The Billionaire Takes a Bride (Billionaires and Bridesmaids, #3)(12)

Hunter wasn’t the chattiest partner, so it was sometimes tough to get him to open up. Not today, it seemed. Sebastian was a little surprised when Hunter admitted, “Lost out on an important bid earlier. Too distracted by wedding stuff.”

“Glad it’s you getting married and not me,” Sebastian said, putting his hands on one of the lower pre-bolted sport route handholds. “The last thing I need is more media attention.”

“It’s not the media,” Hunter said in his gravelly voice, approaching the wall. “Gretchen wouldn’t do that to me. It’s . . . well, it’s Gretchen. She’s planning this big costume party for the engagement announcement and she’s all worked up.”

Sebastian’s brows drew together. He wasn’t exactly sure how that was distracting. “And . . .”

“And when she gets worked up, she takes her stress out on me.”

The words sounded like they were growled out of Hunter’s throat, and Sebastian paused in his climb to look over at his partner. Sure enough, Hunter’s face was bright red, and not from exertion. “Ah,” he said, chuckling. “That kind of distraction. You poor, suffering beast. How do you cope?”

“Fuck off,” Hunter said. “I—” He bit the words off and stared into the distance.

Sebastian turned to look . . . and cursed.

Now he knew why the gym was so crowded. A trio of cameras were filming a short distance away, and another man held a long boom mic over the head of a girl with white-blonde bleached hair. She was wearing a hot pink sports bra and matching yoga pants . . . and stilettos. And when she turned, he swore again.

Lisa Pinder-Schloss. His ex from hell. The one who wanted to be as famous as the rest of his family.

She brightened at the sight of him and bounded over, her big implants jiggling as she trotted to the climbing wall. And all Sebastian could do was hang there, a few feet off the ground, stunned as she and her entourage showed up.

“Hi, baby,” she cooed, staggering over to the climbing wall. Her heels sunk into the mats and she wobbled with every step.

“Lisa? What are you doing here?” Sebastian said, releasing the hand holds and sliding back down to the ground. At least she had the sense to approach when he was at the bottom of the wall and not the top.

He looked over at Hunter, and he had his hands in front of his face, squinting. “If those cameras don’t get off of me in two seconds, I’m suing the daylights out of each and every one of you,” the scarred billionaire growled.

Immediately, all three cameras swiveled away and zoomed in on Lisa.

Sebastian dusted his hands, stepping a few feet away to give Hunter his privacy. He knew the man was reclusive and hated his picture taken. Hell, Hunter hated going out in public at all but was trying to do better for his fiancée. Definitely time for Sebastian to look into that private climbing wall. Fuck.

He took Lisa by the elbow and dragged her to the side. “What are you doing here?”

She pouted. “I came to see you.”

Her pout looked ridiculous. She’d clearly gotten a lot of recent work done and not only were her breasts enormous, nipples poking through the thin fabric of her bra, but her lips were bloated, too. They looked like a duck bill, protruding from her face and stretching her once pretty features into a caricature. She’d clearly gone overboard with the plastic surgery. She’d been tanning quite a bit and looked, well, a bit too orange to be natural. Kind of like a pumpkin.

“You came here to see me or you came to film for the show?” he asked bluntly, unhooking his harness.

She twirled a lock of hair—probably extensions. “Can’t it be both?”

“You know I hate the show.” Damn it, he couldn’t unclip himself. He was too pissy and in too much of a hurry.

“I miss you, baby. Can we talk privately?” She put her hand on his belt harness and tried to pull him forward.

“No! Don’t touch me.” He flung himself backward so hard that he slammed onto the mat and lay there for a moment, spread eagle.

Fuck. That was going to make the promo, he just knew it.

She giggled and then bit one of her bloated lips in an attempt to look cute. “We need to talk about you and me.”

“There is no you and me. There hasn’t been for years.”

“I miss you—”

“I don’t miss you, and I don’t want any of this.” He waved an arm at the cameras still filming his every move. “Just because my mother wants me on TV doesn’t mean I want to be there.”

Her eyes widened. “Did you know Mama Precious has cancer?”

Oh, no. He was not getting involved in the damn cancer story line. Not one bit. Ignoring the bait she’d dropped, he clenched his jaw. “I don’t want to be in a relationship with you, Lisa, okay? Just leave me alone.”

Lisa’s hands went to her hips. “I’m not going to give up on you, Sebastian Cabral. You’re going to see that I’m the perfect girlfriend for you. What we had was good.”

What they’d had was brief and annoying. “Go away, Lisa.”

“You just wait. I refuse to take no for an answer.” She tossed her head and stalked away.

Frustrated, he rubbed his forehead. Everyone was staring. He couldn’t come back to this gym again. Hell, he was going to have to convince Hunter that this wasn’t a setup.