Текст книги "The Billionaire's Temptation: Alpha Billionaire Romance"

Автор книги: L. N. Pearl

Соавторы: S. K. Lee
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The Billionaire’s Temptation

The Billionaire’s Touch Series Book 1

L.N. Pearl

 

Copyright © 2015 by L.N. Pearl. All rights reserved worldwide.

No part of this publication may be replicated, redistributed, or given away in any form without the prior written consent of the author/publisher or the terms relayed to you herein.

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

***

Book description:

Kendra has fire in her veins and steel in her backbone.

She’s a fighter, someone who had to overcome the demons of her past and she has big dreams. However, she’s not just a dreamer: she’s a doer as well. Being extremely gifted as a fashion designer, she’s set up her own business and is waiting for her big break. But rent is due and Kendra is broke.

Jax runs one of the biggest investment banks in the country. The handsome devil is young, attractive and successful, which makes him dangerously desirable. And he knows it. Besides sports cars, there’s one thing he loves collecting: women. But this is about to change.

After a terrible accident, Jax suddenly becomes responsible for another life: his six month old nephew, a bundle of warmth and joy, but also an incredible responsibility.

Jax needs help and his reputation is now a burden: gold diggers and shallow bimbos posing as nannies keep lining up, but none of them really cares for the baby.

But one nanny will stand out: Kendra. And she’s going to rock his world.

Note: this is the first book out of five in the series. Contains explicit language for a mature audience only.

Table of Contents

1 – Jax

2 – Kendra

3 – Kendra

4 – Jax

5 – Kendra

6 – Jax

7 – Kendra

8 – Kendra

1 – Jax

The night hadn’t gone anything like I’d hoped.

Mia, my blonde bombshell of a date, snuggled into the passenger seat of my Rolls Royce, and immediately began talking about herself. Apparently, she was her favorite subject.

I pulled into the drive and just sat there. Forced to wait for the valet to come retrieve the key to park my car. I owned the entire building, for fuck’s sake. I wasn’t in the mood to wait.

I lived in the top-floor penthouse and collected rent from all the tenants living below. It worked out. I provided luxurious condos and in return received needed assets to invest in. Plus, the building was a steal that I simply couldn’t pass up.

“Wow, is this your place?” she asked, looking up at the tall building. “I love it. Sleek and modern, just the way I like,” she gushed, a large smile on her pretty face.

It should have caused me to smile, but I was beyond finding anything in common with her. A good fast fuck and I would kick her out… if Asa, the babysitter, agreed to stay an extra hour or so. I frowned. Asa had a sense of entitlement where I was concerned, although it was rather unfounded. One night of fucking and she had dibs on me, or so she thought. Having her stay while I fucked blondie might be awkward, but it might be a good lesson. Let her know that she had zero reins on me.

“It is. Get out and let’s go wrap up this night properly.” I motioned for her to eject her talkative ass from the Rolls as the bellhop walked toward us.

She continued to talk again as we walked to the entrance and I nodded toward Henry. I slipped my hand into hers and pulled her against me before entering the lobby. Pressing my finger to her lips, I glanced down at her, hooding my gaze and giving her a sharp warning as we approached the elevator.

“Hush. Don’t speak again unless I tell you to. Understood?”

She nodded, which was enough for me. She was a grown woman. Satisfied that she understood my directives and would follow them, I pressed the button.

We rode in silence to the top floor and walked to the front door before she made a small peep again. I glanced back at her and growled before pushing the door open. The smell of vanilla and sandalwood rushed to greet us, the scents always having been present in my mother’s house too.

Mia made another noise, and I turned my head, pinning her with a reminder stare. She pursed her lips and nodded. The bitch was getting on my last nerve.

“Wait for me. Don’t touch anything.” I left her in the kitchen before jogging up the stairs to the nursery. My sister’s son was my new charge, a small boy only six months old. The baby was honestly a joy, but with his warmth came incredible responsibility. It had begun to overwhelm me, the thought of being responsible for another life far more than I was capable of handling.

My mother would have to take the child back. Alice, my sister, would want her son raised by someone well rounded and responsible, which just wasn’t me. Having to bury my sister left Mom heartbroken, a shell of who she had been only months before. The funeral was a nightmare, the plane crash not even affording us a body to bury.

Tucking away my morbid thoughts, I stopped outside the bedroom door before peeking in and holding my breath. The sound of soft snores caused my lip to lift. The little guy was sound asleep.

Asa might be a little too much for me to deal with, but she was the perfect girl to help with Tyson. She was looking for a long-term relationship that morphed into a white-picket fence and three kids.

I wasn’t, nor would I ever be.

The sound of feminine voices lifted from the bottom floor. I turned on my heel and walked quickly down the stairs to find Mia and Asa with their fingers in each other’s faces. Did they know one another?

I didn’t even stop to gain a clear understanding of the catfight starting in front of me, but paused at the edge of the kitchen. Tyson was crying again.

Fuck.

“Get out. Both of you. Get your shit and get out.” I glanced toward Asa. “I’ll send you a check in the mail for tonight and I’ll think about having you back, but don’t hold your breath.”

“What about me?” Mia asked, her thick ruby red lips puffed out.

“Not interested. Find a new topic to talk about while you’re on your next date. ‘You’ gets boring fast. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass.”

I turned and jogged back up the stairs, pulling out my phone and letting out a weary sigh. I missed my sister like crazy, but damn her for leaving me with such a huge burden. I wasn’t the right kind of guy to raise a baby, especially not hers. She was brilliant and had all her shit together. I called her when I was in trouble or needed help.

I moved into the room as the pain of loss stung me deeply. Alice was gone and finality had struck us all. I took a deep breath and tried to regain self-control.

Taking Tyson in my arms, I tried like hell to calm the boy, but it only seemed to agitate him more. There was nothing left to do but call my mother. It was late and she would be pissed. But, dammit, I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t listen to the screams. I couldn’t stand seeing him so unhappy. I needed help.

I dialed her number and put her on speaker so I could keep bouncing the boy in my arms.

“Jax? Is everything okay?” Her voice was laced with sleep and worry.

“No, Mother. It’s not,” I said as I bounced. “I can’t get this kid to stop screaming. My nanny thinks we should be married. My date was a complete idiot and once again, my life isn’t my own. I can’t do this. You have to come get Tyson. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Jax.” A soft albeit shaky sigh resounded around me, my mother’s pain almost tangible.

“Mom, please.” I felt like I was five years old, but I didn’t care. “I can’t do this. I’ll send someone to pick you up if you want.”

She sighed. “It’s a great opportunity for you to grow up a little, son. You haven’t even had a pet before. You have no concept of what it means to give of yourself for another. This experience is going to be hard, but you’ll grow and mature so much during this time. Take it as an opportunity.”

I nearly laughed. “An opportunity? It’s a fucking nightmare.”

Her voice went hard. “Watch your language with me. You know I hate that word.”

I paused and bit my lip. “This isn’t my burden to bear, and honestly I don’t have a clue what the f—, what I’m doing.”

One minute stretched into another, and for a moment, I thought she hung up. Then she sniffed. “I miss her too much, son. I can’t bear to keep the baby here. He looks just like her. Don’t make me suffer any more than I have. This is your moment to shine. Do like you do at work.” A soft sob lifted from her.

I let out a long puff of air, my legs suddenly weak. Dropping into a nearby chair, I shook my head in desperation and closed my eyes, holding the baby close to my chest.

I can’t do this.

“Alright. I’ll try. I don’t want to add to your grief. I just...”

“Thank you, son. I love you. I need to go.”

The phone went dead, leaving me alone and lost as to what to do next. I needed help, but who should I turn to? The only person in the world I trusted was gone. My sister was everything to me.

“What are we gonna do, little man?” I stood and pulled the boy higher on my shoulder, rubbing his back as I pressed my cheek to the baby’s small head. “What are we going to do?”

I hadn’t had to deal with a younger brother or sister, but surely someone in my friend circle had. I milled through the faces, trying to discern if any of them had mentioned having to help raise a younger sibling. The fact that I knew little to nothing about the guys I would call my closest friends was concerning. I patted Tyson’s back as the child wailed. Something was obviously wrong.

Laying him down, I walked into the hall and pulled up an old group text, offering beer and late night pizza for anyone who was awake and would come over to help. The text was short, but most of the guys would show up. They were all mooches in some way or another.

It wasn’t but a few minutes before the doorbell rang. I jogged downstairs as despair tugged at me. The boy was screaming like he had a splinter in his eye. It wasn’t an agitated cry, but a painful one. If the guys couldn’t help out, we would be on our way to the all-night clinic down the road.

I opened the door in time to see Paul and Jared clap hands, each having just shown up.

“Get in here,” I barked and turned on my heel, walking to the kitchen and pulling out various brands of beer and wine. It was just after midnight from what the clock above the oven reported. There was only one pizza place in town that would still be open. “That’ll have to do.”

“Hey, buddy. We’ll go up and see if we can get him to calm down.” Paul smiled, his red hair and freckles making him look all of ten years old.

“Yeah, good luck,” I muttered and turned to face the back windows of the kitchen. I pressed the phone to my ear and ordered the food. The doorbell rang again and I walked to it, tugging it open and nodding at three more friends of mine from my college days. “Any of you guys have younger siblings that you helped take care of?”

“Naw, not me, man.” Michael shook his head. “Seth is a doc though. He should be able to figure out what’s up.”

“Fuck you, Mike.” Seth walked in and turned to me. “Where is he?”

“What, buddy?” Michael popped Seth on the back. “An animal doctor is still a doctor. Shit.”

“Totally different,” Kent muttered beside them. “I’ll start researching the situation. Where’s your laptop and what’s the little dude doing?”

Michael and Seth bounded up the stairs, simply following the sound of a pissed off kid. Paul and Jared had yet to calm Tyson and the hope of anyone being able to was dwindling fast.

“Computer’s over there and honestly, I don’t know what’s wrong with him. Just type in ‘excessive crying’ and see what the options are.” I shrugged and walked back to the kitchen, popping the top off a beer and drinking half of it before taking a breath.

“Dude. Little man is thoroughly pissed.” Paul walked into the kitchen and took my beer from my hand, emptying the rest. “Did you drop him or some shit?”

“No.” I grabbed another one and leaned against the counter. “He’s been crying since my date and my babysitter got into a screaming match. It’s been a hell of a night.”

“Sounds like it. You want me to call Stephanie?”

“Your girlfriend?” I lifted my eyebrow.

“Yeah. She’s babysat before. We could at least ask her what the hell to try next.”

“Sure. Anything is better than sitting around praying for a miracle.”

“You pray?” Paul chuckled and walked to the door, already knowing the answer to his asinine question.

I walked from the kitchen and took the stairs two at a time as sickness rolled through my gut. I needed the guys to help me solve the problem, but leaving the boy with them too long would only scare the tyke. Not having his parents for the last little bit had to have him out of sorts.

“Maybe that’s it,” I grumbled and walked into the room to watch the circus. Seth was trying to hold Tyson and survey his little body as if giving him a sad excuse for a physical. The other two idiots in the room were dancing around while Jared sung a fucked up version of Little Miss Muffet.

“Give him here, damn.” I walked toward them and took Tyson from Seth, tucking him against my chest and giving them a hard stare. “None of you fuckers have had experience with a baby?”

“Um, no. We try to stay far away from the topic.” Jared laughed and walked toward the door. “I’ll call my mom. She’ll tell us what to do.”

“It’s one in the morning. Your mom is up?” Seth moved out next and I followed him, leaving Michael to mill around the room, playing with various baby toys.

“True dat. Okay. When in doubt, use the internet for answers. Google is my God.” Jared jogged past me down the stairs, leapt over the couch and landed by Kent, who grumbled something.

The doorbell rang and I handed Tyson off to Seth again before pulling out my wallet. I paid for the food and sunk down onto the couch as the guys went through video after video. We did a checklist of things that needed to be done.

Changed his diaper? Check.

Fed him in the last two hours? Check.

Checked for fever? Check.

The list went on and on. As it approached four in the morning, I’d had all I could handle. I politely kicked everyone out, not getting anywhere. Tyson wasn’t crying much anymore, but I couldn’t blame him. He had to be exhausted. Paul was the last to leave, his constant apologies at being ineffective and Stephanie not answering her phone were on my last nerve.

If I had to say, ‘it’s no big deal’ one more time, I might pull a kill bill and start tearing limbs from my closest friends.

After seeing Paul to the door, I walked back to the living room and sunk down on the couch, closing my eyes as the sound of Tyson’s breathing told me he was finally out.

“Fuck me,” was the last thing I muttered before succumbing to the darkness.

***

“You look like shit.” Hunter, the youngest and best trader on our trading floor stopped by my office at nine as planned. I had dropped Tyson off at the nursery on the bottom floor of the large investment bank building my family owned, grateful for the reprieve.

“I feel like shit. Come in and sit down. Take a load off.” I pointed to a chair in front of mine and worked to not rub my eyes. It had been a long night of changing diapers, heating bottles of milk, cleaning formula that I spilled, cleaning the vomit, changing clothes, and patting the back of a tired little boy.

Raising my sister’s kid had to be tougher than any business deal I’d ever been faced with. I was giving myself another week and then my mom was getting the boy. Her grief would have to be overcome for the greater good. Tyson was all we had left of Alice. I wasn’t willing to fuck the boy up and it seemed that’s all I was capable of doing.

“What has you all turned around, boss?” Hunter crossed his arms over his thin chest and tilted his head. We weren’t close, but he was a great employee—the best. Maybe I needed to branch out beyond my grieving mother and my clueless college friends and seek help somewhere else. I didn’t have any girls that I could call that I hadn’t dicked over—literally.

“My sister’s kid is under my legal custody and he’s almost six months old. He cries all the damn time, and I’m honestly out of options. I don’t know how to care for him or what to do. My mom isn’t willing to step in because she’s grieving, but I’m at the end of my fucking rope.” I ran my hands through my hair as the pain of another sleepless night bore down on me.

“Oh man, that sucks so bad.” He shook his head. “What about a nanny?”

“Yeah, I’ve had several girls who babysat for me, but none of them are classy enough to call back.” Telling the guy that I’d boned all of them wasn’t in the cards. I had enough of a reputation to overcome in the office. “Tried a few agencies, but those nannies were scary.” I shivered, remembering how the two I’d tried looked down their nose at me.

“I can recommend someone. Friend of a friend, but she would never take advantage of you or the kid. She’s not the type to sleep around or go looking for gold either, if you catch my drift.” Hunter moved to pull a business card out of his pocket. “Here. Check her out. She’s a good girl.”

“Why would her sleeping habits be of concern to me?” I smirked as realization rolled over me. These people knew I was a playboy. I wasn’t fooling anyone, and could honestly care less. I was who I was.

“This is what you need, boss. Give her a call.”

I turned the card over, wanting to ask about the sewing business the card represented, but figured that might be a good conversation piece with the girl.

“Thanks. I’ll do just that.”

2 – Kendra

“You want bacon or sausage?” Brian glanced over his shoulder as I looked up from the table. He was far too good to me and making breakfast was only one of the many ways he showed it.

“Whatever you want. I’m getting up to do the toast in just a minute.” I glanced back down and let out a sigh. Brian had been my roommate for the last few years, and had carried my part of the rent a few too many times as of late. Why he put up with me was beyond me.

“I already started the toast,” he mumbled and walked toward the living room.

I ignored him and continued to Google options for my current dilemma. The website for my business had been hacked yet again. All that sat on the site was a large ‘fuck you’ of sorts in the form of a dancing clown and a creepy song playing in the background.

“Do people seriously not have anything better to do with their time? I’m a seamstress for crying out loud. What good does it do anyone to disable my site? Did I piss someone off by the size or structure of my last dress design?” I glanced up, but Brian was gone.

“Kendra, come see this,” he called from the living room.

“Not now. I’m reading through the instructions on how to disable a hacker. They think they’re so brilliant, but a simple girl like me is about to take them out.” I lifted my arm in victory as I finished typing the commands suggested by kickahack.com. The screen blinked twice and died completely.

“No!” I yelled and got up, slamming the top to the computer and walking to the toaster as the bread popped up. “I thought I was making toast.”

“You were. I told you I got it because you were taking forever.” Brian glanced over at me, the look on his face pensive at best. He was a cute guy, dyed black hair and beautiful grey eyes. Too bad his boyfriend was even more adorable.

“What are you watching? Your sausage is burning.” I moved to the stove and flipped it before letting out an exasperated groan. Where I couldn’t make a penny to save my soul if I had to, Brian was fully funded, but had attention deficit so bad that he couldn’t concentrate on anything for too long. The food being a prime example. The number of times we’d thrown away a great meal thanks to the char on it was countless.

“That’s what he said.” Brian moved up beside me, chuckling as he took the spatula. “So you emerge from your drama and criticize my cooking?”

“What was so interesting on TV?” I had no choice but to ignore his bantering. He wasn’t a sensitive type of guy at all and only played one to get me started on a rant. It wasn’t happening. I needed all of my emotional energy to get my site back up and running.

Not like it’s made you any money anyway. It will!

“Just a follow up story on that plane crash that happened a month back. The one where the rich family that runs half of the state took a hit? Killed the daughter and her husband. Remember that shit?”

“I guess. Sad.” I shrugged and pulled the toast from the contraption that held it. “I can’t understand why my site keeps getting hit. I’ve been working so hard on my designs and finally have most of them loaded and Bam!”

“Speaking of your business...” Brian glanced over at me and I avoided his stare. I knew all too well where the conversation was headed. I was broke and rent was due.

“Yeah, speaking of my business. Did I tell you what happened last night just before the hacker attacked?”

Brian let out a painful sounding sigh and turned toward me, pressing his hand on his hip. “No. Do tell.”

I tucked a long strand of blond hair behind my ears and licked the butter from my fingers before fixing my gaze on him. “I was uploading a new design and no matter how many times I did it, the computer screen blinked and ate the damn file. I realized that something was off when it wouldn’t let me load anything.”

His expression softened a little as he turned and flipped the sausage again. “Keep going.”

“So I started to poke around and realized that there was an http site listed at the bottom of the page. I followed it and came to another designer site from Taiwan. Guess whose designs were on their site?”

“No fucking way.” He sat the spatula down and turned to me. “They were stealing your designs?”

“Exactly.” I pushed the need to cry like a lost child back and shrugged. “I need to get an IT guy to help me.”

“And a lawyer it would seem. Have you reported them stealing your designs?”

“No. Who do I report that to? NATO?”

He chuckled and worked to pull the sausage from the pan to a waiting plate. “Well, I know my timing is shitty, but rents due again.”

Heat rushed up my chest and coated my neck and cheeks as I carried the toast to the table. “I know. I keep thinking I’ll have the money, and the minute I do... it’s yours. Things just keep happening to me. Like this stuff this morning.”

There was no excuse for my lack of income other than my incessant need to make my clothing line work. I couldn’t imagine being given such a cool gift and not being able to use it in my everyday living.

“I understand that, Kendra, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve been paying the rent for the last two months. I don’t mind carrying you because you’re my best friend, but you need to think about getting a real job.” He sat the plate of sausage and potatoes down in front of me.

“I know, but if I get a full time job, there will be no time for me to design the clothes and work on the website that will eventually sell them.”

“How many have you sold?” He sat down and reached for my hand, rubbing his thumb over my knuckles.

“None.” I glanced down at my empty plate as tears filled my eyes. “I just keep thinking that...”

“Hey, I didn’t mean to upset you. I hate that I’m forced to have this conversation, but I am. I’m trying to save up for a ring for Billy and I can’t because I’m paying too much in rent.”

“Does he still want to move in with us?” I glanced up and sniffled as Brian handed me a paper-towel.

“Yeah. We can talk about that later. I’m just telling you that you’re not looking at all the options available to you. Certainly, there has to be a job where you can work with people and still find time during the day to work on your website. At night, you can work on your designs. It’s about time management more than anything else.” He picked up his fork and began loading his plate. “Eat before it gets cold.”

I followed suit, though my stomach sat in terrible knots. He was right, but my last job as a nurse’s assistant was too demanding and not only didn’t leave time for anything during the day, but zapped my energy at night too. There was no reason in bringing it up with Brian. It wasn’t his problem. It was mine. His only problem at present seemed to be his slack-ass roommate—me.

“What about the nursing assistant job you had? You loved that.”

“It didn’t work well with my situation, Brian. I know it seems impossible, but I really believe in this clothing line. I just need to give it attention to get it off the ground.” I sighed and took a big bite of the sausage on my plate. “This is good, by the way.”

“Thanks.” He sat back and pinned me with a stare. “You’re good with people. Find something.”

“I get too attached. Don’t you remember how bad it was when Mr. Landes died and I was the one who found him? I didn’t think I was ever going to get over that.”

“I remember. There’s ways around that. You just need to focus on...” He droned on about all the things I needed to do as I sat there, nodding where appropriate. My resolve to remain calm and enjoy my day had been blown by the website hacker and now this...

My phone buzzed from the living room and I took it as a well-deserved escape. “Let me grab that, and I’ll be right back. Hold your lecture. I don’t want to miss it.”

“Sarcasm,” he muttered as I disappeared from the room.

“Hello?” I was happy to talk to anyone, a call center being included.

“Kendra. It’s Hunter. How are you?”

“Oh my goodness! It’s been forever. I’m good. You?” I hadn’t heard from Hunter in years, but every time I did, memories would assault me. We had been childhood friends, his father having helped me significantly to get over some of the demons in my younger life.

“I’m really good. I have something I wanted to talk to you about though. Do you have a minute?”

“Of course.” I moved to the couch and sunk down as worry rolled over me. Was his father sick or hurt?

“My boss is looking for someone to assist him with a new responsibility he has and I honestly couldn’t help but think of you. He’s looking for a female whose patient with people and has a good heart.”

I crossed my legs as I listened, not quite sure of what he was asking due to the vagueness of the request. “That’s it? Just patient with people?”

“Yep. It’s a nanny position for a little guy. He’s about six months old, I believe.”

“Oh.” Children. I loved children, but being responsible for one wasn’t at the top of my list of things to commit to.

“Just say you’ll meet him. The salary is handsome and he has the rest of the details waiting on you. It would be a simple interview and if you don’t want the job, just tell him.”

“No strings attached?” I couldn’t help but ask. Seeing the child would most likely bind me to him whether I wanted it or not. Plus, I needed money, and fast.

“Nope. Think about it?”

“I will. I’ll call you later today for the details. I just need to make sure it’s a good fit for my time and future goals.”

“I understand completely. We’ll talk soon.”

I hung up and stood as the idea rolled around in my thoughts. The smile on Brian’s face said that he heard most of the conversation.

“So. Give me the deets. I want to know what’s up.” He wagged his eyebrows.

“That was an old friend. His boss is looking for a nanny for his six-month-old son.” I shrugged and sat back down at the table.

“How much money and how much time?”

I lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know. I’ll call him back later. I need to think about it a little before making any sudden decisions.”

“Well, I think it would be great.”

“Maybe. I’m not sure if watching a baby all day is going to give me any free time at all.” I picked up my fork and moved the cold bits around my plate.

“Babies sleep half the day. This is actually perfect.” He stood and picked up his dishes. “Besides, word on the street is that your roomie is not going to be able to carry you for another month. Might want to remedy that.”

“You’d kick me out?” I glanced over my shoulder, forcing myself to look more shocked than I was. I deserved to be booted then and there.

He grinned. “Nope. I’d invite Billy to come in and you’d run screaming from the building.”

“This is so true...” I turned and realized that my options were limited. A nanny position couldn’t be too bad. I’d at least take the interview and check things out.

Besides, it was no strings attached.