Stranded with the Hidden Billionaire

by Elana Johnson

“One sad-looking vase,” she said. “Let’s just say I learned about failure during the class.”

  Holden chuckled. “Let’s see. My turn.” Again, his mind turned to Explore Getaway Bay and his role in the company. Before he could tell her he’d bought out his mother’s shares in the company and become the owner because he now held seventy percent of the company in his hand, her cell phone rang.

  They both froze, as if they were connected to the same rope and it had suddenly gone taut.

  The phone rang again.

  “Answer it,” Holden said.

  Eden looked at him, shock in her bright blue eyes, as she lifted the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

  He couldn’t hear anything, but she nodded, and he said, “You have to talk, sweetheart.”

  “Yes,” she said, finally blinking and coming to her senses. “Yes, we’re on the path that leads up to the Bald Mountain spring. We had to go all the way up for water.” She glanced at him. “Yes, he’s with me. Yes, just the two of us.”

  She turned away from him. “What do you mean? Who is this?”

  Holden had the urge to grab the phone away from her, but he feared the motion would throw him off balance. So he stood there while she said, “Put a rescuer on the phone,” and then, “How did you get this number?”

  Holden’s hopes fell with everything Eden said. They weren’t any closer to getting off this mountain. It was just the press looking for a story. And he was the CEO of a survival company, caught out in the wilderness with no survival supplies.

  He’d be a laughingstock on the island, and in his own company.

  Dread filled his body, making his steps heavy as he started down the path without Eden. He just needed a little space. Some distance, to make his thoughts line up. She continued talking behind him, but the call ended soon after that, and she called, “Holden.”

  He paused and turned back toward her. She limped down to him, her face hard and angry. “That wasn’t a rescuer. Some guy from The Island News, wanting to know if we were alive. Said there were rumors of three people up here, not just two.”

  “Just two,” Holden echoed, his mind slow and thick.

  “I’m going to call my sister,” she said. “I only have twelve percent left on my phone.” She tapped and put the phone to her ear again.

  “Iris,” she said, her voice filled with relief. “It’s Eden. Update me. Where are the rescue crews?”

  Holden didn’t watch her while she spoke to her sister. He kept one ear on the conversation, but he really just looked out over the tropical beauty that was Hawaii. He’d been hiding in the shadows at Explore Getaway Bay for years. Maybe it was time to come forward, even if that painted him in a bad light for a week or two. The media would move on to some other story, and he could go back to the closed board meetings, with Dean as the public face of the company.

  He could develop his app, and hold Eden’s hand, kiss her goodnight and fall asleep with dreams of her in his head.

  Even as he imagined the simple life, he knew it would never be his. And not just because Eden said, “You’re kidding,” as more of a gasp than words. But because Holden had never had the luxury of an easy life. He’d never minded, until his mother had died. That had seemed wholly unfair, and sometimes he still wrestled with the darkness inside him.

  Something pierced the air, something that didn’t belong. “Do you hear that?” he asked, twisting to look over his shoulder.

  Eden was off the phone, but she stood very still, her eyes pinned to him.

  The noise came again. Distant, but there. High-pitched. It was a whistle.

  “Someone’s coming,” he said. “They’ve made it across the gap.”

  “Yeah,” Eden said in a voice that didn’t quite belong to her. “That’s what Iris just said.”

  “That’s great. Where are they?”

  “Almost here,” she said as she cocked her head at the sound of the whistle. It seemed to have gotten astronomically closer in only a few seconds. “Iris said the crews worked through the night, so they could get Getaway Bay’s newest billionaire back to safety.” She folded her arms and glared at him.

  Ice ran through his veins now, and he opened his mouth to explain.

  “That’s not me, so I’m assuming it must be you.” She lifted her eyebrows as if to say, Well? Is that true or not?

  “It’s true,” he said, answering the mental question.

  “And I suppose you were just about to tell me.” She started walking down the trail again, leaving him to stare after her.

  “Yes,” he called, getting himself moving. He felt her slipping away from him when he’d just gotten her back. “I was just about to tell you.”

  “Uh huh,” she said. “I really believe you, Holden.” She paused and spun toward him. “I can’t believe I believed you about anything. I still feel intensely about you, Eden. What a joke.” Her eyes flashed with that fire, and it was hot and scorching. She turned away from him and jogged a few steps.

  “Eden,” he said, trying to catch up to her. She was injured too, but not nearly as unstable on her feet as he was.

  “Leave me alone, Holden,” she said just as the whistle sounded again and a crew of no less than eight men rounded the corner up ahead. They wore helmets and backpacks, repelling gear and strong hiking boots.

  Eden reached them first, and a couple of them immediately set to work checking her out. Holden stayed where he was, this time giving Eden the distance she clearly wanted.

  “Sir,” one of the men said, making Holden flinch. He looked at the other man, the removal of his gaze from Eden almost painful.

  “I’m fine,” he said.

  “We need to check you out,” the other man said. “I’m Aaron Burr, and I’m a paramedic. I understand you’ve had some trouble with your leg.”

  Holden had some trouble with his leg, yes. And his head.

  But by far the most painful injury he’d amassed was in his heart, which beat out a message that he may have just lost Eden forever.

  Chapter Eleven

  Eden let the rescue team surround her. Put blankets around her shoulders even though it was plenty warm outside. Feed her. Shove water bottles at her. It had never felt so good to drink from a bottle before, and Eden did it eagerly.

  Anything to get the sting of betrayal out of her heart. Her muscles. Her very bones radiated with the ache of Holden’s silence.

  He might not have lied, but he certainly hadn’t said anything either. And to think, she’d gone on and on about the billionaire investors she’d met with, how she wanted to get her outdoor survival gear line started, all of it.

  Foolishness had tears pricking her eyes, and one of the men put his arm around her and led her away from the group. “You’re okay,” he said in a calm, soothing voice. “Tell me where it hurts.”

  She lifted her wrist and let him rotate it carefully. He looked at her ankle, again putting it through the full range of motion. “We’ll take you to the hospital when we get down,” he said. “Just to be sure. But I don’t think anything’s broken or fractured.”

  Eden couldn’t point to her heart and have the paramedic check that out. What tool would he even use?

  Why had she allowed herself to hope she and Holden could have a second chance?

  Before she could spiral too deeply into her self-loathing, she straightened her shoulders and said, “I think I just want to get down. Can we go, or do we have to wait for everyone?”

  “Let me get a crew, and we’ll go with you.” The man turned back to the three others who’d stayed back to help her. She couldn’t help looking up the path to find Holden had sat down, and he had four people working around him too.

  With all those bodies between them, she couldn’t meet his eye. She didn’t want to anyway.

  They’d only been up in the mountains together for two days. She could erase them from her memory and go right back to her old life. She hadn’t fallen in love with him all over again, not after only two days.

 
She was fine.

  The paramedic returned with his crew, and two of them went in front of her, with two behind. She wasn’t the one who needed help, but she allowed them to buffer her from the rest of the world.

  The environment. Holden.

  And when she got to the bottom of the mountain—the press.

  They surged forward, their cameras clicking and their questions being hurled toward her. When they realized she was alone—and not Holden—their interest waned. She knew she wasn’t anyone important, but it still stung to have it be so blatantly obvious that her survival was second to Holden’s.

  She also knew she was the reason he was still alive. Whether anyone knew it or not, he’d have been dead in that cave without her.

  After answering a few questions for the State Park Ranger, she was allowed to go to her car and leave. She did so, passing the rendezvous point for the path where Holden had parked just as he and his crew arrived at the mouth of the path.

  She almost felt bad for him, having to face all those cameras and answer all those questions by himself.

  “Almost,” she whispered. That seemed to be the theme of her life, and she made a quick decision to go to her parents’ house to shower and relax instead of her own. Iris had said everyone had gathered there, and Eden needed the love and support only her family could provide.

  “I just can’t believe it,” her mother said for at least the twentieth time. She shook her head, the disbelief that had settled into the lines around her eyes still there. “Who wants another cookie?”

  No one answered, and she went into the kitchen anyway, leaving Eden alone with her sisters. Their father had gone into the backyard after the first hour of Eden’s tale. To be fair, she had started answering questions she’d already answered at that point, and she was tired of talking.

  She leaned back into the couch and closed her eyes, a sigh leaking from her mouth.

  “You and Holden Holstein,” Iris said, plenty of undertones in her voice. “What happened with that?”

  Eden could still feel his lips against hers when she said, “Nothing. He’s as stubborn as ever, that’s what happened with that.”

  And secretive.

  She couldn’t believe he owned the company she worked for. But it seemed like the whole world hadn’t known that. Dean Black was listed on the website as the company’s chief executive officer, but when Holden had gone out to “clear his head” one day and not come back, Dean had done exactly what Holden had said he would.

  He’d gone to the cops and the media. She and Holden had been the biggest news story in Getaway Bay since that prince had come to the island, gotten married, and stayed. As if she ranked up there with royalty.

  Not only that, but the journalists on the island had a way of digging up dirt if there was any to be found, and it had only taken one night for them to figure out that Dean wasn’t the owner of Explore Getaway Bay, but Holden Holstein, who’d also just received a “large inheritance” from his father, the famous cattle rancher on the island.

  In short, he was a billionaire, and he would’ve been on her list to approach about investing in her products. After all, she invented outdoor survival products, and he owned an outdoor tourism company.

  It was ironic, really.

  In any other situation, she’d have laughed about it. Said, “Can you believe it?” to her sisters and friends. But when it was her on the other end of the deal, she just felt like she’d been stabbed over and over again.

  “I think something happened,” Orchid said, and Eden’s eyes flew open.

  “It really didn’t,” Eden said, leaning forward. She cut a glance toward the kitchen, but her mother was still scooping doughballs onto the cookie sheet. “Fine, something happened.” Her sisters leaned in, ultimate curiosity on their faces, even Ivy, who usually stayed out of as much drama as possible.

  “I saved his life,” Eden whispered. “You should’ve seen his leg. So red and swollen and infected. And I punctured it and drained all the pus—”

  “Ew,” Iris said, scowling. “Enough.”

  Eden grinned around at them, determined to keep her two-day affair with her ex-boyfriend a secret until the day she died. After all, it wouldn’t do any good to sit around and wish things were different. She’d tried that once, five years ago, and it hadn’t gotten her anywhere.

  “Were you scared?” Ivy asked, and Eden’s eyes flew to her youngest sister’s.

  “Yeah,” she said. “Of course. But we found food and water, and once it stopped raining, it was just a matter of waiting for them to fix the broken path.” Eden spoke so matter-of-factly, but the truth was, she hadn’t been as scared with Holden as she would’ve been had she been alone.

  She might have tried riskier things to get down. She probably wouldn’t have gone up to the spring at all, and she couldn’t even imagine how hungry she’d have been. As it was, she felt an ache in her ankle she should have gone to the hospital to get checked. Her head ached. And a wave of exhaustion rolled through her.

  She stood and went into the kitchen, giving her mom a side hug with the words, “I’m tired. I’m going to take some pills and go to bed. Can I sleep here for a while?”

  “Of course, sweetie.” Her mom looked up at her with the same bright blue eyes Eden had. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” She glanced into the living room. “You should’ve seen Orchid. She nearly fell apart again.”

  Sadness swept through Eden. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get stuck up there.”

  “She knows that. We all know that. It just hit home for her.”

  Eden gathered the medicine she needed and a fresh water bottle from the fridge before giving each of her sisters a hug and heading down the hall to the guest bedroom where she and Orchid used to sleep as little girls.

  Once behind the safety of the closed door, Eden swallowed all the pills and looked around. Orchid had stayed here for a few months after the death of her husband, and it definitely had the vibe of a grown woman and a little girl.

  Her husband had died in a fishing boat accident, leaving Orchid and an unborn baby behind. That baby was now six-year-old Tesla, and Orchid worked as an office administrator for a flower company on the island. Ironically.

  Eden moved over to the bed and sat on the end of it, everything storming through her. She probably shouldn’t be alone right now, but she didn’t want to answer any more questions or make up any more stories about how nothing had happened with Holden.

  Because something had happened.

  She’d opened her heart to him again. He’d unlocked the door so easily too, reached right in and taken her most vital organ.

  Tears splashed her cheeks, but she made no move to wipe them away or quell them. Just like Mother Nature had blown herself out a couple of days ago, Eden had a storm inside her that needed to be released.

  Later, after she’d slept and eaten dinner with her parents, she went back to her own house. When she turned the corner, a sea of cars and vans spread before her. As she inched between them, she realized what was going on.

  The media had found her. Why they cared now when they hadn’t that morning, she wasn’t sure. What she knew was when she pulled into her driveway and got out of her car, over a dozen people had magically appeared on the sidewalk in front of her house.

  “Is it true you saved Holden Holstein’s life?” one asked.

  “How many outdoor survival products have you made?” another shouted.

  “Can we see the can cooker that you collected rainwater in?” asked a third.

  Eden just stood there, unsure of what to say. She wasn’t the one with experience in front of cameras and microphones. With a start, she realized Holden wasn’t either. That was why he let Dean be the public face of Explore Getaway Bay.

  “Excuse me,” she said, her voice barely more than a peep. She turned and went up her front steps, effectively shutting out the shouted questions and desperate pleas for an interview.

  They knew about the inventions. Had
Holden told them about her shed too?

  Anger flowed through her. He had no right to tell anyone anything about her. She didn’t need her failure splashed all over the front page of The Island News, thank you very much.

  She plugged in her phone and turned it on, a shiver running through her. She adjusted the air conditioning so it wasn’t quite so cold and spun when her phone chimed. Maybe it was Holden, apologizing for everything and asking her when they could get that dinner.

  She hesitated. She wouldn’t go to that dinner. She’d make some excuse for why she couldn’t be there only a few minutes before they were supposed to meet. Or something.

  She did check her phone, her disappointment only that much more painful when the text wasn’t from Holden at all. So he’d told the press all about her, probably to get them off his back, and then he’d gone right back into hiding.

  And if there was one thing Eden knew Holden was very good at, it was hiding.

  Chapter Twelve

  By the time Holden finally stepped out of the shower, most of the hot water was gone, and he’d kept Dean waiting for an hour. He didn’t care. Because of what his best friend had done, Holden had been delayed in getting home, getting behind closed doors, getting clean by hours and hours.

  He didn’t even know that many reporters lived and worked on the island. So many cameras. He shuddered at the thought of the pictures that would surely be on the Internet already. The news that night. And in the paper in the morning.

  Eden had gone ahead of him, and by the time he’d gotten down to the trailhead, she’d been completely gone. Frustration filled him as he padded down the hall and into his kitchen, where Dean had made coffee and ordered pizza.

  Holden was grateful for both, and as Willie came trotting over to him, Holden carefully crouched down and hugged his dog. “Hey, bud,” he whispered into the dog’s scruff. “You doin’ okay? Yeah, I’m okay too.”

  Dean came in from the deck, his eyes filled with concern. “You didn’t go to the hospital.”