Page 51 of Billionaire’s Game

Chapter Ten

Cranky didn’t beginto describe how I was feeling as I stepped out of Lacey’s car and prepared for a very, very long day at the studio.

“Have fun!” she yelled to me, and I waved at her but grunted in reply. I was in a terrible mood. I had barely gotten any sleep because every time I closed my eyes I dreamt about the evening Magnus and I had spent together, but instead of it being us making love, it was Magnus and Violet. Lacey had woken me up several times in the middle of the night to ask me what was wrong because apparently I’d been yelling at them in my sleep. That, in turn, had awoken baby Sebastian. I had apologized profusely to Lacey and had made it up to her by staying up all night with Sebastian until he fell back to sleep at four o’clock.

Now I was exhausted. It was six o’clock. I’d had at most ten minutes of sleep before I needed to get back up to head out for the first taping of the Brain Pain episode.

I expected Lacey to be just as out of it as I was, but she had shrugged off the sleep interruption and had declared she was used to it.

I didn’t want to do anything but sleep, I thought to myself, as I was escorted to the entrance of the studio by direction of a security guard who was way too chipper for my taste. I didn’t know I was such a grumpy person without sleep. I was learning a lot about my true self, courtesy of Florida.

There was a flurry of activity and I didn’t know where to go, so I just stood there wondering what to do and when to do it.

“Morning,” a voice said behind me, and I instantly recognized Magnus’s voice. He looked nice, dressed in faded gray jeans and a close-fitting black shirt.

He handed me a cup of coffee and I happily accepted it, avoiding his eyes. It had been tough avoiding him for the past two weeks, but I had succeeded. Too bad I didn’t feel good about it.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” I was grateful. Caffeine was exactly what I needed.

“Ready for today?”

I shook my head. “I’m exhausted and not in the best of moods.”

“Couldn’t sleep? Nervous about the recording?”

I nodded. I didn’t dare tell him about a certain X-rated dream that had really been the reason I couldn’t sleep.

“Mr. Deacon?” interrupted a young man with uncertainty in his voice.

“Yes?”

“I’m Dale.” Dale was a redhead with freckles. He was a little round and seemed to be under five feet tall. Surprisingly, his voice was quite deep which caught me off guard. “I’m your personal assistant while on set. I need to lead you to makeup. Please come with me.”

“And what about Ms. Cabot?”

He looked unsure. “I don’t know. I guess she can come too. All the VIPs have private suites. So if you would like to bring her, you can.”

“Would you like to join us?” Magnus asked.

“No. I’ll just wait here.” I was delighted that I would have some breathing room. I didn’t feel like I was up to the task of even talking to Magnus right now.

Dale nodded. “Sounds good. I’ll send someone over to get you into makeup.”

Dale led Magnus away when another person popped up next to me. “You’re one of the contestants, right?”

Before I could answer, she grabbed me by the sleeve and started to lead me away. She looked like a little old lady, but she had a steel grip and I didn’t even bother pulling away.

“I’m Celeste. We’re going to get you all dolled up and then you’ll be ready for action. How does that sound?”

“Sounds great.”

“Excellent.”

Ten minutes later I was “dolled up” as Celeste put it and positioned next to Magnus on set. I studied the other six contestants.

“Is that Ruben Mitchell?” I asked in disbelief.

“Who’s Ruben Mitchell?” Magnus said.