Melody Anne's Billionaire Universe: Her Billionaire's Bargain (Kindle Worlds Novella)

by Yvette Hines

  Text copyright ©2016 by the Author.

  This work was made possible by a special license through the Kindle Worlds publishing program and has not necessarily been reviewed by Melody Anne. All characters, scenes, events, plots and related elements appearing in the original Melody Anne's Billionaire Universe remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of Melody Anne, or their affiliates or licensors.

  For more information on Kindle Worlds: http://www.amazon.com/kindleworlds

  Her Billionaire’s Bargain

  Billionaire Series Kindle World (spinoff of The Billionaire’s Dance by Melody Anne)

  Yvette Hines

  Zac Powers is a rich man who always gets what he wants. Whether in business or his personal life. Not many people tell him, “No.” Until Kourtney Deen, a striking beauty, refused to sell her business to him so that he could put up a luxury spa and golf course. Business is business that’s what Zac has always believed. He refuses to get caught in the marriage trap like his cousins. However, the day he meets the feisty shop owner face to face, he can’t resist the attraction he has for her.

  Kourtney refuses to allow herself to get distracted. No matter how tall, grey-eyed and handsome he maybe. That road has already been traveled. Years ago, she made some mistakes and had to make some tough choices. Now, the only two things she cares about are her daughter and the success of her shop.

  In Zac’s structured life, things have always gone how he planned it, but one unexpected event leads to another. When he discovers that nothing is what it seems and there are secrets, yet revealed, he learns quickly that it is not his wallet he has to lean on, but his heart.

  Chapter One

  “Why the hell don’t I have the final contract and plans on my desk for the Grand Overlin project?” Zac stormed behind his desk and eyed the people filling the chairs on the other side. He’d just finished a meeting at the Strategic Improvement Development East team. SIDE was a group of civic organizers, businessmen and leaders in the city who discussed and planned advancements in the Charlotte area. They looked at all angles and levels, both economic and civil.

  In a few days, he would be headed to the Mayor’s office. Mayor Layla Foxx was more than anxious to have the Overlin Project development underway. The success of it would mean more revenue for the city and after the political convention placed a hole in the Queen City budget, she was looking for big ways to fill it. Luxury and sports went hand in hand in Charlotte. Especially in a place where they had their own major league football, hockey and basketball teams, as well as the NASCAR industry.

  After college he had considered relocating his dad’s business back to Seattle where his mother’s family was from. Katherine, his mother Adele’s sister, was married to Joseph Anderson and still lived in Washington. For Zac, Charlotte the city he had spent most of his life was starting to grow, fast, and he wanted a piece of the pie. Over the last ten years, he got more than a slice of it, but he was gorging on his prosperity. He was more successful than his father had been.

  His cousin Alex was experiencing the same kind of corporate success. As were Alex’s two brothers Lucas and Mark in their own right. He was close to his three cousins. Just like him, they put career first and foremost. Well, except for Lucas who fell hard over a year ago when he was shot in the ass by cupid’s nine millimeter.

  Shaking his head, Zac felt sorry for his older cousin, even if the man appeared happy with his wife and new baby. It would never happen to him.

  Zac’s younger brother, Rand, was an artist and wanted no part of the business world. Rand had married his high school sweetheart a few years after leaving school. Another difference between the two of them.

  Zac let his mind focus on The Grand Overlin project. It was what the city needed. Hell, what he needed. The success of it would give him the clout to seal other deals. Management of the new Independence stadium for one.

  Dillon Rodgers, his personal assistant and Rebecca Sanchez his lawyer both stared back at him with anxious looks on their faces.

  “Mr. Powers, we’ve had a lot of success in the last two weeks with the tenants and shop owners in that area agreeing to sign. They’re seeing this as an opportunity for retirement and new homes, bigger better things—”

  Placing his hands flat on his desk, Zac locked his gaze on her. “I don’t care what they decide to use the large amount of cash we are tossing their way for rundown homes and stores that have barely stayed above water in years. As. Long. As. They. Are. Leaving.” He punctuated each word with a pause so she clearly understood his message. He wanted and needed this project to start yesterday and it was already taking much longer and stalling him from moving forward.

  Rebecca glanced over at Dillon as if pleading for a little help. “They have all signed except…”

  “Except what?” Resuming his full height, he waved his hands over his desk. “Except there isn’t final paperwork on my desk.”

  “There’s one person that seems to be holding out.” Dillon jumped in.

  “Holding out? For what damn it?”

  Rebecca licked her lips and glanced down at her tablet.

  Dillon not flustered by Zac’s temper still leaned back cool in his chair. That was one of the reasons Zac had kept Dillon on as his assistant for so many years. Dillon was steady and could usually be trusted to get the job done; exactly what Zac wanted for Zac Acquisition & Development.

  “I assume more money.” Raising a hand to forestall Zac, Dillon continued, “And we have offered her quite a bit for her little store. Hell, double what other tenants have settled for.”

  That gave Zac pause. The stores on Lincoln Drive weren’t even worth the lump sum they had drafted up to offer them, but someone was refusing to sell—wanting more. “What’s her…?”

  “Kourtney Deen,” Rebecca informed him. “She’s some kind of cupcake baker that has been there for years.”

  Staring pointedly at Rebecca and then Dillon, Zac’s brows drew together. “You’ve got to be kidding me? The big plans for this city are being held up, not by some community center or a retirement home, but an old lady selling pastries?”

  He was pleased to see that they both had enough sense to look contrite. Shaking his head, Zac turned and faced the large window behind his desk and stared at the light rail, Time Warner Arena and main bus depot to his left. People below him in the Queen City were scurrying about at the end of the day, some on their way home from work others rushing to whatever concert or game was being held tonight at the sports center. Zac didn’t keep up with entertainment events unless it was a function he was sponsoring or something he was required to attend for one reason or another. In his world, business was life and life was business. Acquire, develop and expand that was the motto of Zac Acquisition & Development.

  When something or someone stood in the way of one of his top three priorities he moved it. The cupcake baker would have to be taken care of. Glancing over his shoulder at his right and left hand, Rebecca his office manager and Dillon his personal assistant, he asked, “I’m assuming that Harrold and Rover sent someone over there.”

  Dillon sat up straighter and adjusted his tie. “Mr. Powers I made sure the lawyers went over personally.”

  “And?” Zac shifted, fully facing them again.

  “No success. She wouldn’t listen to reason.” Dillon threw his hands up. “I was on my way over before you walked in from the meeting.”

  Zac knew Dillon. He was a go-getter just like he was. That’s why Zac snatched him up from a few
interns fifteen years ago. If he wanted something taken care of Dillon was just as ferocious as himself—a virtual barracuda in the business world. One day he had no doubt Dillon would be running his own conglomerate. Hell, he’d already had it in the back of his mind to allow Dillon to hold the reigns of Grand Overlin, get the assistant treading water in the deep in.

  “I can take care of that now, sir.” Dillon started to rise.

  “No need.” Holding a palm up to him, Zac forestalled his movement. “Make sure Vernon has the address. I’m heading over myself.”

  As he rounded his desk, headed toward his private elevator, Dillon and Rebecca rose.

  “Mr. Powers, are you sure you want to go down there?” Rebecca’s voice was tinged with apprehension.

  “It may be better if I go.” Dillon added, matching his stride.

  Snatching his suit jacket off the hook where he kept it while working in his office, Zac looked at the pair. “I’m going to the East Side of Charlotte, not Syria.”

  The concern on their faces didn’t change. Disregarding it, he slipped his arms into the jacket then fastened it as he stepped into the elevator. “I’ll be back in twenty. Have the S.I.D.E. team ready to meet this evening.”

  They both answered affirmatively as the elevator doors slid shut.

  ~YH~

  “Okay, Stacey, I’m back.” Kourtney called out as she came in the back door of her store with the supplies she’d just picked up. She deposited the heavy box of decoration supplies on the counter beside the pantry.

  “Thank goodness.” Stacey was standing by the door leading into the front store room.

  “Anything else in the van?” Eric set down the piping bag he was filling and moved toward her.

  “Yes. Two large sacks of powdered sugar and the coconut flour.”

  Eric went out the back door.

  Moving to her office to put up her purse, Kourtney called back to Stacey. “How’s sales going? Sorry, I had to leave you at the end of the lunch rush, but if we didn’t go and get the supplies, they would not have been delivered until tomorrow. With this short notice wedding, I needed the stuff tonight.”

  Stacey was standing at the office door now with an occasional glance over her shoulder. “I understand. There’s this guy…” She glanced again in the direction of the store entrance as if she expected someone to come through the door.

  Looking past her clerks shoulders and seeing no one, Kourtney frowned. “What guy? A customer?”

  “Yes. No. He doesn’t appear to want to buy anything or place an order.” She fingered her short brown hair with pink tips behind her triple pierced ear. “Well, I asked him and he said he didn’t want anything but to talk to you.”

  “Me?”

  Taking a step into the office, Stacey lowered her voice to a whisper. “He looks like a lawyer or something. You know like those guys that came last week, but…more…” Stacey waved her hands around in the air.

  Shaking her head, Kourtney had no clue what the young girl was trying to tell her. “Is he still here?”

  “Yes. He refused to leave his card and said he’d wait. He’s been here for almost forty-five minutes. Not looking too happy.” Stacey’s face twisted as she bit down on the side of her bottom lip.

  Kourtney hoped it wasn’t another one of those big wig lawyers from the company who were buying up all the property in her shop’s area of town. Over the last two months she’d been called, sent letters, approached and she was getting sick and tired of telling people she wasn’t going to sell. “I’ll see him.”

  Moving out of her office, Kourtney led the way into the main store room of the converted house. It had originally been her father’s family home, then his older sister’s house and Aunt Joy had converted it years ago into a bakery and shop. Aunt Joy was eccentric and loved the oddity of having her shop in a neighborhood she’d grown up in all her life.

  Aunt Joy had passed away a few years ago, and Kourtney had been proudly running it ever since. In the store room, where the smell of sugar and spices was mellower than the kitchen but still saturated the air Kourtney had no problem spotting the man at the front window staring out into the wide parking lot in front of the house. Even from behind she could see that his dark suit had to be tailor made to fit his body. It wasn’t tight, but form fitting in a way that displayed his broad shoulders, wide back and narrow waist. His pants hung with a sharp crease that traveled perfectly straight without so much as a bend until it got to the cuff centered at the back of his shoes.

  Moving around the antique Victorian-style tables decorated with exact replicas of the cupcakes they made, Kourtney closed in on the man. “I was told you were looking for me.”

  “If you’re Ms. Deen I have.”

  The man turned slowly, his hands shoved deep in his pants pocket disturbing the hem of his jacket that was fastened over what had to be firm abs.

  Glancing up the five inches or so to his square chin and wide mouth with his uncommon full bottom lip, the aquiline nose and met his gaze. Crystalline gray eyes met hers and her heart dropped—passed her feet and clear through the floor to the basement below.

  “You are, Ms. Kourtney Deen, correct.” He was staring at her as if she didn’t have all of her facilities present and frowning.

  He was correct in that, since her wits had just gone sailing out of her mind. Taking a step back, she took a deep breath and pulled herself together. “Yes.” The first word came out weak, so she lifted her chin and tried again. “Yes, I’m Kourtney.”

  “I’m Zac Powers, CEO of Zac Acquisitions & Development. It would seem we have a problem.”

  He didn’t hold his hand out, or smile, nothing, just stared directly at her, with the gray eyes that for her may see too much. Swallowing, she folded her arms under her breasts. “What problem is that, Mr. Powers?”

  “You’re in the way of progress. All of your neighbors and customers, I’ll assume, have made the wise choice of moving on to greener pastures. However, you’ve opted to stay.”

  She knew what he stated was true. Even some of her long time friends and acquaintances in the community had come into the shop and asked her why she wasn’t selling. It was true that a lot of their daily business came from those around them, however, the bulk of the store’s income came from other sources. Word of mouth had caused Cupcakes of Joy to increase profits in the last year—greatly.

  The bell over the door chimed as a family of five came strolling into the store. Kourtney spared them a small smile before putting her focus back on the handsome face in front of her.

  “People make choices that are best for them. Our choice is not to move.” Turning to head to the back of the store, she glanced over her shoulder, “Good day, Mr. Powers. Sorry you wasted your trip.”

  The frown creasing his forehead deepened. As if he’d never had someone turn him down or walk away from him. Probably not.

  Rushing away, she needed to put space between them. Not allowing herself another glance at the sexy as hell, dominate man in her store room, she made a beeline to her office. Once there, she closed the door and took several breaths.

  She didn’t anticipate the vibrations of the knocking that happened through the door. I just need a moment alone.

  “One second, Stacey, and I’ll be out.” Kourtney stepped away from the door and attempted to get her bearings, something she had not been able to do before the impressive male figure.

  Another tapping. Frustrated, she crossed the room and snatched the door open. “Stacey, I ju—”

  “I see you like to play hardball.”

  It was not Stacey standing before her. In the archway of the doorframe was Zac Powers, like an ominous cloud of a big summer storm he invaded her life. “Only employees are allowed back here, sir.”

  He shrugged and barely seemed to give an ounce of credence about her shop rules. “I don’t think you’ve even looked at the contract and considered the benefits of signing.”

  She shook her head. “How do you know what I h
ave and have not done?”

  “I’ve dealt with owners like you before. Too stubborn to evaluate other options.”

  What? “I know you’re not standing in my place of business insulting me. You could have sent another one of your goons to do that.”

  He chuckled. “True. I mean no insult. Just an experienced observation.”

  “Well I have an observation for you—”

  “One meeting.” He held up a single finger.

  Could he get any more frustrating? “Mr. Powers—”

  He placed his hands on the sides of the frame, filling the opening and her vision with his body. “If you’re so set on staying, nothing I could say would convince you otherwise so why not allow me at least a moment to give you my pitch.”

  Ugh! She wanted to scream. The only thing that she wanted was for him to walk his high dollar shoes out of her store with him in them. However he didn’t appear inclined to do that without her agreement. Running a hand over her bun, she let out a sigh. “Fine. When would you like me to come by your office?”

  He shook his head. “Too formal. We need some place that is neutral.”

  “Like?”

  “Dinner.” A smile appeared on his perfect mouth and a small amount of light flickered in his gaze.

  She wasn’t prepared for the change and the impact of his face becoming more friendly and less business. Her heart did a flip. Having him serious and business minded was a lot safer for her. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “What could it hurt? You afraid that a couple glasses of wine and good food may lead you into doing something…”

  Yes. “No. I just think we should keep things in perspective.”

  His smile stretched his lips wider. “No worries. I just would like a chance to talk this out. Explain the city’s side and the benefits to the community.”

  “I’ve heard this pitch frequently from everyone else that has been around.”

  He leaned his shoulder against the jamb. “Not from me.”