Chapter 10
Duke rested his hand on the small outdoor table as a breeze rushed over his skin. A breeze that brought the delicious aroma of his favorite Casado food stand in all of Costa Rica.
To make it even better, he was seated across from none other than Vivi Tripoli. He wasn’t sure when the magnitude of the situation would wear off.
He glanced up to admire her face. Though they sat in the shade of a colorful table umbrella, a reflection of sunlight danced across her high, rounded cheekbones.
They were part of her tell—the way they’d pop at the slightest hint of a grin.
Duke had seen them do that very thing as she sat in on the photo shoot, and he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t enjoyed it.
Viv pulled her gaze off the food stand and turned to him. “Pura vida. I keep seeing that on street signs and food stands.”
“Means pure life,” Duke said. “It’s a theme here in Costa Rica.
That’s probably why I love it so much, you know?
I go to other places, knowing I’ll have work to do while I’m there, and I’m not even fazed by it.
But when I come here, I try to clear those things off my schedule as quickly as possible so I can just… enjoy the simple life.”
Viv’s brow furrowed. “A billionaire should be able to live the simple life any time he wants, shouldn’t he?”
Duke shook his head. “Not even close. Well,” he relented, “if he fell into money somehow, or was born into it and he didn’t care about growing it, investing it, using it in productive ways, then sure. But none of the Bentons fit into that category. It’s not in our blood.”
Viv scratched a few lines in her notepad before setting her gaze back on him. “So, what is in your blood where your billionaire status is concerned?”
“Just the opposite. My grandpa used to call them the three G’s. Our obligation regarding our wealth was to grow wisely, to guard carefully, and to give generously.”
She nodded as she wrote some more. “Okay, that goes back to what you said about him last night. Sounds like he was a generous man.”
Duke nodded proudly. “Very.”
“Huh, that’s nice. So work is a priority, but it seems like you guys balance things out with a little fun, like travel and vacation homes.”
“Yes. Traveling, enjoying other countries, cultures, food…those things are—to a Benton—the epitome of money well spent.”
Vivi held his gaze, and Duke couldn’t help but notice the sparks of mischief in her brown eyes. It had him recalling late nights racing around the fountain at the park, or quiet evenings playing chess on a blanket out back.
“Let’s play a game,” she said. “You fill in the blanks. If anyone knew that I spent blank dollars on blank, they’d probably…”
“Crap their pants,” Duke filled in for her. The remark earned him a full-on laugh from Viv.
“That’s not what I was going to say, but sure. Let’s go with that. How would you fill in the blanks?”
Two purchases came to mind. One clear back from his senior year. He skipped that one and focused on a more recent splurge. A purely selfish one.
“You know I love baseball,” he started. “Well, I recently put a baseball diamond on my property. A freaking nice one with a sectioned off batting cage. We’re talking top of the line equipment.
I paid a guy to come in and make it look like I was batting at Yankee Stadium.
” He chuckled. “My brothers are going to give me so much crap for it.”
“They haven’t seen it yet?” she asked.
Duke shook his head.
“Do I get to see it?”
His pulse spiked as he considered bringing Vivi onto his estate. “Sure. If you’d like to. We can hit a few rounds. I have a fake audience that cheers when I hit a home run.”
Her smile broadened. “That’s awesome. You played for Stanford your freshman year. I thought you were going to keep going. What changed your mind?”
Duke shrugged. “Choices, I guess. I always sort of knew there were expectations surrounding my future. When you’re born into a family like mine—with world-changing amounts of money, essentially—you just kind of know your place is to, well, now we’re back to the three Gs, aren’t we?”
“I have to say,” Vivi said, her face thoughtful.
She’d finished her casado and was still working on her iced horchata.
“I love what your family does on your TV show The Lion’s Den.
I never knew how many revolutionary companies—essential businesses, even—end up drowning in debt.
How many have gone under because they just couldn’t get past a rough bump.
“You and your siblings have rescued so many corporations that would have gone under if it wasn’t for you.”
Her comment warmed a very deep place in his heart. The truth was, Duke had a passion for what he did. “Not everyone sees it that way,” he said, “but I’m glad that enough people do.”
Viv’s forehead scrunched up in question. “Why would anyone object to it?”
“Some say we’re grandstanding. Showing off our wealth or making people grovel on public TV to get the help they need.”
Vivi nodded. “Yeah, but no one’s making them do it. It’s a great opportunity. That’s the price they pay.”
“Exactly,” he said. “Plus, it gives other investors a chance to take what we turn down.”
“True,” she said. “I love that.”
He loved that she loved it. That she understood what drove him to do what he did.
“Back to baseball for a minute,” Viv said. “I understand you felt the need to get on with your career. But you didn’t think you could afford a detour—just for a few years? I mean, you were good. I remember. They made a big deal out of you.”
Duke gulped, conflicted by the concern he saw in her eyes. She cared about him, he liked knowing that. But he didn’t want anyone’s pity. Especially when he lived a life as good as his.
“It’s hard to feel bad when I’m the one who made the choice,” he said. “Especially since I’ve had some very fulfilling years since then. I have nearly everything I want.” There. Next question, please.
Viv nodded, but the intensity in her gaze didn’t let up.
A restless wave worked through him, causing Duke to shift in his seat.
Something told him the next question was heading toward him like an oncoming train, its massive headlight ready to shine in the hidden corners of his life.
Corners he might not want to look at himself, let alone show to the world.
“You do have a lot. But you said in your own words that you have nearly everything you want. What’s missing?”
Whoa. Duke averted her seeking gaze. His pulse spiked up a notch. She always did know how to read him, even all those years back. He shifted his focus to a distant tree, its branches swaying in the wind, green against a sky of blue.
Beyond that, a layer of clouds loomed over the distant waves. A fast-moving layer, it seemed. Duke recalled the moment he discovered the social experiment Married at First Meet. The loneliness that had driven him to submit that first questionnaire.
“Duke?” Vivi reached a hand across the table and rested it over his.
A rush of warmth spread through him at her silky touch. A level of surprise washed in too.
He cleared his throat. “I don’t have everything I hoped to have at my age. But part of me knew I might not get it.” He regretted tagging on that last part, as true as it might be.
“Is that why you signed up for Married At First Meet?”
Whoa again. How had she done that? It’s like she was climbing right into his mind. “Maybe.”
“That shocked a whole lot of people—seeing your name appear on that show. I researched the trending posts and articles from that time. The Benton brothers’ biggest fans had the loudest statement about your appearance—they suspected that the Duke on the show wasn’t actually Duke at all. It was Zander.
“Of course, they were right. But let’s not focus on that one. An equally popular question was this: Why would someone like Duke Benton ever sign up for a glorified dating service?”
Duke groaned. “I’ve never heard anyone call it that before.”
“Isn’t that what it is?”
He shrugged. “Maybe.”
“So why’d you do it?”
She pulled her hand back, used it to tuck a strand of her long, wavy hair behind one ear. “It’s not like you had a shortage of women to choose from.”
Duke almost rolled his eyes at the irony.
“That’s where you’re wrong.” Irritated heat burned in his chest. “Just because I have a beautiful woman by my side for special events or nights out—that doesn’t mean I’m actually considering marriage with them.
Or even a serious relationship most of the time. ”
“Well, that’s obvious by the way you cycle through women.”
More heat flared. “Women who want nothing more than to be seen with me,” he snapped. “Women hoping to score some paparazzi shot with Duke Benton to boost their own personal fame.”
“Why do you pick women like that?”
“Because.” He searched for an honest reply, and found it flying off his lips before he could stop it.
“Because that’s the kind of women that want me.
It’s what I attract. When I signed up for the experiment, I figured I’d get just the opposite.
” That’s all he’d wanted—a woman who’d be just as happy marrying the average Joe as she’d be about stumbling onto a well-known billionaire.
“It’s rumored that you answered the questions in that social experiment as if you were actually your twin brother. Did you?”
How in the world did she do it? Sheesh. “I don’t want you to report that.” Duke looked down at her phone pointedly, wishing he could squelch the adrenaline shooting through his blood.
“Here’s the thing,” he started, “as a woman I care about, as a woman I once wronged, you deserve answers. But not everything I tell you can go in that article.”
Vivi dropped her gaze, drummed her fingers on her notebook, and sniffed. “The agreement you signed says I can use anything we discuss for the article.”
“Then I guess I won’t discuss it with you.” Duke tipped his head until she met his gaze once more.
If humans could lock horns, this is what it would look like. It went deeper than the fixed glare between them; there was something greater happening beneath.
“Who really wants to know?” he challenged. “The people reading the article, or you?”
“Both.”
“But most people haven’t heard that rumor, as you call it.”
“They will after this interview,” she assured.
Duke flinched from the comment. “I thought you were supposed to…”
“What, Duke? Give the public what you want them to hear? That’s not how it works. I’m supposed to paint an image of the true you. In order to do that, I have to find him first. I’ve got to get to the bottom of your recent behavior. And this wedding game show is at the top of everyone’s list.”
She was right. It was, essentially, the beef America had with him. Duke rolled his shoulders back, hoping to ease the tension he felt growing tighter with every breath.
Tension that wouldn’t go away until he worked through this part with Viv. He thought back on his mindset at that time in his life. Considered the series of events leading up to his decision.
“You know that Winston died of an overdose, right?” Images of his youngest brother seeped into his mind, each carrying a significance of their own.
“Yes,” she said softly.
“We had this camaraderie, you know? Winston was the other black sheep. Even better, he always ventured a step beyond me. I loved hanging out with him. It felt nice having someone willing to go further out of bounds than I’d go.
Not too far, of course.” He shrugged. “I don’t know, it was just good to be the more mature, serious natured brother sometimes. ”
He glanced at the notepad by her side, wondering if Vivi would pick up the pen again. She didn’t.
“After he died, I felt responsible in a way. Maybe if I’d have been more tame he wouldn’t have had to go so far to exceed me.” That stinging sensation—the one that always snuck in when he thought of Winston—seeped in like venom.
“To make up for it,” Duke continued, “I changed the way I acted after his death. I went so far as to do the opposite of what I’d normally do, figuring the more different from my natural self I was, the better.”
Another glance down. Still Vivi left the pen untouched.
“But with the whole Married At First Meet situation, I think there was something more driving me to answer those questions the way Zander might.” Sparks of adrenaline kicked up as he considered the confession at his lips.
“I wanted someone that wasn’t attracted to the bad boy who dated one woman after the next without a care.
I wanted a woman who was down to earth. More serious minded.
Ready to settle down, even. I think what I really wanted—what I want even still is…
” He gulped as he glanced across the table.
What he really wanted was her. Or at very least, a woman like her.
Vivi leaned in at the absence of his words.
Duke offered an equally true statement. “I want someone who wants the man I’m working to be. Not the image I’m working to shed, if that makes sense.”
A cool wind picked up suddenly, sending the napkins up and off the table in one swift move. From his periphery, Duke saw a nearby attendant snatching them from the ground as they toppled.
“So maybe you answered them more like yourself than you realize,” Viv said.
Duke considered that, then shrugged. “Maybe. But not where habits of my past are concerned. I used Zander’s history, and his impulses too. Mine are too…” His gaze dropped to Vivi’s lips as he remembered the first time he kissed her. “…reckless.”
“Hmm.”
Another breeze came in, this one dotted with drops of rain or ocean water, he couldn’t be sure. A quick glance at the sky said the clouds he’d spied were coming in quickly.
His phone beeped from within his pocket. Duke was quick to retrieve it since they were supposed to meet the crew at the waterfall for his next shoot.
Zee: There’s a storm coming in. We’ll have to move the shoot to tomorrow. Get back to your island safely.
Duke looked up at the blanket of clouds—the sky had grown darker as it neared.
“The shoot’s been moved to tomorrow,” he said, tucking the phone back into his pocket. “We should probably head back to the house.”
Just as the words left his mouth, Viv’s eyes widened in question. “The house?” It came out sounding more like a squeak. “Just us?”
“The others have a place here. They’re already heading back.”
The energy between them shifted as she held his gaze, the words just us seeming to toy with his senses.
Duke’s pulse pumped faster. Hotter too. It felt as if he’d just asked her to come back to his place after a date. As if the idea were loaded with expectations.
Another wind kicked up, causing the papers from Vivi’s notepad to rustle and lift. She slapped a hand over the pages.
“Right now?” she asked.
The pen rolled toward the edge of the table. Duke caught it and closed a fist around it. “Yes,” he said. “We’d better make it quick.”