The Billionaire Player (In Too Deep)

“Actually, you’re the one who fooled them. I know you weren’t saying goodbye for all the time you were gone. When I walked in here again, you were sitting on the couch staring at that package. Again. Why don’t you just open it already?”

I blew out a breath. “I don’t need to. I know what it is, and it’s not mine. What do you guys say we go downstairs and shoot some pool? If even the cleanup is done, I don’t see why we can’t get right to the drinking.”

Because yes. There is a downstairs. Courtesy of Larisa. Another surprise, which had probably been the biggest of them all. She hadn’t included it in the tour, and when I’d finally discovered it, I’d quickly figured out why.

I hadn’t even known the house had a basement, but it did, and she’d done it up as a game room. According to the note she’d left on the bar down there, she’d wanted it to be a surprise all along. She’d created me my very own game room. “Reminiscent of the one at the lake house,” her note had gone on to say, “but a new and improved version of it.”

As I headed down with the guys now, I marveled again at the handful of vintage arcade games she’d put in down there. Stuff I used to play all the time as a kid. They must’ve been a bitch to track down and I didn’t know how she’d known which ones I would like, but she’d done an amazing job. Just like she had with the rest of the house.

I kept noticing things I hadn’t noticed before, and after I’d really looked around on my own time and by myself, I’d realized that even the stuff that had jumped out at me before wasn’t that bad. In fact, it all worked really well together. Sure, I still wouldn’t bring a girlfriend back to a place with nudes—however tasteful—on the walls, and I still felt like she was sending me a message with the bachelor pad feel of the place in general, but as a whole? She really had done an incredible job.

Every single person who’d been here, including my very own mother, had been in awe of how accurately it portrayed me. After I’d pointed out that it was more the me of a few years ago, my mother had said that I hadn’t changed as much as I thought I had in that time.

She thought Larisa had captured my essence perfectly and said that if I wanted it to feel more like a family home, then I should start working on creating a family. I supposed she wasn’t wrong. It would’ve been pretty fucking weird to walk into a place that screamed suburban bliss when I’d told her that I wanted a place where I could hang out on weekends.

Either way, what was done was done. I couldn’t go back in time and tell her that I wanted it to be less of a bachelor pad than my apartment. The only thing I could do was look forward, but I didn’t want to do that unless she would be back in my life going forward.

Shawn headed to the basement bar and started popping the tops off beers before he passed them around. I sighed internally, trying to push my confusion about Larisa to the back of my mind and focus on the here and now.

In the here and now, Bart immediately strode over to one of the arcade games and Shawn was hot on his heels. Jeremiah took a pool cue off the rack and offered it to me. “What do you say we christen this table with me whooping your ass?”

I snorted and took the cue from him. “That’s not going to happen. If anyone is getting their ass handed to him, it’s you.”

He laughed. “We’ll see about that. By the way, how’s Larisa? I’ve got to say, I’m very fucking impressed with what she’s done here. Steph couldn’t stop raving about it. Since we’re the only two who saw the place before, I don’t think everyone else quite realizes what she’s pulled off. You haven’t mentioned her for a while, though.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to work out,” I said without looking at him. Focused on stacking the balls, I shrugged. “She’s been ice cold since that night she came home with me. Everything was fine when we fell asleep, and I don’t know where it came from, but she woke up while I was talking to you and Steph. When I got back to the room, she was getting dressed and she couldn’t get out of there fast enough.”

“Have you talked to her about it?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Nope. What is there to talk about? I don’t think she feels the same way I do. Especially considering that she did this place up like a fuck pad after that. She doesn’t see herself here. That much is obvious.”

Jeremiah opened his mouth to say something, but Bart surprised me when he spoke up first. Without looking away from the game he was playing, he scoffed. “You’re an idiot. Have you even told her how you feel?”

“No, but—”

“Then tell her,” he said decisively. “Even if nothing comes of it, at least then you’ll know. Otherwise, you’ll wonder forever what could’ve come of the two of you. I really don’t think you can base an opinion about her feelings one way or the other on the house she designed for you. Besides, look closely. It’s only some of the décor that makes it look like a fuck pad. Changing it would be fast, simple, and cheap.”

I sighed, but I knew he was right. After agonizing about it all week, I finally had my answer about what to do. I would put my heart on the line and give it one last go with Larisa—but not tonight. Tonight, I was just going to hang out with my three best friends and enjoy it.