The Conflicted Billionaire (The Conflicted Love Series Book 1)

by Sharon Sue Thorn

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  The Conflicted Billionaire

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Epilogue

  This book is a work of fiction. Except where noted; names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead is coincidental.

  Lillie’s Flowers & Phillip Publishing

  Copyright 2018 by C.L. Wells. All Rights Reserved.

  As permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the copyright holder of this book, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or other means without the written permission of the copyright holder and publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author is appreciated.

  Cover design by @germancreative

  Editor: Carol Davis

  Dedicated to the Thorn family.

  Thank you for the joy you bring to my life.

  Chapter 1

  Jenny Jamison dabbed away the perspiration on her forehead with the beverage napkin the barista had given her with her coffee. Why am I so nervous? Dozens of thoughts cluttered her mind, intensifying her self-doubt and upping her anxiety. She took a series of deep breaths to calm her thudding heart.

  Not wanting to look pathetic to anyone who might be paying attention, including the woman at the next table—who was showing a little too much interest in every move Jenny made—she took a sip of her coffee and diverted her eyes to the clock on the wall without turning her head. Henry was already ten minutes late. Sitting alone in a coffee shop wouldn’t draw any unwanted attention on its own, but if someone caught her checking the clock every few seconds, they might catch the ‘girl got stood up’ vibe she was likely giving off.

  Blind dates weren’t her thing, but Henry was a friend of a friend twice removed. They’d texted a few times, and he seemed okay. But it was hard to tell from a text. Either way, this had to go better than her last date two months before with an overly-eager guy named Dan who wanted to be a cop.

  Dan had gone into great detail about his two years of covert missions during his assignment at Walmart as a security guard. Passionate about shoplifting, his frame-by-frame retellings quickly became oversharing. By the middle of his fourth story, one about a woman he caught stealing lemons, Jenny couldn’t bear to hear any more. “Who knew produce could be so exciting?” was all she could think to say. She was too polite to get up and walk out, so she had endured the rest of the dinner. Fortunately, the alfredo sauce had wreaked havoc on her stomach. It wasn’t a lie when she told him she didn’t feel well enough to go to the movie they’d planned to see.

  The door chime drew her from her thoughts. Jenny straightened and waved. “Henry?”

  The man she’d been waiting for had finally arrived.

  “You must be Jenny,” he said as he sat across from her at the small table. “You’re as lovely as your picture indicated.”

  Jenny’s chin dipped with shy pleasure. “Thank you.” She wanted to reply in kind, but the woman at the next table was staring with no shame, making her uneasy. Henry didn’t seem to notice. “Want me to go with you to order your coffee?” She pointed toward the counter. “I had to order so they wouldn’t think I was loitering.”

  “No compliments for me?” Henry asked, ignoring her question about ordering coffee. His eyebrows stayed in a raised position on his forehead as he waited for an answer.

  “I’m... I’m sorry.” Jenny bumbled the words out. Henry’s comment had thrown her, and her mind scrambled for a response. She glanced at the woman at the next table, making direct eye contact, hoping it would send her a silent message to stop being rude. “You look very nice today, Henry.”

  The woman at the next table slurped sharply, causing Jenny to startle.

  “Do you mind?” Jenny asked the woman when she continued to stare.

  “Wow,” Henry said. “You’re a rude one.”

  “Excuse me?” Taken aback, Jenny placed a hand at the base of her throat. Her heart raced beneath her fingertips. Am I in the Twilight Zone?

  “Is that any way to speak to a stranger?” Henry chided her.

  Jenny blinked. “She’s been staring at me non-stop since I sat down. Maybe if you had arrived on time, I wouldn’t have noticed it so acutely. Being late is rude as well.”

  Henry rested his arms on the table, then linked his fingers. The pose reminded Jenny of a mob boss. “I know we only spoke briefly on the phone and through texting, but when a man goes to the trouble of meeting with you, you should show your appreciation. If he compliments you, you should do the same.”

  Oh, my gosh, he’s certifiable. “Okay,” Jenny said. “I think we’re...” She was going to say done here. But that might not be the best idea. Should I leave first or let him go first? Scared he would try to follow her, she tried to think of a way to distract him so she could make a getaway.

  The woman at the next table scooted her chair fractionally closer to their table. Jenny glared at her.

  “We’re what?” Henry unlinked his fingers long enough to spread his hands out in question.

  “We’re, uh...” Grateful she had decided not to bring her purse into the coffee shop, Jenny slowly felt her pocket to make sure her keys were still there. They were. The only other things she’d brought in with her were her phone and her debit card. The debit card was in her back pocket, and her phone lay on the table in front of her.

  Jenny cleared her throat and held up a finger before she took one last sip of her mocha latte. While her lips were pressed to the cup, she used her thumb to press the lid upward. “I think we’re expecting rain.”

  Henry’s brows dipped, meeting in the middle. “No, we’re...”

  In one fluid motion, Jenny stood, grabbed her phone, and slung the contents of her cup in Henry’s face. As she darted out the front door, she reached into her pocket and scooped out her keys. In less than ten seconds, she was peeling out of the parking lot. When she glanced at the coffee shop, she saw Henry at the window.

  From that day on, she decided not to go on anymore blind dates with anyone she hadn’t gotten to know first. Instead, she opened an eMatch account. She would rather talk to someone online for a while and get to know them better before they met face-to-face.

 
Chapter 2

  Owen Kaine panted as he staked his surfboard in the sand and plopped down next to it. Sea water ran from his thick dark hair and down his back, droplets still clinging to his tanned skin. Leaning back on his elbows, he stared out across the water. His green eyes searched the area where he’d spotted a couple of dolphins only minutes before.

  The white sandy beaches that stretched across the Florida panhandle were the best thing about living in Florida. No other beaches in the country even came close to what he had right here at home. He’d grown up in Fort Walton and had spent his youth traveling up and down Highway 98, usually hanging out in Destin with his best friend, Jeff, or heading into Pensacola on the weekend to catch a movie with his buddies. Those were the good ole days when life was simple.

  Now thirty-two, Owen didn’t find life nearly as exciting as it had been back then. His most peaceful moments were ones like right now, alone on the beach with nothing but the sun, the sand, his surfboard, and the vast horizon. His life was what most people thought they wanted. But who didn’t want to be a billionaire these days?

  Owen was the son and heir of Max Kaine, a real estate mogul and highly successful businessman, founder of Kaine Properties. Owen had spent much of his young adulthood following his dad around like a puppy dog, learning the trade and working hard to prove he wasn’t just the spoiled brat son of a rich man.

  Everyone wanted what he had, but no one could give him what he lacked. At least it seemed that way. Often, he just wished he were a regular guy without the burden of wealth—and he’d give it all up if he could just have his father back. Shortly after losing his father, he’d lost his dog, Dax, too. Life had a funny way of kicking a person when they were down.

  “There you two are,” Owen whispered when he spotted the frolicking fins in the distance. He smiled their way, watching until they disappeared into the horizon.

  The ocean and its sea life were majestic. On a few occasions, he’d interacted with dolphins from his surfboard. He liked to think they sensed his respect. Dolphins, fish, and tortoises never judged him and didn’t care about his name or how many zeroes were behind the numbers on his bank account.

  Owen’s thoughts drifted to Jenny and her last message. She was the one person who could always make him smile.

  “Owen, my man!”

  Cringing, Owen closed his eyes and blew out his breath. He fixed his face before peering over his shoulder. “Hi, Roger. Nice to see you,” he said, engaging his auto-polite mode.

  “Fancy seeing you out here.” Roger reached down and placed a hand on Owen’s bare shoulder before stepping into Owen’s view.

  “I was thinking the same thing about you,” Owen said. Roger was a tech nerd and rarely did anything even remotely considered to be an outdoor activity. Even now, he was wearing slacks, a button-down shirt and a tie. “You know you’re never going to get the sand out of your shoes.”

  “Oh.” Roger peered down at his feet. “That’s okay. I’ve been wanting to speak to you privately, and when I saw you...”

  “I don’t really like talking business during my downtime.” Owen motioned around him.

  “It’s not business. I promise.” Roger held up four fingers. “Scout’s honor.”

  “That’s not... Never mind. What is it, then?”

  “My niece. Zoe. She’s a beautiful girl.” Roger cleared his throat.

  “I know who she is,” Owen said, waiting for the punch line.

  Zoe was the daughter of Roger’s brother, Edgar Sloan, who had recently filed bankruptcy for the third time. Edgar had already tried to sell the idea of Zoe being Owen’s soulmate, citing the most ridiculous reasons. Zoe was a hot mess whose only interest in finding someone to marry was to keep her lavish lifestyle from being interrupted by her father’s bad business decisions.

  Like Owen, Edgar had taken over his father’s business. The difference was that Edgar had no interest in doing any actual work. One bad investment after another had put him in dire straits. It was well-known in Destin that Edgar’s enterprise was collapsing at a rapid pace. It was only a matter of time before he’d begin selling off his possessions.

  “I’m not interested,” Owen said.

  “If you’d just hear me out...” Roger took a breath.

  “Roger,” Owen said in the authoritative tone he usually reserved for business. “I’m not interested in courting Zoe or in anything else that involves the affairs of your brother.”

  “Uh...” Roger stammered. “Sorry to bother you, Owen.”

  “It’s fine. Have a good day.”

  Owen looked away. He hated to be rude, but he’d learned how to close a door. Directing his eyes to the sea, he waited while Roger walked around him, slowing making his way back through the sand in shoes that had cost nearly a thousand dollars.

  Owen didn’t understand some of his peers. Just because you could afford to be wasteful didn’t mean you should be. His father would have given him a verbal lashing for wasting a fraction of the money he’d seen others toss into the wind.

  Banning any further thoughts of Roger’s family from his mind, he focused on Jenny. He’d miss the ocean while he was gone, but it wouldn’t be forever. Find the girl, get her to fall in love with me, and then convince her to come back here.

  “Yeah, after I tell her the truth.” Owen groaned. How had he let things get so twisted up? “Because I had no idea it would go this far.” His words were washed away by the noise of the cascading waves.

  The sun had begun to descend, and the temperature had dropped with it. A salty breeze caused his skin to break out in goosebumps all over. Owen shivered and pulled on his t-shirt. Golden hues had begun to take over the blue in the sky as the sun dropped behind a cluster of clouds, setting them on fire.

  Too short a time later, Owen tucked his surfboard under his arm and jogged back to the massive building he called home, picking up someone else’s trash along the way and dropping it into the garbage can only a few feet away. Owen sighed, hoping it wasn’t one of his tenants.

  He opened the front doors and entered the lobby of Kaine’s Penthouse & Suites. This impressive structure was his father’s tenth baby. Owen had quit counting after the twenty-fifth. Most of the other properties were apartment complexes and condo resorts that fit into the budget of a variety of tenants and vacationers.

  Only the excessively rich could afford Kaine’s Penthouse & Suites. It was a residence, not a resort. Each buyer signed a contract agreeing they would never use their home as a vacation rental. The building was sixteen floors high; each floor was leased individually, and the lease included the use of a first-floor lobby with amenities most people only dreamed of.

  As Owen passed the front desk, he waved to Thomas, a sixty-something gentleman who had worked most evenings for the last several years.

  Thomas straightened quickly and gave him a formal nod. “Have a good evening, Mr. Kaine.”

  “Owen.” He corrected the clerk for the hundredth time. Owen was probably the only one in the building who insisted on being addressed by his first name instead of stuffy formalities.

  A young bellhop named Pete rushed around the counter to take Owen’s surfboard from him.

  “Yes, sir. Owen.” Thomas’s face reddened with his effort to be informal.

  Owen almost felt guilty for insisting. Obviously outside his comfort zone, Thomas hurried away to greet another tenant. “Thanks, Pete,” Owen said, addressing the young bellhop.

  “You’re most welcome,” Pete said nearly bouncing on his toes. He was a new hire and ecstatic to have landed a job, even as a bellhop. Service positions made an insane amount of money in tips.

  “I’ll give you your tip on my way back out.” Owen motioned to his attire and lack of pockets.

  “Thank you, Owen!” Pete grinned.

  The elevator dinged as soon as Owen hit the button, then opened. He punched his code in quickly, and the elevator glided up soundlessly until it stopped on the twelfth floor. When they had moved into this buil
ding, his father had chosen to leave the top four floors for those willing to pay for the best ocean views.

  As if in welcome, the doors parted, and he stepped directly onto the rug in the main living area, kicked off his flip-flops, and pushed the fancy black designer gate across the threshold. It gave the steel elevator doors a decorative appeal.

  Since he lived alone, the five thousand square foot space seemed ridiculous. It had been too much space before his father passed; now, it swallowed him up. The familiar loneliness settled in, and his chest tightened. Doing his best to not think of his dad, he headed into his office.

  Owen groaned at the familiar direction of his thoughts. Unless he wanted to spend the rest of his life alone or with a gold-digger, he needed to take a risk. At this point, it was now or never.

  He flipped his laptop open and signed into his eMatch account. His heart skipped in his chest when he saw a new message from Jenny. He clicked on it.

  Hey, there! You won’t believe what happened just a bit ago. A guy brought his lab into the clinic—said his dog suddenly didn’t have any energy and seemed nervous, and he thought it might be because of something he ate. He was so worried, but he seemed off, too. As in, him and his dog! Every time I tried to ask about what the dog had eaten, I kept getting evasive answers, so I had to put my foot down! I told the guy that if we didn’t know, we might not have time to help the best way without a bunch of testing. We finally learned the dog had eaten his owner’s stash of marijuana! Ha ha! I’m positive the owner was just as high as the dog. The kid thought we might call the police. We won’t, but I’m betting the vet bill might hamper his next purchase. Hope your day is as interesting as mine so far.

  Owen barked out a laugh and grinned at her signature. Jenny always put a sunshine emoji next to her name at the end of her messages. It fit her so well. Florida would be perfect for her.

  It had become a thing for them to trade funny or unusual stories about their day. Most of hers happened at work and were usually way more entertaining than his own.

  He hit print and filed the paper copy in the designated folder in the second drawer of his desk. Then he poised his fingers above the keyboard as he thought about what to say.