The Billionaire's Birthday Wish

by Jenna Brandt

  He shrugged, placing his backpack on the ground next to him as he slung himself into a seat across from Molly. “What can I say, I had football practice.”

  “You’re not the only one that has a busy schedule. I have commitments too.”

  “I’m sure; math and science club I’m betting, right?” he asked with a smirk.

  “No, yearbook and church.”

  “Ah, you’re one of those,” he said with a knowing smile.

  “One of what?” Molly asked with confusion.

  “A Jesus freak.”

  “You know that’s offensive. I believe in Jesus, but that doesn’t make me a freak. You should really think before you speak,” Molly suggested to him.

  His face pinched up for a moment as if he was thinking, then a moment later, he gave her a big grin, making sure to flash his smoldering blue eyes at her. “So, how are we going to do this?”

  “Do what?”

  “The coach said this was all lined up by the school,” Spencer said, gesturing between them. “You’re supposed to take care of this English thing for me.”

  “Correction, the school counselor assigned me as your tutor. Mr. Marks wants me to help you pull up your grade since you’re in danger of failing.” Irritated that everyone jumped through hoops for him, she added sarcastically, “Otherwise, no more sports for you, and the town can’t have that. I mean, heaven forbid, the star quarterback for the Crystal Cove Lions can’t play anymore. It would be a sign the end of the world is coming.”

  “Exactly, the team has a real chance of making it to State this year, but only if I can play. The season is over if I can’t.”

  Ugh, he is so full of himself, Molly thought to herself. He literally thinks the world revolves around him.

  Trying not to let his ego get to her, she focused on making it clear he wasn’t the only one being inconvenienced by the forced arrangement. “So to keep you eligible to play, I have to give up three hours of my life every week.”

  He narrowed his eyes as he crossed his arms. “Hey, there’s no reason to be so snotty. You think I like this? I can think of like five other things I would rather be doing.”

  “Only five? And I’m sure all of them center on the cheerleading squad,” Molly mocked with a roll of her eyes. “I can think of a dozen myself, and all of them are much more practical than yours.”

  “Why do I feel like you’re judging me, and you don’t even know me,” Spencer stated defensively. “Didn’t you just say you’re a Christian or something?”

  Molly stiffened under his rebuke. He was right, she wasn’t acting the way her parents or God would want her to.

  She pressed her lips together as she averted her eyes. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I think we’ve gotten off to a wrong start, so let’s just focus on working at raising your English grade. What’s your latest assignment?”

  Spencer bent over and opened his backpack. He pulled out a bent, blue folder and slid it across to her. “Everything’s in there.”

  Molly opened the folder and glanced through it. “You have three essays you’ve never turned in; plus, a test you could have corrected to get some extra points.”

  “What can I say, I’m busy with football,” he said as he rolled his shoulders, “but that’s why I have you now. How about I meet up with you in a couple of days and you can give me the essays so I can turn them in.”

  She shook her head. “No way; I’ll help you write them, but I’m not doing your work for you.”

  “Seriously? You can’t just do it?” Spencer asked with incredulousness as he ran his fingers through his hair.

  “Nope, this is going to be a partnership. We’re both going to put in 50/50.”

  He seemed to contemplate what she was demanding from him. After several moments, he unfolded his arms and said, “Fine, we’ll do it your way.”

  As Molly looked across the table at Spencer, she wondered if she had made the right decision. Could she sit across from him three times a week and not be taken in by his good looks and charm? She didn’t want to fall for the football star like all the other girls in her school, especially since she knew it would remain one-sided.

  Pushing the troubling thoughts out of her mind, Molly picked up Spencer’s first essay assignment and started to explain what he needed to do.

  “We’re here,” Rick said, drawing her attention back to the present.

  Molly’s jitters were strong as they pulled into the driveway of her parents’ two-story brick home. Though her parents had come to Miami to visit at least two times a year, she hadn’t set foot in her childhood home in a decade.

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  Sneak Peak of Waiting on the Billionaire

  Bryce Montgomery stood on the edge of the grassy field and glanced around with apprehension. Over three weeks had passed since the release of The Top 10 Most Eligible Bachelors of New York list, yet the droves of women who hounded him hadn’t subsided.

  He had reluctantly agreed to attend the Saturday afternoon polo match since it was for a good cause, not to mention he often made powerful business contacts at such events.

  “Relax, Bryce, I’ll fend off the ladies for you if they get too close,” Roger Boswell, Bryce’s best friend and heir to a tech tycoon, offered.

  “Oh, I bet you will,” Bryce stated with a roll of his eyes. “You’d be only too happy, I’m sure.”

  “Hey, it’s not my fault I barely missed the list. I still can’t believe the reporter told me I got the eleventh spot.”

  “Should we head to the spectator area?” Bryce inquired, opting to change the subject rather than focus on the blasted list for one more minute.

  "I guess," Roger shrugged. "I don’t understand how you can despise all this attention."

  Roger wouldn’t understand. Bryce was a naturally private person. He didn’t enjoy attention of any sort, preferring to live his life in the shadows of their social set. Roger, on the other hand, was an extrovert of the highest order. His favorite pastimes were attending or throwing an over-the-top party and making sure the paparazzi was there to catch every moment.

  In the beginning, it attracted Bryce to Roger. He opened a lot of doors for Bryce when he was first starting out in the tech business. When his first app was a massive hit, Bryce needed to find the right connections to turn the app into a company and the company into an empire. Roger was more than happy to introduce him to the right people as long as Bryce played the diligent wingman. It was the reason that the role reversal was so difficult for Roger to handle. He despised being the runner-up with the women they met.

  Before they could make their way to the viewing area, a hand on Bryce’s arm stopped him in his tracks.

  “Why if it isn’t Bryce Montgomery, #1 hottest bachelor in Manhattan. Fancy meeting you here,” the platinum blonde woman cooed as she batted her fake eyelashes at him. “You want company?”

  Bryce flinched under the woman’s unwanted advances. He wished he had put more thought into the ramifications of letting Roger talk him into letting the magazine publish the puff piece on him. They believed both of them would make the list, but a last-minute addition of a new actor knocked Roger off the list. Bryce was squarely left on his own.

  “Don’t you have the most gorgeous blue eyes and thick brown hair I’ve ever seen. The picture in the magazine didn’t do you justice,” the woman complimented as her hand moved up his arm, resting just below the shoulder. “And these biceps. My, my, I had no idea you had muscles under that suit. What a surprise.”

  Bryce pulled back, not liking the fact she was sizing him up like a piece of meat she wanted to devour. “Miss, I think the match is about to start. You should find whoever you came with.”

  A pout formed on the woman’s face. “Not so eligible after all,” the woman stated with irritation. She glanced over at Roger, who had been watching the exchange with amusement. “What about your friend? I don’t recognize him from the list, but he’s not bad to look a
t. I guess he will do.”

  Roger tilted his head to the side, causing his blond hair to flip with the movement. “You know I’m not one to refuse a pretty woman, but I draw the line when the woman considers me a consolation prize.”

  Her face scrunched up in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

  “You should probably do as my friend suggests,” Roger stated dismissively, before turning to head towards the viewing area.

  Once they were away from the obnoxious woman, Roger sighed. “Such a waste with a face like that to have nothing upstairs.”

  “It seems it’s increasingly common every day,” Bryce observed. “I’m so tired of struggling models and social debutantes looking for a meal ticket when they see me.”

  “That’s what a pre-nup is for, Bryce. A good lawyer can keep it all tidy if you ever get serious about another woman, though I doubt you ever will after Gabrielle. She seems to have done you in on that matter.”

  Gabrielle Rodriguez was an up-and-coming model, and until six months ago, Bryce’s girlfriend. Their relationship ended when Bryce found Gabrielle cheating on him with her personal trainer.

  “I don’t know. I’m not built that way. Casual dating isn't something I do. I want to trust the woman I end up marrying. If I can’t, then I’d rather stay single and focus on building up my business.”

  The polo players on horseback took to the field, signaling the match was about to start. Everyone turned their attention to the game except Bryce, plagued by the prospect of never finding the right woman to love.

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  Sneak Peak of Lawfully Devoted-A Billionaire Bodyguard Romance

  Police Officer Zach Turner scanned the area as his K-9 partner, Harley, scampered along the top of Clear Mountain Ridge. Where were the blasted hikers who wandered off the trail? Though he loved being a part of the Clear Mountain Search and Rescue department, he never got used to the sheer stupidity of tourists who didn’t read the warning signs posted.

  He suppressed the long list of curse words he wanted to let fly, knowing his fellow Officer Aiden O’Connell wouldn’t approve. Since Aiden became a strong Christian, Zach had to be more careful about what he said and did around his friend and work partner. Sometimes, he wondered if the differences between them would become so vast, Aiden wouldn’t want to be around Zach anymore.

  “I think Cooper’s found something up ahead,” Aiden stated, interrupting Zach’s train of thought, bringing his focus squarely back on the search effort.

  Sure enough, Cooper was barking and circling around a fallen tree that was just becoming visible as they trudged up the snowy hill. Harley quickly joined the other K-9 as Zach and Aiden arrived at the spot. Both officers patted their dogs, telling them they did a good job.

  On the other side of the log was a petite woman huddled against the tree trunk with only a moderately warm jacket to keep the cold from her body. Her face was wind-bitten, her lips severely chapped, and her teeth were chattering.

  “Are you all right, ma’am?” Aiden asked with concern, bending down to assess the woman’s condition.

  Her eyes blinked several times as she slowly focused on the officer. “Oh…oh, thank goodness you’re here. I thought we might end up spending the night out here. My husband, Winston, must have made it back to the resort. I couldn’t go with him because of my ankle.”

  Aiden’s head turned towards Zach, their eyes met, both not wanting to tell the woman that Winston never made it down to Clear Mountain Resort. Something must have kept him from getting there.

  Zach stepped away from the woman, wanting to speak out of range of her hearing. He pressed the button on his radio. “Dispatch, this is K-9 1, we’ve located the missing female hiker. Please send the helo to our location. Be advised, the male hiker is not with her.”

  “Copy that, K-9 1, helicopter is en route,” Deanna Harper, the lone Clear Mountain dispatcher stated over the radio.

  “Once we have secured the female hiker on the helo, we will continue to search for the male hiker,” Zach explained.

  “Keep us informed of the situation, K-9 1, and good luck,” Deanna stated.

  Zach walked back over to where Aiden was crouched down near the woman. His partner was unsuccessfully trying to place a foil heating blanket around the woman’s shoulders, but she was pushing it off as she shrilly shouted at him, “What do you mean, he didn’t make it down the mountain?”

  “Ma’am, you asked how your husband was doing, and I didn’t want to lie to you. I’m sorry I don’t have better news.”

  “It’s been hours since he left. It’s so cold up here. Did he get lost? Did he get hurt? What could have happened to him?”

  “I wish I could give you answers, ma’am, but I just don’t know,” Aiden sympathized. “I can promise you, we’ll do whatever we can to find him and bring him home safely to you.”

  “What if you never find him? What if he doesn’t make it? I can’t live without him,” she cried, tears trailing down her face. First softly, but over several seconds, the small sobs turned into heaving rolls of pain. She buried her face in her hands, but it did nothing to muffle the anguish coming from her.

  Both officers knew there was nothing they could do to ease the woman’s concern, so they silently waited for the helicopter to arrive. A few minutes later, the red helicopter with white lettering clearly marking the aircraft as the Boulder County Police landed near the search and rescue officers.

  After Zach and Aiden secured the woman in the aircraft, they turned around and gave the dogs the cue to start searching again, heading down towards the resort. As they followed the invisible trail of scent the K-9s were tracking, Zach decided to discuss what just happened with the woman.

  “You should have just lied to her, Aiden. You didn’t need to upset her with the truth. Knowing he’s missing won’t do her any good.”

  Aiden shook his head. “I don’t lie, Zach, not even to spare someone’s feelings. Even when it hurts, the truth is always better than a lie.”

  Zach thought about what Aiden just said. Part of Zach wondered if his friend was right. Every time Zach fudged the truth or avoided telling someone something, it never turned out the way he expected. Most of the time, the other person ended up finding out the truth anyway and was mad at Zach for concealing it in the first place.

  “I can see your point,” Zach conceded. “The truth—” But before Zach could finish talking, the dogs started barking and pacing back and forth along the side of a ravine.

  As they stopped just shy of the rocky edge, a hiking backpack came into view. Zach glanced around, looking for the person it belonged to, but couldn’t find anyone.

  “Do you think this is the missing hiker’s backpack?” Aiden inquired, bending down to inspect the bag.

  “I can’t imagine it being anyone else’s,” Zach stated. “But why would he leave it up here? What happened?”

  “This might explain,” Aiden said, lifting the backpack up and showing the front of it. There were several rips in it that most likely were made by a large animal. “I think the missing hiker was attacked by a bear.”

  “Yeah, but where is he now?” Zach asked, confused the man wasn’t near the backpack. Then it dawned on him. There was still one area where he could be. Moving closer to the edge, Zach looked down the ravine. Dozens of feet below, laying in an icy stream, was a man.

  “Pull out the rappelling ropes,” Zach shouted. “I have visual on the missing hiker.”

  Aiden jumped to his feet and rushed over to Zach’s side. “Even from up here, I can tell he doesn’t look good.”

  “Oh, man, maybe you shouldn’t have promised that woman we would get her husband home safely to her,” Zach said with a sigh. “It’s going to take a miracle.”

  “Good thing I have faith in God who is in the business of miracles,” Aiden said, securing the rope around a tree and then placing it in his hands. “I went down last time. Your turn.”

  Zach nodde
d, taking the rope and clipping it onto his waist.

  “Dispatch, this is K-9 2,” Aiden said over the radio. “We’ve located the second missing hiker. It appears he was attacked by a bear, which caused him to tumble down the ravine. Officer Turner is preparing to rappel down and assess the hiker.”

  “Copy that, K-9 2, with a bear in the area, stay alert.”

  “Will do, Dispatch, K-9 2 out.”

  Within seconds, Zach was rappelling down the ravine like it was second nature. At the bottom, he unhooked from the line and moved over to the man who was curled up in a fetal position.

  “Hello, Winston, I’m Officer Turner with Clear Mountain Search and Rescue. I’m here to help.”

  The other man didn’t respond, prompting Zach to kneel down beside him and check for a pulse. Zach placed his two fingers on the hiker’s wrist. Thready but there, Winston’s chest was slowly rising, so he was still breathing too. This was a good sign; however, the large bloody gash along the side of his head and the odd angle of the man’s leg, made it clear that even if he regained consciousness, he wasn’t walking out of there.

  “Dispatch, this is K-9 1, the hiker is alive, but unresponsive. We need the helicopter back at this location as soon as possible. Be advised, we’re one click west from where the female hiker was located.”

  “Copy that, K-9 1. The helicopter just dropped off the female hiker at Boulder County Memorial. I’m updating them to head to your location straight away.”

  Zach pulled off his backpack and placed it on the ground next to the unconscious man. He may not be able to do much for him, but he could at least help him get a bit warmer. After unzipping the bag, he pulled out another foil blanket and draped it over the man. Once that was done, he looked through the bag but realized there was nothing else he could use for the man. Zach hated doing nothing, but he knew the worst thing he could do was the wrong thing. If he moved the man and he had a spinal injury, Zach would risk paralyzing the victim. Though it ran contrary to his normal mode, Zach sat still, sporadically checking the man’s vital signs, and waited for the helicopter to return.