I already knew that Eli was a huge philanthropist. All of the causes he donated to came up frequently in his interviews.
“I’d like that,” I murmured. “I have my own charity, but there are others that I’d like to work with, too. I know my twin sister is taking an active role in fund-raising.”
“You have a twin?” he asked hoarsely, sounding surprised.
“Her name is Brooke. She married a guy in Maine, and I really miss her. I’m happy for her, but having her so far away is like losing my right arm. There’s a twin bond that will never go away.”
“You’re lonely?” he probed. “That’s completely understandable, especially now. You were thrown into a whole new reality, and she’s not around for you to work things out together.”
“I just feel like a part of me is missing,” I shared. “Brooke was always my best friend.”
“Keep busy,” he suggested. “Eventually, you’ll find your own way.”
“So maybe I just need to try to experience new things?”
“You definitely should,” he agreed. “Have you ever done an African safari? You love wildlife, and it’s pretty amazing.”
“No.” Seeing places and traveling to experience the wildlife in other countries was pretty appealing. I’d done plenty of studies on African wildlife, but most of it was genetic, and I’d only observed the animals in captivity. To see them running in the wild would be extraordinary.
“Australia? The animals there are pretty unique.”
“No.”
“South America? China? Europe? Canada?”
“Nope. I’ve never been in any foreign country,” I admitted.
Honestly, maybe I hadn’t thought about foreign travel because I really didn’t want to go alone. If I got a job abroad, it would be different. I’d be working in another country. But just to see the sights, it would suck not to have anybody to share it with. And now that Brooke was married and across the country, I had no idea who would want to go with me. My friends all had full-time, busy jobs.
“You have to start thinking like a billionaire, Jade,” he said with obvious amusement. “I know you love food. Have you hit any of the great restaurants in San Diego?”
Dinner for one? That would be awkward.
“No. But you own most of them. So I can see why you’ve been to every one of them. The only place of yours that I’ve tried is the spot we celebrated Brooke’s engagement. I saw you there.”
“You know I saw you, too,” he said. “I made sure dinner was on the house for your whole party before I left.”
“Noah didn’t tell me that,” I said. “Why did you do it? It’s not like my family doesn’t have the money now.”
“I could tell you were celebrating. I wanted to do it. Besides, your brother Noah just took the amount of the bill and tipped his waitress with it. I had one very happy waitress that night. I doubt that story will ever stop circulating around the place.” He paused before he added, “And I go to places I don’t own. I told you that I love food.”
I wasn’t surprised that my eldest brother had given the waitress a monstrous tip, but I felt a little guilty about the fact that I hadn’t exactly had kind thoughts about Eli that night. He’d actually done something really thoughtful.
“I’m not much of a socializer,” I said, feeling defeated. “And going to dinner in nice places alone isn’t all that much fun.”
“You could have gone with me,” he reminded me. “Fuck knows I’ve offered over and over again.”
“I didn’t like you,” I said bluntly.
“You don’t know me,” he argued. “And you have no reason to dislike me.”
I stared into the darkness for a few minutes, contemplating his statement.
He’d pretty much cleared up why he’d left me waiting in his office. He didn’t want to sell the land I wanted, but it wasn’t like he had to do anything he didn’t want to do. He said he had his reasons, and the acreage in the backcountry obviously had some deep meaning to him personally. And I could hardly fault him because he had extreme hobbies. It was his life. He had a right to do whatever he wanted.
“You’re right,” I finally muttered. “We don’t have much in common, but that’s no reason to dislike you.”
“You’re attracted to me, and you don’t like that,” he said. “Do I scare you, Jade?”
“Sometimes,” I confessed, the total darkness making me braver.
“Why?”
Because every time I see you, I get mesmerized. I want to crawl up your gorgeous body and ease the painful ache I have every time you’re near me.
“Because I don’t like losing control,” I finally answered. “I’m not the type of woman who makes any man drool. Brooke was always the more feminine one. I was a tomboy, remember?”
“Maybe you like being outdoors, but you’re gorgeous, Jade. You have a natural beauty that would knock some guys on their asses.”
“Like you?”
“Especially me,” he confessed. “You’re so connected with nature and the wildlife you’re fighting to protect. I love the way you handle an axe, and I’m in awe that you can identify nearly any plant. It makes you pretty irresistible.”
I couldn’t help it. I laughed out loud. “Eli, there aren’t a whole lot of men who find a dirt-smudged woman with no makeup, and who chronically has bad-hair days, all that pretty.”
“Not another comment about how you look, or I swear I’ll swing down into your bed and make you realize just how damn fuckable you really are,” he growled.
Every part of me wanted to say something that would make Eli bring his ripped body into my bed, but I still had a tiny portion of common sense, so I stayed quiet for a moment before I simply answered, “Okay. I’ll stop.”
“Damn!” he said hoarsely.
He sounded so disappointed that I smiled into the darkness and changed the subject. “So how did you get so comfortable with being a celebrity?”
“I’m not a celebrity,” he said. “I was born rich. So I pretty much grew up in a privileged world. But I never really wanted to be noticed. It just . . . happened.”
I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn’t see me. “Please. Every news organization loves to show you doing your extreme hobbies, or talk about how you’re one of the most eligible bachelors in the world. You’re not exactly what I’d call a low-profile billionaire.”
“Now I want to be noticed sometimes, especially when I’m raising funds for charity.”
I supposed getting attention for his causes was probably worth being in the public eye. “Do you like the publicity?”
“You probably won’t believe me, but I actually don’t. I’m a private kind of guy. But I’m willing to sacrifice some of my privacy for a good cause. Sometimes I have to keep the crazy going.”
Keep the crazy going?
It was an interesting way to refer to his insane hobbies and fund-raising.
He hesitated before he said, “You’ll get used to having money, Jade. It doesn’t change who you are, and once you start enjoying the benefits of being a billionaire, you just might find out it isn’t so bad.”