How to Lasso a Billionaire

by Katharine Sadler

  Max stood stock still, frozen in place. Tears filled his eyes and his jaw worked.

  "Hi, Daddy," Addy said, her smile wary, hope in her eyes. She didn't let go of Bri's hand, or move closer to the man who was mostly a stranger to her.

  "Hi, sweetheart." Max knelt down to her level. "I'm sorry I've been away so long. You are . . ." He swallowed hard. "You are even more wonderful in person than I'd imagined."

  Addy let go of Bri's hand to spin in the grass, arms wide. "I'm going to be a ballerina."

  He waited until she'd stopped spinning to speak, his eyes bright with unshed tears, an expression of awe and love on his face. "You're going to be whatever you want to be," he said. "I'm going to make sure of that, baby. I'm sorry about your arm. Does it hurt very much?"

  She moved closer to Bri, pressing herself against her aunt's leg. "Uh-uh."

  "Why don't we take your dad inside and show him around," Aunt Louise said, as she moved into Bri's line of sight. Addy rushed over to her great-aunt, who swung her up onto her hip.

  Max hesitated, so Bri gave him a shove toward the house. "She'll warm up," Bri said. "Just give her time."

  Max didn't take his eyes off Addy. He nodded slowly and followed Louise and his daughter into the house, leaning in to press a kiss to their mother's cheek as he passed.

  Maureen sighed and walked over to Bri. "I'm so glad you came," she said, tears in her eyes. "And you brought Max. How did you manage it?"

  "I think he's ready to try with her."

  Maureen twisted her hands together. "He better be. If he comes back into her life just to leave, it will break her heart."

  Bri had no argument for that. "He wants to help, Mom. But there are a few things you and I should talk about, some things about . . . Well, some things I haven't told you."

  "The bank is going to foreclose on our home," Maureen said, her voice cracking just a bit. "They called my cell."

  Bri's heart broke for the second time that day. "I'm so sorry, Momma. I'd hoped I could work in Vegas and pull together enough money to pay--"

  Maureen sighed and pressed a hand to her chest. "Oh, honey. You weren't supposed to be working in Vegas. You were supposed to be enjoying yourself. You've already done so much for me and for Addy. You deserve a break."

  "It doesn't matter what I deserve. I had to try to save the house. If we don't have that house--"

  Maureen pulled Bri into her arms and squeezed her tight. "If we don't have that house, we'll figure out something, honey. Your aunt wants me and Addy to stay as long as we need. She's got an old computer she doesn't use any more and she's been helping me look for some sort of work I can do on-line so that I can be home with Addy. You've done too much for me, giving up your scholarship and moving back home. Addy's older now, she's becoming more self-sufficient every day."

  Bri felt a bit sick. "What are you saying?"

  "I'm not saying anything to deserve that horrified look on your face, sweetness. All I'm saying is that my bills aren't your bills. My debt isn't your debt. I'm not an old woman, yet. I'm still capable of working, and I will figure this out. Why don't you come inside? Louise made beef stew and I made my homemade rolls you never can get enough of."

  Bri smiled, happy to see her mother doing so well, happy to see Addy, and did her best to hide the hurt of what felt like her mother pushing her away, forcing her out. She thought she'd found a bit of herself in Vegas, but she had no clue what to do with herself if she didn't have Maureen and Addy to take care of and worry over.

  She pushed those feelings down and focused on her family, focused on Max, smiling so fondly at his daughter, focused on the joy in her Aunt Louise's eyes, and forced herself not to think of the future or how very alone she felt.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  "What the hell, Jude?" Isla marched into Jude's office, her skin browned from six weeks of work in the sun. Her scowl didn't match her loose pink top and swishy, striped skirt. She looked like an angry candy cane.

  "Hello, Isla." Jude leaned back in his chair. Luckily, she hadn't interrupted a meeting or an important phone call, although he sent a glare Raymond's way for the lack of warning. Raymond just shrugged and glared back. He'd been less than happy to return and find a temp at his desk, instead of Brianne. A temp Raymond claimed had made a mess of everything. He blamed Jude for Brianne not being there. Which was laughable, since Jude would have sold his casino to Raymond for a dollar if he thought it would bring Brianne back to him. "I didn't realize you were back. How was your trip?"

  She popped her hands on her hips, her war stance. "Don't play nice with me, brother. I got home early, expecting to spend a few days with my best friend, but she's not here. I had to call her and torture her with my singing until she admitted you'd fired her."

  His stomach churned. He wanted to ask what else Brianne had said about him, but wasn't sure he'd survive hearing it. Somehow her indifference would be worse than her anger or hate. "I know how much you care about Brianne, therefore I think it's best we don't talk about what happened while you were gone."

  She strode forward and stuck her finger in his face. "Not this time, brother. That's what we did the last time you went to war with a Mason, except that time it was just about Max. This time you hurt my best friend. I want to know exactly what happened."

  He swatted away her finger and crossed his arms over his chest. "How was your trip? Did you enjoy the job? How did you find working with Ezekiel?"

  Isla's hands went back to her hips, rage suffusing her face. "I'm not leaving this office, Jude Cassidy, until you explain to me exactly what you did to my best friend."

  Of course, she assumed it was all his fault. Brianne had left him. Brianne had been unwilling to fight for them. Heck, she wouldn't have had to fight. He could have made everything so simple, if she'd just let him help her. She hadn't even given him a chance to find a solution. All of which made it clear to him that she didn't care for him anywhere near as much as he cared for her. "Brianne rejoined her family because her niece had an accident and broke her arm. If I hadn't fired her, she would have stayed here when it was clear she wanted to be with her niece. I will pay her as though she was here working."

  Isla eyed him suspiciously. "So, you're saying you didn't fire her because you thought Max was stealing from Hole in the Wall?"

  He turned back to his computer screen. He didn't have the energy for this conversation. "Tessa needs to learn to keep her theories to herself. I could honestly care less if Max is stealing from me. If he asked, I'd give him more than he could ever steal."

  Isla slumped into the chair in front of his desk like she'd fallen there. "Oh, my god."

  He studiously ignored her and kept typing.

  "Raymond," Isla called weakly. Damn, she was laying it on thick.

  "Yes?" Raymond popped into the office like he'd just been waiting to gang up on Jude.

  "Was my brother's relationship with Bri more than a professional one?"

  Jude glared at Raymond, but there was no hope of keeping him quiet. "They were both rather close-mouthed about the whole thing, but judging by the way they looked at each other and the rumors around the office, I'd say it was quite a bit more than professional."

  "Would you say I'm not imagining things, then, when I say that my brother is in love with Bri?"

  "I'm sitting right here," Jude said, eyes on his computer screen, but his full attention on the knuckleheads in his office.

  "I'd say he is head over heels in love with her," Raymond said. "But every time I tell him to get over himself and go get her, he refuses."

  "She won't talk to me," Jude said, giving in to the madness and turning to face them both. "She left on the flimsy excuse that she couldn't have me and her family. She thinks her only option is to stay in Towle with them and never see me again. She wouldn't even give me a chance to come up with a way for us to be together." He left out the most crucial point. Bri didn't love him.

  "Why is that flimsy?" Isla asked softly. "Bri is crazy independent.
"

  "And I'm a fucking billionaire," he said, losing his temper as he did so much more easily now that Brianne was no longer in his life. "Any obstacle she could imagine, I could overcome."

  "I said he needs to drive to wherever she is and confront her, but he's being stubborn," Raymond said, but even his tone had softened. "He should have dragged her back here a week ago."

  Jude looked to Isla, the woman who knew Bri best. "Is that what she'd want?"

  "Honestly? I have no idea. Bri didn't tell me anything about you two being romantic. She doesn't tell me much of anything lately." She leaned forward and rested her elbows on his desk. "There's no way to know what she's thinking or how she'll respond, and I know you hate that, Jude, but I think Raymond's right. You have to try, or you'll always wonder."

  "Maybe wondering's better than knowing in this case." He preferred to live in a world where there still existed a distant hope that Brianne would come back to him than to live in a world where she'd never loved him at all.

  "No," Isla said. "I don't believe that. I think you should try."

  "I second that," Raymond said. "I saw the way that woman looked at you, Mr. Cassidy. I think your odds are good of winning her over."

  Jude glared at both of them, hating that they might have a point. "If I do this," he said to his sister. "You have to start sending your work to galleries. You really have to give your art the one hundred percent effort it deserves."

  Isla straightened and frowned. "This isn't about me."

  "You're the one who said knowing is better than wondering. If you want me to put myself out there, you have to do the same."

  She dropped her eyes to her lap. "I'll think about it."

  She left, leaving the door open wide so Raymond could glare at Jude with no impediment. He ignored Raymond and got to work, but his thoughts kept wandering to Brianne. He couldn't get her gorgeous lush curves out of his head, couldn't stop reliving every moment they'd spent together, not just the sexy ones, but the quiet moments, the laughter-filled moments, the moments he'd felt more at ease and more like himself than he'd ever felt before.

  Somehow, he got through the day and even managed to get a bit of work done. Although, he did not risk drinking the coffee Raymond brought him. Just to be on the safe side, he'd be getting his own coffee for the foreseeable future.

  "Raymond, I'm heading out for the day," he said. "You're free to go."

  "Can't," Raymond said, biting off the word with a snap. "I've got to stay and fix all the filing errors that temp made while I was gone."

  "The filing can wait. Go on home."

  Raymond stopped what he was doing and looked up at Jude, his expression softening. "I want to stay. I won't be able to sleep until I have everything back the way I want it."

  "Make sure you put the hours in for overtime."

  He started to walk past Raymond's desk. "Love is always a risk," Raymond said. "But so was opening this casino. Don't walk away just because she pushes."

  "I'll take that under consideration."

  "Have a good evening."

  "Thank you, Raymond. You do the same."

  Philip drove Jude to his newly renovated home and Jude almost asked the man to take him back to the strip. The idea of another night . . . But he wasn't the type to back down when things got hard. He'd power through this like he had through every other difficult thing in his life.

  After saying good night to Philip, he let himself into his house. When he'd bought the five bedroom with the pool in the backyard, he'd been thinking of resale value. Any thought of a future family, of kids splashing in the pool, had seemed a ridiculous fantasy. Now, as he stepped inside, his footsteps echoing in the sparsely furnished house, it was all he could think of. All he could see. Brianne smiling at him after a long day, Brianne sitting across from him over dinner on the patio. Brianne holding their child in her arms. He growled at his own maudlin wallowing and grabbed a beer from the fridge.

  He sat on the patio and listened to neighborhood kids shouting and playing, smelled the scents of backyard barbecues, and reminded himself how lucky he should feel. He had no responsibilities to anyone in his personal life. No one expected a damn thing of him. He was free to do whatever the hell he wanted.

  He sat and sipped as the sun set and the moon rose. The darker it got, the more the neighborhood quieted. The night air grew chillier, but he felt hot, antsy, anxious.

  He couldn't face another night of lying in bed alone, missing Brianne and unable to sleep. He stood, stripped down to his boxer briefs and dove into the pool. He swam laps until exhaustion took over and his brain shut off.

  As tired as he'd made sure to be, it still took him more than an hour to fall asleep and, when he finally managed it, he woke before dawn, reaching for her.

  #

  "What the fuck do you want?" Max asked. He stood in front of Jude's desk, hands fisted, face red.

  Jude studied him for a minute, took in Max's anger and accepted that he might just deserve it this time. He hadn't expected to feel anything for Max after five years, but he did. He missed his best friend. "Have a seat. I just want to talk."

  Max narrowed his eyes like he was trying to figure him out. Five years ago, Max wouldn't have wasted the time to try to understand Jude. That hadn't been their relationship. Max was the charmer, the one to make a joke of every situation, the free spirit Jude could never be. "The sooner I can get the hell out of this casino, the happier we'll both be. So, let's cut to the chase. Whatever you think I did, I didn't do it."

  "I'm not accusing you of anything." A part of Jude still wondered if Max might be the one stealing from the casino, but the largest, most rational part of him didn't buy it. When Max had stolen from the company before, he'd honestly believed, or convinced himself, he was just taking his own money. "I want to talk about Brianne."

  Max snorted. "Man, you've fucked this up so bad and you have no idea. You didn't fight for her five years ago, and you're sitting here gabbing with me when you should be going after her."

  Shock stilled Jude and he closed his mouth, trying to give nothing away.

  Max shook his head. "Dude, it was all over your face every time I said her name. Every time you asked how she was doing. I'm not as self-absorbed as you seem to think I am. I knew you had a serious thing for her years before you started hinting about dating her."

  "You told me you stole the money for her."

  "And you believed me, because it made things easier for you. If you'd really thought about it, you'd have remembered that Bri never cared about material shit, that she never asked for anything from anyone. You didn't, though, did you? You just rested on your righteous anger and stayed away from her and my family."

  A buzzing began in Jude's ears and he swallowed hard against Max's words. Because he might be right. Jude had wanted Brianne, but he'd wanted her with an uncomplicated family, so she'd be no danger to his carefully planned future, his carefully constructed peace. And he was doing the same thing again, making sure he'd neatly tied up all the loose ends before he went after her, before he decided to get off his ass and take the leap. "Brianne wasn't the only one I fucked up with five years ago. Please, Max. Sit. I'm trying to apologize here."

  Max stared him down for several long moments as though trying to figure out his game. "You trying to play nice with me so I'll put in a good word for you with Bri?"

  "I'm trying to apologize and make peace with you, Max, so that when I go after Brianne, I'll be able to promise her that you and I are on good terms again. Whatever mistakes I've made in the past, she is my future if she'll have me. I don't want tense Thanksgivings and Christmases and Easters with her family for the next forty years just because you and I couldn't bury the hatchet."

  Max's shoulders relaxed and he took a seat, his back straight, his expression suspicious. "You're actually serious about my sister."

  "I'm in love with her," he said, flaying himself open for Max and for Brianne. "When I think of my future, she is all I see, more i
mportant than my casino, more important than all the money and power in the world. If she asked, I'd give it all up and move with her to Towle."

  Max grinned. "Slow down there, big guy. I'd prefer my sister not date a guy who's unemployed and a tiny bit insane, but I appreciate your sincerity."

  "That's a good place to start," Jude said. "But a better place would be with me apologizing. I should have asked why you needed the money. I had no idea you had a child on the way and, if I'd known . . ." He sighed. "I might not have been so angry. I might have--"

  Max held up a hand. "I appreciate the sentiment, man, and I'm extremely tempted to let you believe I had a good reason for what I did, but I'm done with the lies. I want to be better than that. I took the money because I had a girlfriend from a wealthy family, and I wanted to impress her. I didn't find out that Lizzie was pregnant until after you'd given me the boot. You weren't wrong to do what you did. I almost single-handedly destroyed what we'd built."

  Jude supposed he should have felt relieved or even angry to know the truth, but he didn't feel either. "It was a company that never would have existed without your app. You shouldn't have taken the money, but I should have given you another chance. I shouldn't have shut you out completely."

  Max rubbed a hand over his face. "As much as it pains me to say it, I was a selfish asshole only focused on where my next good time was coming from. You could have given me a second chance, but I probably would have blown that one, too."

  "Even so, you were my best friend before you were my business partner. I should have asked if you were in trouble, if you needed help. Fuck, believing the money was to help Brianne, I should have just let you walk away with it."

  Max snorted. "Either love has softened you up, or you've put on some rose-colored glasses about the past. I nearly bankrupted us. I came close to destroying all our dreams. You had every right to be furious, and cutting me loose was absolutely the right decision."