The Billionaire's Plus-One Deal
Author
Justine Lewis
Reads
17.7K
Chapters
15
In Justine Lewis's latest Harlequin Romance, the second in her Invitation from Bali duet, discover how a billionaire and a singer go from fake dating at a destination wedding to real feelings under the Bali sun! A CONTRACT FOR A DATE Billionaire Will only made up fake girlfriend Summer Bright to pacify his mother's concerns. So when she brings him face-to-face with a "real" Summer Bright — someone who shouldn't exist! — he has to think fast. Will offers to pay the struggling songwriter if she'll play along and be his plus-one at a wedding. But soon pretending to be in love makes them question whether it's really all for show…
PROLOGUE
WILL WATSON SLID off his tie and threw it on his desk. It was hot, early evening, and sixteen storeys below him the peak hour traffic hummed, but Will still had a few hours of work to do.
He scrolled through his emails searching for the deed he needed. The sun hit his screen and bounced right back into his eyes. He should bring the blinds down. Before he could, there was a knock at his door. His assistant, Belinda, always called through with visitors, so this would be either her or one of his parents. His father, David, had established and still headed up the company, Watson Enterprises, and his mother was a board member. The pair made a formidable duo. Once upon a time he’d wanted a partnership just like theirs. Despite years of wishing otherwise, his chest still ached with the thought that it wasn’t to be, but he pushed the feeling to one side, as always.
The visitor was his mother, Diane Watson. She walked around his desk and kissed him on the cheek.
‘Hello, darling.’ She ruffled his hair. The only person in the world who’d do such a thing. He smoothed it back down again.
‘Are you heading home soon?’ she asked.
‘Not yet. What’s up?’
Diane sat across the desk from him. After a pause long enough to let him know what she was about to say was serious, she said, ‘Will, we’re worried about you.’
‘I’m completely fine.’ And he was. As long as he could be left alone to finish his work.
‘Since Georgia left...’
Not again. This was not the first time Diane had voiced these concerns. It wasn’t even the first time this year and it was only January.
‘We talked about this.’ Yes, his ex-fiancée, Georgia, had broken his heart. But that was years ago. And he was grateful for the lesson she’d taught him. He was stronger and more sensible because of it. He was fine.
‘Have you thought about hiring a professional?’
‘A what?’
‘Calm down. Someone to talk to. A psychologist.’
Will didn’t need a psychologist, or any type of professional. He was perfectly fine. Not wanting a relationship didn’t mean he needed help. Being single was a perfectly valid state of being.
‘I’m worried you’re using work as an excuse not to have a life. It seems as though you’re using work to distract yourself from the pain she caused you—’
‘My work—our work—is important. You believe in it as much as I do.’
‘I know you have a hard time trusting people. What if I introduced you to some women?’
‘No! I really don’t need that kind of help.’
The thought of meeting a woman on a date arranged by his mother was mortifying.
‘When was the last time you went on a date?’
‘Mum, no.’
He had to get back to work or he’d never get home. But his mother looked so concerned. She wasn’t going to let this drop.
‘Look, Mum, I’m okay. I wasn’t going to say anything because it’s still early days.’
Diane leant forward. ‘You’re seeing someone?’
It was late, he was tired and wanted this to end. He nodded.
Diane’s face opened into a smile that could have lit up the CBD.
‘Who is she? What’s her name?’
Will looked out over the city, felt the sweat on his skin from the heat outside. ‘Summer,’ he said.
‘Summer who?’
Through the window the sun still streamed in, hitting his screen. ‘Summer Bright. That’s her name.’
An image popped into his mind from nowhere. A beautiful woman, surrounded by a halo of hair, golden and fiery. But it was strange this woman had a face; she was a fiction. He’d just invented her and with a name like that she couldn’t possibly be real.
‘Oh, she sounds lovely,’ gushed Diane.
Will stared at his mother.
She sounds made up.
‘When can we meet her?’
‘It’s early days.’
‘Sure.’
‘And meeting the Watsons isn’t a small thing.’
‘We’re not scary.’
But they were intimidating. David had built a multi-million-dollar plastics company from nothing. His mother sat on half a dozen boards, including companies and charities.
‘We can be. Dad can be.’
Diane nodded, conceding that David Watson was not always an easy man.
‘Well, when she’s ready.’
Will nodded and smiled back at his mother. Relaxing back into his chair a sense of relief rolled over him. It was that easy. Make up a girlfriend who his mother would never meet and she’d get off his case once and for all. He was now free to get on with his life just how he liked it.
Alone.
