An I.O.U. from a Billionaire

by Olivia B. Dannon

  “… not until the airport opens, sir.”

  “Nothing?” Cole demanded.

  “Hey, Cole,” Joan said smiling when he turned in surprise. “What’s going on?”

  Cole blew out a breath. “Where’s Liam?”

  “He’s running all over town in this horrible storm searching for you. He is worried sick about you. He really loves you.”

  “Yeah. I know.” Cole pushed the wet hair from his face. “He doesn’t get it. I’m in love. Have you ever been in love?”

  Oh boy.

  “Yes, and I’ve had my heart broken too.”

  He frowned. “Are you going to tell me all your heartbreak stories? This is different.”

  “Listen, I don’t know this girl. I do know that running off and trying to go around your family to get to her will not give you and your lady a happily ever after.”

  “She won’t talk to me.” He swallowed. “We’re not getting a happily ever after. We broke up. I can’t forgive her for what she did but I can’t leave it like this. It hurts too much.”

  Joan nodded. “I understand. Are you sure talking to her is going to change anything?”

  He pushed open the door and stepped back out into the rain. Joan followed after him. Cole stopped and stood in the rain. Maybe he hoped the rain would cover his tears.

  “I don’t know how to make the pain stop. When is it going to stop?”

  “Nothing hurts like heartbreak.” Joan hugged Cole and he hugged her back – hard. He cried and she just held on knowing he needed to get it out. “It’s going to get better. Just give it time.”

  He laughed in her arms and she drew back to look at him.

  “Give it time? I’m going to end up arrogant and bossy like Liam.”

  Joan laughed seeing his attempt to stop crying. “But you’re so much more handsome than Liam so no one will notice.”

  “I didn’t tell her my family is rich at first. She liked me then, I could tell. The money ruined everything.”

  Putting one arm around him, she pointed them in the direction of the hired car. “They say money changes people, but I don’t think so. I think it can bring out the worst in a person. She doesn’t deserve you, Cole.”

  He was looking at her in a studying way. “Maybe not.”

  “I’ll tell you what, Cole. If I were younger or you were older I’d be just crazy about you. Every girl must be. Just pick one that knows you’re the prize and not because of your money.”

  “That’s easy to say.”

  “Hell yes it is. I don’t have millions in my bank account, so when a man asks me out I’m pretty sure it’s not for my money.”

  Cole opened the door for her. At this point, there was no rush to get out of the rain because they couldn’t soak up any more water. She pointed inside the car. “You first.”

  “You don’t trust me?”

  “Imagine that.” She grinned putting her hand on her hip.

  Cole climbed in first. Joan climbed in after him. “I’ll call him.” He cleared his throat as he dialed. “So, do you have a younger sister?”

  He got a phone. I still need a phone but there’s no way I’m leaving this kid by himself.

  “Unfortunately, I don’t.” She laughed easily.

  The door opened and Liam climbed in as his phone started ringing. “I’m surprised this thing still works. Feel like I swam all the way here.” Liam set his phone on the seat next to the driver. “To the Triple T,” he said. His dark hair dripped. He wiped his face pushing his hair back. The hoodie was clinging to his body. The man was well put together.

  “Thank you for helping me find him.” Liam’s eyes were direct, taking hold of her gaze. His voice was full of sincerity.

  Good lord, this man gets to me.

  ***

  He spotted her holding Cole in the rain. Liam could see the anguish on Cole’s face, and it felt like a sword through his gut. He should have protected his younger brother better. Earlier he’d tried to talk it out with Cole, reason with him. Cole had only pushed further away.

  Seeing him clinging to Joan, Liam knew he’d messed up. Cole had needed comfort and understanding.

  When Cole had stepped back and the two laughed, it eased the pain he felt on his brother’s behalf. Once he was in the car with them, there was a moment where he’d thought she was checking him out. As soon as they’d arrived at the Triple T, she’d fought him every step of the way to his luxury apartment.

  He would have had to be blind to see the kindness she seemed to reserve only for Cole. It was his offer of a shower and dry clothes that finally got her to accept.

  How am I ever going to thank her? Why does she have to be so hard headed?

  She was still in the shower. Her “oohs and ahs” over things like the oversized claw foot bathtub and the heated towels, instead of the marble floors or crystal chandelier, made him smile. Simple pleasures made this woman with a sharp tongue and quick wit smile.

  Is a bathtub an appropriate gift to thank someone who’s saved the life of your loved one? I doubt it.

  He and Cole took turns showering in the other bathroom and finished before Joan. Cole was drinking hot chocolate and chuckling with Liam at the sounds coming from the bathroom where Joan was still bathing. Squeals over sweet smelling soap and the words to a country song about bashing in headlights of a cheating boyfriend filled the silence between them.

  Liam caught himself being swept up listening to Joan. What was he doing? This whole mess was about Cole. Getting things right with his brother was the point of all this. Once he got Joan to ask for something so his debt could be paid, he’d not see the frustrating creature in his bathtub again.

  “I was really worried about you, Cole. Terrified actually. There are hurricane warnings, flooding. You could have been hurt or lost. Do you get that?”

  Cole nodded. “I resent the lost part. I’m seventeen, not seven. But yeah, I get that it was stupid.”

  Liam leaned back in the chair watching his brother. “What has you so reasonable all of the sudden?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I realized there’s nothing Marlene can say to make this better. She chose the money.” He cleared his throat and then coughed. His eyes suspiciously moist.

  Liam tapped the table with his fingertips, watching his fingers drum over the surface. “I should have handled this differently. I’m sorry I wasn’t more understanding about all this. You know I’m not the best at this stuff.”

  “I don’t expect you to understand. You’ve never been in love.”

  “Maybe not. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been hurt.”

  Cole shrugged. “That why you always date those airheads that just agree with everything you say?”

  “Cole, when you’re my age and in charge of your own company, you’ll see that it’s difficult to find a woman or even friends that don’t try to keep on your good side. You get used to it, and after a while you accept it.”

  “Joan’s not like that.”

  Liam laughed. “That’s an understatement. Just because she is in constant disagreement with me doesn’t make her right. She’s ruled by her emotions. If she was smart she’d ask for money or something she needs.”

  “I like her,” Cole said. He took a drink of the hot chocolate, watching Liam over the brim.

  “Yeah. I noticed.”

  Cole lowered the mug. “I like her for you. Are you going to let her get away? I heard her on your phone when you were in the shower. She was talking to someone about finding a way back to Phoenix. She’s going to leave.”

  “You listened to her phone conversation?”

  “What? The bathroom echoes.”

  The shower stopped running. “Good Lord these towels are better than an orgasm.” Joan moaned a sound that triggered a physical response in Liam.

  It’s not her. It’s that she’s a woman making very sexual sounds.

  Cole snickered pointing his thumb toward the bathroom. “She’s exactly what you need.”

  �
��I think when it comes to women my plate is full. And she’s nothing like the woman I’d choose. She’s stubborn and thinks that just because I have money, I don’t understand moral standards or self-worth.”

  Cole wasn’t even listening to him. “That wasn’t all I heard her say.” Cole raised his sandy blond brows at Liam. “Apparently, there is some new doctor they call Dr. Sexy Stetson that her friend is going to introduce her to when she gets back.”

  Liam scoffed. “That sounds like something you made up. Do you think that makes me jealous? I’m not into her.”

  The bathroom door opened with steam billowing out. Joan emerged with wet curly brown hair and a smile on her face. The robe she was wearing was tied modestly so that the only skin his eyes ate up were her feet to her calves.

  Hansen came out of the kitchen with a smile on his face. “Ah, you’ve finished your shower. Here are the clothes Master Liam arranged for you. Would you like coffee or hot chocolate?”

  Joan’s eyes darted from Hansen to Liam. “You got me clothes?”

  “There is an apparel store inside the Triple T and I thought you’d probably like a change of clothes. You were out in the rain looking for Cole, after all.”

  “Thank you,” she said to Hansen, accepting the bags from him. “I’ll pay you back,” Joan said and then shut herself back in the bathroom before he could argue with her.

  Hansen was smirking when he turned around to return to the kitchen. “Hansen, please don’t encourage her. She’s stubborn enough without your help.”

  “Ms. Taylor seems to know her own mind, sir.” Hansen continued to smile as he picked up the empty cup in front of Liam. “I rather like her spunk.”

  “Oh my, are you serious right now?” Joan said in the bathroom in a hushed tone that still carried. “Twelve hundred dollars for one outfit? Does he also start their fires with logs of rolled up hundred dollar bills?” The sound of tissue paper followed by tiny pleasure gasps came next. “Dammit. It’s so soft even my pores are smiling.”

  The heat in his cheeks at her money burning comment extinguished with her appreciation for the material.

  “I agree with Master Cole. I like her for you, sir.”

  “You just met her, Hansen. Wait until you get to know her better. That is a woman whose picture is next to the phrase self-righteous in the dictionary. Aside from that, she thinks I’m an ass.”

  Hansen smiled, leaving the dining room and saying under his breath, “She’s got that right.”

  “What’s that?” Liam asked with a mock scolding expression on his face.

  “Sorry, sir, what I meant to say was that you usually have your head stuck too far up your own ass to recognize what a good woman looks like. Shall I bring you another coffee?”

  Liam laughed shaking his head because he couldn’t argue with Hansen. The women he dated were all arm candy. Spoiled little rich girls. They also lived to please him and jump at his every whim.

  I’m not apologizing for getting my cake and eating it too.

  “No thanks, Hansen.”

  The blow dryer started in the bathroom along with a string of grunts and whimpers.

  “What’s she doing in there?” Cole asked Liam.

  “Woman stuff I guess. Sounds like she’s fighting off a wild animal.” Cole stood up and so did Liam. “Where are you going?”

  Cole sighed. “I’m not taking off again. Okay? I swear.”

  “You said that last time. You’re not leaving my sight.”

  “For how long? You don’t think I can hop a flight back to Marlene when we get home? Take the jet when it’s fixed? You’re just going to have to trust me, Liam.”

  “The security team has been upgraded by Tatum in our absence. You won’t be slipping away anytime soon.”

  Cole scratched his nose with his middle finger.

  Once again, he’d failed to connect with Cole. “Nice, Cole.”

  “For how long?” Cole repeated.

  Liam exhaled shaking his head. “Until we’re sure you have your head straight again. That girl has screwed with you. You and I… I thought we were close. How could you not tell me about her?”

  “I told you, I’m better now. Joan and I talked and she made sense about–”

  Cole was shutting him out and letting Joan in? He tried to be grateful Cole was letting someone in, he just wished it was him.

  “I promised Fran that I wouldn’t let you out of my sight.”

  Cole groaned. “Who told her I took off in the first place?”

  “It was I, sir. Did you expect anything less?” Hansen asked, raising his dark brows that were in high contrast to his dark gray hair with white streaks. Cole glared at Hansen, who looked directly back at him with the same challenging stare he’d given Liam in his younger years.

  Cole looked next to Liam gauging how he would react. Both Tatum and Cole knew how much Hansen meant to Liam and crossing him in front of Liam was never wise.

  “Fine. I guess I’ll sit here and what? Watch you watching me?”

  The bathroom door opened a crack and Joan peaked out. “My hair tends to frizz in this humid climate so… I just wanted to prepare you.”

  “I’ve seen it before,” Liam said with a wave of his hand.

  She exhaled. “Well I lost my hair ties in your palace size bathroom so I couldn’t tie it out of the way this time.”

  “I’m quite sure you look lovely, Ms. Taylor.” Hansen encouraged.

  Joan whimpered and whispered something to herself.

  “We’ve got hot chocolate.” Cole added picking up the cup Hansen had set at the table for Joan.

  The door opened fully. “Aw screw it. I want hot chocolate.” The ivory mulberry silk blouse with its long flowy bell sleeves and more importantly, its deep plunging neckline reaching just below her cleavage, had Liam holding his breath. He’d sent Cole to pick out something and this wasn’t what he’d asked for. The shock of seeing her again in so little should have been mild. His physical and mental response didn’t make sense.

  His eyes continued gobbling up the view of the sweet inner curves of her breasts, even as he told himself to stop looking.

  Liam remembered the outfit from the store window in Triple T. The mannequin couldn’t compete with Joan’s figure.

  His eyes continued ignoring his good sense and lowered to the high-waisted pink lace shorts that ended at the top of thighs too beautiful to belong to a woman with such a sharp tongue. Her legs were long, longer even with the high heeled dark brown leather sandals.

  So much smooth skin.

  Joan put her hand on her hip and he finally peeled his eyes away from her legs.

  “Are you going to just stare? If you’re going to make a crack about my hair just get it over with. If it’s funny, I want it now so I don’t spill hot chocolate on these clothes.”

  Sucking in air when at last his body demanded he do so, he tried to smile. This woman was getting to him. It was the stress of Cole shutting him out, the business deal he had going, and her ridiculous refusal to allow him to pay his debt.

  “That is the biggest afro I’ve ever seen,” Cole said cracking up.

  “Yep me too. My hair went for the record. How about you, funny guy? Don’t you want to ask me if I got hit by lightning or something?”

  Liam finally found his smile. Her hair really was huge but somehow it just made her more adorable. “I love it.”

  “Ha ha.” She waved a hand at him and walked up the hallway and into the breakfast room to sit at the round table in between Liam and Cole. Hansen took a seat across from Joan, his brown eyes alight with the same appreciation Liam was sure was on his own face earlier.

  She was oblivious to the three men on each side of her admiring her beauty. Joan had eyes for the hot chocolate alone. “All right, Hansen, I’m sure you’ve seen the do’s and don’ts of drinking this stuff in expensive clothes. Got any tips?”

  “I assure you, Ms. Taylor, Master Liam will buy you dozens of those shirts if you were to spill on this
one.”

  “Yeah, he just burns cash like it’s offended him and he’s trying to get rid of it, doesn’t he?” She giggled, smiling at Liam and then pressed her lips to the edge of the mug. Carefully taking a sip, she bent forward giving him a deeper view down the front of her blouse.

  Is she driving me mad on purpose? Stop letting the novice woman get to you.

  “I’m excellent with money, that’s exactly why I can afford to spend it. It’s why I’m in a position to thank someone for saving my brother with appropriate compensation.”

  Joan set the hot chocolate down. “Does all that money make it impossible to accept a refusal when you hear one?”

  “The rain isn’t letting up yet. Who would like to join me in a game of Texas Hold’em?” Hansen asked before Liam could rebuttal her insistence on refusing his attempts to pay his debt.

  “What are we gambling? I don’t think I have the kind of money that would get me in this game, Hansen.”

  Hansen laughed. “We usually split up the minibar and use its goodies as our chips. You’re stuck here until the weather clears anyway. We’d appreciate a fourth player.”

  Joan listened and then with a shrug answered, “I’m game.”

  Over the next two hours, Joan and Hansen demolished Liam and Cole. All Liam had left was a bottle of Fillico water. He was holding a pair of sevens and Joan had just raised.

  “Let go of the Fillico if you’re in, Liam.” She grinned. Her poker face was quite good. He couldn’t read her, and she knew it. She had Hansen calling her by her first name which was something he only did with friends. Hansen, being a man who was very selective of whom he would consider a friend, had Liam wondering how she was bewitching the men around her.

  He frowned at his hand. “You’re bluffing,” he said, raising his gaze up to her cleavage that seemed to call his gaze no matter how hard he tried not to look.

  Joan played with the cross on her gold delicate chain. Was it her tell? He was betting it was and would find out with this hand.

  “I might be. Are you in?”

  “Yes.” He pushed the bottle into the middle.

  Hansen put his cards down. “I’m out. It’s just you two now.”

  “I call,” Joan said and laid down a full house.