Free Billionaires Don't Like Nice Girls (A BWWM Romance) by Mia Caldwell Page A

He’s kind of right about the cheating, though. There are tricks to some of these games if you want to beat them.”
    “Yeah,” James said. “One year she was barred from the fair for winning too much.”
    “And most of it I won for someone else,” Phae said. “I didn’t hear you complaining back then when I was only twelve and you were eighteen, begging me to win a gaudy necklace so you could give it to a twit you wanted to impress.”
    James grinned. “That girl was kind of a twit.”
    Kent ignored James and said to Phae, “So what are we going to do now that you’ve admitted you’re cheating?”
    “I said you were kind of right about it, that there are tricks to help.”
    “I don’t think that’s what you said, but semantics aside, we need to level the field somehow.”
    “I won’t tell you my secrets,” Phae said. “I’d never break my promise to my uncle. This is all kind of dumb, anyway. Let’s forget the whole thing.”
    “No!” the other three exclaimed in unison.
    “I can’t believe this,” Phae said. “Fine. There are a lot of games that are new since I was a kid. Like that water thing over there and the electronic gizmo that’s making all those pinging sounds. We’ll stick to games my uncle didn’t teach me about and that should make it fair for everyone. How’s that?”
    The two men grumbled, looked questioningly at one another, then nodded their affirmation.
    “Finally,” Neesa said. “Let’s go! We pick the duck pond next.”
    “We do?” asked Phae. “But that’s just a game of luck.”
    “I know.” She lowered her voice and whispered to Phae. “I’m going to get Sylvie to help us pick. You know how she claims to be psychic.”
    “Please. She’s about as psychic as my big toe.”
    “Yeah, well, I say it’s worth a shot.”
    They walked off into the crowd, the two men so disgusted with the duck pond selection that they looked ready to bolt. Phae decided this alone was a good enough reason for Neesa to have picked the game.
    She didn’t want to admit it, but Phae wanted to win this contest. She wished she weren’t so competitive, but she simply couldn’t help it.
    In the past, she’d run off men with this type of behavior. She knew the smart thing would have been to play dumb at the shooting gallery. Instead, she’d allowed herself to react to Kent’s gibes and gave her best Annie Oakley impression.
    What had it gotten her? Or more importantly, what had it cost? So far, Kent was still hanging around. But for how long?
    She had a friend in high school who had all the boys traipsing after her as if she were a goddess. Phae used to watch her in amazement, because, frankly, this friend wasn’t a great beauty or anything. But the men thought she was gorgeous. Why?
    After watching the girl for a while, Phae learned her secret: she played the helpless little female act. She was all fluttery lashes and compliments and carrying on about how strong and great the guys were. “Ooh, I wish I could do that as good as you do,” was a constant refrain.
    Phae used to watch her coo and gush until she was so revolted she couldn’t take it anymore. That friend of hers was terrifically intelligent, extremely capable and had a biting wit. But she didn’t show a moment of any of it to the guys she dated.
    And she dated A LOT of guys.
    Phae hadn’t dated hardly anyone the past few years, and she hadn’t been out with anyone more than twice. It seemed the more independent and outspoken she became, the more time she spent without the company of the opposite sex.
    Now here she was with the hottest man she’d ever known, and she’d been drawn into a contest that could ruin everything. Her old friend from high school would have never let this happen.
    As Phae, Neesa, Kent and James moved from game to game, Phae discovered that Kent was as competitive as she was. He was determined to beat her, and no matter how hard she tried to squelch the feelings, she wanted to beat him every bit