The Billionaire Next Door

CHAPTER 01

Bianca

To the sound of Tiësto’s The Business, I moved my body along with the beat of the music while preparing a few drinks for a customer.

“Someone seems cheerful today,” Vivian said with an amused smile.

I looked over at her and simply smiled.

She was right. I really was in a good mood.

Sometimes I caught myself scolding my own choices because of the job I had, and yes, I complained about not being able to sleep properly sometimes, and even about having no life. But the truth was, I liked the atmosphere. I liked being here, liked the rush, liked letting my body move with the music as it played.

That was what Friday nights at Mix Club Night were usually like, and despite all the inconveniences, I had to admit I liked working here.

So much so that here I was, three years later, alongside Vivian, who had started a little before me.

As the most experienced ones there, we were the ones assigned permanently to the bar.

While Vivian and I served customers directly at the bar, the other girls handled the tables throughout the nightclub. It was just the two of us there, but of course, we always had help when things got too hectic.

Still, most of the chaos was on the dance floor and around the tables, so whether we liked it or not, compared to the other girls, Vivian and I usually had things a little easier.

We got to enjoy the view.

I smiled as I handed the drinks to the customer, along with the copy of his tab so he could pay before leaving.

Vivian was serving a customer when, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed another man approaching and sitting on one of the stools at the end of the bar.

I turned to walk toward him.

And I definitely hadn’t expected the sight of him to affect me so much.

I simply froze in place for a few seconds when my eyes met that man’s deep, intense gaze fixed on me. A shiver swept through my entire body under the weight of it.

I could say I had never come across such a striking man. His black hair was perfectly disheveled, his eyes grayish, a completely different and captivating shade. His full mouth and the shadow of stubble across his jaw made him unbearably sexy.

He wore a tailored suit, and on his wrist was a watch that was probably more expensive than my humble apartment.

He was hot.

And he exuded confidence, which, I had to admit, left me completely intimidated and, at the same time, aroused. My body was on fire just from his presence.

But it wasn’t his unmatched beauty, nor the display of masculinity and money that stirred me that way.

It was the way he looked at me.

No man had ever looked at me like that before. And it had probably become obvious to him how much he had affected me, because I saw the hint of a smile form at the corner of his mouth.

The man was simply dangerous.

And he knew it.

If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have given me that utterly confident, devastating smile.

I wanted to run away from there as fast as possible, but acting against my own will, I walked toward him and stopped in front of him.

“What can I get you?” I smiled, a little flustered, trying not to show just how affected I was.

“A bourbon, please,” he said in a rough, completely sexy voice, leaving me even more intoxicated by his presence.

Damn it.

I definitely needed to get a grip.

I was used to dealing with hot, intimidating men most of the time, but the man in front of me was shaking every single one of my senses.

This was definitely the kind of man I should stay far away from at all costs.

“I have Jim Beam and Wild Turkey,” I said, trying to sound as natural as possible.

“Jim Beam.”

“Just a moment. I’ll get that for you.”

He nodded while his eyes remained fixed on me.

I walked toward the bottles to prepare his order while mentally counting from one to ten, trying to control myself.

Shit.

I was acting like some naive little virgin who had never dealt with men before.

And no, I definitely wasn’t like that.

I turned back toward him and realized his eyes were still on me in a way that was almost unsettling. My heart pounded hard for a moment. I was visibly shaken by that look, by that man who was affecting me far more than he should.

He arched an eyebrow at me, and a smile formed at the corner of his mouth, as if he were completely satisfied with what he had just seen.

I tried to pull myself together quickly and walked toward him, handing him the drink.

“You seemed pretty lively a little while ago. Are you always like that?” he asked, his eyes slowly measuring me.

I felt my face heat at the thought that he might have been watching me minutes earlier.

“Uh… usually, yes. I like getting into the mood. It makes work less boring.”

“Interesting,” he said in a low voice before taking a sip of his drink. “That was very sexy.”

He watched my reaction carefully, and that made everything more intense.

It felt as though the air around us wasn’t enough for the two of us. I needed to get out of that man’s reach as quickly as possible. So I only gave him a smile and moved away, walking toward Vivian.

I needed to breathe.

“Hey, do you need help with that?” I asked when I saw her making three drinks at once.

“I’m almost done. I’ll take them to the table in front in a few minutes.”

“I’ll take them for you,” I said at once. “It’s packed, and it’ll definitely take a few minutes before one of the girls comes by. You take care of everything here, and I’ll be right back.”

I grabbed the tray and adjusted the drinks.

Vivian arched an eyebrow at me.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Trouble with the hottie over there?” she whispered, looking in the direction where he was sitting. “He can’t take his eyes off you.”

I shook my head, trying to push the thought away, and she giggled as she finished the last drink.

“That one is the kind of man we should run from at all costs,” I whispered.

“I’d run,” Vivian said, making me smile. “But not from him. With him.”

I took the last drink from her hand and placed it on the tray, along with the order slip, checking the table number I was supposed to serve.

Then, before walking toward the table waiting for the order, I fell into the temptation of looking back at where the man was sitting.

Just as Vivian had warned me, his eyes were fixed on me.

That sent a wave of arousal through my entire body.

The tension between us was completely visible.

Vivian was right. The man was absolutely, obscenely hot.

And yes, something told me that spending the night with him would be worth every second.

Again, I caught myself shaking my head.

I shouldn’t be thinking about that, because there was no way it was going to happen.

I walked toward the table where three young men sat, talking cheerfully while they waited.

“Here you go, boys. Your order,” I said with a smile as I placed the drinks on the table.

“Thanks,” one of them replied, while the other two simply watched me with smiles on their faces.

“If you want anything else, you know the drill. Just go to the bar or call one of the girls serving the tables,” I said before preparing to return to the counter, already knowing I would find that man’s eyes on me once again.

I admit I walked as slowly as possible, weaving between the tables, and when I reached the bar, the man was no longer there.

He had left.

A sharp twinge of disappointment hit me, even though I knew it shouldn’t have. I had wanted him.

And for one brief moment, I wished that man had been there, waiting for me.

“The hottie paid, left a very generous tip, and walked out shortly after you left,” Vivian said, drawing my attention back to her. She had a wicked smile on her face. “I wish he had looked at me even once the way he looked at you. He watched you for a long time while you served those drinks to those guys.”

“Stop talking nonsense, Vivian. You’re exaggerating, as always,” I told her, trying to convince myself that it was nothing more than my imagination.

But deep down, I knew.

She was right.

“I wouldn’t say that with so much certainty,” she replied.

I rolled my eyes and walked back to the center of the bar, heading toward another customer who had just arrived.