Free A Collateral Attraction by Liz Madrid Page A

seem more youthful, as if outside of all the business dealings he has to attend to, there’s actually a man who knows how to laugh and have fun, and look darn good while doing it.
    “You kept saying you had something to tell me over and over again earlier, just before you conked out,” he continues as a flight attendant gathers his blanket and stores it in the rear cabin.” Do you remember what it was?”
    I don’t speak right away for our coffee is ready and I need the caffeine to really wake up.  Something tells me I need to be on my guard when dealing with the likes of Heath Kheiron.  And considering I’ve never dealt with the likes of him before, I know I’m on uncharted territory. I wait till the flight attendant leaves before I answer him, taking a deep breath and steeling myself to remember every word.
    “I don’t care what you say, but I will not take charity from you, and I definitely will not be accepting everything you paid for this afternoon like it were some present to a girlfriend of yours — because I’m not your girlfriend. I’m only here because I want to get to my sister and help her.”
    He listens as he sips his coffee, black.  “Is that all?”
    “Also there’s a question of my name-”
    “Your name?” Heath asks, his left eyebrow arching as his blue eyes narrow. “What about your name? Are you telling me you’re not who you say you are?”
    “No! I mean, my name is not Not-Blythe,” I reply. “It’s Billie. Billie Rose Delphine. I was named for my grandfather, William, but everyone called him Bill, so I’d like you to respect that — if you can. He was a good man.”
    He cocks his head slightly. “William is a good strong name, and so is Bill. Billie Rose it is then.”
    “Billie,” I say.
    “I like the sound of Billie Rose,” he says.
    “Whatever. Just…no more Not-Blythe, because I’m not…” I pause, exhaling. “I do keep saying that, don’t I?”
    He nods.
    “And two more things-”
    “Yes?”
    While I want to tell Heath about the switched ID’s, I plan to do that after I make another point first, one that’s already making my face turn red. I need to set boundaries with him, that way there’ll be no misunderstanding between us, especially if that hazy memory of me asking someone to unhook my bra wasn’t a dream. “I know you said I’m your personal wind-up doll, and while I don’t mind whatever it is you plan to do to get me presentable to whoever we’re meeting, there will be no…no sex between us.”
    He tilts his head to the side.  “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you.”
    “No sex.”
    He looks amused.  “Now why would I assume there’d be sex between us?”
    “Well, just in case, you know, you’d think that just because you bought me everything — this dress, and everything else, the make-up, the skin and hair care products, you might assume that I’d, you know…” I stammer, not knowing how to say it without my face turning any redder, not when Heath is eyeing me like I’m suddenly on the menu, his eyes narrowing as he watches me.
    “Enlighten me, Billie.”
    ”That’s why I’m going to pay you back,” I continue. “As far I’m concerned, you’re after one thing — whatever it is Ethan took from you — while I just want to get my sister out of trouble. So what we have, with the shopping sprees and the private jet and all, is just an arrangement. But no sex.”
    It takes Heath a few minutes to answer, and the entire time he’s just watching me as squirm in my seat across from him.
    “And what would it take for us to have it?” he asks slowly, his voice edged with an anger I hadn’t expected at all.
    “Excuse me?”
    Heath pushes his coffee to the center of the table and leans forward, crossing his forearms on the table between us.  Gone is the angel’s face and in its place is the cold and hard mask he’s worn since I met him.
    “You said it yourself back at the shop – that you’re my personal wind-up doll,” he