The Angler, the Baker, and the Billionaire (Destination Billionaire Romance)

by Day, Amberlee

  “Jamie, are you okay?”

  Just then, from not far inside the fort, Jamie yelled, “Noo! Don’t eat me!”

  Adrenaline shot through her, and without thinking, Sophie rushed head on into the dark hillside. “Jamie!” she called.

  Before she’d made it five feet, strong arms caught her up, and Jamie’s beard and laughter filled the darkness.

  “That was mean!” Her hands landed on his chest, and she pummeled him less than gently until her fight instinct calmed down.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, sounding boyishly not sorry. “How could I help it?”

  “You could have been hurt!”

  “I am hurt. You keep punching me like that and I might bruise.”

  “You deserve it.”

  She stopped punching, but he kept his arms around her. As her eyes adjusted, she could see his twinkling eyes, even in the faint light from outside. She felt the warmth of his body and realized the dark fort air was far colder than out in the sunshine. She shivered, and when he pulled her even closer, she didn’t resist.

  He’s not dangerous, she thought. Cathy said so. He’s fun, he’s sexy in a wild way … I’m attracted to him. And he wants to kiss me. Why not?

  She lifted her chin, looking him in the eyes and relaxing into his embrace. Her hands, resting on his chest, felt his heartbeat speed up, and warmth spread over her in return. Jamie looked down at her lips, and the corners of her mouth curved up softly into what she hoped he took as an invitation. She closed her eyes just as he leaned down to kiss her.

  A faint sound made them both freeze. It came from somewhere deep in the fort and was followed by shuffling sounds on the dirty cement floor.

  Sophie’s heart leapt clear to her throat, but this time in fear. “Jamie …” she whispered.

  He turned toward the sound and moved her behind him. In the dark, a faint light had appeared and was growing stronger when Jamie flicked on his flashlight.

  “Hello?” he called out.

  “Hello!” a friendly voice answered. “Everything all right out here? I heard someone calling for help.”

  At first, all Sophie could see was a headlamp coming closer, but gradually a smiling man with a baseball cap and backpack moved into Jamie’s flashlight beam.

  “Hello,” Jamie answered. “Everything’s fine. Just fooling around. I’m surprised to see you, though. We didn’t notice another kayak out there.”

  The stranger had wild curly hair and wore the ball cap backward, making his silhouette look like a clown wig with a badly receded hairline.

  “Clown,” Sophie barely whispered toward Jamie’s ear. He held his stance, assessing the stranger.

  “You didn’t see the boats?” the stranger asked. He was either exceptionally friendly or a psychopathic killer, Sophie thought. “There should be three kayaks pulled up in the brush just past the beach.”

  He moved around past them, and Jamie pivoted, keeping Sophie behind him. They followed the stranger back out into the sunlight toward the beach.

  “Good!” The man pointed out three newish and still wet kayaks that were mostly concealed in the bushes. “You had me scared there.”

  Jamie scratched his head. “I guess I didn’t notice.”

  “I’m running a tour, if you’d like to join us.”

  “How many people are there?”

  Just then, a middle-aged man and woman walked out of the entrance, headlights lit on their foreheads. “Mark? Everything okay?”

  “Yep. Just a couple more adventurers. What do you say?” he asked Jamie and Sophie with a wide grin. “Want to join the tour?”

  9

  As it turned out, Mark of Sitka Kayak Adventures was an excellent tour guide. While Sophie reentered the fort with nervous trepidation—even Jamie toyed with the thought of these three people luring unsuspecting visitors to their deaths within the hillside—he thought she also enjoyed the creepy cement hallways with rusting steal doors. Mark showed them a trap door in the floor that the military originally used to maintain utilities in the well-hidden fort. When she leaned down to look inside, Jamie whispered, “Don’t let the clowns pull you down,” for which he received a not-so-light punch.

  For about an hour they remained with the tour group—it turned out there were a total of six in all waiting for Mark in the tunnels—before saying their goodbyes and exploring the fort on their own.

  Jamie had produced a headlamp for Sophie once they’d joined the tour group. While it’d been fun to tease her in the dark, and as much as he wanted to keep her close by sharing a flashlight, he knew two lights would be safer than one. Just the same, he kept hold of her hand to help lead her around the truly dangerous holes and drop-offs in the abandoned fort.

  He had an ulterior motive in leaving the tour group. Tour Guide Mark’s creepy arrival had kept him from kissing Sophie, and he really, really wanted to kiss her. He’d never been as attracted to a woman as he was to this cute baker. He loved that she was adventurous, even when that adventure was a little scary. Jamie listened a little to Mark’s informative tour, but mostly he watched Sophie take it all in. And every time they passed one of the rusty metal doors leading into more hallways and rooms, he thought of pulling her inside and kissing her. Maybe if he could finally get her by herself, he could make it happen.

  It took a while to completely separate themselves from the tourist group.

  “I’m surprised there aren’t bats,” she whispered.

  “There probably are. Bats are pretty good at tucking themselves into corners when they want to.”

  She moved her head so her lamp shone on the ceiling corner above.

  “Don’t do that,” he said, pretending to be worried. “You’ll wake them up.”

  He stifled a laugh when she quickly moved her light back to the ground.

  “Are you enjoying this?” he asked her seriously.

  “Yes! Now I’m wondering what mysteries all the other islands hold.”

  “I guess we’ll have to explore them all.”

  “I guess we will.” She glanced up at him before they stepped carefully around a deep hole in the floor. Her look told him that she meant it.

  There was a faint glow ahead that told him they’d made their way back and were close to the entrance. The time was now if he was going to kiss Sophie in the Lost Fort. He turned to her, and took a breath to say what he hoped would be something romantic, when the entire tourist group came barging in from behind them.

  “You heading out, too?” Mark said. “I don’t know if you checked the weather, but there’s a squall coming in this afternoon. Might want to paddle on back into town before it hits.”

  “That’s … a good idea.” Jamie nodded. He wanted to find one of those trap doors and shove Mark and the rest of the group inside, but he had to agree, if there was a storm coming, he needed to get Sophie home. He turned back to Sophie. “I guess we should go.”

  “I guess so.” Was it his imagination, or did she look as disappointed as he felt?

  “Hey,” he said. “How about dinner tonight? I’d intended on taking you out as part of our date. What do you say?”

  “I’d love to say yes, but it’s Spence and Ty’s birthday. They’re having a party in a couple of days, but I promised I’d come for dinner and a Star Wars marathon.”

  He waited to see if she’d invite him and was disappointed when she didn’t. He couldn’t blame her. It wasn’t her house to be inviting someone over. “Okay. How about tomorrow night, then? Still the same date, part two.”

  The smile she gave him set his senses on fire. “It’s a date,” she said. “Part two.”

  10

  Before they said goodbye back in Sitka—where, inconveniently, Reva and Loren occupied the back deck outside Sophie’s room on a break from the lodge kitchen—Jamie thought to exchange cell numbers with Sophie. He texted her from the truck before leaving.

  Thank you for adventuring with me today. I can’t wait to see you tomorrow. We’ll go somewhere nice, no
clowns. Wear your prettiest dress.

  Sophie smiled and waved at Jamie as he drove away.

  “So, what’s the scoop?” Reva beamed mischievously, and from behind her Loren was just as bad. “Are you and Jamie a couple? Because I picked up on some pretty hot vibes coming from the two of you.”

  Sophie leaned against the deck railing. She kept her head lowered toward the phone so they wouldn’t see her blush.

  Before she could respond, Loren put his hands in the air. “And the unwanted man in the room—or, deck—will exit stage left and let you two ladies talk the language of women.”

  “You don’t have to leave,” Sophie protested.

  “No, I think I do,” he said, sauntering out of sight toward the side kitchen door.

  “Yes, he does,” Reva said. “What’s up, girl? I saw some sparks between you and Jamie the other day in the lodge—at least on his part; but now it looks like the feeling’s mutual. Are you two dating, or what?”

  Sophie squirmed. Reva was quirky, unique; so was Loren. She could see them as characters on a Northern Exposure episode, and she was sure Reva wouldn’t judge her attraction to Jamie. And yet … she suddenly felt uncomfortable thinking what her friends back home would think of him. “Dating?” she said. “No, not really. I mean, he’s fun, right? And kind of sexy in a backwoods sort of way. Don’t you think?”

  “Oh, yeah!” Reva’s white teeth gleamed behind her purple lipstick. “Jamie’s a catch. If I didn’t have Loren …”

  “Yeah?” Sophie pictured scrawny Loren—his pale arms covered in tattoos, his face even paler framed by long, dyed black hair—next to lean, muscular Jamie, who was scruffy and hairy and had a walk that made Sophie look twice every time. “Well … Loren’s lucky to have staked a claim first. But Jamie … he’s great. Funny, smart …”

  “And you’re dating?” Reva pressed.

  “Dated. I mean, we’ve been on two dates. One and a half, actually. But it’s nothing serious. It’s just for fun.”

  “Isn’t that what dating’s about? Having fun?”

  “Sure, but when you think of dates, you think of relationships. Looking for someone to spend your future with.”

  “And Jamie’s not that?”

  Sophie scoffed. “I can’t see me spending my life with someone whose entire face I’ve never seen. Or … throat. And then he’s always in grubby old jeans, and I’m getting the feeling he bounces from job to job.”

  “Oh.”

  “So yeah, kind of dating, but keepin’ it casual.”

  “I see.”

  Sophie’s hand went to her stomach, which had suddenly started to feel hollow.

  “Does Jamie know you’re keeping it casual?” Reva asked. She smiled brightly, but Sophie thought she detected an undertone, which she decided to ignore.

  “I think so. I mean, it hasn’t come up, but then, why should it? Since we’re keeping it—”

  “—casual.”

  Sophie’s stomach felt worse. “Right,” she said. “You know, it’s been a long day already. I think I’m going to go …” She pointed to her room door.

  “Right!” Reva said brightly. “I’ll just …” She pointed in the direction Loren had disappeared. “… head on back to the kitchen.”

  “See you later.”

  “Yep. See you later.”

  Sophie fished her key from her pocket. She glanced up just before Reva rounded the corner. The curvy cook was shaking her black-and-purple head.

  Back in her room, Sophie dropped like a rock onto her bed. Her stomach indeed felt empty, a little sick. Why was that? She and Jamie had downed some sandwiches on the kayak ride back, but she didn’t think it was the food.

  If she was honest with herself—and she wasn’t ready to do that—she’d have to admit that Jamie the scruffy angler was someone she could actually fall hard for.

  11

  Jamie checked out his reflection in the full-length mirror and grinned. “Yeah, this is perfect.”

  Marisa shook her head, her long earrings swinging below her short, dark hair.

  He turned to face her. “I know you don’t approve—”

  “I don’t,” she said. “And I could have found something much better than that for you to wear tonight.”

  “What? No, this is great. I can pretend I stole it from a body at the mortuary. A short body.” He tried tugging the suit jacket sleeves to make them longer, but it didn’t work.

  “You’re ridiculous. Why don’t you just—”

  Jamie turned to the petite woman, gently taking her head in both hands. “I will. Stop fussing over me. I have a plan.”

  “A bad plan—hey!”

  Jamie had jutted his chin forward to tickle her face with his beard.

  “Gross! Stop it!”

  “Say uncle!” he said.

  Instead, Marisa punched him fairly hard in the stomach.

  “Oof.” Jamie released her and rubbed his stomach. “Uncle. That hurt. You and Sophie, both. She pummeled me when I played like something was eating me in the cave.”

  “Good for her. That was a mean trick.”

  “Aw … she thought it was funny. After a while.”

  “For your sake, she’d better have a very good sense of humor.” Marisa pulled on her designer jacket. “I need to get back to work. Not all of us get to go play whenever we want to.”

  “You take very good care of me.”

  “Hm.” She picked up her briefcase and headed for the door. As an afterthought, she turned back to him. “Jamie, are you sure about this? Do you know what you’re doing? I’m worried it’s all going to blow up in your face.”

  “Since when am I sure about anything?” He worked at combing his beard tangles out in the mirror. “You know me. Always flying by the seat of my pants. But one thing I am sure about.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Whatever else happens, I’m not going to let this chance get away from me. And you know when I say that—”

  Marisa rolled her eyes. “You mean it.”

  “You’d better believe it.”

  The prettiest dress Sophie brought to Sitka was a knee-length, V-neck crepe dress. It was navy blue, but the print was bright, with crisp green leaves and life-sized yellow lemons. Her mom had helped her pick it out for a chamber of commerce banquet, the last one they attended together. Sophie loved it, even more so because it had pockets. She paired it with leaf-green wedge sandals and wore her hair in long, loopy curls.

  Looking in the full-length mirror in her room, she sighed. “Is it a good idea to work this hard to impress him?” she said aloud. “What idea do I want to give him?”

  That I’m into him. But she wasn’t going to say that aloud.

  He knocked on the door, and she checked her watch. Right on time. She sighed again, almost wishing he’d give her something besides his appearance for her to criticize. Well, that and his teasing, but she didn’t really mind that. She picked up her purse and opened the door.

  If she had any doubts about whether or not Jamie was attracted to her, she didn’t after he’d taken one look at her. He didn’t hide it, either. Jamie looked her up and down, from her green heels to her dark eyes, and whistled.

  “Really?” She raised one eyebrow and pretended like she was bored by his flirting. The butterflies in her stomach said otherwise.

  “You look beautiful.”

  “Thank you. You look very nice, too.” His suit was interesting. Too short, so he probably borrowed it from someone, and quite outdated. But his beard appeared to have been well combed, and he’d pulled it together with a rubber band. “Do you call that a ponytail? Or beard tail?”

  He smiled and shrugged. “Call it what you like. Just trying to dandy up for the evening.”

  “Ever think about shaving it? Or would that be like—I don’t know—euthanizing a pet?”

  “Oh-ho! Ouch!” He took her hand and led her out the door, pulling it shut behind them. Tucking her hand in the crook of his arm, he led her to the tr
uck.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to insult the beard,” she said, trying to lighten the sparks she felt being so close to him. “Does it have a name?”

  “I like to call it Kyle.”

  “You call your beard Kyle?”

  “Yes. Well, I didn’t, until just now, but it seems to suit. What do you think?”

  “I think it’s your beard. You have every right to call it Kyle. Have you ever considered getting Kyle fixed?”

  Jamie had made reservations overlooking the water at Capn’s Table Fine Dining. In fact, it was a warm evening for Sitka, and he’d arranged for a secluded table on the deck.

  “This is very nice,” Sophie said after they’d ordered. “You went to a lot of trouble. Thank you.”

  “No trouble. I’ve been looking forward to this.”

  The way he looked at her, Sophie could imagine his thoughts, picturing the almost-kiss they’d shared at the Lost Fort. She tried to keep her composure, but the corners of her mouth turned up anyway.

  “So …” she said, trying to redirect the conversation and both their thoughts. “What do you do when you’re not on the boats?”

  Jamie leaned back in his chair. “Oh, a little of this, little of that.”

  “Jack of all trades?”

  “Something like that.”

  “I know you fish. You have a pilot’s license. You used to rob banks.”

  “Had to give that up. Gave me splinters.”

  Sophie wrinkled her brow in thought. “How …? Never mind. What else do you do?”

  Jamie leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table, coming close enough that she could see the flecks in his twinkling hazel eyes. And his beard ponytail, which nearly touched the table. “I have my hand in a few business ventures.”

  “Like what?”

  “Oh, you know.”

  “Little of this, little of that?”

  “Exactly.”

  Sophie drummed her fingers on the table impatiently. How was she ever to get to know Jamie if he was so secretive? “Tell me something about you I don’t already know,” she tried.