by Lauren Wood
The Billionaire’s Fake Fiancée
A Small Town Billionaire Romance Series
Lauren Wood
Copyright © 2020 by Lauren Wood
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Prologue
1. Kate
2. Ben
3. Kate
4. Ben
5. Kate
6. Ben
7. Kate
8. Ben
9. Kate
10. Ben
11. Kate
12. Ben
13. Kate
14. Ben
15. Kate
16. Ben
17. Kate
18. Ben
19. Kate
20. Ben
Epilogue
Halstead Billionaire Brothers (SNEAK PEEK)
Chapter 1
Also by Lauren Wood
About the Author
Exclusive Offer
Prologue
Ben
“Doggo!” Olivia pointed her small chubby finger off into the dog park on the other side of the fence.
“Yep. That’s a dog, alright,” I replied, still not super confident in my communication skills with a one year old. “But we’re not looking for a doggo. We’re looking for hot girls, and you’re the bait.”
“Bait,” she smiled, leaning back into the stroller to gum on the lid to her sippy cup.
“That’s right. Bait. As much as Uncle Ben loves bringing you to the park to play, we’re also on a mission,” I reminded her.
A middle aged woman and her four kids walked past, picking up on our conversation. I smiled and waved and kept moving past the mother’s disapproving glare. If my best bud, Joey, was fine with me borrowing his kid to pick up chicks, then I felt no shame.
I heard the familiar sound of plastic crashing against the concrete, and instantly knew that Olivia had tossed her sippy cup overboard yet again. It must have been the twentieth time that day. I followed the rolling cup with a grunt, mumbling to her, “Maybe it’s time to call it a day. We’ve been here for two hours and you haven’t helped me out one bit …”
My words trailed off at the sight of the expensive leather stiletto heeled boots in front of her cup on the ground. My eyes instinctually drifted upwards, slowly drinking in the long tan legs in front of me followed by an exquisite pair of breasts, perked up over what I assumed was one hell of a push-up bra under a chic pink, tight-fitting dress. I came face-to-face with the most piercing pair of blue eyes I had ever seen.
“Oh, hello,” the woman smiled with her lusciously plump, pink glossy lips. “Drop something?”
“No,” I gaped. “I mean, yes! Yes. For about the hundredth time today.” I handed the cup back and told her, “Try to hold onto it this time, Olivia. You could have smashed this poor woman’s toes.”
I turned back to the tall vision in front of me, quickly getting in another good look at her. Jackpot.
“Olivia?” Her face lit up as she kneeled down in front of the stroller. “What a pretty name!” Olivia smiled wide and started clapping her hands, reaching up for the woman. “Hi there. My name is Kate. Nice to meet you.” She straightened and looked back at me. “She’s beautiful. And such a pretty smile.”
I was frozen for a minute, thrown off by just how unbelievably gorgeous this woman was … and the fact that all of my attempts of baiting in chicks at the park had only ever resulted in little old ladies stopping to admire her and talk to me.
“Thanks,” I nodded awkwardly. “She looks just like her mother.”
“Well then you’re a lucky guy. Her mother must be a real looker,” she grinned, sliding her hands into her pockets for warmth. Her perfect nose was turning pink from the cold.
“Uh, yeah … she was,” I answered nervously. “She’s … uh … no longer with us, I'm afraid.” I had practiced the whole widowed story bit a million times in my head, but saying it out loud felt wrong. I tensed and waited for her response.
“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that,” she frowned, looking back to Olivia with pity. “It must be hard taking care of her all on your own.”
Thank God, she bought it. “We get by,” I nodded my head to the side. “But I worry about her not having a mother figure.”
“I guess you’ll just have to be super dad for a while … playing both mom and dad.”
“I do the best I can. My job keeps me pretty busy.”
The woman turned and strolled back over to the bench where we found her and sat down. “And what is it that you do?”
I took my opportunity to sit down next to her, pulling Olivia’s stroller around to face us. “I work in real estate. I’m a developer, mostly. Moved down from New York when the population boom first hit here in Cherry Falls. What about you?”
“Ah, I moved here around the same time! I work in marketing and my firm transferred me here when they opened this location. So, I guess we’re both profiting from the gentrification.”
I hung my head and laughed. “If you only knew how big of an issue that’s been in my company. My buddy married one of the native small business owners, and she’s demanded that we do everything as ethically as possible.”
She swept a long wave of her dark hair behind her ear. “That’s very admirable. Wow. So you’re a single dad and a real estate mogul who actually cares about the little guy. You’re a rarity.”
“So are you,” I blurted.
“Huh?”
“Sorry,” I blew out a laugh. “You’re just … well, I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but you’re beautiful.”
A slow smile spread across her lips as she stared back at me with those icy blue eyes. I felt like I could look into them forever. Or at least long enough for a one night stand, which was much more my style.
“Thank you,” she said softly. An awkward silence fell as she wrapped up tightly in her coat and shivered.
“Hey, would you wanna go grab some coffee with me? To warm up?” I asked, making my move. It was now or never.
She considered it for a moment and then nodded, “Yeah, sure. Maybe they’ll have some hot chocolate for this little one.” She reached out and brushed a finger along Olivia’s cheek.
We walked over to the coffee shop around the corner, and I had to admit … even though I was lying about being a single widower dad and had no interest in marriage or kids, the sight of our reflection in the passing shop windows was a hell of a thing. We made quite the attractive little family.
I ordered two coffees and a bottle of juice and pushed Olivia over to the table where Kate was sitting. I was no stranger to beautiful women by any means, but seeing her again in the corner by the window took my breath away all over again. I struggled to control my dirty thoughts as she slid her heavy fur coat down from her shoulders, giving life to all sorts of fantasies about her undressing the rest of the way in front of me.
“Juice!” Olivia whined, snapping me to attention. I got so lost for a moment, I nearly forgot she was there.
“Oh, here. I’ve got it,” Kate offered, grabbing the bottle of juice and pouring it into Olivia’s cup.
“Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”
“I’m sure you have enough on your hands taking care of her all the time by yourself. It’s the least I can do while I’
m around to help.”
We started chatting about the usual stuff. Small talk about where we grew up and the work that we did. Before I knew it, a whole hour had passed. I wanted to keep chatting her up for as long as it took to make some headway on fulfilling some of the fantasies that had been rattling around in my brain ever since we met, but Olivia started squirming and crying in her stroller.
“Aww. Looks like this little one is tuckered out,” Kate said, rubbing Olivia’s hands and legs to try and calm her down.
“I guess it is her nap time,” I admitted resentfully.
She glanced down at her watch and replied, “I should get going too.”
Kate kept Olivia entertained while I cleaned our trash off the table and threw it away. Then we reluctantly made our way back out into the cold outside air, bundling up in our jackets as we went.
“This was nice.” Kate stopped on the corner, looking at me expectantly. “I didn’t think stopping on that park bench would lead to a coffee date.”
The word ‘date’ fired off signals in my brain … ones that told me I had some kind of shot with this chick. “Well, you know … I could drop Olivia off at the sitter’s to nap. And maybe you and I could continue this? Over a few drinks?”
She glanced at her watch again, tightening her lips that I wanted to kiss so bad it hurt. “I have to get back to work. But I would like to see you again. Maybe we can grab lunch one day this week? Here. I’ll give you my number.”
She reached out for my phone, which I handed over willingly. But inside I was thinking a lunch date was the last thing I wanted. First, coffee. Then lunch? That was way more work than I was typically used to putting into a score. Especially since lunch would probably end the same way, and leave me at the mercy of a third date, which would hopefully mean dinner. I didn’t mind putting in the effort and working for the prize, but Kate gave me the feeling that she was old fashioned … and might require more work than I was willing to sign up for. Getting too invested was how feelings got hurt … and filled my phone up with angry texts and voicemails from girls claiming I had “strung them along.”
But I waited patiently for Kate to put her number into my phone and took it back with a smile. I called hers to complete the exchange, thinking I would probably never see her again.
“It was nice to meet you, Ben.” She flashed a perfect smile that threatened to make me break all of my rules. “And good to meet you, Olivia!”
Phew. Thank god I had this giant lie of a child hanging between us to stop me from taking any chances.
I watched her walk away down the street before turning to Olivia, who was growing restless and whiny again. “Alright, don’t worry, kid. Let’s get you back to your dad where you belong.” I looked up one last time to see Kate’s perfectly rounded ass striding away from us and clicked my tongue, shaking my head. “What a damn shame. Nice try though, kiddo. Better luck next time. Or maybe … next time I’ll just keep a picture of you in my wallet and use you as bait that way.”
“Bait,” she repeated again with a laugh.
“That’s right, kid.” I pushed the stroller onward and headed back for the warmth of our car.
1
Kate
The only thing better than getting to go back to a job that I truly loved was going back to it after a long lunch that involved a coffee date with an extremely hot, kind, sweet, caring man. I couldn’t believe my luck in stumbling on Ben and his daughter in the park … or rather, them stumbling onto me. He was tall and muscular with gorgeous blue eyes and a heart melting smile, and I was certain I’d be hearing from him again soon.
It definitely put an extra pep in my step as I rushed into the boardroom to meet with my boss and our firm’s other executive marketing agent, Chuck. They were complaining about their wives when I walked in, like always.
“Diane bitched me out about the garbage again. It’s like … isn’t it easier to just take it out yourself rather than nagging me about it for days on end?” Chuck groaned.
Both men joined together in a hearty, sympathetic laugh before Greg turned to me. “Oh good, Kate. Glad you’re here.”
Nevermind that I had been sitting there for a good three minutes before they suddenly noticed me. But I was used to that kind of thing.
“Let’s get started, shall we?” He slid out his rolling chair and made his way to the front of the room, flipping on a slideshow on the white wall behind him. “Nesters Toy Company. Ever heard of them?”
“No, I can’t say that I have,” I replied.
“I was talking to Chuck,” he barked. “Of course you haven’t heard of them. They’re a toy company, and you don’t have any kids.”
I tried to hide my bitchy expression. They were always putting me down for not having a family. It wasn’t enough that my mother was on me all the time about when she could expect grandchildren. I had to hear it at work too.
“The name doesn’t ring a bell,” Chuck answered.
“That’s exactly why they’ve come to us and requested a presentation about what we can do for them,” he explained, flipping through images of various toys on the screen. “They’re revamping their brand, launching a new line of toys for the holiday season later this year, and they’ve acquired a number of new investors. They need to make sure all of these changes don’t go unnoticed, but in the mainstream … they’re still relatively unknown.”
I studied the packaging and branding of their products on the screen and instantly began jotting down notes and ideas. I loved working in marketing and advertising. Every time we picked up a new client or account, I could feel the excitement in my bones. It felt like the work I was built to do, and I was never at a shortage for ideas.
As soon as I could, I raised my pen in the air. “Greg, I would like to take a crack at this one.”
The two shot each other a pitying glance, which I’m pretty sure was meant for me.
“Um, actually...Kate,” he cleared his throat, sliding his hands into his pocket as he dipped his chin, scrunching up his face. “Of course, as my top two executives, I want you both to be apprised of all projects. Especially bigger ones like these. But I already planned on giving this one to Chuck. You know, he’s got the wife and kids and all. He has a more relevant understanding of the market and what families are looking for.”
I wanted to argue that you didn’t need to be a parent to do a good job on the account … if you were actually good at your job. I didn’t have a beard to shave, but I could still market the hell out of mens’ razor and skincare products. Just like Chuck sometimes took on accounts for womens clothing or cosmetics. But leave it to Greg to find any excuse to shame me for not having offspring of my own and use it to shut me out.
But the two immediately began a rapid fire of ideas and meetings and timelines. They were particularly skilled at conversation that was so jam packed it was impossible for me to interject, and I was almost positive they did it on purpose.
I had sunk so far down into my seat by the end of it, I could have easily slid right out onto the floor. But then Greg said something that made me perk up in a heartbeat.
He walked over, patting Chuck on the shoulder. “This could be huge for us if we land it. So let's really wow them. And if you manage to land us this account, I think it’s safe to say that would seal the deal for you on that Vice President position that I’ve been trying to fill.”
I wanted to cry. I had been working my ass off harder than ever in hopes of getting that promotion. And now it was all slipping through my fingers … over some project I hadn’t even been given a chance at.
I swallowed down any hint of tears and watched Greg as he strolled out of the room. “You two keep up the good work.”
Ignoring Chuck’s smug stare, I jumped up from my seat and went running after Greg. “Um, Greg? Actually … I was hoping I might talk to you for just a moment. You left before I really had a chance to …”
“Yes, Kate?” He stopped in the m
iddle of the open floor office. All the surrounding copywriters and editors stared at us, waiting to see what they might eavesdrop on. “What is it?”
“Could I speak to you in private? I won’t take much of your time.” I tried to act calm and professional, but I knew my eyes were wide and desperate.
“Alright, but make it quick,” he huffed, leading me into his office.
I shut the door behind us just to make sure no one could go squabbling back to Chuck about what I was going to propose.
“I’ll be straight with you,” I said curtly. “I’m disappointed that the deciding factor of the Vice President position is based on a project I’m not working on. May I ask who the contenders for the promotion currently are?”
“Well, you and Chuck. Of course. You’re my only two top executive team members.” He plopped down behind his desk and glared at me with a bored expression.
“That’s what I thought,” I nodded. “So then … what might I need to do to still be in consideration for the position? Regardless of Chuck’s performance on this account you’re handing over to him.”
He laughed under his breath. “Look. Kate. I’d be more than happy to give you both a stab at Nesters and promote whoever came up with the best pitch. But the fact of the matter is, these clients are going to want someone who can speak from personal experience. That’s just how they are. Sometimes getting ahead is about more than just work ethic and performance. There’s a level of politics and personal things that come into play, as much as I hate to admit it.”
