Dating Disaster with a Billionaire (Blue Ridge Mountain Billionaires, #1)

by Lynx, Elizabeth

  Chef Laura’s face turned pink as she tried to hold back a laugh. She didn’t have the practiced discipline of a VidTube star such as myself. It took talent to keep in a laugh.

  “I’m afraid to ask, but how would you use the eggplant?”

  She placed her hands over her face to hide. How cute. No wonder my oldest brother, Rock, had the hots for her. She was gorgeous, an exquisite chef, and ran my brother’s resort restaurant like a pro.

  Technically, it was my resort too. Rock came up with the idea for The Blue Spot years ago but put his dreams on hold to help our middle brother, Monty, with his app company and then me with my VidTube channel.

  We lost our parents about ten years ago, and he took over as the father figure. Our abuelita was more like our mother after that terrible time.

  But when she passed two years ago, something happened to Rock. He became determined to make his dream a reality—a little too determined if you asked me. It’s almost embarrassing to think about, but Rock was celibate for at least a few years. He denied it, but I knew better. We were blood. It was a brotherly sixth sense.

  That’s why I liked Laura. She was good for him, made him realize there was more to life than work.

  “I’m glad you asked, oh curious one.” I waved my hand around the eggplant like a magician as more kitchen staff meandered over.

  They should probably be prepping food or marinating or whatever they did, but I felt it important to add joy to life, even at work. The white-tiled walls and stainless-steel tables and appliances reflected the light just right to make it seem like a spotlight was on me.

  “I was thinking of taking an eggplant and sticking it inside the—”

  “I think that’s enough.” Rock’s deep voice rumbled from behind me as his hand gripped my shoulder.

  “Come on, Rock.” I turned to find him frowning, which was his usual M.O. “Things were just getting good.”

  The staff had scattered back to their spots, and even Laura backed away slowly.

  “No, they weren’t. You were taking time away from their work. Don’t you have a show to film?”

  I sighed and thought about putting the eggplant back but changed my mind. This vegetable represented my life—used and devoured for people’s enjoyment.

  “I’m keeping the eggplant and showing it the love it deserves,” I announced to everyone in the kitchen, holding it high because it should be seen.

  There were a few chuckles and snorts. No one realized I was truly curious about the fruit. No one understood that I was more fascinated with growing this fruit than making them laugh.

  Rock frowned and shook his head. “My God, James, have you sunk so low?”

  “Get your mind out the gutter. Mom always said you weren’t right in the head.”

  “I’m not the one cradling an eggplant like a newborn baby.”

  “That’s a splendid idea, let me see if . . ..” I lifted my shirt and moved the eggplant toward my nipple.

  My brother grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me out of the kitchen. “What the hell?” Rock growled without letting go, tugging me along.

  I finally yanked out of his grip. “It was a joke. I had an idea for the show, pretending the eggplant was a baby to see people’s reaction to it.”

  “Obviously, it’s an awful idea, and no one would react well.”

  I shook my head and strolled past my brother. “And that’s why I’m a VidTube star and you run a glorified hotel for assholes.”

  “That’s not true.” Rock ran up beside me with fear in his eyes. He was an inch taller and had more muscle, but all that muscle slowed him down. I had the added benefit of out-running just about anyone. Except trained athletic runners . . . They did that for a living, so they’d beat me.

  Right now, I was speed walking, and he was having trouble keeping up.

  “I’m sorry, I meant rich assholes.” I stopped, and his enormous Goliath body almost mowed me over. Staring straight into his dark golden-brown eyes, I asked, “Am I wrong?”

  He glanced around the ornate hallways filled with oil paintings, thick carpeting, and everything you’d expect in a turn-of-the-twentieth-century estate turned resort. He supposedly updated the décor, but I couldn’t see it.

  My brother leaned closer and whispered, “Not totally wrong. But there are some pleasant guests.”

  I lifted a brow and kept staring.

  “Your VidTube friend, Steele Carson, stayed here a few months ago. He seemed considerate.” My brother smirked. “Not at all like you.”

  “I agree with you there, Rock. Steele’s a great guy.”

  My brother narrowed his eyes. He was on to me. I quickly rambled about nothing in particular. “Did you know that eggplants are fruits, not vegetables? I’d love to be a farmer and work with my hands.” Which was true, but there was no point in talking to my brother about anything I really cared about.

  “You never agree with me. What’s this about?” He glanced around, and his eyes widened. “Please tell me you aren’t filming this . . . This isn’t for your show, is it?”

  It saddened me that everyone, including my brother, always thought anything I did was about Joke’in James. I had fun doing my show, but this fame thing was terrible. What I wouldn’t give to lead a quieter life.

  Everyone either wanted something from me or assumed I was using them.

  “No, I’m not here to film you or your resort. I own part of this place, you know. It’s not all yours.” I turned and kept walking.

  “I know, but when you invested in The Blue Spot, you specified that you might never visit and wanted no say in the running of it. And ever since October of last year, you’ve stopped by for a few days every month.”

  “I have a proposal for you. Let’s discuss this in your office.”

  “Oh, no,” Rock grumbled as he trailed behind me.

  We passed the lobby, with its mosaic-tiled floor and large, stained-glass domed ceiling. I rolled my eyes at its decadence, but billionaires loved that sort of thing. I guess if you were trying to attract the elite to your resort, you’d decorate the first thing they saw like a tycoon’s wet dream.

  After making our way down some halls, we walked to a desk just outside my brother’s office. His assistant, Mia, stood and said, “Mica Angrov from Fire Lake Coffee will visit next month to renegotiate the coffee agreement.”

  “Right. We need more. People can’t get enough of it. Contact our lawyers so they can start working on the new contract.”

  I pushed past my brother as he continued speaking with Mia and made my way through a pair of double doors that led to my brother’s office. I strolled across the thick carpet to nestle onto his gargantuan black leather couch. I sometimes wondered if my brother was compensating for something . . .

  I noticed he was a little short of breath as he sat behind his enormous mahogany desk.

  “You’re out of shape, old man.” I smirked.

  My brother was thirty-two, hardly an old man, but it was my brotherly duty to make fun of him.

  “I get enough exercise.” The corner of his mouth ticked up for only a moment.

  “Ah. Wink. Wink. Nudge. Nudge, huh?”

  I watched a lot of Monty Python growing up, which is why I wanted to do something that made people laugh when I became an adult.

  “What’s your proposal?” Rock asked as he glared at me.

  “I’m thinking of going on hiatus from Joke’in James. Take the rest of the year off. Help here more.”

  His eyes spoke a thousand words, though his mouth said nothing. Rock flipped through so many expressions I didn’t realize he could make.

  “That’s why I’m here. To see what needs to be done. Maybe help with your social media, considering my background.”

  The more I spoke, the weirder his face became. It worried me that maybe I finally broke him.

  “Are you having a stroke? Blink once for yes and five times for no.”

  “I’m not having a stroke. I’m just trying to figure out w
hy you would give up what you love doing? You begged me to help you start a VidTube channel after you dropped out of college five years ago.”

  I groaned. “You’ll never let that go, will you? College wasn’t for me. I barely got accepted as it was, and the only reason I could afford to go was because that crane landed, killing Dad. Didn’t really make me excited to be there knowing blood money paid for it.”

  My brother stood and stomped over to me, the floor shaking under him. “Dad would have been happy to know that one of his sons went to college. It was your chance to get an education. and you whined about it because you didn’t like one of your professors.”

  I rose to his challenge and shoved two fingers in his face. “It was two professors. One was a snob who was doing his best to fail me . . .” My brother shook his head because he didn’t believe me. “And the other found out I was dating his daughter. I had to leave.”

  “Dating? Were you really dating his daughter?”

  “I use the word dating loosely.”

  He groaned, turned, and threw up his arms. “I give up, James. The college thing is over. That was five years ago. I thought you grew up since then, but I was wrong. I helped you from the beginning. I may not have been perfect, but that was because I was young and grieving, too. But you had a dream, and I helped you. Now you want to throw it away?”

  I shook my head. “Not throw it away. Press pause.”

  Rock had years to think about what he wanted out of life. I was young and naïve when I started my channel; I understood why Rock was frustrated. He still saw me as that youthful punk who got into a lot of trouble and had wild dreams.

  But I had grown up. Now it was time for me to think about life. Wonder if there was more to it than fame and entertainment.

  He wanted to serve rich dickwads for a living. Maybe I wanted to serve people too. Or maybe I wanted something different. I needed time.

  “Pause? Oh, well, why didn’t you say so?” His voice went up an octave as he strolled around the room. “It’s just that easy to tell all your followers to wait until next year, and maybe you’d come back. I’m sure when you do, they’ll be right there.”

  I frowned at his sarcasm. “I know I’ll lose a few but—”

  “A few? Try at least half. It will almost be like starting over. All that money you make now, gone in an instant. No more trips to that ridiculous stylist of yours. Or those outrageously priced clothes that look like you grabbed them from a flea market. No more eating out all the time.”

  “I’m a billionaire, just like you. I think I can withstand six months of stopping my VidTube channel without going broke. There’s no need to be mean about it.”

  My brother rubbed at his face, and his shoulders slumped. “You aren’t like them.” He waved toward the doors to his office. “You didn’t grow up wealthy and spoiled. You know better. You may not lose a lot of money in six months, but what happens then? What if you never want to go back? What if you live off your money, and something happens out of your control, and one day you wake up to all the money gone? You know you can easily wind up like Dad, taking a terrible job—a deadly job—because you need the money.”

  My jaw tightened, and I lifted my chin. “So, if it ever came to that, you’d abandon me? No handout to your own brother, I see.”

  He let out a loud sigh and walked over to me. Throwing his arm over my shoulder, he said, “I’d help you. You’re my brother; I love you. But I want you to be able to take care of yourself. It crushed Dad that he struggled to support his family. He would never get rich working in construction, but for a while, he had a decent job. He took pride in that. But once he was forced out, the only ones available to him were worse jobs in a field he’d worked in for over a decade. That pride deteriorated until there was nothing left. I don’t want that to happen to you.”

  My brother was right, but he didn’t realize that it was already happening to me. I felt the cracks in my heart for the pride in my work. They had formed, and unless I found something else, I worried what I would turn into.

  “I understand. You don’t have to worry about me, Rock.”

  He squeezed me in a side hug and said, “I’ll always worry about you, but I’ll always support you too.”

  Chapter 3

  MARIKA

  “It’s not that time of the month, is it?” Susannah asked as she grabbed my shoulders.

  I was in the back area of Hard Grind, trying to find the package of napkins I swore I ordered a month ago. That sale I had a week ago brought in a few more customers, but not as large of a crowd as I had hoped. And the people who had come seemed more interested in our napkins than our coffee.

  “No. Why? Is there a stain on my pants?” I turned around a few times in a circle trying to look down my backside but stopped once I heard Susannah’s laughter.

  “No stain, but I noticed this on our community board.” She shoved a piece of paper in front of my face.

  I plucked it from her fingers and read over the flier. My gaze flicked upward. She needed to stop.

  I pushed the paper back at her. “I’m not doing this. I told you last week, I’m deadly to the male sex once they date me. And besides, if I did this, I wouldn’t have sex with this guy—whoever he is—whether I had my period or not.”

  She held up a finger. “Not deadly, just terrible. You have yet to kill anyone on a date. And besides, yes, you may not have sex with him at this exact moment, but he could be hot. Wealthy and sexy and possibly sweet . . . could be your Prince Charming.” Her brows went up, her words too. Everything about Susannah was optimistic and hopeful.

  I wished I could be like that, but reality always pummeled me with a few biting smacks whenever I hoped for something too good to ever come true.

  “Do you hear yourself? A wealthy, sexy, and nice guy? That combination doesn’t happen. That’s the stuff of books and movies. There are more important things to think about than trying to win a date with a millionaire.”

  “Billionaire. There’s a sizeable difference.”

  I snorted. “It’s not like I’d be winning a billion dollars. If it was a contest to date a billion dollars, then I’d sign up instantly. I don’t want to hear what a self-absorbed billionaire has to say. The great thing about cash, it doesn’t talk.”

  Her growing grin was unsettling.

  “Why do you look like an evil clown right now?”

  “Because it’s not just a date. If you win, you get one hundred thousand dollars.”

  I sucked in air too quickly and had a coughing attack. Susannah moved closer and gave me a few whacks on my back, which only made the coughing worse. I pushed past her and found the bottle of water I carried with me all day.

  After guzzling down half the contents of the bottle, I turned back to my friend. “Let me see that again.” I sounded like I had just smoked a cigar after smoking an entire pack of cigarettes.

  I read every word on that paper and noticed the prizes were in small print at the bottom. Not only did the winner get a date, which included dinner with the billionaire at The Blue Spot’s five-star restaurant, Blue Chip, but they also received one hundred thousand dollars. The second-place winner got fifty thousand dollars and a spa day at The Blue Spot. The rest of the prizes included gift certificates to the Blue Chip and their café, Blue Beans. Also, a free night’s stay for two at The Blue Spot. All the cash prizes had an asterisk that specified that cash exchanged for equivalent prizes.

  I wondered what that asterisk-equivalent prize would be?

  Even if I came in second place, that fifty thousand would help a lot. It would get me through the rest of the year with Hard Grind. I wouldn’t have to cut back the hours or let Susannah go.

  “This isn’t a terrible idea . . .” I gazed up at her in wonder.

  Susannah was always willing to help, but her ideas weren’t always great. She once suggested I take a month and head west to mine gold if I needed some fast cash. I told her the gold rush ended one hundred and fifty years ago.

/>   But what she lacked in relevant ideas, she more than made up for in love, loyalty, and strength. That woman could lift one end of a car and not break a sweat.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t see it. It’s been there since yesterday. Remember our one customer who came in?”

  “How could I forget? They bought a bottle of water and asked if they could put something up on our board.”

  “I tried to sell them on our new blend, exotic midnight, but they refused. Said they only drink the stuff they sell at Blue Beans.”

  How could anyone say the name of that place with a straight face?

  She nodded. “It gets worse.”

  Oh great, more unpleasant news.

  “I ran into Mrs. Maynard at the grocery store today. When I asked why I hadn’t seen her around Hard Grind the past few months, she turned red. She was embarrassed but finally admitted to getting her coffee at Blue Beans.”

  It was worse. None of our regulars had been by in months. I also noticed that whenever I saw a few of them around town, they’d pretend they didn’t see me or run away.

  “Dr. Winston saw me as I was coming down Fitzlee Street yesterday and turned around, running in the other direction. For a moment, I thought someone was after him. But when I looked around, I noticed I was the only one on the street.”

  “I suspect we’re losing customers to Blue Beans. The way Mrs. Maynard went on about their coffee, you’d think they made it of saint’s blood and angel tears.”

  Wrinkling my nose, I said, “That sounds disgusting.”

  She shrugged as if it couldn’t be helped.

  “I can’t believe I’m losing customers to a place called Blue Beans.”

  The sound of the bell from the front door to the shop rang, and my heart picked up. Finally, a customer.

  I ran toward the front, and my heart leapt into the air. Warmth crawled up to my cheeks. That warmth also moved south until it was between my thighs. I was more than pleasantly surprised to find James waiting at the counter.