Read The CEO Buys in (Wager of Hearts #1) for Free Online

billionaire. Not as a CEO. Not even as a supposed genius. “I value honesty.”
    She stood up, her arms stretched out toward him. “I’m being deeply honest when I say that I am crazy in love with you.”
    The curve of her arms was pure grace, the tilt of her head was pleading without groveling, and the timbre of her voice vibrated with emotion. Every nuance was so perfect that he realized he was seeing a very skillful act. If Chloe Russell were in the grip of an emotion as powerful as Teresa claimed to be, the feisty little temp would probably hurl herself at him and pound on his chest to make her point.
    He wondered where that image had come from, even as he dismissed it.
    “Was it money or a job you wanted?” he asked.
    “I wanted you ,” Teresa said in a throaty voice as she let her arms fall to her sides in an elegant arc.
    “The company’s legal business?” He was angry at himself for being fooled by this woman.
    “Why can you not believe I love you for yourself?”
    “Oh, for God’s sake, Teresa, you’re just digging a deeper hole.”
    “I read an interview with you in a business magazine,” she said, dropping the mask of being insulted. “You said the rich don’t have the luxury of falling in love like normal human beings.”
    “I don’t remember having a philosophical discussion about love with a journalist.”
    “The article was dated about ten years ago. I was doing some research recently and found it.”
    He cast back in his memory and came up blank. Evidently he’d been smarter about women but dumber about the press back then. “What were you researching?”
    “Trainor Electronics. I was going to court your business.” She shook her hair back from her shoulders. “Only I found I wanted to court you instead. So I tried to create the illusion of falling in love like normal people. I thought you’d enjoy it.”
    The problem was that he had enjoyed it. Far too much. “I don’t like illusions,” he said. “They’re just lies dressed up in fancy clothes.”
    “So, that’s it?” she said. “You’re just cutting me out of your life after five months of intimacy?”
    “I’ll send you a diamond bracelet as a parting gift,” he said.
    She couldn’t hide the flare of greed in her eyes, even as she made a show of affronted virtue. “Keep your gift,” she said, swiping up her coat and stalking to the door before she looked over her shoulder. “If you handed it to me now, I’d throw it in your face.”
    She slammed the door behind her.
    He leaned back against his desk and rubbed his burning eyelids. The hangover and lack of sleep had probably made him harsher than he should have been. He’d send her the bracelet to salve his conscience. It would be interesting to see if she kept it.
    His office door swung open a crack, and Chloe’s head with its prim bun appeared in it. “I’m sorry to bother you, Mr. Trainor, but do you want me to stay?”
    He glanced at his watch, surprised to find that it was after six. The poor temp wasn’t used to working the longer hours of an executive assistant. “I’m sorry. You may go home. I assume they pay you extra for overtime.”
    She nodded. “Flexitemps is very good to its employees. Good night.” Her head disappeared and the door closed softly.
    The temp was a funny little thing. Her manners were flawlessly professional, but he got the feeling she disapproved of him. He didn’t mind as long as she continued to manage his phone calls and calendar as competently as she had today. He’d hold all the high-level work until Janice got back.
    That reminded him of the notes she’d taken at the meeting. She said she’d e-mail them to him when they were finished. He’d better doctor them up while the meeting was still fresh in his mind. The technical jargon had been flying, and he was sure she hadn’t been able to keep up despite her mad scribbling.
    Returning to his desk chair and finding the e-mail on his screen, he began to read. And read.