Page 135 of Promise Not to Fall for the Rich & Famous

Riley Shay, with the help of famous photographer, Zee, had come up with a vision for the spread. He didn’t know much about it, only that it would highlight the perks of his billionaire lifestyle.

For that reason, Vivi—the one who’d be reporting on that lifestyle—would accompany him on his private jet. Then stay in his personal multi-million-dollar estate on the island.

The irony was rich. The last thing Duke would want to do—if given a second chance with Vivi Tripoli—would be to flash his fortune in her face. She’d come to despise money, something she relayed to him when he tried to get her back a year after the breakup.

His mind darted back to that moment. Vivi had moved off campus at that point and was taking several of her coursesonline from what he’d heard. But hehadspoken with her over the phone. Pled with her was more like it.

With a year of reflection under his belt, Duke had explained his side of things, asked if she’d consider meeting in person, but she’d refused. ‘Whether you know it or not,’she’d said,‘money and status matter to you. You’ll be happier with someone like Sylvia.’

The words never had rung true, but that didn’t matter. What he’d done had left a lasting impression. One he hoped to, after all this time, dispel once and for all.

Duke glanced around the interior of the jet once more. “It’s not very original to focus on the whole money thing.”

“I think it’s genius,” Perry said.

“Yeah, you would.”

Duke paced the length of the jet’s den. A long, leather sofa stood to his right, a flat screen and wet bar at his left.

“Stuff like this doesn’t impress her.”

“You don’t even know her anymore,” Perry said.

Duke slowed his pace, eyes settling on the diamond-crusted base of the ice bucket. “I know her well enough.”

His pulse picked up as he pictured Vivi’s hypnotizing brown eyes. The way she’d reacted to him at the meeting. He’d watched her shift from polite to pissed in point two seconds. Talk about intimidating.

As it was, Duke was barely stomaching his first taste of humble pie after the whole twin swap thing. Now he chanced eating more of it—possibly a hefty serving right to the face, courtesy of the one and only Veritå.

“What time did you say she’d get here?” he asked, ducking to glance out at the runway.

“About ten more minutes.”

Duke was starting to regret his habit of arriving early. In business deals, he used the extra time to soak up theenvironment, get acquainted with his surroundings, and often use them in some way to help close the deal.

Even on the Benton family’s TV show,The Lion’s Den,Duke would arrive early, absorb the energy of the live audience from backstage, and muse on the struggling businesses he hoped to score over his siblings.

But having to wait for Vivi to show was putting Duke on edge.

“You aresolucky she said yes to this,” Perry said with a sigh. “This is going to be a life changer. Mark my words.”

Duke had no doubt that it would. He just wasn’t sure which ways it would change. In the week that had passed since their meeting withSlipper Magazine, he’d spent night after night stewing over the pros and cons of doing the article.

The odd thing was, his focus had taken a drastic shift from the moment he’d seen her. No matter how hard Duke tried to focus on his public image, it kept darting back to the same place like a stubborn compass.

Forget his plummeting popularity and damaged image. All he could focus on, all he could think about, was getting a second chance with the woman herself.

Ambivalence.

It wasn’t the first time Viv had gone into an interview dominated by the emotion. While flying to Austin, Texas for her job with football legend,Tom the Bomb, a man made infamous by his chauvinist persona, she worried he’d only prove the public right.

Viv had known that being a female would give her an advantage during her time with him—allow her to experience the way he spoke to her, looked at her, and treated her whenno one was around. Would his obnoxious manner go on behind close doors, or was it all just for show, keeping up with an image?

She compared it to how he treated the somewhat awkward makeup artist who blushed every time he looked at her. Or the way he spoke to their waitress at his favorite steakhouse.

In the end,Tom the Bombwound up being one of her few subjects who came out looking worse after the feature. Sure, she’d discovered—and written about—plausible explanations as to how those views formed back in his youth, but even that wasn’t enough to redeem him.

“I can’t believe you’re going to Costa Rica,” Mom came from the speaker.