The Scandalous Billionaires Collection (27 page)

Why did I ever agree to this?
He
thought. Searching his mind he came up blank.

"I'm truly sorry." Zachary said. What else
could he say. "I can understand if you're feeling upset."

The woman stood up, dazzling the entire
restaurant who had been riveted to the celebrity couple's
conversation. She picked up the jug of water in the middle of the
table and brandished it.

Zachary didn’t move. He knew what was to come
next--it wasn't the first time. Luckily it was a nice restaurant
and the staff could be trusted to deal with everything
tastefully.

Still the fuming socialite hesitated. Even
without the billions she knew he was impossibly sexy and might have
considered dating him even if he hadn't been so rich. He would
probably look even sexier with wet hair and Norwegian spring water
dripping from his chiseled, masculine features.

It would be very satisfying to soak that
arrogant face in public with a jug of water; but was it twenty six
billion dollars worth of satisfaction?

"Go ahead." He said without a trace of
emotion. "I deserve it."

She felt a tear come to her eye and choked it
back. How could he possibly forget her name?

"You still don't remember it, do you?" She
said.

Zachary closed his eyes in preparation but
the Laurent the Maitre d' was too fast and the jug was expertly
separated from the woman's hand before a single drop hit the
motionless Demovic brother.

Most of it sloshed across his date's designer
dress.

She let out a scream of rage like a dying
animal.

"Do you know how much this dress cost?" She
howled.

Zachary nodded to the Maitre d' whom he knew
well, indicating that all costs would be taken care of.

"There are other billionaires in this town
you self-absorbed overgrown…" she searched for an appropriate
word.

"Turd?" Zachary suggested.

"Gaah!" She wrenched herself free from the
Maitre D' and tottered, dripping towards the entrance, followed by
two fawning, apologetic waiters.

"I'll have the steak, rare." Zachary said to
the Maitre d'.

"Of course sir. Anything else?"

"That and the closest thing you have to a
beer."

"That will be the house red Monsieur Demovic,
from our vineyards in France."

"Whatever." Laurent nodded and turned to go
but Zachary called him back. "Just one more thing Laurent."

"Oui monsieur Demovic?"

"Well done on the water jug. Excellent
catch."

Laurent nodded his acknowledgement and
disappeared.

Zachary sat back in his chair and allowed his
thoughts to get return to where they belonged. Logging of all
things. Clearing the land for his new project.

His phone rang with a call from his brother
Jason. Ever since he had started dating his own shrink, Dr. Melissa
Price, his older brother had been like a schoolboy in love. It was
mildly sickening to watch, but at least he was back on track
business wise and that was what counted.

"Jesus, maybe I need a good shrink as well."
Zachary muttered as he picked up the phone.

"Tell Melissa I hope she's feeling better
soon." He said by way of greeting.

"What the hell are you talking about?" His
brother answered.

"You're not jumping her bones so that means
she must be sick which is why you are finally calling me."

"Ha. Ha. You are hilarious. Lucky you know
how to program computers because you suck as a comedian."

"Whatever. What do you need?"

"Just saying hello."

"And I repeat: what do you need?"

"Jesus Christ Zach."

"What is it?"

Jason sighed. It was true. He did need a
favor and it was related to Melissa. They had been together nearly
a year and the flush of early romance still hadn't worn off. He was
exhausted and exhilarated all the time. He would never have
believed it possible. The issues around his father's role in the
family business that had been plaguing him seemed so irrelevant
now, and all thanks to his beautiful new fiancée, even if he had
never fully explained them to her.

"Can you baby sit Suzy for the night?" He
said coming to the point. "Melissa and I have plans."

"Babysit? She's twenty-one years old, she can
take care of herself and why on earth would you consider calling me
for this?"

"Melissa worries about her and she's still
not fully recovered from her surgery. God damn it Zach, if anyone
should be able to sympathize with her it's you."

"This wasn't part of the deal Jason. Isn't
there some old war horse of a nurse who takes care of her? I can't
believe you're calling
me
about this."

"The
war horse
is young, attractive, a
really excellent nurse
and
a really, really good person. You
could learn a lot from her; manners mostly. However, she's also a
human being and occasionally needs some time off too, just like the
rest of us. Melissa would take care of it herself but she's…uh,
kind of tied up at the moment."

"In your penthouse?"

"No. Nothing like that, we just got a little
side-tracked."

"By sex."

"No. Not at all. Not completely anyway.

"Just mostly. I get it. When are you two
every going to settle down and become a boring couple just like
every other so that I don't have to be filling in for you all the
time?"

"Look, I'm really sorry. I know it's last
minute and it’s all my fault. Unless you can blame Melissa for
being so damned hot all the time."

"Don’t want to know."

"Of course, I know how jealous you are of
her."

"I'm not jealous. I pity you."

"Sure you do. Anyway, just so the record's
straight, I booked a safari for the two of us and the truth is that
I want Melissa to start taking a step back from her sister. She
needs to give her more space and this is the perfect opportunity,
but I had to compromise. She insists that someone be in the house
to keep an eye on her and it should be someone that she knows and
trusts, not just a Demovic corporation employee or a security
detail."

Zachary drummed his fingers nervously on the
white linen table cloth.

"Once again: why exactly are you calling me?
I hardly know kidney girl. What makes you think she wants to have
me lounging around in her living room?"

"Melissa insists. God knows I wouldn’t waste
my time calling you but there's no-one else she trusts with her
sister more than you. How Suzy is going to get through an evening
with you is another story."

"There's got to be someone else."

"Suzy's best friend Bella would do it but she
has to work and can’t get out of it Melissa says it has to be you
or we cancel the trip."

"Melissa is
your
boss Jay, not mine.
Call someone else."

A tense telephone standoff ensued. Battles of
wills between Demovic brothers had been known to go on for
years.

But Zach wasn't putting the phone down. It
was true he found it especially hard to say no to Melissa although
he could hardly put his finger on why.

"Suzy already knows you're coming." Jason
said.

"No way. Tell her I got side-tracked. I'm a
busy man."

"Please Zachary. Do it for me." Melissa's
voice came to the phone. Zachary hissed his frustration. He knew he
was beaten.

"Melissa…"

"Yes Zachary?"

"Isn't there anyone else?"

"I can't think of anyone better and I know
Suzy is important to you even if you don’t; spend a lot of time
with her." He hadn’t seen her since before the kidney transplant
procedure had been carried. out.

"Won't you please, please do this for me
Zach? Just this once? Please? For me?"

There was another standoff but the outcome
was clear this time.

"God damn it Melissa, you owe me one for
this. Making me babysit for the kidney kid is a big ask."

"But not the biggest you've ever said yes
to." Melissa's voice was soft, but thick with emotion. In the year
that had passed by she had gotten to understand the three gorgeous
Demovic brothers and their troubled relationship to their father
ever more profoundly. She knew he would do this and she knew it
would be good for him too. All three lived in the shadow of the
late Jason Demovic Snr.

"Screw you. Melissa, I'll do it this time,
this one time only but after that you get another babysitter for
the kidney kid. Do you understand?"

"Thank you so much Zachary, I knew you'd say
yes."

He hung up the phone and then looked down at
the perfectly cooked, juicy rare steak and fine house red that had
arrived in front of him.

"Check please." He said wearily to the Maitre
d', and then waved the dish away.

Suzy eased down onto the sofa and threw her head back
as though in ecstasy. She stayed in that position for a long time.
In fact she was feeling better than she had in years, maybe better
even than she had ever felt in her whole life. She had become so
used to the grinding routine of kidney dialysis that she had
forgotten what it felt like to feel fit and healthy. Now six months
after her surgery she was almost completely pain free and feeling
ready for anything.

One side effect of being well again that she
hadn't counted on however, was the violent and aggressive return of
her long suppressed libido. It was as though all the years of
dating and sexual experimentation that she had missed as a teenager
due to illness, were now fighting to get out all at once.

Sometimes the intensity of her new thoughts
and feelings even frightened her a little bit.

If only her big sister Melissa would stop
treating her like an invalided little girl then maybe she could
really go out and start to catch up on all the fun she had missed
during the dialysis years.

The doorbell went and she got up carefully
from the sofa, still not quite used to the freedom of being without
pain.

She was expecting Melissa and her boyfriend,
the indescribably gorgeous and charming Jason Demovic to spend the
evening with her. Although she loved both of them she would really
have preferred them to go and spend the evening together alone. She
really didn't need people to 'babysit' her anymore. In truth, she
also felt kind of uncomfortable when Jason was around. Even after
nearly a year he still flustered her and with all these new
hormones surging through her body she felt awkward and guilty when
he was in the vicinity. He was her sister's boyfriend after all,
and she owed the two of them so much already that she hated to
impose on them even further.

Not to mention that the pair couldn't keep
their hands off each other and
that
she really didn't need
to see tonight, or on any other night.

She opened the door trying to fake a
welcoming smile for the happy couple but her mouth gaped open when
she saw who was standing there. Even though she had only met
Jason's little brother Zachary a couple of times she had seen him
regularly on the Fame TV channel, usually being pestered by
Chauncey Tales and surrounded by beautiful women and ultra cool
looking friends. Since Melissa had begun occupying all of Jason's
spare time the paparazzi had begun to focus all of their unwanted
attention on him.

He seemed larger and definitely more
strikingly, jaw-droppingly handsome in real life than he did on the
small screen.

He also looked as surprised to see her as she
was to see him..

"Where's Jason?" She finally said.

"I'm Zach." he said, allowing one of those
famous, sexy Demovic brother smiles to play across his just
slightly parted lips. "I'm here to babysit but I can always leave
if you don't need me."

Suzy stared at him in awe.

"Or I can stay if you want me to?" He smiled
again and Suzy's heart fluttered wildly.

"Yes please." She said. "I mean, that sounds
way too uh… what I mean is please come in, just come on in, uh...
Zach."

He nodded his head knowingly as though she
had already consented to something deliciously forbidden, and then
stepped inside the front door.

He glanced around the untidy apartment.

"Suzy still goes for the student dorm look I
see." He had only visited her home once, shortly before her surgery
and had been mildly appalled at the disorder. "Where is Kidney Kid
anyway?"

"The Kidney Kid?" Suzy was at a loss.

"Sorry, I mean Suzy. Where is the little
fighter anyway? And who," he paused to look into her eyes, making
her knees go a little weak, "are you?"

"Me?"

"Are you the beautiful nurse I've been
hearing about?"

He delivered the line flawlessly; as though
it were the most casual thing in the world to compliment her looks
seconds after meeting her. Zach wasn't a people person by any
means, but he did know how to get what he wanted when it came to
women; he rarely put a foot wrong when he had one in his sites.

"Beautiful nurse?" Suzy repeated, still
confused and slightly shocked.

"Yes," he looked down his nose and raised an
arch eye-brow. "Are you sure you're a nurse? I'm pretty sure I
could get you an introduction to one of the modeling agencies in
Manhattan. With a cute little tush like yours I think you'd be in
high demand. You'd have to be very nice to me though."

He sounded entirely serious, just as though
he were making a business proposition.

"Cute little tush…" Suzy's jaw was on the
floor. He was referring to her ass but the use of the antiquated
word and the businesslike inflection were enough to throw her
off.

He cracked a smile every bit as sexy as one
of his big brother's. Somehow Jason was able to get away with these
remarks where other men flunked even with charming compliments. The
directness and absolute confidence followed by the play-with-me
movie-star smile was totally disarming. Zachary had it down to a
tee as well.