Page 8 of Billionaire’s Game

We got up and made our way to the meeting room. The blinds were closed so Maya pressed her ear against the door.

“I can’t hear anything,” she said, disappointed. Another coworker came up and asked what we were doing.

“Trying to figure out who’s inside there.”

“Maybe it’s a producer?”

Another employee popped up. “Who’s in there? Is it someone famous?”

Suddenly a crowd had formed, and they were all excitedly whispering to each other. Everyone had their own theory and it was fun listening to them all, when finally someone said, “I think it’s Magnus Deacon. I heard from a friend of a friend who’s his cousin’s butler, that he’s a friend of Jude’s dad.”

“Magnus Deacon!” gasped one of the girls.

“Yes!”

“Oh my God! What’s he doing here? Do you think it has something to do with Brain Pain?”

“Brain Pain?” asked another “So the rumors are true? Magnus Deacon and Brain Pain! Oh my gosh! Could this day get any better?”

“Who’s Magnus Deacon?” I asked innocently.

They stared at me like I’d lost my mind. “He’s only one of the most ridiculously handsome billionaires in the world that no one is talking about.”

“Well, that explains why I’ve never heard of him,” I joked.

Apparently, I wasn’t funny because no one laughed.

“Show her. She doesn’t understand how sexy this man is.”

Maya pulled out her phone and pulled up a celebrity gossip page. We all formed a tight cluster around her and stared.

“That’s Magnus Deacon?” I asked, reaching for the phone. I couldn’t believe it. “I saw him earlier.”

“You saw Magnus Deacon here earlier! This Magnus Deacon!” Maya looked ready to swoon.

I nodded and stared again at his photo. In the photo, he was walking down the street in an exotic locale without a shirt on. I couldn’t believe it was the same guy who had kicked me out of the office earlier. His chest was wide and expansive, and his hips were narrow. He was wearing plain white pants in the picture. He looked like a mythological deity because no one in real life had abs like that, right? His hair in the picture was a bit longer than it was when I’d met him. But he had that same look on his face. Not arrogant, just sure of himself. He was a man on a mission. A very hot man on a mission.

“God, he’s hot,” I said, still looking at the picture.

“I don’t know, I’ve seen better,” said a male voice near me.

“Are you kidding me?” I said, turning to argue with the person who I realized was Jude. And standing right next to Jude was Magnus. I immediately shoved Maya’s phone back into her hand as if I were a kid caught by adults eating too much candy. I knew I turned a shade of red that would probably be the talk of the office tomorrow.

The worst part was that Magnus just stood there looking mildly amused. Either he was used to women fawning over him or he just didn’t get frazzled easily.

“What do you think, Magnus?” asked Jude like the troublemaker he was. He gave me a wide grin and I had to stop myself from punching him in the stomach. He was like an obnoxious kid brother, which was ridiculous since he was at least six years older than me.

Magnus looked down at the photo of himself and then back up at me and gave me a little smile. “Photoshopped for sure, but thanks for the compliment.”

I wanted to disappear into a hole. It was then I noticed the other girls looked ready to swoon.

Magnus sauntered off and Jude tossed an arm around my shoulder and said, “Real smooth, Lesli. You’re doing great. Keep up the good work.”

I shook my fist at him and he laughed before running up to catch up to Magnus. They exchanged words and Jude laughed at something Magnus said.

And then to my surprise, Magnus turned and looked back at me. Our gazes caught, and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking as he turned away and began speaking again to Jude as they disappeared through the door.

“Oh my God, he’s so hot and he talked to you. I’m so jealous,” Maya said as we headed back to the office and the other ladies dispersed.

“I think he likes you.”

“Certainly not.”

“Of course, he does, crazy woman. Did you not see how he flirted with you?”

“He wasn’t flirting with me. He was just pointing out the whole photoshop thing,” I said unconvincingly. Maybe he had been flirting with me! I didn’t have much experience, so what did I know about flirting etiquette?

Maya giggled. “I love how we were so busy staring at his photo that we didn’t even hear him leave the office behind us.”

I shook my head. “Epic fail on our part.”

I could hear my other coworkers laughing and a few were looking in my direction, and I couldn’t help but feel a little unsettled by all the attention I was getting lately. Life was becoming an adventure, but I wasn’t entirely sure that I was ready for it.