Not Quite Charming: A Secret Billionaire Beach Romantic Comedy (Once Upon a Time on Lavender Beach Book 1)

by Becca Barnes

  I refused to feel guilty. In a matter of days, I would be handing her a huge chunk of change for doing squat.

  More precisely, for doing squat while Ellie did all the work in that store. Ellie was the one I should be writing a huge check to, if life were fair. But that wasn’t how the law worked. That wasn’t how business worked.

  The upside was that I was now free to spend time with Ellie with no complications attached.

  Starting now.

  I drove by the grocery store to grab some quick supplies, then ran home to pick up Lulu and change into something comfortable. It wasn’t until I was back out the door and in my car that I realized I hadn’t just made a quick trip home.

  I’d made a quick trip home.

  Nineteen

  Ellie

  “I’m coming. I’m coming.” I had already changed into my pajamas as I made my way across the darkened downstairs of the spa. It wasn’t all that late. Not quite nine. But when I had a rare night off, I got serious about my down time.

  Netflix bingeing-wise, that was.

  I peeked out and couldn’t contain the smile that spread from ear to ear.

  “Hey,” I said as I opened the door. Mac held up a bottle of wine and a platter of brownies, his biceps flexing.

  “Mind if I come in?”

  “You had me at chocolate.” And those biceps. Lordy, those biceps.

  He and Lulu followed me up the stairs, and I found myself hyper-aware of the fact that I was wearing a scraggly old tee shirt with no bra and I hadn’t bothered to put on any underwear beneath my lounge pants.

  In an alternate universe where I was in the habit of welcoming hot men into my house at all hours, I would have been prepared with an outfit with a few less mustard stains. But hey, the only hot men I’d been planning on spending the evening with were Thor and Captain America.

  When we reached my living room/bedroom/kitchen, Mac sat down on the futon. I paused before joining him.

  “I didn’t realize you’d be coming over. I should go change into something more presentable.”

  “You’re perfect. And sorry. I just wanted to surprise you. You look like you’re comfortable. That’s what I wanted.”

  “No. I feel like a ragamuffin. I should go—”

  “Don’t make me rip my shirt up again.” He waggled his eyebrows.

  A snort of laughter escaped from my nose. Lovely.

  “Okay, okay. I’ll stay in my ragamuffin get-up.” I sat down next to him. “As long as you promise to get comfortable, too. Take off your shoes. Make yourself at home. My tiny little casa es su casa.”

  “Deal.”

  “So how is Lulu adjusting to her new home?” I asked, scratching her behind the ear.

  “Seamlessly.” He sliced off a brownie and reached out to feed me a bite of it.

  Oh, for the love of Thor, could this man be any more perfect?

  “I was thinking I could send some pictures of Lulu and updates about how she’s doing to her old owner,” he said. “I can’t imagine how hard that must have been to give her up like that.”

  “That’s really sweet. I’ll get you the address.”

  “Thanks. Now, what are we watching?” He clicked the remote to turn off the screensaver. A paused, shirtless Chris Hemsworth popped onto the screen.

  “Welp.” Mac put his hands on his knees and pushed himself up. “There’s no competing with that. I should be going.”

  “Stop.” I giggled and pulled him back down next to me, closer than before. “And you most certainly can compete with any of the Avengers.”

  “Ha! Name one way I can compete with the god of thunder?”

  “Well, I’ve been super-stressed today, and you brought me wine and chocolate. That’s heroic in my book.”

  “Why were you stressed?” He seemed genuinely concerned.

  “Oh, work stuff.”

  “Work stuff that has to do with”—he pulled out his phone and flipped to the Instagram post—“this?”

  “You follow us? Oh, what am I saying? You bought out half the store on Saturday for Lulu. Of course you follow us.” I sighed. “Yeah. It has to do with that. I don’t really want to talk about it, though. It may come to nothing if I lose my nerve. Which means, it will probably come to nothing. I feel pretty powerless when it comes to anything to do with work.”

  Mac scrunched up his forehead. He looked like he was about to say something, but then held back.

  “How about a back rub?” he finally said.

  “Umm, sure.” I tried to hide my hesitancy as I turned around slowly. He maneuvered around so I could nestle between his legs and get comfortable.

  He started with long, smooth strokes along my shoulder blades and down my spine, focusing in on the tight spots as he went.

  “You sure you’re not smuggling contraband walnuts under your skin?” he asked. “You have so many knots.”

  “I know. I carry all my tension in my neck and upper back. Isobel keeps telling me I should go get a massage.”

  “When was the last time you had one?” he asked.

  “Had what? A massage? Never.” It was a luxury I couldn’t afford, not if I was going to save enough money for Kat to even consider selling S’Paw Box to me. And if I worked up the moxie to go through with my plan and it backfired--well, I’d need that money even more.

  “When was the last time you had a back rub, period?” he said, digging into a particularly stubborn knot.

  “Define back rub?”

  His hands slowed. I turned my head slightly, hoping he wouldn’t stop. It had felt so good to have him explore my body, seek out the spots that needed attention and care.

  “It’s just that it’s been awhile since I’ve dated anyone,” I said. “And the guys that I have dated have been more takers than givers. So, y’know. They weren’t really into things like...giving massages.”

  “Ellie.” He paused full-stop. “Has anyone ever given you a back rub, period?”

  “Umm, no.” Why was this something I felt embarrassed about? It was like I’d become so adept at meeting my own needs over the years that it had morphed at some point into an inability to ask for what I wanted at all.

  “Well, then.” He cracked his knuckles. “Prepare yourself for the best damn back rub of your life.”

  “I literally just told you it will be the first damn back rub of my life.”

  “And the best.”

  As he kneaded my aching muscles and worked his magic along my spine, I couldn’t help but let out soft sounds of pleasure. Little gasps of air that I hadn’t even realized I’d been harbouring in my lungs.

  “Ellie,” Mac murmured again as he worked his hands in circles at the base of my spine. “This taking rather than giving, did that extend to the bedroom as well?”

  “Uhh.” I realized that my hesitance spoke volumes. Of course it had. It wasn’t like I’d never had an orgasm, but it had always seemed like...an afterthought? Take care of his needs first. Make sure he was happy. Then if I came, great. If not, well, it was what it was.

  “Right then.” Mac’s hands worked their way up my bare back, under my shirt. His strokes kept their firm, even pressure, but there was a teasing touch in his fingertips that wasn’t there before.

  Instinctively, I turned my head to kiss him, moved my own hand downward toward Mac’s thigh, ready to offer him pleasure. But he stopped me.

  “Nope,” he said. “I want to focus on you. Are you comfortable with that?”

  Well, part of me was uncomfortable with the whole scenario.

  To this point, our interactions had been all flirty banter and scrambling limbs as we happily lost the battle of fighting the attraction we felt for each other.

  But this was different. This was just a night in. This felt...normal.

  “Does that feel good?” Mac asked, gliding the back of his hand across my side and stomach.

  “Mmm hmm.”

  I had lost my ability to form words, I’d become so focused on the warmth of his lip
s as he sowed a row of kisses along the tender edge of my neck. He drew the palm of his hand slowly, achingly up my chest. He dragged his thumb along the underside of each breast then teased my nipples in turn to excited peaks.

  I arched my back, and a faint sound erupted from the back of my throat. He lifted me to his lap, and I could feel him grow hard against my leg. But he made no moves to switch the focus to him. It was more a statement of a fact.

  Solid--so solid--proof of how desirable he found me.

  “God, you’re beautiful,” he whispered if there had been any doubt left.

  His free hand carved a path over my cocked hip to my inner thigh. My lack of impeding underwear suddenly proved to be foresight rather than folly.

  The tip of his finger tormented and toyed until I was dripping wet. Again, I made a move to pleasure him, but he pinned my hands against the wall, taking over nipple duty with his tongue.

  He took his time sweet time, or maybe I had simply lost all track of it. A steady stream of bliss built in my core. The pressure of pleasure mounting so quickly with so much strength behind it that I felt I might pop or scream at any moment. And then I was screaming--a keening cry that escaped from someplace deep within me. Deeper than I’d ever experienced a release before.

  I could feel his gaze resting on me as I recovered. I waited for a sense of self-consciousness to surface, but none came. In fact, what did I feel? I waited for the word to come to me as he gathered me into a steadying embrace.

  Safe. I felt safe.

  “Best. Back rub. Ever.” I chuckled.

  “Yeah, well, if a masseuse ever tries that, you call the police.”

  Twenty

  Mac

  It wasn’t long before Ellie was dozing in my arms. I enjoyed watching her sleep. Aside from the obvious peacefulness of it, I liked being able to study her. Long, coppery eyelashes fluttered against the tops of her cheeks. The top of her lips formed two perfect Cupid’s points, and I found himself thankful that she didn’t hide them under gobs of heavy lipstick. One of her ears was slightly higher than the other, and her lobes weren’t pierced. Not that I had any preference one way or the other. It was simply interesting to note.

  Her phone lay unattended on the coffee table, and for a millisecond, I was tempted to turn it on, see if it held a clue to the mysterious announcement. But that temptation evaporated as she shifted in her sleep, burrowing into my side, her warm breath tickling the hair along my upper arm.

  I’d never been more turned on in my life than I had earlier when she’d come for me. In fact, it had eclipsed every sexual experience from my past. Left them all behind in the dust. And that was with me still having to readjust every five seconds to encourage blood flow to any other area of my body than my groin.

  She made soft little snoring sounds that, oddly enough, reminded me of Lulu off in the corner, snuggled up with Bentley.

  Ellie nuzzled into my shoulder and laughed in her sleep. I would have forked over a couple million right then and there to find out what she was dreaming of.

  It was like some warm liquid was bubbling up around my heart, and again, the only sensation I could liken it to was the moment I had laid eyes on Lulu.

  It was…

  Shit.

  It was love.

  I was falling for her. Falling hard.

  Falling in love was not an option.

  But I was beginning to realized that walking away from her was even less of one.

  Twenty-One

  Ellie

  Bzzzz, bzzzz. Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.

  Dust motes danced through the weak sunlight that filtered through the attic window as I raised my head. Someone was ringing the buzzer and banging on the door below with a furor. Mac had wrapped me in a blanket and tucked a pillow under my head when he’d left at some point the night before.

  My muscles were pure jelly after the previous night’s massage. Mmm. Now I knew why they called them happy endings. It was like the opposite of a hangover. As my brain emerged from the fuzzy fog of recollections from the evening’s utter perfection, I wanted nothing more than to curl back up in the blanket and snooze some more.

  Bzzzzzzz. Bam, bam, bam.

  Or not.

  I switched to a pair of shorts and threw a hoodie on over my now-rumpled messy tee shirt.

  “Coming!” I yelled. It was probably an over-eager dog owner, hoping for a last-minute cancellation, or a desperate dog-sitter whose client had gotten sprayed by a skunk overnight, I thought as I peeked through the curtain.

  It wasn’t.

  The corners of my mouth tugged into a frown.

  My stepmother stood on the front stoop, hands on hips, tapping her foot like she was single handedly powering a fleet of antique sewing machines.

  Well, the visit had come earlier than I’d expected, but at least I knew what this was about. And at least Kat hadn’t dropped by last night.

  I sighed as I opened the door a crack.

  “Good morning.” I adopted a chipper demeanor just to bug Kat.

  “Oh, is it?” snapped Kat. “How would I know if it’s good or bad, since apparently you’ve decided to start making huge decisions about the store without consulting me?”

  “Kat, I make all the decisions about the store.”

  “What is this about?” Kat lifted her phone and shoved her open Instagram feed into my face.

  “Just what it says.” I opened the door to let my stepmother inside. It was silly to have this conversation on the street. “I have a big announcement to make soon.”

  “I believe I’ll decide when shop announcements are to be made on the store’s official account.”

  “Okay. Since when have you cared about the store’s official anything? And while we’re discussing official business, that’s not actually S’Paw Box’s account.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “This is.” I swiped over to the store’s account with its six-hundred followers and updates that were three months old. Then I swiped back to the first. “And this is my own personal account. I switched over to using it for promotion after Miley tagged me, but that doesn’t change it from being mine.”

  I crossed my arms and settled back with a smirk. Check mate.

  “Well, what’s the announcement?” she asked.

  “Why do you care all of a sudden?” I said, testing her. Challenging her to admit that she’d been seeking a buyer for the shop.

  “None of your business. Just tell me what you’re going to announce.”

  I hesitated. This wasn’t how I had wanted to do this. But there was no going back now.

  “That’s actually up to you,” I said. I picked up my own phone and pulled up my pictures. “Option one.”

  The first picture looked like a standard advertisement. Buy one, get one free on all leashes and harnesses.

  “Option two.”

  A photo of myself covering my mouth with one hand and holding up a sign with the other that said: BIG changes are on the way! Stay tuned for more..

  And then the follow-up picture with a sign that said: I’m changing locations! Follow me to my new home at my very own Pawsh Paws Spa and Boutique. Details coming soon! #LadyBoss

  Not to brag, but I had never looked more cute than in that snapshot. Isobel had come over to dress me, and I resembled a lifesize Skipper doll.

  “What is this?” Kat snatched my phone away from me, flipping between the two pictures.

  “Just what I said. It’s a choice--your choice. Either we’re running a sale that will boost our bottom line heading into Memorial Day weekend. Or I’m branching out on my own.”

  “My choice?” Kat’s eyes slid into tiny slits.

  “Yes. I’ll post the BOGO sale pic if you agree to sell S’Paw Box to me. If you don’t, I’m leaving and opening a rival salon and pet boutique.”

  Just like that, Kat’s eyes went from slits to wide-eyed horror.

  “Like hell you are.”

  “Look, Kat. I don’t want to d
o this any more than you want me to. You know how much I love S’Paw Box. But I won’t stay here and watch you sell it to some random investor.”

  I failed to mention that I didn’t actually have store space lined up or a logo designed or any actual stock to sell. And those were all not-so-minor details that would have to be ironed out.

  Kat shook her head.

  “How did you know—?”

  “It doesn’t matter. The choice is yours.” I stood as straight and tall as I could muster. “You have until close today to make up your mind.”

  Ha! Look at me being all badass.

  “Oh, I can give you my answer right now,” said Kat. “Hell to the no.”

  I could feel my cheeks blanch. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go at all.

  “I’ll pay you a fair price. I’m not trying to pull a fast one on you, Kat,” I said. “I have enough socked away to qualify for a loan. I’ll...I’ll find a way to match whatever you were expecting to get from an outside investor.”

  “Oh. In that case, I’ll change my answer to...no effin’ way. I won’t be blackmailed.” Kat shoved my cell phone against my chest and stomped off.

  For the first moment since I’d come up with this hare-brained scheme, I felt myself slide into full-blown panic. This was not how this was supposed to go down.

  First of all, Kat wasn’t supposed to show up at my place at the crack of freaking dawn. Normally, my stepmother didn’t roll out of bed before noon. I had planned to butter her up a bit, propose a mediator’s involvement to draw up the contract, point out the benefits of keeping it in the family. In a town this size, people loved scandal like sharks love blood.

  Maybe more.

  Last night had thrown me. I wasn’t used to waking up feeling like my muscles and brain had gone to sleep in a puddle of pudding.

  I clutched the sides of my head.

  “Craaaap. What have I done?”

  Okay. Don’t panic.