The Trouble with Billionaires (Southern Billionaires Book 1)

by Michelle Pennington

  “Yes. I only like the noodles, though. Not the juice.”

  Nate raised his eyebrows. “What? You don’t like the broth? Oh man. There’s something wrong with you.”

  Taylor laughed and showed him where the silverware drawer was. Nate grabbed a fork and one of the bowls on the counter. He carefully added steaming noodles to the bowl until Taylor said there was enough. Taylor settled down on a chair at the table and pulled up a fork-full of noodles to blow on. Clearly this kid was a ramen pro. Did that mean Charlotte had a hard time affording groceries, or just that they liked noodles?

  Charlotte came over and sat her phone on the counter. “Sorry. That was my friend, Jill. I love her to death, but she’s impossible to get off the phone.”

  “No worries. I just didn’t want to drop Taylor off and run without talking to you.”

  “I’m glad you stayed. It gives me a chance to say thanks. And I saw you drooling over the noodles. Want some?”

  Nate grinned. “I do, actually. And besides, it’s pouring outside.”

  Charlotte’s lips turned up in a gentle smile that drew his attention to her lips. When he nodded, she handed him a bowl and gestured to the pot. “Why don’t you finish that off and I’ll make another package?”

  “No, you eat these. I can cook more,” Nate said.

  “Don’t worry about it. It takes three minutes. Here.” She poured the contents of the pot into one of the bowls until it nearly overflowed. She carried it over to the dining room table for him, while he grabbed a fork out of the drawer and followed her. She sat the bowl down and turned, bumping into him.

  When her hand came up to steady herself against his chest, they both froze, looking into each other’s eyes for a long, still moment, broken only by the sound of Taylor slurping behind them. He stared at her lips again, this time wondering what it would be like to kiss her. A spark flared between them, but Charlotte stepped back, not quite meeting his eyes.

  “What can I get you to drink? I have water or milk.”

  “Water is fine.”

  Charlotte nodded and let out a heavy breath as she stepped away. The right side of Nate’s mouth quirked up. It seemed she was as affected by him as he was by her.

  A few minutes later, they all sat around the table while Nate told her how practice had gone.

  “I’m done eating. Can I go play on my tablet?”

  “No. You need to do your homework and go to bed.”

  Taylor’s face scrunched up angrily. “No. I’m too tired to do homework.”

  Nate looked at Charlotte, wondering how she would handle this.

  She didn’t even pause before asking, “But not too tired to play a mindless game? I don’t think so. Go get your homework done and if you hurry, you might have a few minutes before you have to be in bed.”

  “A few minutes. That’s not enough time.”

  “Bed time is non-negotiable. Get a move on.”

  Taylor made an awful groaning noise and stomped through a hallway where Nate assumed his room was. Sure enough, a door slammed a few seconds later.

  Charlotte sighed and shook her head. “Sorry he acted like that.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Nate said. “He’s a great kid. I’d be surprised if he didn’t act out now and then.”

  “I guess. And actually, he’s been happier since we moved here, despite his occasional moodiness. I credit t-ball for that.”

  “I’m glad. He’s a natural.” Nate grinned at her. “After seeing you trying to catch a ball, I have to assume he gets it from his dad.”

  Charlotte laughed. “You pegged that right.” But then her smile faded. “Actually, his dad plays for the Royals.”

  “Wait. You don’t mean Daniel Mabry?”

  “You’ve heard of him?”

  “Anybody who follows baseball has. Wow. Sorry, I know you obviously have some personal issues with the guy, but as a coach, I admit I’m kind of jazzed about having a pro’s son on my team.”

  Charlotte waved away his apology. “Be as excited as you want. Playing ball is about the only thing that man’s good for.”

  Nate watched as she twirled noodles onto her fork. Her jaw was set and her lashes lowered. “I can’t help but wonder, if Taylor’s dad is earning a pro-athlete’s salary, why are you tight for money?”

  Charlotte smiled a little as she looked up at him again, but her eyes were sad. “Just because we eat ramen doesn’t mean we’re broke.”

  Nate didn’t answer. He just waited patiently.

  “Okay, fine. My grandma passed away and left me this house right after our divorce was final. I hated living in a cramped apartment in Kansas City, so I told Daniel we were moving here. He didn’t want me to, so he wouldn’t agree to it. I was finally able to get the court to rule that I was able to move here with Taylor. Daniel got mad and stopped paying child support about five months ago after he found out about the court order.”

  “How does he get away with that?”

  “He won’t for long, but the fastest way to make him pay is to have is wages garnered. Unfortunately…”

  “He doesn’t get a paycheck in the off-season,” Nate added as he realized what the problem was.

  “Yes. And moving states added another complication. But everything is set up now so that as soon as they cut his first paycheck, his support money will be sent to us. I just hope I can make everything stretch until I get my salon going.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I have a small nest egg that I inherited with this house and some savings that I’m going to use to open a beauty salon.”

  “Really?” Nate leaned forward, intrigued. “Tell me about it.”

  Charlotte’s eyes lit up. “There used to be shed in the yard facing the main road. The building is gone, but the foundation and plumbing connections are still there. I’m planning to convert one of those tiny pre-built sheds into a salon. But I have to get the city to approve it all. That’s why I had to rush home. The guy who gives permits came over to look at what I wanted to do. I hope I’ll get a decision soon.”

  “Is there a zoning issue?”

  “I hope not, since it’s on the main road and on the edge of town. But we’ll see. Even if they approve it, I’ll have to add a gravel driveway, handicap ramp, and meet other requirements for the public. It’s going to take a while, regardless, so I’m going to need a job.”

  Nate stirred the last noodles around in his bowl. “What can you do?”

  “Obviously, I’m a trained beautician, but the only salon in town said she doesn’t need anybody. And she was less than friendly about it.”

  Chuckling, Nate said, “I’ll bet Betsy will be fired up about competition moving in on her thirty-year monopoly. She’s been the only place in town since I was a kid.”

  Charlotte’s eyes grew wide. “I figured.”

  “What are you going to do in the meantime?”

  Charlotte shrugged. “I’ll get a job somewhere.”

  “Jobs are hard to find in this town. You know, I might be able to help things with your salon move along faster.”

  “How so?”

  Nate shrugged. “I’m good buddies with several people on the town council. And if you need any help with the finances—”

  “That’s nice, but I couldn’t ask you to put yourself out like that. It’s one thing for you to help me mow or give Taylor a ride home. Something like that is…too much.”

  “Don’t forget the shoes.”

  “Shoes? What are you talking about?”

  Nate grinned, enjoying the chance to tease her. “Just reminding you I bought Taylor a pair of shoes for when the ones you got him wear out.”

  Charlotte scowled for a second, then rolled her eyes. “I forgot about that. Well, you wasted your money. There’s no way I’m going to ask you for those shoes.”

  “We’ll see. And I’m not worried about the money.”

  “Of course not. You have money, don’t you? Do you know what the problem is with rich people?�
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  Nate’s chest felt tight as he saw anger flash in her eyes. He kept his tone level. “No. What?”

  “They think they can solve everything with cash. Well, guess what? There are a lot of problems money doesn’t solve.”

  “Trust me, I know. But you’ll find, Charlotte Mabry, that if money doesn’t work, I just move on to the next solution.”

  Chapter Seven

  A week and a half after their ramen dinner, Charlotte got a surprising call from the city, saying her permit had gone through. Someone would be by later to let her know what requirements had to be met, and she could get started with the project immediately.

  With Taylor already gone to school, Charlotte had no way to release the burst of excitement in her chest other than to scream out loud. “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

  It had come through so much faster than she’d hoped. The thought that Nate might have had something to do with it froze her in place for a second, but the lady on the phone hadn’t mentioned him at all. And if he had? Well, maybe she could let that slide this once. Because this was awesome.

  “I get to open a beauty salon,” she said in a sing-song voice as she washed up the breakfast dishes. Time to decide on a name for her new business. And order supplies. And order a pre-manufactured shed to use for her salon. Then a flash of white caught her eye, and she looked through her kitchen window. Funny enough, a beautiful, white utility building was coming down the road on a large flatbed trailer.

  She laughed. “Something like that would be perfect.”

  Soap bubbles dripped off her fingers as she stood watching its slow progress. But then the truck pulling the trailer pulled to a stop in front of her house.

  “Huh. I wonder where they’re going.”

  She finished washing her dishes, and was drying her hands, when her doorbell rang. With her eyebrows drawn together, she opened the door to find a man holding out a clipboard. He had on an official looking polo shirt and a hat with a logo for some farmer’s supply company.

  “Charlotte Mabry?”

  “Yes.”

  “Can you sign for this, and show me where you want it. My team will be here with the lift in a few minutes.”

  “Sign for what?”

  The man looked at her like she was an idiot, but quickly smoothed his expression into polite impassivity. Clearly, he was used to dealing with stupid customers. “For the custom-ordered and assembled twelve by sixteen-foot engineered wood utility shed on the back of my trailer.”

  “Huh? But that isn’t mine.”

  The man stepped back and looked at her house number. He scratched his head. “Well, the address is right. The name is right. As far as I’m concerned, it’s yours. And I need to get this unloaded. I have another delivery to make today.”

  Charlotte stepped around him and followed him over to the trailer. The shed was gorgeous. It looked more like a little house with its white siding and gabled windows on the roof. With black shutters. Then her brain caught up. “Nate.”

  His name fell from her lips like an accusation, and the man beside her quirked his eyebrows. He flipped through the papers. “Oh, yeah. Nate Haverton is the name on the invoice. Well, glad that’s solved. Where do you want it?”

  “I don’t want it anywhere. I want you to take it back.”

  Now the man really did look at her like she was crazy. “Sorry, but there’s no returns on a custom order like this. Not unless you find any defect or damage from transport. He waved his arm. “But I’ve never delivered damaged goods yet. Take a look-see.”

  Barely holding on to her temper, Charlotte said, “I can see that it’s perfectly fine. But I didn’t order this and I don’t want it. You can just take it to Nate Haverton’s house and drop it off on his front lawn.”

  The man took off his ball cap and swiped at his forehead with the back of his sleeve. “Well, Ma’am, I can’t go dropping it off any old place I want. My permit only grants me permission to travel over a specific route.”

  “You had to get a permit to bring it here?”

  “Sure did, lady. It’s an over-sized load.”

  Time to get Nate over here. She pulled out her phone and dialed his number.

  “Hello?” he said, sounding perfectly at ease with the world. It made Charlotte’s blood boil.

  “Hello,” she responded in a sweet-as-peaches voice. “There’s a man parked in front of my house with something that belongs to you. You’d better get your butt over here and tell him where he can stick it before I do.”

  She hung up without waiting for him to answer.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t catch your name.”

  “Eddie,” he said.

  “Eddie, would you like to step inside until Mr. Haverton can join us and clear up this mess.”

  For the first time since he arrived, Eddie smiled. “Sure. That’d be fine.”

  By the time Nate’s truck pulled up in her drive fifteen minutes later, Charlotte had given up trying to convince Eddie to turn his trailer around and take it back. He’d chugged down a glass of ice water and dug in his heels. There was nothing he could do except unload the building. So, when she opened the door and saw Nate’s calm expression, she let loose. “I can’t believe you went and bought that thing after I explicitly told you I didn’t want your help!”

  Nate just smiled and shrugged his shoulders as if he’d bought her a set of Lincoln Logs instead of an actual building. “Look, I’m sorry. It wasn’t supposed to get here until tomorrow.”

  Even the fact that she had known he was responsible, didn’t stop the flash of anger she felt at hearing him admit it. “What the heck does that have to do with anything? Do you even remember our last conversation about how I don’t like people throwing money around to solve problems?”

  “Yes, and I agree some problems can’t be solved that way. Getting your salon going as soon as possible isn’t on that list. I was planning to talk to you about it before it got here though.”

  “But not before you bought it.”

  “Would you have said yes?”

  “No.”

  “Well, there you go. Can I come in?”

  She stepped aside, but said, “Why, Nate?”

  “Why do I want to come in?” he asked with raised brows. But she knew he was being purposefully obtuse.

  “Why did you do this without consulting me? Are you trying to buy my affections? Make me feel indebted to you?”

  “What? No. I’m trying to help you.” Then his jaw clenched. “I’m glad you think so poorly of me, but I help people all the time like this.”

  “Do you ever stop to consider if they want your brand of help? This is too much.”

  “Can we please talk about this inside?”

  Charlotte stepped back and crossed her arms, glaring at him. “You aren’t going to convince me this is okay.”

  His arm brushed her as he passed by because she didn’t leave enough room for him in the narrow door way. It angered her that she was so aware of even that slightest touch, especially when he’d done something so stupid.

  He reached over her head and swung the door shut, then faced her with his arms folded. “Consider it a rental if you want—or rent to buy. We can figure out the details later. For now, we need to get it off the trailer.”

  “I’d appreciate that,” Eddie said, nodding in approval.

  Charlotte rolled her eyes and focused a hard glare at Nate. “You are not leaving that thing here.”

  “Where else are we going to put it? I know you’re upset, but let’s be practical. That thing would be a monster to move twice.”

  “But the lot isn’t even ready for it,” Charlotte protested.

  “I know. That’s why it wasn’t supposed to be delivered until tomorrow,” Nate said, holding out an imperious hand for Eddie’s clipboard. He flipped through the pages for a second. “They must have scheduled it wrong at the store. Dang it. Well, I have a crew coming out in…” Nate looked at his watch, “Ten minutes.”

  Charlotte crosse
d her arms and smirked. “Well, Eddie has another delivery today. There’s no way they can get it done it time.”

  “Not till three,” Eddie supplied. “I could call the guys I got coming with the lifts and push this back a few hours if it would help.

  Charlotte stared at Eddie with her mouth agape. “But you’ve been telling me for thirty minutes that you were in a hurry.”

  Eddie’s eyes flashed to Nate. “Not a huge hurry,” he said earnestly. “In fact, I might be able to reschedule the other delivery since it doesn’t need a permit.”

  “Sounds great,” Nate said. “I’ve got a tab down at the cafe if you want to go relax somewhere cool while you wait.”

  “That’s nice of you, but I’m a handy guy to have around if you could use an extra man.”

  Charlotte glared at Eddie. But that wasn’t fair. It was Nate she was mad at. He exuded power and people automatically responded to it like lemmings. “Eddie, you do not have to rearrange your whole day for his convenience.”

  But Eddie wasn’t listening to her. Nate had stuck out his hand for Eddie to shake, and that seemed to be all the man could focus on.

  Nate patted him on the back in a chummy gesture as he led him toward the door. “Glad to have your help. Let’s go outside and figure this out. I think I heard a truck pull up. It’s either the plumber or the landscaping guy.”

  “What?” Charlotte asked, the word coming out more like a squawk. But neither man answered her since they were already heading out the front door. Feeling as if she was being swept away by a riptide, she followed them and saw two work trucks pulling up on the street in front of her house. Nate was going to get it as soon as she got him alone, and she was looking forward to it.

  Five hours later, Charlotte sat on the back porch watching every step of the efficient and unauthorized process of getting the plumbing roughed in so the building could be moved into place. Against every instinct screaming at her to make Nate take the building away, she’d finally resigned herself to what was going on. A potent combination of outrage and disappointment simmered inside her. She’d started to believe he was different than her husband and every other rich person she knew.