Her Billionaire Heartthrob: Billionaire Bachelor Mountain Cove Read online

He sat on his patio chair and pulled up his email. He typed Viola’s name into his search box and read through their emails from before the Hawaii trip. Why hadn’t he emailed her when he had to leave so suddenly? After he was done dealing with the crisis and things had calmed down, why hadn’t he sent her a quick note, explaining it all?

  When had work become the end-all, be-all of his entire life?

  He opened up a new email, and his finger started to swipe over the keyboard.

  Hey, Viola.

  The stars in Eureka Springs are a lot brighter than in L.A. Where I live, I can’t see any at all. In Hawaii, we saw the stars too. I’m starting to associate them with you. Bright spots of light in darkness … sounds about right.

  Liam

  He sent the email and then instantly regretted it as he reread over it. What had possessed him to send such an inane email about stars? He felt like he was going crazy, and perhaps this was proof that he actually was.

  So he sent another quick email.

  Viola,

  Please disregard that last email as the ramblings of a sleep-deprived brain. How’s progress coming on the theater?

  Liam

  Liam hadn’t even had his lawyers look over Viola’s contract before he signed it and had Xander’s assistant scan and send it back to her. Liam had given his assistant an extended vacation, with enough bonus pay for her and her husband to take a three week Mediterranean cruise, something he knew she’d wanted to do for forever, but they’d always been too busy to arrange. He missed his assistant, but Xander’s had been good to step in and help him with this.

  Liam didn’t feel tired at all now, so he pulled up his favorite search engine to research the history of the theater, starting with the images tab. It had been a pain to figure out who owned it, but he had put his brother’s assistant and his best lawyer on the case. When his lawyers had worked up a fair asking price, the owners had agreed.

  After a lot of creative searching, he managed to find a picture of the old theater online. It was grainy—a clip from an old newspaper. He pulled up the notes app on his phone and jotted down the caption under the picture.

  The Tripp family. From the right, Marcus, Sharon, and their daughter, Jenny.

  December 1955

  Eureka Springs Gazette

  Liam expanded the picture to get a closer look at it. The family of three was bundled up in long coats. Sharon Tripp wore a calf-length, checkered dress, her hair cut short and curled up in the style of the time. Marcus had on a light-colored suit, his dark hair slicked back so tightly it almost glinted in the light, and the little girl Jenny—maybe three or four years old—was in the Marcus’s arms, propped against his hip. She wore a frilly, lacy dress, her dark hair in long ringlets down her back, a look which made her resemble the doll she clutched in her arms. The display window in front was decorated to the hilt for fall: pumpkins, a leaf garland, a wagon and hay.

  Liam’s phone vibrated, and he blinked, surprised to see that the sun was starting to rise already.

  Viola had replied to his email. He nearly groaned. It was probably to tell him to get a life.

  He clicked into it anyway.

  Liam—The time stamp on your last email says 4:00 a.m. Why are you looking at the stars instead of sleeping?

  The theater is going well. I got the samples for the paint yesterday, and I’m going to do some sketching and initial paint mixing today to try to get the exact right shade. Hoping to start actually painting next week.

  Viola

  Liam responded immediately.

  Viola,

  I had a rough night. Thanks for the update on your progress. I’m excited to see how it turns out.

  Liam

  And he was excited. After looking at old pictures, he’d started to get a vision for what it could look like once Viola was done with it. For Pets and More, they had a standard construction template, so every store across the country looked the same. They might make some superficial regional changes—stucco siding in the southwest, wooden slatted boards in the north—but their goal was always that you could recognize a Pets and More even before you saw the sign for it.

  These old buildings in Eureka Springs weren’t like that. They’d each been individually owned and ran. They weren’t franchised or flagship stores for something bigger. They were a family’s life work and passion.

  He hauled himself up from the hard chair, his back hurting from sitting in the same position for a few hours. This was one of those times where the decorator had chosen the outdoor patio furniture for looks and not for comfort. He made a mental note to order a comfortable chair for out here. If he was going to be having more of these nights, he wanted to do it in comfort.

  Swimming laps for another hour helped loosen his back and wake his mind all the way up. He jumped into the shower and saw his screen light up as he got out. It was Xander. Want to come over for breakfast?

  Sure, Liam replied.

  He threw on some dark jeans—when was the last time he’d worn jeans so many days in a row?—and a light blue button-up shirt, and headed over to Xander’s house.

  The dogs barked wildly at his knock, and when Callie opened the door, they both exploded out of the house to jump around him. Callie and Xander had trained them not to jump on people, but they loved running in circles around Liam, their tails wagging in sync.

  “Hi, Jax. Hi, Darcy.” Liam rubbed them both around the ears and then stepped into the house beside Callie, the dogs close on his heels.

  “Go on,” Callie said to them, shooing them away from him. For owning a large chain of pet stores, Liam had never owned a pet of his own. He’d always been too busy to have another being to take care of. But he’d found, in the last few weeks, that he enjoyed seeing Jax and Darcy, and had even come outside to play ball with them a few times, a satisfying activity. He understood for the first time why people liked doing this kind of thing.

  “Breakfast is all ready,” Callie told him. He followed her to the breakfast nook, where a plate had already been set for him. Powdered sugar and fresh, syrupy berries topped thick slices of French toast. A couple pieces of bacon sat on the edge of his plate. A glass of orange juice and a bowl of cream sat to the upper right and left sides of his plate. His stomach grumbled in anticipation. After swimming for so long, he was really starving.

  Xander was on his phone when Liam walked in, but he hurriedly shoved it into his pocket as if worried that seeing him on his phone would be triggering for Liam.

  And maybe it was. Because Liam immediately itched to ask what was going on. They were in the fourth quarter, and he had no idea what their sales were looking like. He didn’t know how much longer he could stand this self-imposed exile. The whole point was that it would help him with his anxiety, but from where he sat, things seemed to be getting worse, not better, so he might as well be working.

  “Is everything okay?” Liam asked. He spooned a healthy amount of sweet cream onto his French toast.

  “Great. Completely under control.”

  Liam narrowed his eyes. Was he detecting nervousness in his brother, or was he just reading into things because he was dying to get back to work?

  “Stop,” Xander said, reading him correctly. “We’ve got this for a little longer.”

  Liam responded by taking a bite of his food. He needed to hire a chef. It just seemed pointless when it was only him, but he could have them only come a few times a week, the way Xander and Callie did.

  “How are you feeling?” Callie asked. She was taking him in, and he could imagine what she saw—what he’d seen that morning when he’d looked at himself in the mirror after his shower. Exhaustion leaked out of every part of him.

  “Great.”

  Xander and Callie exchanged a glance across the table, but he ignored them to keep eating. The bacon was perfectly peppery and crispy, just the way he liked it. Maybe their chef could come to his house on their off days.

  “What are your plans today?” Xander asked.

  �
�Absolutely nothing.” A dull headache was starting to pulse in the back of his head at the thought of a long day stretched ahead of him.

  “Why don’t you come with me to my store today. I could use some help sorting through my new shipments.” Callie hesitated. “Which probably sounds horrible to you. You can just come and keep me company while I sort.”

  Actually, the work sounded exciting. Like something to do to get him out of the house. This is what my life has come to … looking forward to sorting through inventory.

  But the idea of going back into Eureka Springs for the day appealed to him quite a bit. He hadn’t realized how much he needed to go back until relief filled him at the thought.

  “Sounds good. Consider me your employee for the day.”

  “Not a lot of people can say they’ve had Liam Nichols as their employee,” she said, a sparkle in her eye.

  “Very true.” Liam took a long drink of the fresh-squeezed orange juice. “Don’t let it go to your head.”

  “Now I’m wishing I didn’t have to go into Bentonville,” Xander said. “I’d love to see this.”

  They all laughed, and it felt good, like the last bit of tightness from the night—a tightness he hadn’t even realized still lingered—finally loosened.

  Chapter 8

  Viola sat down at the outside table across from Callie. The waiter at the cafe had already brought out their sodas—Callie knew what Viola’s favorite order was—and said the food would be out soon.

  “Sorry I’m late. I got caught up in paint matching and lost track of time.”

  Callie laughed. “I figured. I’ve only been here for about five minutes.”

  “Who’s covering the store?” Usually it was Allison, but Callie had hired a couple of seasonal workers who were hit or miss as far as reliability went.

  “Liam.”

  Viola nearly choked on her soda. “Liam Nichols?”

  “The one and only.”

  “What in the world?”

  Callie cracked a smile at that. “He’s at wit’s end, so I invited him to come help unpack my inventory. When he had that done in about half the time it takes my other workers to do it, he wanted to learn how to do everything else.”

  “Has he started talking about franchise options for your store?”

  Callie laughed. “Not quite yet. He’s still figuring out how to work the cash register at this point.”

  “Liam Nichols behind a cash register. This is something I need to see.” She was having a hard time picturing the man in the power suit, always on his phone, ringing up her grandma’s dog treats. Which reminded her. “Can you set aside a half-dozen assorted treats? Grandma is going to come pick them up sometime today, and she’s worried about them selling out before she gets there.” Today was the day she volunteered in the hospital gift shop and then she usually got to chatting with someone, and she loved buying treats for Fern’s dog.

  “Sure,” Callie said.

  “So, catch me up on your life,” Viola nudged. “How’s Cole doing?”

  “Really well,” Callie said. “He’s got a girlfriend now, and we’re going to get to meet her next week when we fly out there to see him.”

  Callie’s brother Cole was at a boarding school in Seattle, which was as swanky as it sounded. After getting into a lot of trouble with his friends the year before and nearly landing himself in jail, Callie and Cole both decided that a change in scenery was just the thing for him.

  “He’s doing well there?”

  “He loves it. They call it the Billionaire Academy. He’s driving Xander’s grandpa’s old truck everywhere, working at an ice cream stand.” She laughed. “I’ve seen such a change in him. Less angry at the world and more eager to work hard so he can become a website developer.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.” Viola had watched Callie struggle with her brother the year before, and her heart went out to them. They’d been dealt a difficult hand, and they hadn’t let it get them down.

  The waiter came, and the ladies ordered their food, eating it while they caught each other up on what else was going on in their lives. Viola had been worried that she might lose her friend to Xander when they got married, but that hadn’t been the case at all. If anything, it had entrenched Callie even more firmly into Eureka Springs.

  They finished eating, paid, and then gathered up their things. Callie had ordered a to-go sandwich for Liam.

  “How are things going for him overall?” Viola asked as they walked in the direction of From Wags to Wishes. She had to admit, she was surprised to see him still in town after all these weeks.

  Callie shook her head, and for moment, Viola didn’t think she’d answer. Then she replied, “I’m worried about leaving him next week. Xander says he’ll be fine, but I don’t know. He just seems … lost.”

  “He emailed me at about four o’clock this morning,” Viola said.

  “Oh, yeah? What about?”

  The stars. Just thinking about it made her stomach jump. “He wanted to get an update on the building restoration.”

  “At four in the morning.”

  “Apparently.”

  Callie frowned. “I need you to do me a favor, Viola. While we’re gone, can you check on him? Please?”

  Viola hesitated. Callie didn’t know her history with Liam. She hadn’t said anything about what had happened in Hawaii at first because she was embarrassed, and then there didn’t seem to be a point in mentioning it once time had gone by. Callie had no idea what she was asking Viola to do.

  But how could Viola say no? Not to Callie.

  “Okay. You want me to call or text him?”

  “Yeah. Maybe take him to dinner one night so we know that he sees another living person.”

  “Sure,” Viola said slowly.

  “Thanks,” Callie said, sounding too relieved for Viola to be able to back out of her commitment.

  The women walked into the store and Viola nearly froze at the sight of Liam at the register. He wore a royal blue waist apron and was ringing up a woman with a purse-dog. The woman was flirting with him, touching his arm and laughing at something he’d said. He smiled in return before his eyes flicked up and met Viola’s. The room shifted under her feet, and she grabbed on to Callie’s arm without even realizing it.

  Oh, boy. Coming here was a mistake.

  The feelings she thought she’d left behind in Hawaii? They’d followed her to Eureka Springs and had somehow intensified with the passage of time.

  The woman said goodbye and left with a backward glance, but Liam gave the customer no notice. He closed the glass case with the baked treats, perched on the stool behind the register, and flashed a hesitant smile in Viola’s direction.

  “Your sandwich.” Callie handed him the wrapped bundle.

  “Thanks,” he said.

  “How did things go while I was gone?”

  “Pretty steady. One touch-and-go situation with the card reader, but I figured it out,” he said with faux-pride. The women laughed, and he set his sandwich on the counter to turn to Viola.

  “How are you?” he asked her.

  “Busy. Busy, busy,” she said, her mind completely blank of anything but that word.

  His phone vibrated, and he pulled it out of his pocket instantly, frowning. How she hated that phone.

  “I’ve got to go,” she said suddenly.

  “Okay,” Callie said, surprised. “Talk to you later?”

  “Yep.” Viola burst out of the store and raced back to her office, glad to release some of her nervous energy. She needed to be far from wherever Liam was; that was the only solution to this conundrum.

  It took about an hour for her nerves to calm all the way down, and with time, she found herself immersed once again in experimenting with colors and paint samples as she prepared for the theater restoration.

  She didn’t hear the door whoosh open, so intent on her sketching, so when someone cleared their throat in front of her desk, she nearly jumped out of her skin.

 
“Sorry,” Liam said. “I thought you heard me come in. I wasn’t trying to scare you.”

  She placed a hand over her heart to steady her breathing. “That’s okay.”

  “I just thought, if you had some time, we could walk through the theater.”

  She bit her lip, thinking. She’d love nothing more than to go check out The Old Grand. But she’d just resolved to stay far away from Liam, and this was pretty much the opposite of that.

  But the theater ...

  What would a few more hours hurt, really, in the scheme of things?

  “Let me clean this up, and let’s do it.”

  “Tell me about your process,” he said.

  “Really?” she asked, surprised he cared.

  “Yeah, I’ve always thought what you did is really interesting.”

  He helped her wipe up the splatters on her desk while she covered up her paint samples with plastic. She explained what she did, telling him she would do most of the color matching on her computer with a specialized program that would match paint almost exactly, but she liked to mix by hand as well, not only to make absolutely certain the color was what she wanted, but to test out the texture too. Different projects required different types of paints and brushes, and she wanted to get it right on sample materials on her desk before she took her materials all out to the actual buildings.

  She knew that other restoration experts might think she was being excessively precious with her paint process, but this was the way she’d learned to do it, and she was determined to do the best.

  “The paint is my favorite part, but I do all the restorations for these buildings. I have a team that helps me with brickwork, windows, ripping out carpet, and updating all materials and lighting fixtures inside, to start.” They were contractors she hired job per job, though she was going to need to bring them on full time when her big job began next year.

  He listened intently, and then followed her from the office as she locked the door behind them. They walked in companionable silence to the theater, except for the constant buzzing of Liam’s phone.

  He kept checking it and typing something back, again and again, until the companionable silence felt more like she was a third wheel to a conversation she couldn’t be a part of.