The Billionaire's Assistant E-Book

Michelle Love

• Herausgeber: Michelle Love
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Max Lane is about to turn thirty and to settle down is in the forefront of his mind.
His taste in women doesn’t make his choices in finding a wife and future mother of his children easy.
Wealthy, gorgeous women with long legs and luscious bodies are great until you have to deal with
their entitled attitudes which is something the young billionaire neither has nor finds attractive.
Alexis Mathews is a freelance accountant who comes into Max’s life just as he’s ready to make some changes to it.
Initially, he takes her on as a project, but soon realizes he’d like to keep her for himself.
Alexis’ long time insecurities make it hard for her to believe she’s the right girl for a man of Max’s wealth.”

Keywords: Guaranteed HEA, no cliffhangers, happily ever after. billionaire, bad boy, office romance, steamy romance, contemporary romance, love books, love stories, new adult, alpha male, romance, action, adventure, steamy romance, small-town secrets, hot, alpha hero. free book, free novels, romantic novels, and sexually romantic books.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

THE BILLIONAIRE'S ASSISTANT

Copyright

DO YOU LIKE FREE ROMANCE BOOKS?

Blurb

Secrets of Desire

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Secrets of Attraction

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Secrets of Ecstasy

Alexis

Logan

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Secrets of Love

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Secrets of Temptation

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Secrets of Seduction

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Secrets of Romance

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Secrets of Passion

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Secrets of Bliss

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Secrets of Delight

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Secrets of Luxury

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Secrets of Content

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Alexis

Max

Alexis

Sneak Peek: Star Struck

Kip

Peyton

Kip

Peyton

Kip

THE BILLIONAIRE'S ASSISTANT

A Billionaire Romance Series

By Michelle Love

©Copyright 2024 by Michelle Love - All rights Reserved

In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights are reserved.

Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

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Blurb

Max Lane is about to turn thirty and to settle down is in the forefront of his mind.

His taste in women doesn’t make his choices in finding a wife and future mother of his children easy.

Wealthy, gorgeous women with long legs and luscious bodies are great until you have to deal with their entitled attitudes, which is something the young billionaire neither has nor finds attractive.

Alexis Mathews is a freelance accountant who comes into Max’s life just as he’s ready to make some changes to it.

Initially, he takes her on as a project but soon realizes he’d like to keep her for himself.

Alexis’ long time insecurities make it hard for her to believe she’s the right girl for a man of Max’s wealth.

Secrets of Desire

Max

The darkness is interrupted by a light as I sit in a dimly lit room waiting for the always-late Lauren. She’s my latest attempt to find a woman that I can get along with for the rest of my life. It’s going on a month since we started dating so I’m about to test the matrimonial waters with her this evening. I want to see if she has the same ideas I have for the future. I’m turning thirty in a few days and decided it’s time to move out of the fast lane and slow things down a bit.

Abandoned when I was ten years old by my drug-addicted mother, I grew up in a children’s home in the middle of nowhere, South Texas. Divorce is not an option for me. Nothing will tear my family apart once I marry and start a family, which I’d like to do right away. So, my choice for a wife has to be someone I can stand, at the very least.

My cell phone lit up, meaning I had a text message. It’s from the freelance accountant I contacted, and he’s agreed to work on some accounting issues for me. My least favorite time of the year is coming up: tax season, and I need all the help I can get to hold onto as much of my fortune as I can.

A pair of long, sexy legs topped by a short, red skirt stride into the room. I scan them and move up over a lithe body until her face comes into focus.

I wonder what she really looks like.

“You appear good enough to eat, Lauren.”

She laughs, and the sound makes my face pinch. It is loud and slightly off-key. “Don’t I know it, Max?” she says with a southern drawl. Where are you taking me this evening?”

I hold my arm out and she takes it. “My chef, Hilda, is making us one of her specialties for dinner. I imagined it might be nice to stay in tonight.”

The sound of a heavy sigh meets my ears and I notice her red stained, collagen injected lips form a pout. “And what will we do after we eat this stuff your maid is making, Mr. Billionaire?”

“I thought we could eat by the fireplace in the small dining room. Afterwards, we can cuddle on the couch and watch a movie. I’ll even make you popcorn if you’d like me to. And by the way, Hilda is not the maid. If she ever heard you call her that she might have to kick your ass, I’d have to intervene and most likely get mine kicked too.”

I pull the door open and lead her out to my Jaguar where she folds her long legs into the passenger side as she says, “That sounds dull and I don’t do dull, Max.”

After taking a gander at those long, tight, tanned legs, I begin to salivate. My weakness is long legs, and it overrules my brain way too many times. I close the door and walk around to the driver’s side. “So what would you like to do?”

She looks into the mirror and applies more red lipstick. “I want to go to a nice club and be drunk by nine o’clock.”

My hands grip the wheel so I won’t grab her and choke some personality into her. “Oh, same as last night and the night before that.”

Her head swivels around, perfectly manicured eyebrows raise, creating wrinkles on her forehead.

“Oh my God, Max!” She goes on as her hands fly around in front of her. “So because you want to be a party pooper, I’m supposed to sit around your big ol’ mansion and piss the night away too?” Pausing to stare back in the mirror, she grabs some mascara and applies even more to her already thick-as-shit eyelashes. “Well, just drop me off then. I can find another ride home.”

As great an idea as that is, I’m too much of a damned gentleman to do that to any woman.

“No, Lauren, I was just kidding. I want to go to the club too.” I lie.

Suddenly, she wears a sweet smile and bats those monster lashes at me.

“Oh! You’re silly.”

No, I’m an idiot!

As I drive along I decide to try out a little of what I had planned to talk to her about if she’d let me take her to my place.

“When do you think you’ll be ready to have kids, Lauren?”

Whoa! Shit! Everything on her face just raised into something that looked like the preceding of a shit storm. Can I take my words back, please?

With a thin finger wagging in my face, she screeches, “Oh no, you don’t, Mr. Moneybags! Even you won’t be talking me into messing up this body. So that’s why you wanted to take me to your place. Hear this loud and clear, Max. I don’t want to have your children, nor anyone else’s. Kids add years to a woman’s body and face.”

“I see.”

Her finger trails down my cheek.

“Though you and I would make some beautiful children, sweetheart. I can’t do that to myself. Sorry to let you down, lover.”

I smile at her and give her a wink. I don’t feel let down at all. It is relief I’m experiencing the truth. She’s not the one for me. As I glance over at her, I find that her skirt has slid up and her upper thigh is showing. She’s good for a good time at least. Softly I run my hand over her exposed skin, only to have her slap it away.

“No! None of that.”

“Now, who’s the party pooper?” I ask.

Alexis

My head is beginning to ache as I stare at this demon of a spreadsheet. Something isn’t right, and I can’t figure it out. I grab my cell and text the old guy I’m doing this freelance work for.

And it’s time for more coffee.

As I walk across the room, I catch my reflection in the sliding glass doors. My bun has come loose and I can’t have that. I pull my hair down and mentally note that I need to go get it cut; it’s just too long. I pull it into a tight bun and notice a slight wrinkle in my khaki-colored Dickies. Smoothing it out, I take the time to make sure my starched, white button down is looking snappy too, and push my glasses further up on my nose.

My dad always told me to dress for the job I want. To rid the world of financial mistakes is my goal, a lot like a superhero. All I need is a khaki cape with a big, white letter, ‘A’ on it and I can get to work on saving the planet, one spreadsheet at a time.

My cell dings, and the old dude has responded. He wants to have lunch and show me what he needs done.

I’m not a real social butterfly, hence the work-at-home gig. But he’s paying me an excessive amount of money. At least he knows he has hired an accountant who looks the part. It should give him confidence in my abilities, I think, and perhaps he’ll decide to keep me on long-term.

The restaurant isn’t too far from my apartment so I hop on my bike and pedal on over. I have a car, but I prefer not to pollute the air as often as I can. Okay, I’m not really all that into saving the planet. My car is a POS.

I chain my bike up in front of the restaurant, then smooth out my clothes again and notice a scuff on my penny loafer and bend down to wipe if off. My glasses fall off and a piece of broken cement puts a long scratch across one of the lenses. I can see enough to get by. If I’m close enough, I can see everything.

Into the restaurant I go, tapping on the pouch I placed around my waist to carry my small laptop in. It’s all the rage in Paris, I’m told. A long mirror is in the entryway, and I take a quick glance to be sure that I look good.

Perfect! Just like any accountant in any fine office building, complete with a pocket pencil organizer. This man is sure to be impressed.

A waiter comes towards me. “May I help you?” he asks.

“I’m here to meet Mr. Lane.”

The man looks me up and down as he says, “Do you know his first name? Because Mr. Lane I’m thinking of, well, it’s most likely not him.”

“Yes, of course. It’s Max,” I say, and the man’s eyebrows move to the very tippy top of his balding head.

“Oh! Please follow me.”

I follow him and peer around, trying my best to focus on the surrounding fanciness. I pull my glasses out of my pocket and close one eye to look through the one good side.

Stud alert, front and center!

What a man! Broad shoulders and a suit that probably cost him a cool thousand or more. Dark waves of luscious hair that falls to his shoulders. Eyes the color of emeralds, oh be still my heart.

I put the glasses back in my pocket protector and follow the waiter dude. Fantasy man is making my panties wet, I need to find the old guy and get back into reality.

The waiter stops and pulls out a chair for me. I smile and plop down as poised as possible.

I blink to try to get my stupid broken eyes to focus. An arm with black sleeves reaches across the table and I shake a hand. It’s a firm hand; it doesn’t feel all wrinkly like I expected it to. “Hello, Miss Mathews. I’m sorry, you surprised me, I thought you were going to be a man. Your first name is Alex.”

That voice is much too deep and sexy to belong to an old man. “It’s actually Alexis, but everyone calls me Alex. I broke my glasses a minute ago. Do you mind if I sit a little closer to you so I can see you?” I ask.

“Let me come to you, don’t move.” I watch him as he gets up and notice that he’s tall.

He sits down and scoots his chair close to mine, and slowly, he comes into focus.

Oh God! It’s the gorgeous man who made my panties wet!

“Mr. Lane?” I ask.

He nods and smiles. “Can you see me now?”

I nod back and am sure my face is making some awful half-smile, half-frown thing I’ve been told I do on occasions when I feel awkward, which is often. “How nice to meet you,” I say as I extend my hand to shake his, but pull it back as I realize we already did that. My elbow knocks the plate sitting on the table in front of me and makes a loud clanking sound. My cheeks are most likely red, and I may be sprouting beads of sweat on my forehead.

Mr. Lane laughs and places his hand on my shoulder. “No need to be nervous with me, Alex, I assure you.”

His cell rings, and he looks at it. He’s so close I can see it, too, and a picture of a gorgeous blonde woman fills the large screen. A slide of his finger sends the call to voicemail and I say, “You can take the call. I don’t mind.”

“I never take calls when I’m with someone. It’s rude, don’t you think?” he asks as he looks right into my eyes with those gorgeous green ones he has.

“She’s kinda, completely gorgeous. I’d hate for her to get mad at you.”

His laugh is deep, and it rattles my chest he’s so close to me. “She kinda stays mad at me regardless, so no big deal. As far as gorgeous, I have no idea what she really looks like. She’s had so much work done to her whole body that there’s no way to tell.”

The idea anyone does that much to themselves is crazy to me. “Wow,” I say.

He nods in agreement. “So, what’s up with the spreadsheet, Alex?”

I lean back to unzip the pouch to remove my laptop and see the gorgeous man smiling like he’s amused, so I say, “Um, I know it sometimes is considered odd, but I heard these things are really popular in other countries.”

He shakes his head and laughs, then finishes unzipping the pouch and reaches in to pull out my laptop. “I’m sure they are, and I apologize if you thought I was finding humor in your, um, fanny pack, I think it’s called.”

His hand touches my stomach as he gets the laptop out, and I nearly fall apart as it sends shock waves through my entire body. He isn’t even trying to be sexy, yet he can’t help it, I guess. “Thanks for helping me out there,” I say as I grab the linen napkin to my side and use it to wipe my now definitely perspiring forehead.

He places the computer on the table and leans towards me, his lips near my ear. Hot breath burns my ear as he says, “Alex, are you always this nervous?”

Honesty resides in my head and I just say it, “You’re gorgeous, sir.”

“Sir?” he asks as he sits back in his chair and thank the Lord his good looks blur in my messed up eyes. “How old are you?”

“Not that is matters, but I’m twenty-five, sir,” I say as I straighten my shirt and find my pocket protector fascinating.

“Don’t call me sir, you can call me Max. You got a significant other, Alex?” he asks and leans back in.

I shake my head and find him smiling at me. “Do you?”

He shakes his head, and the smile fades. “Tell me, Alex, what do you do for fun?”

I thought this was a business lunch, but it seems to have gone awry. “Fun?”

“Yes, fun,” he says then turns away from me. “You say it like it’s a four letter word.”

“I read a lot,” I say, inciting a chuckle from him.

The menu in his hand tells me he’s ready to order and get this lunch over with. He says, “Tell me what you normally eat for lunch.”

Before my brain can stop my mouth, I answer, “PB and J’s, mostly.”

The slightest turn of his head shows me small wrinkles have formed on his forehead, and he says, “We used to eat those all the time for lunch when I was a kid, growing up in the children’s home.”

“You grew up in a children’s home?” I ask with surprise. “Did your parents die or something?”

“Or something,” he answers. He turns his whole body to me and leans in. “How about we get out of this stuffy restaurant and go back to my place and I’ll have my chef make us up a batch of PB and J’s with a couple glasses of milk?”

I find myself scratching at my neck as the starched collar rubs my skin, making it itch. “Ummm, I, don’t, umm,” I mumble and stumble with what to say.

He frowns. “Forget about it, you don’t want to go. We’ll eat here. You want a steak?”

Now I feel bad. The guy lost his parents and grew up in a home and just wants to eat a dang ol’ sandwich and I’m being dumb so I say, “No, I want to go. But I’m on my bike and would have to go home and get my car, which might not make it to where you live. Where is that by the way?”

“What’s wrong with your car?” he asks.

I laugh. “What’s right with it is a shorter list than what’s wrong.”

He smiles, and my heart beats a little faster.

“I’ll take you in my car. I’m sure your bike will be safe here.”

I shrug my shoulders and say, “Okay, then, let’s go get our peanut butter on. I hope you have grape jelly.”

He stands and takes my hand, and I get up. My arm is quickly interlocked with his as he whispers, “Hang on to me so you don’t trip on anything since you don’t have your glasses.”

“Thanks,” I say, and find I have the weirdest sensation in my stomach.

Max

As we ride out to my place, the utterly clueless Alex, keeps me laughing. She’s the most interesting creature I’ve ever met. Tall, with perfect skin, and exceptionally shiny blonde hair, with eyes like blue diamonds that sparkle when she smiles, which is often, but she has no fashion sense at all.

“That was some smancy restaurant,” she says as she looks out the window. “Do you eat there a lot?”

I find myself laughing. “Smancy? Is that a word?”

Her eyes dart to mine, and she blushes. “I’m stupid,” she says. “Don’t listen to me; I use a lot of dumb words.”

“No, they’re funny,” I say. “And the answer is yes, I do eat there often. So you find reading fun?”

She nods and looks around at the interior of my Jaguar. “This car is really snazzy.”

I fight the urge to laugh at her crazy words again. “I bet you’d find flying with me in my helicopter more fun than reading.”

Her eyebrows, which are badly in need of a good plucking, raise, and she says, “You have a helicopter?”

“Yeah, I got one last year. I devised a seat which extends out of the body of the helicopter while keeping the occupant completely safe with a restraint system I designed. That’s how I made my money. The military bought a bunch of them and now it seems that anyone with a chopper wants one.”

Confusion fills her face. “So you hang out of the helicopter while it’s flying… and just why would someone do that?”

“To shoot at things,” I say and pull up to the entry gate of my place.

Alex looks at the large gate and nibbles at her bottom lip. “That’s a big gate, dude.”

“Yeah, it’s here to protect the even bigger house you’ll see in a second,” I say and press the button to open it.

“This is a lot to keep clean,” she says as we pull up to the mansion.

Okay, that’s not a thing I’ve ever been told before. “Do you like it?” I ask.

She turns to me and smiles. “It’s a blur to me, Max.”

As I park the car and get out, I go to open her door, but she’s beat me to it and waits for me outside the car. I take her hand and lead her into the house. “Follow me, Alex, I need to find Hilda and get her to make us lunch. We can talk about the spreadsheet while she does that.” As I pull her along behind me I feel giddy for some unknown reason.

I find Hilda in the kitchen chopping vegetables. She looks up at me, and her face breaks into a huge smile. “Mijo, who is this?”

I pull Alex up to stand next to me. “Hilda, this is Alex. Do you suppose you could make us both some peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches and some glasses of milk and bring them to the pool?”

“Peanut butter, Mijo?” Hilda asks with furrowed brows. “I have a couple of lobsters I can get them ready in a few minutes. Let me make you that.”

“I’d really like what I asked for, Hilda. I used to eat one for lunch almost every day when I was a kid.”

Hilda gestures towards Alex with the long knife she holds.

“Are you an old friend of his from the children’s home?”

“I’m not his friend. I work for him.”

Hilda’s eyes move down to our clasped hands. She wags the knife at them.

“You hold your employee’s hands now?” she asks with a concerned look.

I laugh and hold our hands up.

“She broke her glasses just before our meeting and I didn’t want her to trip, so I grabbed her hand.”

Hilda frowns and goes back to chopping.

“I’ll get the food ready and get James to serve it to you by the pool within a few minutes, Mijo.”

As I lead Alex outside, I find myself bursting with energy. It’s unexplainable to me. Am I so excited to start figuring out the problems on the damn spreadsheet? “Here we are, my smancy swimming pool, complete with a waterfall. Wish you could see it.”

“You stole my word,” she says as I help her sit at the table.

I pull up a chair close to her so she can see me.

“I prefer to say I’m borrowing it, if you don’t mind.”

She smiles, and her eyes twinkle.

“It’s okay, you can borrow it. I like the way it sounds coming out of your lips.”

My lips? She’s thinking about my lips just as I was thinking about her perfect smile and how her lips are perfectly proportioned all on their own with no collagen!

“We should take a dip in the pool after we have our lunch,” I say, and I can’t believe I just asked her to do that.

Her eyes grow wide, and she begins to stammer, “I, uh, I don’t have, um, a…”

I hold up my hand, stopping the stammering that she seems to be so good at. “There are lots of bathing suits to choose from in the pool house. No worries, come on, it’ll be fun.”

She squints at the pool. “Is there a diving board?”

“Naw, I didn’t want one. I like to jump off the boulders I had brought in.”

Her eyes light up, and she smiles again. “When I was a kid, we’d go to this river every summer. There was a giant rock we’d jump off of. I loved it.”

“So your answer is yes?”

“No. This is embarrassing to admit, but I haven’t shaved in a while.”

Though I don’t really want to know, I ask out of morbid curiosity, “How long has it been?”

Her narrow shoulders shrug. “Don’t remember. So you see, it’d be better if I didn’t.”

“The bathroom in the pool house is stocked with everything. You can de-fur yourself before if you’d like.”

Her hand flies up and slaps my arm. “It’s not that bad you need to use the term ‘de-fur’ for the love of Pete.”

“So that’s a yes then?”

“I’d like to jump off that rock.” She squints out at it. “So yeah, it does sound fun.”

“Alex, do you have another pair of glasses or contacts, maybe?”

“I have some contacts, but they’re at home.”

“How about I take you to get them after lunch? While in town, I’ll pick up some beer, and I’ll get Hilda to make us a pizza later, and you can hang out for the evening. I’ll take you back home tonight.”

“You don’t have to spend the whole day with me, Max.” She leans back. “I mean, you have to have better things to do.”

“I’d like to be honest with you, Alex. You’re fun and easy to get along with and I’m really enjoying your company. It’s not often I find someone who’s so easy to be around.”

She makes this half-smile, half-frown thing with her face, and I find it adorable. “That’s nice to hear. To be honest with you, I’ve never been told that before. So the answer is yeah, I’ll hang out with you this evening, Max; it sounds like a lot of fun.”

Alexis

A bright red convertible sits in the drive of Max’s house. He took me to get my contacts, and we picked up some beer and apparently he considers me funny and fun to be around.

With my contacts in, I can see the mansion, and it’s awesome.

“Now that everything’s not a big blur, may I say this place is beautiful?”

“Thanks. I like it.” He looks agitated as he parks and looks at me. “That girl who called me earlier when we were in the restaurant is here. That’s her car. She’s quite the bitch so don’t get offended by anything that comes out of her fake mouth. I’ll get rid of her as soon as I can. I’m going to tell her we have to get to work right away, so don’t mention swimming, okay?”

“So she’s your girlfriend then?”

He shakes his head. “No, but she isn’t aware of that yet. She doesn’t want the same things I do. I’m going to break it off with her, but I just decided that last night. Today’s not the day to do it; I’ll most likely do it tomorrow.”

“K,” I say and hop out of the car.

Max walks around the car and grabs my hand, pulling me along with him. As we enter the house, a shrill noise hurts my ears. “Where’s my Maxi baby?”

Max rolls his eyes and whispers, “I’m so sorry for what’s about to happen.”

A tall, thinner than necessary creature comes into view as we enter the large living area. From far away, she’s gorgeous, but as we get closer, I can see the obvious fake breasts, lips, and cheek implants.

Max lets my hand go and moves forward as she throws out one of her tentacle-like arms and wraps it around him in the most awkward hug I’ve ever seen. Her bony finger extends out at me as she asks, “Who are you?”

I give her a smile and find myself happy to know Max is dumping her. He can do so much better. “Hi,” I say, extending my hand to shake hers. “I’m Alex, I work for Max.”

She looks at me like I’ve thrown dog feces at her, so I drop my hand to my side as it’s obvious she’ll not be shaking it. The disgust for me infiltrates her voice as she says, “Okay, and what are you?”

Max takes her by her very bony shoulders and looks her in the eye. “No, Lauren. I can’t allow you to talk to her like that.”

The woman’s eyes fall on me again. “It’s a girl?”

I roll my eyes instead of saying some snappy comeback. Max takes care of her, though. “She and I need to get to work. It may take us all night to figure out what the mistake is in this spreadsheet.”

One side of her lips move up as she says from the corner of her mouth, “A math nerd, I knew it. Does it have a girlfriend?”

My eyebrows raise, and I smile at her. “I’m not a lesbian, but thanks for assuming that, I’m flattered.”

Her attention turns back to Max as she strokes his cheek with a long, red fingernail. “I’ll stop by after the club tonight and slip into your bed, lover.”

“Not tonight, Lauren. I have to work. I just told you that.”

Somehow she makes her bottom lip jut out more than it already does, which seems impossible. “Boo, hiss, darlin’ what shall I ever do with myself?”

Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he begins walking her to the door. “Tomorrow I’ll pick you up for lunch so we can talk, okay?”

Not watching them as the sight of him touching her makes my skin crawl, I hear her say, “That sounds like fun.”

He walks her out and I find myself smiling evilly as I’m pretty sure the lunch won’t be fun at all. I wonder if she’ll shed actual tears or manufactured ones when he tells her it’s over.

The sound of him running up behind me makes me turn around, and he grabs my hand, making me run along with him out to the pool. “I’m sorry you had to deal with her,” he says over his shoulder as he pulls me along. “She’s a horrible person. Why did I ever entertain the thought she might be the right girl for me? Hell, she’s not even pretty, long legs or not.”

I giggle at his rambling as he pulls up short in front of an ornate wooden door near the pool. He opens the door and gestures for me to go in before him. “Marble floors?” I ask as I admire the gorgeous floor.

“Of course,” he says, then points to a door off the large room which has a pool table in the middle of it. “Go in there and shave what you need to, then find yourself a bathing suit in one of the drawers. There’s all sizes.” He looks at me. “No big ones though. I only have up to a size three I think.”

My shoulders slump. “Man! I’m a size five.”

A short burst of laughter comes out of his mouth. “You may be wearing a size five, but I assure you, you’re not that size. Those clothes you have on are swallowing you. Put on a three and see if all your stuff doesn’t fit in it just fine.”

“My stuff?”

He pats my butt and pushes me towards the door. “You know what I mean, scoot.”

I rummage through the drawers, and all he has in them are bikinis. I never wear them because my body is so abnormally long and drawn out. My legs are long, my arms are long, and even my torso is long. I’m built like a scarecrow. But he’s so excited, almost like a little kid, so I shave and moisturize, and place my boobs in a tiny top and my butt in skimpy bottoms and check to make sure that I had got rid of all the hair I needed to. I’m horrified by what I observe in the mirror, so I grab a towel and wrap it around me.

As I walk out, I find him changed out of his suit and into a pair of board shorts and lounging in the sun already.

“Hey!” I call out as I make my way to him and try not to stare at his completely gorgeous body.

He has to have chiseled abs, doesn’t he? He’s out of my league in every single way possible.

“Really?” he asks as he peers over his Ray-Bans at me.

“What?”

“You still have your hair in a bun, Alex. No one can have fun while wearing a bun. It rhymes, so it’s a fact.” He grabs something off the table next to him and tosses it to me.

“Put those on, they’re for you.”

I look down at what I’ve caught and see a pair of Ray-Bans in my hand. “I don’t feel comfortable wearing these, Max. I mean, I might break them, and I can’t afford to replace them.”

“Why would you need to replace something I’m giving you? Just put them on, take that stupid bun out, and drop the towel so then we can swim.”

“Bossy much?” I mumble as I pull the pins from my hair, then put the glasses on and place my towel over the chair near me.

What do I care what he thinks about my scarecrow body anyway? It’s not like he’s interested in me like that; he probably won’t even look at me.

Max

One second I’m looking at easily the most nerdy-looking girl I’ve ever laid eyes on, but she’s sweet and funny so she’s growing on me. The next glance I take at her makes my mind stop.

Time stands still as she shakes out her long, wavy, shiny, blonde hair. The towel flies off her stunning body as she puts the sunglasses on, and she’s drop-dead gorgeous. Not a bit of make-up on and she’s taking my breath away.

“I wanna take you on my yacht.” The words come out of my mouth without me thinking of them.

“You have a yacht?” she asks, but I can’t form more words so I just nod.

She walks to the edge of the pool, and I can’t stop looking at her legs. They’re long, lean, tan, and I need to touch them.

I wonder if I can get her to wrap them around my waist!

One toe she dips into the water, and my eyes move up her long legs to her perfectly rounded ass, and I want to touch it really badly.

I wonder if she’ll let me do that!

She turns around, and waves at me and her perky, one hundred percent natural breasts move slightly and I want to bury my face in them.

You think she’ll let me?

“Come on,” she shouts.

I grab the beer sitting next to me and chug it. I need to act cool, not like a horny teenage boy. Finally able to speak I say, “I’m coming, Lexi.”

Where’d that come from?

“Lexi?” she asks with a little laugh. “Okay.”

Okay, she said I can call her that. Good cause she ain’t no Alex. Not anymore. I take her hand as I get to her and lead her around to the boulders. “You first,” I say as I stop at the back of the rocks and gesture for her to walk up the stairs in front of me. She smiles and walks past me. Her ass is a sight to behold, and now I completely understand why men started this gentlemanly practice so long ago.

She turns and looks back at me as I’ve frozen at the bottom stair. “Come on, Max! I wanna jump together. It’s more fun when you do it that way.”

I shake my head to clear it and make the gears move again. As I get to the top, I grab her hand. “Okay, let’s do this,” I say, then jump.

As I push my head up out of the water, her giggle hits my ears like magic bubbles, and I must be staring at her without realizing it because she splashes me in the face. “You didn’t even count to three. Everyone knows you have to count to three before you jump.”

“Come on, baby. Let’s go again and this time I’ll count to three,” I say as I pull her along with me and swim to the side of the pool.

Pulling myself up on the edge of the pool, I reach down to help her out. She takes my hand and I pull her up, finding her light as a feather. “Thanks,” she says as she shivers a little. “Now this time we need to do cannon balls when we jump in.”

She’s unlike any woman I’ve ever known. Not one of my previous girlfriends would’ve ever done this. I watch her climb the stairs in front of me and she looks back, catching me checking out her bodacious bottom. She shakes her head and laughs. As I get to the top I turn to her, about to make my move since she’s caught me looking anyway.

Her arms come out to wrap around me. She pushes her palms against my chest and I’m falling backwards into the water. As I come up for air, I catch her coming into the water, holding her knees to her chest, and a wave of water washes over me, knocking me back under.

I swim to the side and pull myself up on the ladder and look around to find her lounging on the Baja bench area of the pool. I swim over and smile. “What was that for?”

“I saw you, Max.” She pulls the sunglasses down, and her eyes are wide. “I know I’ve got a wacky shape, and I hoped you wouldn’t make me feel stupid for wearing this tiny thing my butt’s hanging out of. Obviously, you were about to come up with a clever joke, so I pushed you in before I had to hear it.”

I was going to kiss her, and she thinks I was going to make fun of her. Now that’s just really sad.

As I slide up on the bench next to her, I ask, “Why do you think you have a wacky-shaped body, Lexi?”

Her head tilts, and she says, “Come on, I’m not blind. I’m shaped like some kinda scarecrow with floppy boobs and a lumpy bottom.” Her hand goes to her perfectly flat stomach and runs over it. “And my big gut makes this an all the way round wacky body.”

What does she see when she looks in the mirror?

I just stare at her and blink as she’s clearly nuts. Finally, I manage to say, “You should let me take you to my stylist. She can fix what little needs fixed. We can put you in the right-sized clothes, then I’ll take you out, and you can watch the men fight like wild animals for your attention.”

With a snort, she laughs, and I have to laugh, too, at the ridiculous sound.

“Right! Why do people think it’s funny to be so mean? I know I’m unattractive. I get it, okay?”

“I’m not kidding, I’m being absolutely serious,” I say as I stand up and grab her hand, pulling her up. “That’s it. I’m taking you to her today, and I’m going to show you how completely gorgeous you can be.”

I pull her with me out of the pool as she protests, “You’re crazy, Max. I don’t have the money for that, and it’s stupid anyway.”

“I’m paying, and you’re going to see a new you by the end of the day,” I say as I open the door to the pool house and usher her inside. I grab a sundress out of the closet. I can’t allow her to put those awful clothes back on. I kick out a pair of flip-flops that look to be her size and turn to her. “Put this on, and do not put your hair up in a damn bun. You need this, Lexi. You need to know what you’re missing.”

“What about the spreadsheet?” she asks as I push her into the bathroom. “We should be working on that.”

“Tomorrow, I promise we’ll do it tomorrow.”

“I’ll let you do this, Max. You’ll see, you can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear,” she says and her eyes droop a little at the edges. “I’m a plain Jane with a horrible shape.”

“You’re wrong. Now get dressed.”

How could such a beautiful girl think so little about herself?

Alexis

My eyebrows sting. My feet are in a tub of burning water, and a certain amount of heat is building in my cheeks as my new BFF, Max, argues with his stylist about adding some highlights to my hair. He’s against it, and she’s for it.

I’ve apparently become his project. He thinks he’s magic and can make me into a beautiful woman.

The stylist looks at me in the long mirror. “I’ll just let her decide.”

Max makes a sound like a buzzer and shakes his head.

“She can’t. She has the most terrible taste known to man.”

“Thanks!”

The stylist, whose name is Cake - I know, striper name - but she said it’s the real name her parents gave her, says, “Max, you’ve embarrassed her.”

“No, he’s right. Do whatever he says. I want him to do all the deciding so he can’t make me do this again when I’m still plain, and clothes don’t fit me right.”

Cake’s long, elegant hands flow over my face as she says, “Plain? My dear, your bone structure is exquisite. Your hair is naturally gorgeous.”

Max interrupts, “Ha, I told you!”

She glares at him, then turns her sweet eyes back to me.

“As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted; your skin seems to have never seen a blemish.”

“I’ve never worn make-up, and I wash my face twice a day with ivory soap.”

Cake’s eyes go wide.

“No make-up ever? Surely when you went to your high school prom you wore some.”

I laugh. “I didn’t go to the prom or any dance. I never got asked.”

Cake looks over her shoulder at Max and then back at me. She leans in to whisper, “You have had a boyfriend, haven’t you?” I shake my head, and she leans in closer. “Do you still hold your ‘V’ card?”

I squint at her because I have no idea what she’s talking about. “A what card?”

She asks so quietly I barely hear her, “Are you a virgin?”

My face turns beat red, and I stammer, “Uh, umm, I, well, yeah.”

A frown covers her face. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-five. That’s the second time today I’ve been asked that. There’s no age limit on virginity.”

Max sputters and coughs as he walks to my side. “What did you say?”

Averting my eyes, I say, “I’m a virgin. Okay, there it is, the topping on the looser sundae, which is me.”

Max takes me by the shoulders and looks into my eyes as if he’s looking for something. “Have you ever been kissed?” I roll my eyes and shake my head. I don’t know how much more humiliation I can take. He drops his hands, turns around, and mutters something to himself that sounds a lot like, “That’s why.” He turns back to me.

“Anyone ever try to kiss you?” I shake my head and he laughs.

“That’s mean,” I said. I would have walked out of there if I had any idea of where I was and how I could get back home, but that would have done me no good, as I’d left my fanny pack back at his house, and it had my house key in it.

Cake swats at Max, sending him out of her way.

“Go sit and let me help this poor girl out. Lord, if anyone has ever needed my services, this child does.”

For what seems like an eternity, Cake plucks, tweezes, cuts, curls, then spoons some stuff on my face and pulls it back off. She gets out some type of monster case full of makeup, but she does not allow me to see my reflection in the mirror.

Finally, Cake smiles at me. “Okay, I hope you’re ready to see a brand new you, Lexi.”

Max jumps up and comes to me. “I don’t want to miss her reaction to this.”

He takes my shoulder and slowly spins me around. The face I see in the mirror is not mine. “That’s not me,” I say as I reach up to touch my perfectly curled hair. “My hair doesn’t do this.” I run my hand over my cheek, which is perfectly pink. “This isn’t my face.”

“Gorgeous,” Max says as he looks at me in the mirror. His cheek is near mine. He smiles and gives me a wink. “We look good together.”

Cake takes off the plastic cape covering me, and Max takes my hand.

“Okay, so my head’s done, but here comes the hard part, my wacky body.”

Cake rolls her eyes. “Oh, Lord, precious girl. What do you think is wrong with your body?”

“How about I tell you what’s right about it? That list is much shorter,” I say as Max takes my hand and pulls me from the salon.

He looks back at Cake and smiles.

“You add on a few thousand dollars as a bonus, girl.”

I look at him like he’s crazy, and Cake laughs.

“Thank you, baby. You bring her back to me in a month, and I’ll make sure she’s kept up. Good luck getting laid, Lexi.”

“What?” I say as Max pulls me out the door.

Max

I can’t quit looking at her. She’s more beautiful than I ever imagined. We’re on our way to get her some clothes, and she’s eerily quiet.

“So what are you thinking, Lexi?”

Her eyes sparkle as she looks at me. Her pink lips open a bit, but she closes them, hesitating before she opens them again.

“This isn’t me, Max. You spent a ton of money already, and I realize I can’t talk you out of spending more, but it’ll all be for nothing because I can’t keep this up. I can’t fix my hair like this or put on make-up at all.”

“Lexi, it’s not the exact hairstyle,” I say as I take her hand and hold it in mine. “The haircut will still be great if you just wash it and let it dry. The make-up doesn’t matter because you have a natural beauty. The make-up only enhances what’s already there. You’ll still be beautiful without it.”

Her head drops, and she looks away.

“My goofy body will still be just that. I don’t want to find someone and get laid, like Cake said. Before today, no one has seen that much of my body. When I swim, I wear a one piece and shorts and a T-shirt. No one wants to look at this mess.”

I do!

I rub my thumb over her knuckles and lift her hand to my lips, placing a kiss on it. “Your body is no mess, and I’m not prone to lying.”

She smiles at me, and a little part of my heart melts. “You’re too nice, Max.”

I want her to see her true self-worth, how gorgeous she is, and how in demand she will be before I let her know I want her to be with me.

“Tonight, I’m taking you out to a club, and I’ll leave you at the table alone for a bit. You’ll see men flock to you as soon as I walk away. But you’re coming home with me, understand?”

Her eyes dart to mine as she squeezes my hand.

“Oh, Joseph and Mary, please don’t leave me with a bunch of strange men, Max. I’ll freak out. I mean, when my mouth opens, they’ll most likely run away anyway if any do come up to me, but in case one of them gets too fresh with me, please interrupt us. I don’t want my first kiss to be with a stranger.”

It won’t be!

Alexis

So here I am in a dress that costs more than my car did. It fits surprisingly well, and I have more confidence in my appearance. I sit at a small table in some spectacular club Max has taken me to, and he’s left me alone to see if anyone takes a shot at me. Which I don’t think’s going to… Oh, who’s this?

“Hi, I noticed you when you walked in,” a tall and completely gorgeous man says.

Another walks up next to him. “I saw her first, Clint.” He extends his hand, and I return the gesture, he takes my hand and kisses the top of it. “I saw you when you got out of your car at the valet. My name is…”

A tall man who I recognize as a basketball player from the Rockets steps up and both men look up at him and groan. They step back as he leans down and takes my hand. “Hello,” he says with a deep voice. “I’m…”

“I know who you are,” I say, finding it unbelievable Max was right.

“Dance with me,” he not so much asks as demands.

I’ve never danced, except alone at home. That ding dang Max didn’t school me on this part. I allow the tall man who smells expensive to lead me to the dance floor. Though the music is fast, he holds me tight to him and moves so slowly that I don’t have to worry about my dance moves after all.

“Mmmm. You smell nice. You didn’t tell me your name,” he says.

“Alex.”

He pulls back and looks me up and down. “You are a woman, right?”

“Uh, yeah.”

His brows pull together. “From birth?”

“My real name is Alexis, but people call me Alex.”

“Alexis,” he says in a kinda groany voice. “Can I call you that instead?”

“Sure,” I say as he pulls me back close to him and sways slowly to the fast moving music.

My eyes dart around the crowd to find Max. I’m getting nervous that this man will try to kiss me, and while what a story that would be, I don’t know him and don’t wish him to be my first kiss. I haven’t found that guy yet, though if Max wasn’t so out of my league, he’d be one I might choose.

The song ends and my hand is lifted to his mouth as he leaves a kiss on top. “Wanna get out of here?” he asks as he runs his large hand around my waist and pulls me close.

I search wildly for my protector and find him nowhere. Then my eyes land on the woman who was at Max’s house earlier, and she’s draped all over him. He throws me a wave.

That rat feces is waving me off!

My tall companion takes my lack of an answer as a yes and moves me towards the exit. I glance back at Max, who shakes his head at me. I shrug because I don’t have any idea of what to say or do. Suddenly, he breaks away from the horrible creature and sprints across the room to us. He catches my hand and makes some fancy move to get me out of the grip of the giant man.

“Whoa there,” he says, looking up at the guy. “Sorry man, she’s taken.”

I smile and wrap my arms around Max’s neck and whisper in his ear, “You waited long enough didn’t you?”

“I ran into a bit of trouble. We got to go. I think I’ve proved you’re gorgeous to the opposite sex anyway. Plus a few females I overheard were wondering if you might be into chicks, so there,” he says and takes me out to his car.

I pull on my seatbelt and smile at Max as he gets behind the wheel.

“What do you think of that, Max? A real celebrity was about to take me home with him. Not too bad, I’d say.”

Max runs his fingers along my cheek.

“Not good, either, for the guy you end up with. You’re so gorgeous he’ll be fighting them off all the time.”

I lean back into the soft seat and sigh as I think about the guy I end up with and wish I was in Max’s league. He’s so down to Earth for a rich dude. Not that I’ve ever known any, but I imagine most are some other way, not cool like he is.

“Thanks Max.”

“Wanna have a sleepover?” he asks with a smile. “We can watch a movie and I’ll even make you popcorn if you want.”

“You know what I really want?” I ask as I sit up, suddenly excited about hanging out more with Max. “Ice cream. The kind with chocolate and caramel, maybe some pecans or something.”

“I love ice cream; let’s get some and go home. What kind of movie do you want to see?”

“I’d like to watch the first Transformers movie.”

His face lights up, and he holds his fist up, which I bump with mine.

“Hell yeah, I love that one. Most girls hate that kind of movie.”

“I’m not most girls. But I have to get out of this dress and, honestly, the make-up has to come off.”

“That’s cool, baby. I’ll lend you a T-shirt, it’ll cover all the necessary parts.”

I look out the window and smile at how excited he seems.

What a dork I am. I could’ve gone home with a sports star, but instead, I’m going to hang out with a man completely out of my league and eat ice cream while we watch a cartoon come to life.

Max

Even though she’s washed away the make-up and slipped into one of my T-shirts, she’s still got me captivated. She’s holding my arm and laughing into my shoulder at the movie we’re watching. I want to make a move to kiss her and let her know how I feel about her, but I can’t believe I’m so afraid to. I don’t want to scare her off, she’s so insecure and I can see it in her face that she thinks I’m too good for her. She sees me as someone she can be herself with simply because I’m unattainable.

But I’m completely attainable!

The movie’s over and this is my chance. I turn to her and take her hand in mine. “Did you have fun today, Lexi?”

“I did,” she says as she leans her head on my shoulder. I’m tired. Do you want to show me to my bedroom?”

I want to show her to my bedroom!

I get up and pull her up with me, not letting her hand go. We get to the stairs and I gesture for her to walk in front of me but she looks at me and shakes her head.

“No sir, we walk together, you’re not going to watch me climb stairs again.”

I snap my fingers and smile as I take each step with her.

In the long hallway, I lead her down and go to the bedroom across the hall from mine.

“Here we are, Lexi.”

This is it, my last chance.

I turn her back to the door and place my hand behind her neck, making her face tilt up to mine. “Lexi, can I be your first kiss?”

Her hands move up to my chest, holding me back.

“Max, I’m not someone who takes things lightly. Who I give myself to is important to me.”

“What if I told you I want us to start seeing each other? I find you fascinating and want to get to know you better. Don’t you like me too?”

The blue of her eyes sparkles. “Sure I like you, but, Max, we just met.”

“I already know you better than any of the girls I’ve dated. You’ve probably let me in more than you have any other man.” I run my finger over her lips, and they quiver. “Let me be your first kiss and let’s see where that leads us, please.”

“You’re out of my league, Max. Besides, I’m no party girl.” A tear glistens at the edge of her eye.

I kiss the corner of her eye. “I’m tired of party girls. I want to settle down, and you fit in perfectly with that. You and I are a great match. So, what do you say to give it a shot?”

“Max, please, I’m not ready.”

I lean in and whisper, “You are, Lexi.” Then, I place my lips on her neck. She takes a deep breath as I glide my lips across her cheek and stop before I touch her lips with mine. “Please say yes, Lexi.”

Her hands run up my arms, and she slips her arms around my neck and says, “Yes.”

Thank you!