The Bashful Billionaire

by Elana Johnson

  “Is it really a billion-dollar industry?” Lawrence settled next to Fisher with a glass of clear liquid in his hand.

  “Fashion?” Fisher nodded. “Of course. Think about how much you pay for your clothes.”

  “The fashion industry does over a trillion dollars in revenue worldwide,” Tyler said as if reciting from an online encyclopedia. His photographic memory had helped him in more ways than one during his poker career, and once he read something it was very hard to forget.

  Marshall tapped and swiped. “Clothia is worth two-point-two billion dollars.”

  “So they qualify,” Fisher said, looking around, clearly asking but without phrasing his statement as a question.

  Lexie looked through the other folder. “Who’s this?”

  “Gabriella Rossi,” Fisher said, leaning over to look. “She owns a controlling stake of her family’s cruise ship enterprise.”

  “She’s on the island now?” Lexie looked up from the brunette in the photo.

  “I’ve been informed that she is, yes.” Fisher wouldn’t say more than that. How he found people who wanted to fly under the radar, Tyler wasn’t sure.

  “Have you talked to her?” Lexie asked.

  “I haven’t spoken to any of them.” Fisher gazed at the others. “I’m wondering if we think we might like more members?”

  “Sure,” Marshall said. “We’re pretty low-key, and it’s nice to have friends that don’t want something from you.”

  “I can talk to Gabriella,” Lexie said. “We used to run in the same circles.”

  Fisher quirked an eyebrow at that, and Tyler couldn’t help wondering how a cruise ship heiress and the majority shareholder of the biggest mutual fund company in the world would ever run in the same circles.

  But Tyler, as the world’s youngest professional poker world champion, shouldn’t have ever been associated with a top real estate developer and a generational pineapple plantation owner.

  But he was. And he was glad he was.

  They spoke for a few more minutes about increasing their ranks, and then Fisher leaned closer to Tyler. “I heard you’re going out with Tawny Loveless.”

  “Yeah. I mean, no. I mean, we’re going to the hospital gala so I don’t get crucified in the press again.”

  “Oh, is that all?” Fisher spoke with a note of uncertainty in his voice, and Tyler remembered the way his heart had reacted to Tawny at dinner.

  “Yeah,” he said again. “That’s all.” Even if he found her beautiful and easy to talk to, he’d told her no strings attached and he wasn’t going to expect more than that.

  Chapter Four

  Tawny eyed her last hope to find a dress before tomorrow night’s gala. And even if she did, the chances that it wouldn’t need to be altered would be a miracle. Desperation surged inside her, and she turned to look at her best friend.

  Stacey gathered her red hair into her battle mode up-do. “All right. This is it.”

  “What if they don’t have anything?” She and Stacey had been to every dress shop on the island—well, besides this one—and they’d even gone over to Maui yesterday. This shop looked like it used to be a soup kitchen, as there was no sign above the double glass doors set in the long strip of businesses.

  But Stacey had heard from a good source that this was the place to find a dress. Tawny had her doubts. After all, why hadn’t either of them heard of it before?

  “Don’t give up yet,” Stacey said as she unbuckled. She met Tawny’s eye. “Positive thoughts.”

  Tawny had enjoyed herself immensely that week, what with all the evening texting with Tyler, the shopping with Stacey during the day, and the idea of going to a real-live gala like she was a princess. She’d had more fun in her yoga classes, and her tips had increased by fifty percent. Yes, this had been a very good week.

  “And hey, if there’s nothing here, there was that green one. It would be okay.”

  Tawny nodded, but she didn’t want okay. She wanted spectacular. This was a charity gala. And she was going with a billionaire.

  She squinted when she got out of the car though she wore sunglasses. The glass mirrored back the parking lot, and she couldn’t see inside the doors. Stacey went first while Tawny inhaled deliberately and prayed this would really be a high-end dress shop and that they’d have something in her size.

  She’d started out the week insisting on wearing something blue to the gala. But after the first three shops had proven difficult to even find something suitable, her requirements had slipped. She was down to the right size, and even that could be worked with.

  Stacey gasped, and Tawny hurried into the shop behind her. “What?”

  “Look at this place.”

  A magical dress land spread out before Tawny’s eyes, and she hitched her glasses up onto her head. “Wow.” The garments closest to the door were white, clearly trying to capture the brides-to-be as they walked in. But the colors and styles extended as the racks went on.

  It was a tiny shop, only extending about thirty feet back, but Tawny’s spirits soared. She could find something here.

  “Hello, ladies,” a woman said with a Japanese accent. “What you looking for?”

  Stacey indicated Tawny, who’d already started leafing through a rack to her right. “She needs a dress for the hospital gala tomorrow night.”

  The shorter woman appraised Tawny, her gaze sharp. “I have something for you. You come.”

  Tawny exchanged a glance with Stacey before following the woman past several racks of dresses that held things Tawny would like.

  “You size six, yes?” She turned and looked at Tawny again. “Maybe four. I can alter.” She pushed this dress aside, and then that one, finally pulling out a royal blue dress and holding it up. “This one.”

  Tawny fell in love at first sight, the lace and beadwork on the bodice the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. The dress would skim the floor, and she’d need shoes too.

  The woman shook the dress. “Take. Take. I find shoe.”

  Stacey took the hanger and said, “I guess we try on over here.” A row of curtains hung in the back corner and Tawny sort of floated toward them, the image of that blue dress so wonderful she couldn’t believe it.

  Stacey helped her into the dress, which had no straps and left her feeling exposed. Beautiful, but exposed. “I guess I wear about this much on the beach while I work out,” she said.

  “Totally,” Stacey said. “And what’s the point of working out so much if you can’t wear a dress like this every once in a while?” She stood back and brushed her hand down Tawny’s back as if trying to make the fabric lay flat. “This is the one.”

  “It’s a little tight,” Tawny said, wondering if the woman had given her a four to begin with.

  “She said she can alter it.”

  “By tomorrow night?”

  The woman opened the curtain, no announcement or knock necessary, obviously. “Ohhh.” She hummed and moved around Tawny, touching and pinching the fabric. “This nice.” She held up a pair of gold heels and said, “Step in.”

  With the shoes on the ground, Tawny followed her directions and stared at herself in the mirror. She imagined herself with her hair curled and flowing around her shoulders, her makeup stylishly done, maybe a pair of crystal earrings with a bracelet to match….

  “I’ll take all of it,” she said, a swell of warmth filling her from top to bottom. “You can maybe let the dress out a little?”

  “Out here.” The woman touched her stomach. “Maybe in here?” Her fingers flitted along the sides of Tawny’s breasts.

  She nodded. “Yes, please. And I need it for tomorrow night.”

  “I finish by noon,” the woman said. “Okay?”

  “Okay,” both Stacey and Tawny said at the same time. Once the woman had gone, Tawny dissolved into giggles. She felt flushed and chilled at the same time, and she wiped her forehead as Stacey unzipped her in the back.

  “I can’t believe we found this place.”


  “I can’t believe you’re going out with the bashful billionaire,” Stacey retorted. “It’s about time.”

  It was about time, and Tawny couldn’t help smiling at herself in the mirror. Now, she just needed to turn this no strings attached gala date into more than a one-time thing. She paused her train of thought before it could pick up speed.

  She always thought like this, always got ahead of herself, always fell faster and harder for the man she was with than he did for her.

  Not this time, she promised herself. This time, she was doing everything the opposite of her natural instinct. And that meant that tomorrow’s gala would be her and Tyler’s last date. She couldn’t—wouldn’t—hope for more. Wouldn’t plan on it. Wouldn’t worry about it.

  Knocking echoed through her house just as Stacey slipped the bracelet on Tawny’s wrist. “You’re perfect.” She beamed at her. “Go have the time of your life.”

  Tawny gave Stacey a quick hug, a silent thank you for the hours of work she’d put in on Tawny’s hair, her makeup, and for bringing over a few pieces of her grandmother’s expensive jewelry.

  A hint of missing accompanied her steps as she moved through the house to answer the door. At times like this, she’d love to have her mother with her, helping her get ready for a fancy party and talking about the handsome man on the other side of the door.

  She opened the door to greet him, and they both stood there staring at one another. He wore a freshly pressed tuxedo, the white of his shirt almost blinding it was so pure. His hair had been cut, shaved on the sides but left long on top. He’d slicked it back again, and he hadn’t shaved in days.

  He looked every bit the part of caring, generous billionaire, and her heart beat wildly as she struggled to remember how to breathe.

  Without speaking, he stepped across the threshold of her house and put both hands on her waist, drawing her right into his chest where she could smell the citrusy, sandalwood, beachy quality of his skin.

  Finally remembering how, she breathed in deep as her eyes drifted closed in bliss. The moment felt like a wizard had put them under a spell, and he broke it by stepping back and saying, “Wow.”

  That was all. One word. And Tawny had no idea what the wow was about. The chaste embrace that still had her reeling? Her dress, makeup, and gold shoes?

  He offered her his arm and said, “Shall we?” like he was a real-life fairy tale prince. She slipped her hand through the crook of his elbow and let him lead her out to the sidewalk. Instead of a horse-drawn carriage in her driveway, a long, black limousine sat there, with a driver as impeccably dressed as Tyler standing near the back door.

  “Sir,” he said as he opened the door. “Madam.”

  Tawny had literally never been called madam before, and a smile sprang to her face. Her stomach felt like someone had injected a bunch of angry bees into it, but as she got in the car and situated her dress, she began to calm. She obviously looked the part. Just because she taught yoga for a living didn’t mean she didn’t belong on Tyler’s arm.

  He joined her in the backseat, immediately taking her hand into his. Tawny was so out of her element, but she still felt sure that holding hands in the back of a limo was more than no strings attached.

  “Something to drink?” he offered, his voice low and filled with an emotion Tawny couldn’t identify.

  “No, thank you,” she said, sure she wouldn’t be eating much of anything tonight. Not only were her guts a little too tight, but she worried over spilling something on the beautiful—and expensive—dress.

  You didn’t pay for it, her mind whispered and then it went blank as Tyler leaned over and inhaled her hair. It felt like an intimate gesture, something a man would do to his girlfriend because he couldn’t get enough of her.

  “I can see my money was well-spent. You are gorgeous.” He adjusted his hand in hers, making the grip slightly tighter. She liked that he called her gorgeous, not said that she looked gorgeous. There was a distinct difference, and Tawny could’ve melted.

  “It took all week to find this,” she said. “But she got it altered in time, so it all worked out.”

  “Aiko is excellent,” he said. “I’m glad you found her.”

  Tawny turned toward him in surprise. “You know her?”

  “She is the best seamstress on the island.”

  “You could’ve pointed me in her direction on Monday.” Tawny shook her head even as a smile touched her lips. “Saved me a lot of wasted hours, not to mention the panic.”

  Tyler blinked at her, his blue eyes kind, soft. How had he been a ruthless poker player? Certainly not with a gaze like the one he wore now. “I assumed you’d know the shops on the island.”

  “Oh? So you pegged me for a shopaholic, is that it?” She infused just the right amount of teasing into her voice, because a grin graced his strong mouth.

  “Do you like to shop?”

  “I actually make all my own yoga shirts,” she said. “From simple T-shirts and fabric paint.”

  “Yes, the one you had on this morning was quite…stringy.”

  A flash of lightning went through Tawny. “You saw my shirt this morning?” It had been stringy. Mostly strings, in fact, as she’d cut the shirt into long strips and then pulled and twisted them before tying them all back together into a knotty, stringy pattern. Her bright pink bra top had shown beneath it, just the way Tawny liked.

  He cleared his throat. “Lazy Bones wanted to chase a ball.”

  “Way down on my stretch of the beach.” She felt like her eyes were sparkling, she was flirting so easily with him. “That dog. I don’t think he’s as lazy as you think he is.”

  Tyler chuckled. “That he is not.”

  The limo eased to a stop, and Tawny’s muscles tightened again.

  “It’ll be fine,” he said. “Just be your charming self.” He, however, removed his hand from hers and fiddled with his bowtie and then tucked his phone into his breast pocket. “I’ll go first. They’ll take a lot of pictures. Wait for Hank to indicate you should get out.” He nodded at her like he’d just completed a business transaction, and she instantly missed the easy, casual side of him.

  The door opened, and flashes were already popping as the sun had set at least a half an hour ago. Shouts met her ears, and she clutched her hands together, hoping she could put on the show Tyler required.

  At least a minute went by before Hank dropped his hand and said, “Your turn, Miss.”

  Tawny scooted to the edge of the seat and made sure both of her gold heels were on solid ground before putting her hand in his and pushing herself to standing. Hank passed her to Tyler, who secured her against his side like she belonged there.

  And for the first time in a long time, Tawny felt like she’d finally found someone worth getting to know, worth spending her time with.

  He only kept her in front of the reporters for a few seconds, and then they moved up the sidewalk that had been cordoned off with long, black ropes. He paused every time someone called his name, and a walk that should’ve taken thirty seconds took ten minutes.

  By the time Tyler opened the door and ushered her inside, Tawny felt like her face would crack from all the smiling. A rush filled her, though, and she half giggled, half exhaled as she leaned into Tyler.

  “That was exhilarating,” she said.

  “You think so?”

  “Yeah.” She peered at him. He was so calm, so cool. She felt like a jackhammer had been inserted into her core and was going full speed. “You’ve done this more times than me, obviously.”

  His jaw twitched and he looked toward the ballroom where dozens of other people had already gathered. “More times than I can count.”

  Tawny didn’t like the dark note to his voice, and she slipped her hand into his, hoping to make that surfer boy return. She liked him a whole lot more than the stuffy billionaire in the tux, though he also carried sexiness in the very set of his shoulders.

  “Well, let’s go get some of those appetizers you p
romised. I can’t wait to try the canapés.”

  That made him crack a smile, as he’d texted her about how if he’d eaten one party hor d’ouerve, he’d eaten them all. Tawny, on the other hand, had never really consumed anything in one bite besides a handful of popcorn. On the cruise ship where she’d worked, she did massages and taught water aerobics. The parties with the platters of puff pastries were out of her league and not included in her pay.

  So when the first waitress appeared with a tiny meatball on a toothpick, she took two. “Mm.” The one-bite idea was genius. Nothing to spill. Nothing to worry about.

  Until she turned and saw Omar Velasquez enter the ballroom. Her stomach recoiled against the meatballs she’d eaten, and the room went white for a moment.

  What in the world was he doing here? And how could she get him to leave her alone?

  Chapter Five

  Tyler sensed a change in Tawny and he instinctively edged closer to her, though he already stood too close to be considered casual. She hadn’t minded the hand-holding though. Or the way he’d practically wrapped himself around her at her front door.

  He had no idea what he was doing, and he’d been acting on instinct since showing up at her beachside bungalow.

  But she turned back to him with pure panic in her beautiful eyes. “I need you to do something for me,” she said, her lips barely moving.

  “What?”

  “That man over there.” She glanced over her shoulder before whipping back to him. “Oh, no. He’s seen me.” She looked like she might cry. “He’s coming over. Can you do me a favor?”

  “Sure.” Tyler wasn’t quite sure what she was talking about, but he did spy a tall yet stocky man approaching them. He had the dark skin of a Hawaiian, but he wasn’t from the islands. His dark eyes saw everything, and Tawny spun back to him, her fingers lacing through Tyler’s as she did.