and drew
in a deep breath.

“Right, that does it. I’m officially up.”
She glanced over at the digital display of the clock by her bedside. It read: 11:48
p.m.

She whipped off the sheets and got up out
of bed. In the room, there was a sixty-inch flat-screen TV mounted on the wall
and a remote control on the nightstand but she decided she couldn’t bring
herself to watch anything.

Blue was just…restless.

Zack Romero.

Why was he the only thing on her mind? She
wondered obsessively what he could be doing. Was he in the west wing nearest
her? Or was he in the east wing, or heck, the north or south wing. The mansion
was a massive maze. She paced in the room, debating if she should go outside in
the hallway or not.

“I need air.”

Blue slipped on her flip-flops and fixed
her hair in the mirror. She had worn her night t-shirt and matching pink pyjama
bottoms. To the casual onlooker her attire could easily pass for summer wear
but of course she purchased it in the nightwear department.

She quietly opened the door of her room and
peered out into the long, lonely corridor. It appeared the entire residence was
asleep. There wasn’t a sound to be heard, except for that of
her
own
breathing.

A chill slithered down her spine.

Why was she afraid? She was safe here. She
would be okay.
Everything would be okay
,
she kept consoling herself
. It had to be.

*
  
*
  
*

Zack was a tormented soul. He didn’t often
fight. But right now he was wrestling with his emotions as he swam in the night-time-only-illuminated
pool on the estate. With a vengeance he propelled his body through the water
powerfully, making waves and splashes. Swiftly, he’d
swam
another few laps with ease.

It was almost midnight. But hey, going for
a late night swim on a summer night wasn’t all that unusual.
Especially
on his estate.
Good thing they didn’t have neighbors for miles. He loved
the sensation of moving his body through the water. Currently, he had a lot of
pent up energy to burn off.

His mind was still swimming with effects of
tonight’s wine and dinner with their guest, Blue Monroe. What a gal. She was
hot. He’d seen beautiful women but she…was stunning. She had the type of
skin deep
beauty that elegantly shined. She wasn’t only
physically gorgeous but she had a heart of refined gold. And it was a good
thing while he was sitting across from her that she could not see the effect
she was having on him below his waistline during their meal. He just kept
looking at those precious full, ripe lips of hers. They looked juicy enough for
him to want to suck on. The memory of their sweet kiss made Zack hard like
steel again.

There he went again. He was supposed to be
in control of his libido for a full month. It had only been twenty-nine days.
Like hell that was going to be easy. Why was he so obsessed with this woman all
of a sudden? It was as if she’d bewitched him with her beautiful charm and
demeanor.

The truth was, he had taken a lot of cold
showers the past month. That was why he’d kept his distance from her and tried
to focus on work at the other site while handing over duties to his deputy
manager. He’d better stay the hell away from her until he could master his
feelings.
Instead of the other way around.
What else
was he to do?

One month without sex?
Without
a chance of seducing Blue?
Dios
Mio!
He had almost gone crazy out of his mind during that time.

His grandfather was right. He needed to
take control of his actions. But
face it
,
beautiful women were his weakness
. He was a breathing,
healthy man. How could that be so unusual? Yeah, but men often thought with the
wrong head. That’s what got him into trouble in the first place, wasn’t it?

Selina. Shit! He’d done some wicked and
wild things with her in Vegas. And yeah, she wanted to film everything. He
thought it was kinky as hell, but he loved the idea of capturing it all on video.
What an idiotic thing to do! Was it the thrill? The danger he lived for? His
old gramps was right, though. Stuff like that could only spell trouble. Now it
could ruin his business. He never once thought that she’d betray him or want to
expose herself like that. It was true he had met the wrong women in his life.
And now that he saw great potential in finding “the one,” she was unreachable.
Off limits! How pathetic was that? Still, the Selina sex tape drama was still
under surveillance. So far nothing had surfaced…yet!

Then Zack’s mind drifted further back to
the time when he was in high school. Before he’d met his wealthy grandfather. There
was a girl he liked in school, Michlene. She was hot—though nowhere near
Blue’s dazzling appeal. He liked Michlene a lot. Hey, he was young, from a
working class family and he liked to date. He had given his virginity to her. He
thought she liked him. But then when things got rough with his old man and they
ended up losing their home, it all went downhill from there. When the bailiff
changed the lock on the door, they’d lost everything, including the clothes for
school the next day. It was a disaster. But Zack still looked forward to making
his way to class. He walked what seemed like a mile to get there but he just
had to have a good friend. But word got out and she turned her back on him. Not
only that, she’d taken someone else to the prom. “Mom says it’s better that we
don’t see each other anymore,” she had squirmed when she told him, outside his
locker one day.

“Why?” he said, hurt in his voice.

“Well, we’re not really compatible.”

“Oh, I get it.
Because my
dad’s broke?
We’re no longer compatible.” It was one of the first times
he remembered crying. Hey, he was a teen. The other kids were not exactly kind
about it either. But after that heartbreak, Zack vowed never again was he going
to get hung up over any girl. And he also vowed that he would have everything
he needed.

Now, funny thing, women wanted to date him
for what he had. They practically threw themselves at him. It wasn’t just after
they’d had the fortune of meeting their grandfather, but he’d busted his butt
and worked hard in the family business and discovered a way to turn the unused
land at the manor into a successful vineyard. His grandfather never handed them
anything on a platter. He told them that earning things in life instead of
being handed everything made people more appreciative.

Zack pushed himself from the side of the
pool and dipped back into the water, his heart racing as he swam another lap.
His mind drifted back on his meeting earlier with the family’s press secretary,
Pamela. “If you go further with the National Wine Awards, and this tape
surfaces,” Pamela advised earlier, “it could spell disaster. You would go down
as a National Award Winner with a sex tape scandal.”

He remembered he had winced at the thought.
“On the other hand,” Pamela had continued, “if you back out now and keep a low
profile and the tape surfaces, no one would be interested. You’d be just
another businessman with a tape that is public. And they would see it as a
violation of privacy from a private individual.”

“Yeah, but there isn’t much privacy being a
Romero, now, is there?” Zack fired back, annoyed. Not that he was world famous
or anything. He was known around town. But the National Wine Awards was an
internationally recognized,
world renowned
organization.
The Oscars of the Wine Industry.

He saw her point. “No way in hell, am I
going to back out and lay low because of fear of what might happen. We Romeros
rule our fear, not the other way around.”

“I got it,” she replied to him. “I’m proud
of you, Zack. For not cowering and turning tail. It was only a suggestion. But
I’m glad you decided to stay in the game.”

Zack could feel the coolness of the water
bathing his skin, heat shot through his muscles as he worked his body in the
water. It was as if he was competing. He had a whole lot of time to think.

Then his gut clenched at the thought of
some creep trying to snuff out Blue. If he ever caught who was trying to do
that…

Zack shifted his focus. He had to focus.
What
was
he going to do about Blue and his feelings
for her?
 
 
 

He had the documentary to finish and to
ensure that Blue had full access to all the winery's facilities for the
production and enough background information in their library. But he still
hadn’t sat down with her for a heart-to-heart profile to be filmed. A personal
question and answer period where she would get to ask him everything about his
life growing up and about what it meant to run one of the country’s most elite
family-owned wineries and vineyards.

When he was done with forty laps in the
pool, Zack climbed out at the side and grabbed his towel to dry his face.

He paused when he saw the silhouette of a
woman in the moonlit darkness wandering in the near distance.
A curvaceous woman.
Her wavy dark pair pinned up in a loose
ponytail. She was petite in height.
That walk
. He
could recognize the distinctive sway of each woman he’d ever met. He had that
recognition gift.

Blue?

What
in God’s name was she doing up at this hour?

Blue didn’t know what got into her that
night but she felt compelled to seek out the fresh summer night’s air and inhale
the aroma of the vinery that lingered in the atmosphere. She looked up at the
dark night and captured the splendor of the tiny dots of white stars glowing
against the backdrop of the sky. It was weird but she felt comforted being outside,
under the canopy of the heavens. She was glad that she—and her sister,
got a chance to get away from the city and stay in Mayberry Hill where she
could finish her film project.

Just as Blue walked out
to the pool area, her heart jumped.

Zack.

Zack had been swimming; he was sitting at
the side of the pool, dripping wet. A towel slung over his shoulder.
Oh, my.

She hadn’t really seen him semi-naked
before—not in person, anyway. But he saw her. He got up and walked over to
her.

The saltwater pool was
illuminated by glowing nightlights
, so Blue could
see the crisp blueness of the water against the darkness of the night. Trees stood
as sentinels around the patio. It looked more like a holiday resort than a
private home pool. She loved the night illumination of pools. There was
something calming, soothing,
romantic
about it. The
Romeros lived very well!