Billionaires Find Love - Complete Series

Aubree Nichols tugged the ball cap down over her chin-length white-blonde hair before climbing out of her car and making her way inside the grocery store. It wasn’t that she didn’t want anyone to recognize her as the former actress from the daytime soap Love & Lies—normally she loved running into fans. No. It was for another reason entirely. A reason that had nothing to do with taking selfies with fans and everything to do with staying hidden from her stalker.

A bell tinkled against the glass door as she pushed it open, then she walked inside the small market. It was early in the morning—too early for most people. Just the way she liked it.

Keeping her head down, Aubree wrestled a cart away from the row of carts that were jammed together, then made her way to the produce section. As she picked up an avocado and gently squeezed, testing for ripeness, resentment toward her stalker made her squeeze a little too hard. Fortunately, the avocado was nowhere near ripe so she didn’t do any damage. 

Still, her resentment lingered. If it wasn’t for Tyler, she’d be home in Los Angeles, blissfully living her life. Okay, maybe her life wasn’t completely blissful—after all, Tyler’s constant harassment had led the producers to kill off her character on the soap. At least, that was what she believed. They’d claimed it was what was best for the storyline and that her character wasn’t that important. It was true that her part was small, but it had been her regular gig for the last six months. Regardless, now she had no job and no income and her small savings was rapidly running out.

Before she’d gained a stalker, she’d lived without fear. Now though, she and her dog Maya were hiding in her friend Janie’s unused cabin in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas until Tyler could be found and taken into custody.

Desperately hoping that would be soon, Aubree forced all thoughts of Tyler out of her head and focused on something safe—the weather. The weather wasn’t threatening her, wasn’t claiming she was engaged to him. And it wasn’t breaking into her house and digging through her most personal belongings.

With a shudder, Aubree looked toward the large glass windows that fronted the store, concentrating on the gorgeous day. Thank goodness it wasn’t the middle of winter. Then she would have to trudge through the snow. Not something this Southern California girl would appreciate at all. 

Instead, it was May. Snow remained in the highest elevations, but where Aubree was staying the temperature was cool but comfortable.

Frowning at her plight, Aubree bagged three avocados, then grabbed a bag of spinach leaves before moving on to the tomatoes. Nothing like a big green salad to make her feel better. That and a piece of dark chocolate.

She went to the dairy section and put a half gallon of almond milk into her cart, wondering if her former co-workers were missing her—because she missed them and her job desperately. Then she made her way down the canned goods aisle.

* * *

Cameron Shah parked his black Jeep, hopped out, then strode into the market. He had a lot of groceries to buy and didn’t want to take a lot of time to buy them. The pantry in his newly purchased cabin was nearly empty, and besides a few drinks, his fridge was bare as well. He’d always disliked grocery shopping. Maybe it stemmed from his childhood when there never seemed to be quite enough food and each shopping trip was like a giant math test where he had to help his mother decide what to put back when they added up the cost and knew they couldn’t get everything they needed.

Money was no longer an object, but those lingering memories had him checking prices on most items before placing them in his cart. He was worth over a billion dollars now, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling that it could all come crashing down.

He rolled his shopping cart up and down the aisles, stocking up on protein-packed foods as well as carb-loaded items. Though he spent the bulk of his time at his desk, at twenty-eight, he had energy to spare and running helped to keep his athletic body trim.

Pausing to look over the different cuts of meat, Cameron thought about his job. But it was more than a job. It was his life. As the developer of several wildly popular gaming apps, he got a thrill every time he saw someone playing one of them, often having to stop himself from peppering players with questions about what they liked or disliked about the games. Holding back a grin, he placed several packages of meat in his cart. 

It was early and the store was nearly empty, so when he turned down the cereal aisle and saw a woman using the bottom shelf as a step to reach a box on the top shelf, he kind of gawked for a second. She was petite—couldn’t have been much over five two—and slender. A ball cap obscured her face, but he was able to see the smooth skin on her jaw, and her full lips drew his attention as well. Form-fitting jeans accentuated her trim hips, and as she reached upward, a strip of tanned skin appeared between her jeans and light blue t-shirt. With her left hand she gripped an upper shelf, the toes of her tennis shoes clinging to the bottom shelf, and with her right hand she struggled to grab a box that was just out of her reach.

I should help her.

When the thought came to mind, Cameron felt like an idiot for watching her struggle instead of going right to her aid. Moving forward with purpose, Cameron said, “Let me help you with that.”

As his deep voice pierced the silence, the woman screamed, and before Cameron knew what was happening, he saw her tumble backwards, landing on her rear end on the hard floor of the market.

Feeling like her fall was somehow his fault, and worried that she’d hurt herself, he hurried toward her.

On the hunt for the perfect couch for her design client, Chloe leaned closer to the screen of her laptop, resting her forearms on her desk as she scrolled through the website of a furniture store. Completely focused on her search, when her cell phone rang, she startled. The caller ID said it was Hannah, her best friend. Ready for a break, Chloe smiled as she picked up her phone and swiped to answer. “Hey there.”

“Are you watching the news?”

Tilting her head as if Hannah could see her, she said, “Of course not. I’m working.”

“Turn on the news.”

The request was strange—Hannah knew Chloe didn’t have time to watch TV at work, so there must be a reason. Holding back a sigh, Chloe asked, “Which channel?”

“All of them. Any of them.” Hannah almost seemed out of breath. 

What in the world could be so important that all the news channels would be covering it? And what would have Hannah so agitated? “Okay. Hang on.”

Curious to find out what was going on, Chloe pulled up the website of her favorite news channel where they were broadcasting live. Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open, then she turned up the volume.

“…calling it a miracle,” the news anchor was saying. “The heir to Hewitt Consolidated, billionaire Nathan Hewitt, who has been missing and presumed dead for over a year, has been found.”

Chloe’s ears began to buzz and her vision went to pinpoints.

“Chloe?” Hannah asked. “Are you there?”

Her phone slipped out of her hand and landed softly on the carpeted floor.

Finding it hard to catch her breath, Chloe squeezed her eyes closed and focused on the air going in and out of her lungs.

Breathe, Chloe. Breathe. In and out. In and out.

When she had gathered herself, she opened her eyes, her gaze skittering back to the news broadcast.

The words the news anchor was saying about Nathan—marooned on a deserted island after his yacht had sunk, rescued by men on a fishing boat—barely slid into Chloe’s brain. All the while, she stared at the screen as it showed Nathan. Not the stock photo the news stations had shown when he and his yacht had gone missing one year earlier. No. This was a live shot of the man who was responsible for the death of Chloe’s sister. And he looked fine. Okay, maybe he was a little thinner. But still, he was alive. Unlike Lisa. 

Fury, powerful and swift, slammed through Chloe, replacing the shock she’d felt moments before. At the same time, she was stunned that Nathan had been found. And if she was honest with herself, she was a tiny bit relieved as well.

Growing up, she and her younger sister Lisa had been best friends with Nathan, hanging out all the time. But one year earlier, when Chloe and Nathan were twenty-three and Lisa was twenty-two, Nathan had decided to take an extended trip on his family’s yacht. A cruise to celebrate his college graduation. And he’d asked Lisa to go with him. Only Lisa. Chloe had crushed on Nathan for years, so when he’d chosen her sister—a girl who was all about having a good time rather than having any kind of relationship—Chloe had been jealous. And hurt. Why hadn’t he invited her? Then again, it made sense. Nathan and Lisa were two peas in a pod. So alike that it only made sense that he’d chosen her.

But then the yacht had vanished. Several weeks later, after an extensive search, the yacht—and Lisa’s body—had been found. The body of the yacht’s captain had been found as well. Both deaths were due to drowning, and when Nathan’s body hadn’t been found, everyone had assumed he’d drowned as well.

Now though, seeing Nathan walking off of a plane, perfectly intact while her sister’s remains were buried in the cold ground, Chloe wanted to storm over to the Hewitt mansion and confront Nathan. But the thought of facing him also sent her heart into a painful gallop and she knew she wasn’t ready to see the man whose face she had never been able to get out of her mind.

“Here’s one, Cait,” Amy said from the couch, holding up Cait’s phone as if Cait could see it from where she stood at the kitchen counter chopping carrots for their dinner. 

“Amy,” Cait said to her best friend and roommate, her tone slightly annoyed, “I told you. I can choose my dates myself.”

“Too late,” Amy said with a giggle. “I swiped right. Besides, he’s super hot.”

Wearing a bemused smile, Cait shook her head. If the man reached out to her, Cait could just ignore him. She didn’t know why she’d signed up on that dating app in the first place. Scratch that. Yes, she did. Because Amy had pressured her into it. “Put my phone down before you do something I’ll regret.”

Amy laughed, but at least she complied. “Thanks for making dinner tonight, Cait.”

“No problem. You’ve been working a lot of overtime, so I’m happy to step in.”

“I’ll clean up, of course,” Amy said.

“Yes, you will.” Though Cait got home earlier than Amy, she still had a lot of homework to review from her second grade class. She loved teaching those little seven and eight year olds, but it was also exhausting. Still, she was grateful to have a good job. Growing up, she’d seen her mother struggle to support her and her sister after their father had left when Cait had been a pre-teen. Ever since, Cait had made it a top priority to make sure she could support herself, and as long as she earned enough to meet her extremely modest needs, she was satisfied.

Amy got up from the couch and came into their tiny kitchen, then leaned against the counter. “At least all this overtime is giving me extra money.”

Cait nodded, wishing she could get paid overtime for all the extra hours she put in, but that’s not how teaching worked. Didn’t matter. She loved what she did and she was frugal. Though money had its place, it wasn’t the most important thing to her. No. The most important thing was doing what she loved and finding happiness among life’s challenges. 

She considered her challenges and knew the biggest one was her love life—or lack of a love life. Smiling, she shook her head as she put the carrots into a steamer and turned on the heat under the pot.

* * *

Luke Mills stretched his back as he stood in front of the floor to ceiling windows in his office, which overlooked downtown Los Angeles. He’d just finished an extremely important conference call, one that hadn’t gone as well as he’d hoped it would. As founder and CEO of Mills International Holdings, a billion dollar company he’d built from the ground up, Luke was frequently under a tremendous amount of pressure. Pressure which made the muscles all over his body knot up in protest. To mitigate that, he made sure to spend at least an hour each day working out. It was amazing how much that physical exertion helped him reduce his stress. When those little endorphins flowed through his veins, he felt invincible. Too bad he wasn’t.

He shook his head. He would figure things out.

A knock sounded at the closed door of his office.

“Come in,” he called out as he turned around.

“How’d the call go?” Brad, the COO asked as he strode inside.

Luke sat behind his desk and Brad sat in one of the two chairs in front of the desk.

“Not great,” Luke said, before giving him the particulars.

Brad frowned. “Not to pile bad news on top of bad news, but TZK is talking about pulling out of the deal.”

Luke frowned deeply. Just what he needed. One more problem to deal with. Well, that’s what he did. Like a fireman, he was always putting out fires. Trouble was, if he didn’t extinguish his fires quickly they could turn into conflagrations that could burn his business severely.

They discussed how they could handle the issue, then Luke thanked Brad and Brad left, closing the door behind him.

Trying not to feel overwhelmed by all that he had on his plate, Luke clenched his jaw, then picked up his phone. He needed to get out of his head for a minute and he knew the perfect way to do it.

He opened the dating app he’d joined on a whim the night before. Okay, maybe it hadn’t been a complete whim. He’d been thinking about it for a couple of weeks. Now, as he pulled up his profile, he softly chuckled as he read the fiction he’d created.

Name: Luke

Occupation: Chef

Interests and Activities: Bowling, biking, hiking, camping, fishing, really anything outdoors. 

Tired of dating women who seemed to be interested in him only for his bank account, Luke had decided to create a fake profile. Well, mostly fake. The picture he’d posted was really him, and he really did enjoy those things he’d listed as a hobby—although he rarely had time to do any of them. Picturing himself as a chef made him smirk. Yes, he enjoyed cooking, but he couldn’t imagine doing it full time. Then again, maybe that would be an awesome job. Had to be less stressful than running his billion dollar corporation.

He wondered what woman would be interested in the person he’d created in his profile—a man who wasn’t a billionaire, but rather a man who lived a regular life. He was intrigued by the thought, actually. In a way it felt as if he was infiltrating the dating site as a way to do some research. Kind of like those shows where the boss pretended to be an employee to see what it was really like to work at his own company. Luke wanted to see what it was like to date a woman who was interested in him for him, separate from his financial worth. A woman who had no idea he was a billionaire but instead believed he was a regular Joe.

The app notified him that several women had shown interest in his profile since he’d created it the night before. He skimmed through the profiles of the women who had apparently swiped right on him. One in particular caught his eye. Cait. Honey blonde hair and an engaging smile. Enjoyed outdoor activities. Taught elementary school. 

He stared at her picture for several long moments, then on impulse, he sent her a message.

Ethan sat back and watched as his friends Luke and Cait exchanged marriage vows. When he thought about the way they’d met, he had to suppress a chuckle. Luke had finally told him that he’d created a fake profile on a dating app to hide the fact that he was a billionaire.

Maybe I should do something like that, he thought, but immediately discarded the idea. That wasn’t his style. Besides, what were the odds he would find someone as charming and wonderful as Cait? Not high. 

Instead of thinking about his pitiful love life, he focused on the lovely ceremony, basking in the reflected joy that was so clear on the faces of Luke and Cait.

All through the reception, which included an amazing four-course meal, Ethan couldn’t stop thinking about the new adventure he was about to embark upon. It was something he’d been thinking about for a while, ever since his father had passed away unexpectedly several months earlier. Throughout Ethan’s growing up years—and to be honest, even as an adult—his father had always made an effort to let Ethan know what was most important—relationships with those you love. Family ties. Basically, things money couldn’t buy. 

After his father’s death, Ethan had taken that to heart and had realized that the oft-repeated phrase “Money can’t buy happiness” was actually true. So, he’d sold his extremely lucrative business and was now walking completely away from the life he’d known, the life he’d built for himself. If he wasn’t only thirty-one, he might have called it a mid-life crisis. But no. That’s not what it was. He’d had an epiphany that although he was wealthy beyond what he’d ever dreamed of, he wasn’t happy. Now he was doing something about it.

A while later, as Ethan watched couples moving around the dance floor, Luke came over to him and said, “So glad you could come.” Luke and Cait had already taken their first dance and now they were mingling with their guests.

Ethan smiled warmly. “I wouldn’t miss it.”

Luke chuckled. “Just glad it didn’t interfere with you moving into seclusion.”

That brought a loud laugh from Ethan. “Sounds like you think I’m going to be a hermit.”

Luke’s eyebrows rose in question. “Aren’t you? All alone in that cabin in the middle of nowhere?”

Shaking his head, Ethan couldn’t stop his grin. He was eager to get to the modest cabin he’d purchased in Cedar Park, California, and eager to take on DIY projects. While growing up, he’d helped his father on many projects around their house and felt rather confident in his handyman skills. He would find out soon enough if his confidence was well placed or a colossal over estimation of his skill set.

“The town proper is only a few miles away,” he said in reply to Luke’s comment. “Hardly in the middle of nowhere.”

Luke gave Ethan a hearty pat on the back. “Whatever you say.” A smirk tugged up one side of his mouth. “When you get tired of nothing to do and no one around, you’re welcome to come stay at my place.” Luke looked toward Cait, who was visiting with other guests. Love filled his eyes. “I guess I should say our place.”

At the look of adoration on Luke’s face, Ethan couldn’t help but feel envious. Sure, he had dated lots of women, but he’d never found the one. Well, he certainly wouldn’t find her among the forests of the Sierra-Nevada’s. Anyway, that wasn’t why he was going. Quite the contrary. He felt a deep need to get back to basics, to focus on something completely opposite of making money. To use his hands and his wits to solve different kinds of problems. Not the kinds of problems that led to making stacks of money, but things like, how to repair a clogged sink or a leaky roof. Or how to lay a new wood floor. 

Yeah. He was eager to get started on this adventure.

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