Billionaires in New York Boxed Set: Billionaires in the City Books 1-3 Laura Burton (books to read this summer .TXT) 📖

mirror and her heart skipped a beat. The hair and makeup team had transformed her to look like Helen of Troy. According to Greek myth, she was married when Paris––a prince from another land––instantly fell in love with her beauty. He launched an attack on Sparta to kidnap Helen.

How fitting to be in the arms of Matt Broker when Harry walked in; he was the last person she expected to see. Noelle told her nothing about the producers for the movie, only that she needed to stand-in for an actress who fell sick.

This day was turning out crazier than she could have dreamed. Emily would love this. It was a perfect opportunity to spend more time with Harry. Part of her wondered if Emily had somehow engineered it all; it wouldn’t be surprising if her friend had something to do with the actress’ mysterious illness. She’d known Emily to take her matchmaking business far too seriously on occasion.

Julie stepped out of her dress and carefully draped it over the chair. She stared at it for a few moments deep in thought. A scenario played out in her mind of her wearing the dress and walking arm in arm with Harry in a beautiful garden, when a knock on the door snapped her out of her reverie. In a flash, she grabbed the dress back up and held it to her body like a shield.

“Yes,” Julie called out in a startled tone. The door swung open and Julie yelped at the sight of Harry standing in the doorway while she stood there undressed.

“Sorry, I thought you meant I could come in.” Harry’s face turned crimson as he backed out of the room and quickly closed the door. Julie scrambled to pull on her jeans, jumping up and down to force the denim over her hips.

“I thought you were Noelle!” Bending down she picked up her rumpled shirt off the floor, stuffed it over her head, then smoothed the material over her stomach. “Okay”—she flicked her hair back and opened the door slowly—“you can come in.”

Harry ruffled his hair and offered a sheepish smile.

“Hi,” he said in a low, silky voice, as if they were meeting each other for the very first time. His bashfulness sent rushes of energy through Julie’s body, wanting her to run over and throw her arms around his shoulders. She cleared her throat and forced herself to stop fantasizing.

“Hi,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant.

The two of them stood facing each other, looking a little lost for a moment. They cast their eyes about the room as if waiting for further instructions. Julie surveyed him closely. His shirt revealed just enough of his collarbone to show off his tanned skin. As she scrutinized him, he brought his finger to his lips, and her eye caught the leather bracelet wrapped around his right wrist. He opened his mouth to speak, but seemed to change his mind.

Julie decided to break the tension. “So, where are we going?” The question snapped Harry out of a daze.

“Right. About that.” He glanced behind him as if to check no one was eavesdropping, before he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. Julie took an automatic step backward; the two of them alone in the changing room sent flurries of excitement through her.

“Matt––you know the guy you were taking photos with––has a few concerns about the press tour, so I need to take a rain check.”

“Oh” was all Julie could say, wishing she was more eloquent, or could at least muster up a few syllables.

“I’m really sorry.” He shifted his weight uncomfortably and clapped his hands. “Are you free tonight?”

Julie was free. Her next batch of dresses were not due for another week, and besides work she had zero social life. When she wasn’t working her fingers to the bone, her evenings consisted of Netflix marathons while snuggled up with Tabby. It was not the thing she needed to confess to the big-shot movie producer who was currently canceling their impromptu date.

“I’ll have to check my diary,” she joked, resisting the urge to laugh at herself. She decided to trust he wouldn’t cancel again the next time one of the actors had a pressing need.

Harry nodded but his brooding manner sent Julie’s thoughts back to the carriage ride through Central Park.

His furrowed brows and deep, piercing eyes were enough to lower any woman’s defenses. Julie took a tentative step forward and touched his arm, realizing he didn’t get her humor. A spark lit up behind his eyes at her touch. “I’m kidding. What did you want to do?”

Chapter Eight

Music for the Soul

Harry anxiously shifted in his seat in his office listening to Matt ranting about his costar Sabrina.

“I’m not doing the tour without her. You’re going to have to sort it out.”

“She’s sick. What am I supposed to do?”

Matt shrugged and folded his arms. “Not my problem.” He reclined against the back of his chair and eyed Harry shrewdly.

He thinks he owns me.

Harry wanted to take him by the scruff of the neck and demand more respect. His brother Jonas wouldn’t even hesitate, but he owned a chain of CrossFit gyms and had the biceps to match the image. One punch would knock Matt off his chair and have him scrambling across the floor like a bug. Harry smirked to himself as he pictured it. Harry, however, was not his brother. He was the peacekeeper. The gentle one. Not an alpha.

“I’m sure we can work this out. Perhaps I can delay the tour a couple of days. I’ll need to make a few calls.”

“I don’t care what you have to do. If Sabrina isn’t able to do the tour, I’m not going.” Matt rose to his feet and stared at Harry with a dark look as if daring him to argue. The two of them had been talking for two hours, eating into Harry’s day. He glanced at his watch and gave Matt a nod in defeat.

“I’ll update you in the