The Trouble with Billionaires (Southern Billionaires Book 1)

by Michelle Pennington

  “Probably just helping out,” Delynn said. “He does a lot of that. But nope, he’s not married and he doesn’t have any kids. And besides having the tightest behind this side of the Mississippi, he’s rich.”

  “We all grew up with him, but he moved away for college and went on to make a load of money.” Misty chimed in. “He moved back a few years ago and bought the old Sutton Mansion. Justine’s had her eye on him ever since her marriage went south.”

  Delynn chuckled. “Girl, when he came over here before practice asking for volunteers to help with practice, her butt flew out of her seat. And now look at her, over there trying to boss the kids around. We all know she can’t even make her own kid mind her.”

  Justine must be the woman in the outfield pairing up boys to practice throwing balls to each other. She looked frazzled, but determined. If Justine had a crush on the way-too-hunky t-ball coach, well, then she could have him. All six-plus feet of him.

  Knowing he was wealthy was enough for Charlotte to make up her mind to turn off her wayward attraction. Even if he was patient and focused with the kids. Even if he had been perfectly pleasant and welcoming. Even if he was sinfully attractive.

  She’d learned her lesson about men with money. No thank you.

  Just then a ball flew over the fence past first base. Nate ran over with an easy stride and jumped the four-foot fence as if it took no more effort than blinking. Charlotte wasn’t the only one to raise her sunglasses for a better look when he jumped back over again with the ball.

  “I might need to kick James to the curb,” Misty said, fanning herself.

  “Ya’ll need to get some religion,” said a woman behind them.

  “I have religion,” Delynn called back. “I need some of that. He is yummy.”

  Everyone within hearing laughed, but Delynn only smiled and turned around to face Charlotte. “Hey, by the way…we’re going to order some Mom t-shirts for the games. Do you want one? Only twenty bucks, and it will have your kid’s name on it.”

  Charlotte tried to look politely interested, but her muscles tightened. More money. “I’d like to, but…” Best to be honest. “Well, I won’t have any extra cash until I get my salon up and running.”

  “Wait, what? You’re opening a salon?”

  Raising her eyebrows at Delynn’s enthusiasm, she said, “Yeah. I worked at a high-end salon in Kansas City before I moved here. Now I want to open my own place.”

  Delynn turned to Misty. “Did you hear that?”

  “Oh, I heard, girl.” Turning to Charlotte, Misty said, “You can count on me to be one of your first customers.”

  Charlotte smiled, looked over her layered, Ombre colored style, and smiled more. Just the kind of client that could help keep her business afloat. “I’ll give you first shot at booking an appointment.”

  “What about me?” Delynn asked.

  “You too, of course.” Charlotte couldn’t see much of her hair since it was in a messy bun and sticking out of a ball cap with a rhinestone star over the bill, but it looked color-damaged. Lots of work to do there.

  Charlotte’s heart expanded with hope. If the rest of the women in this town were as enthusiastic as Delynn and Misty, she just might make her salon a reality.

  As she turned her attention back to the field, she told herself she was watching Taylor—and she was. But with Nate standing out there in the sun, it was easy to let her eyes stray his direction. There was no harm in checking him out a little, right?

  When it was Taylor’s turn to try batting, Nate stood behind him with his arms around his shoulders, adjusting Taylor’s hold on the bat and scooting his feet apart to correct his stance. And then began five minutes of agony for Charlotte as she watched Taylor either miss the ball entirely, or hit the tee, making the ball fall down and roll away. Nate would patiently scoop it back up, correct Taylor’s stance again, and make a few practice swings while holding the bat with Taylor to help him get a feel for it. Finally, Taylor connected, knocking the ball off the tee. It flew past second base and all six kids who were fielding went running after it. Nate hooted and gave Taylor a high-five before sending him off to first base.

  Charlotte cheered. “There you go, Taylor. Way to hit that ball.”

  Then Nate turned and grinned at her. He shook his head. “Well, he’s strong. The rest is just practice.”

  She grinned until Delynn said, “I told you, honey. You done caught his eye.” Then she elbowed Misty. “This is gonna be fun to watch.”

  Chapter Four

  Somehow, Nate managed to function throughout the practice, but the whole time, he was extraordinarily aware of Charlotte Mabry in the bleachers. His response to learning she was single caught him off guard. He had obviously noticed her gleaming, chestnut hair and slim, womanly figure, but he knew it was her firm, low-pitched voice and serious demeanor he found most intriguing. There was just something about her, and where before his brain had put up off-limits signs concerning her, it was now waving a green flag.

  He still didn’t understand why she’d bought her son cheap cleats. Both times he’d seen her now, she looked stylish and put together—like someone who spent a lot of money on her appearance. But she clearly loved her son, and moving to this small southern town wasn’t normal for someone who liked to have a mall close by. Clearly, she was a mystery to be solved. And there was nothing Nate liked better than solving problems.

  After practice, Nate watched as she greeted her son when he stepped out of the dugout. She had a sweatshirt ready for him to put on since the nights were still cool and the sun was going down. She smiled down at Taylor and ruffled his sweaty hair as he talked a mile-a-minute about the practice. When they turned to leave, Nate tried desperately to think of some excuse to go talk to her. Coming up with nothing, he hoped his famous ingenuity under pressure would help him out. This wasn’t exactly the stock market or a real estate deal, though. This was so much more volatile.

  He jogged after them. “Good job tonight, Taylor.”

  That got their attention and they turned around.

  “Thanks, Coach.” Taylor grinned up at him and tossed his ball up into the air, fumbling with it as it fell back down and rolled out of his glove.

  Just then, Justine rushed up to them, waving a clipboard. “You didn’t sign-up to bring a snack.”

  Nearly groaning at the interruption, and the fact that Justine always found a way to corner him, Nate folded his arms, determined to wait until he could get Charlotte alone again.

  Taking the clipboard, Charlotte tucked a smooth strand of dark hair behind her ear and peered down at the sign-up sheet. “So, I need to bring drinks and a snack for all the players to one of these games?”

  “Yes. And be sure you don’t forget which date you pick.”

  Nate narrowed his eyes at Justine, not liking her tone. When he glanced at Charlotte though, he got the impression that she wasn’t even paying attention to Justine. Her eyes flicked over the paper, then over to Taylor, who was still tossing his ball up in the air and still not catching it.

  “How many players are there?” she asked, her eyes trained upwards as if she was doing mental calculations.

  The realization hit Nate that she might be worried about the cost. One more clue that money was tight for her. “You know, they’d be happy with some snack cakes or something.”

  “No way.” Justine shook her head. “The other moms are committed to bringing healthy snacks. I never give my son anything but organic, unprocessed, natural food.”

  Nate raised his eyebrows, ready to argue with her, but Charlotte beat him to it.

  “Look, I’ll bring what I can. You might want to bring something for your son, just in case what I bring isn’t good enough.”

  Charlotte signed her name and handed the clipboard to Justine, then turned and walked away without another word.

  Nate grinned as Justine sputtered. She was a short woman with thin hair, and now she looked like an angry cat who’d been doused with water.

/>   “Well, there you go, Justine. Not a bad idea.” Then he jogged after Charlotte. He was far from done talking to her.

  “Sorry about that,” Nate said as he drew even with her. Charlotte stopped and turned to him, so he leaned closer to whisper, “I think she’s a few donuts shy of a dozen.”

  “Don’t worry. I already got the full scoop on her from the magpie mamas.”

  “The what?”

  Charlotte shrugged and smiled a little as she looked over at him. “Oh, some of the other moms. They were really friendly, but they reminded me of a couple of chittering magpies. I don’t think they care for Justine too much though.”

  He looked back over his shoulder, and saw Justine standing where they’d left her even though her son was pulling on her t-shirt, trying to get her to leave. Her stare creeped him out. “Yeah, she’s not a very comfortable person to be around.”

  Charlotte laughed. “You look kind of nervous.”

  “Is she still staring at me?”

  She looked back. “Oh yeah.”

  Nate gave an exaggerated shiver. “We have a whole season to go.”

  “Speaking of which, did you need something else?”

  It took Nate a second to think of something to say. Charlotte had a knack for throwing him off balance. “I just wanted to tell you Taylor has a lot of potential. If you ever want me to come over and give him a bit of extra coaching, I’d be happy too.”

  “Oh, we couldn’t ask you to do that,” Charlotte said.

  “Why not, Mom?”

  She looked down at Taylor. “Coach Haverton is probably really busy. I’ll try to practice with you.”

  Taylor’s lowered brows showed what he thought of that idea.

  Nate chuckled. “Really, it’s no problem.”

  “We’ll see,” Charlotte said, starting to turn away.

  “I’m sorry we got off to a rough start,” he said, catching her attention again.

  One of her eyebrows went up. “Me too. You seem like a decent enough guy.” She glanced down at Taylor who had his hands balled up in front of his face in a silent plea. She laughed. “And it would make Taylor happy, so…” She pulled out her phone. “Want to give me your number? I’ll give you a call when I know what my schedule looks like so we can figure something out.”

  Nate moved closer. He wanted to look at her screen and make sure she put the number in right—at least that’s what he told himself as her clean, sweet scent drifted over him. He was disappointed when she put his name in as “Taylor’s Coach,” but at least she was willing to call him. And he had a feeling Taylor would make sure she remembered.

  “Okay, well, I’ll look forward to hearing from you.”

  She smiled and headed towards the parking lot again. Taylor, who was walking backwards, smiled and waved. “I’ll see you later, Coach.”

  Nate waved and turned back to the field to gather his equipment, wondering what on earth he was thinking. He didn’t have time to give personal coaching to his players. And even though he really just wanted a chance to see Charlotte outside of practice, he didn’t have time for dating either.

  In fact, he’d told Alexa as much a few days ago and had meant it. Now he was racking his brains to think of a way to free up some of his time. Unfortunately, he had a lot of commitments, including to the town council, who he had an unofficial meeting with in thirty minutes.

  As soon as the last of his players had been rounded up by their parents, he picked up his bucket of balls and the tee, and headed to his black Dodge Ram. He was thirsty from standing on the dry, dusty field, but luckily his meeting was at the soda shop downtown.

  When he pulled up in front of Give Me Sugar, he took a moment to glance around at the main street businesses he was here to save. The peeling paint, crumbling brick, pot-holed road, and vacant buildings didn’t look very welcoming. Only a few businesses had managed to stay open the last few years as more and more citizens moved or drove down the highway for better shopping in Mobile.

  A bell dinged over his head, and the “Open” sign rattled against the glass door as it swung shut behind him. To his left was an old-fashioned soda and ice cream counter facing a small grouping of round tables. He met with the mayor and some members of the town council here when he could. The local politicians had been drinking coffee here for decades since the city offices were next door, so it was a good place for off-the-books meetings.

  “Hey, fellas, who is this stranger that just came in?” Bob Wyland asked. He smiled and took a drink of his coffee.

  Nate laughed. “Is your memory failing in your old age, Bob?”

  “Maybe so. I ‘bout near forgot who you were.”

  Still chuckling over the light-hearted harassment, he turned to the lady behind the counter. “How are you, Millie.”

  She smiled. “Pretty fine, hon. Sweet tea as usual?”

  “You know me well,” Nate answered, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket. He opened it and dug through the bills. Annoyance crept over him as he saw that he didn’t have anything but hundred-dollar bills. There was no way Millie had enough in her drawer to give him change. Well, he didn’t want to make a big deal out of this. He leaned over the counter and murmured, “Millie, darling, will you do me a favor?”

  “If I can.”

  “Will you trade me this Benjamin for a Lincoln? Just between us?”

  Millie sat his tall glass of iced tea on the counter and looked at the bill he’d dropped on the counter. “I couldn’t do that.”

  “Well, since you haven’t started taking cards yet, you’re going to have to figure something out, because I don’t want any change.”

  Nate grabbed his drink and walked away before she could argue with him.

  He sat down across from the mayor, Clancy Dupont, and started chugging until his thirst was quenched. “Okay, so where are we on the restoration project?”

  Bob, the city treasurer, leaned back in his chair and rubbed his belly. “Well, we applied for that grant we talked about, but we were denied. The letter said they don’t have enough funding, so they’re not currently able to finance any new projects.”

  Nate frowned, but this wasn’t an insurmountable problem for him. “Is there an estimate on the cost to repave the main road yet?”

  “Well, not final numbers. The contractor is still working on it, but his initial estimate is three times the cost we originally planned on.”

  Clancy folded a napkin on the table in front of him. “Nate, I know you think that rebuilding downtown will bring in more business, but this is a huge financial risk for the town.”

  Nate leaned closer and lowered his voice. “Don’t worry about the money, Clancy. You know I’ll help with that. This town needs a better economy and housing to keep the young people here. By creating rental units on the top floor of most of the buildings, we’ll be offering affordable, trendy living space and a more vibrant community to support the current businesses. Then more businesses will move in.”

  Frank, the city council chairman, who had so far been quiet, said, “Nate, you don’t have to sell us on it. But we don’t have half a million dollars. Without the grant, there’s no way we can approve the project.”

  Nate twisted his glass in his hand, watching the ice cubes swirl in the amber liquid. “You know, I could just—”

  “No, Nate. You can’t just cut us a check,” Clancy said. “Oh, I know you could, but there’s already talk about your influence in city affairs because of all the money you donate. And no one outside of city officials even knows the actual amount.”

  Nate looked around the table at the hard, worried faces before him. “Ah. I see. What do they think I want to do with this influence, exactly?”

  Bob shook his head. “Who knows. But we don’t want the bad press either. We have to be careful. We’re going to see about passing a two percent tax increase to pay for the street paving, but I doubt it will pass.”

  “Huh,” Nate said. If the citizens wouldn’t vote in favor of a half-percen
t tax increase to pay for a new elementary school, there was no way they’d vote for two percent for anything else. “Well, boys, I’ll just have to figure something out, won’t I?”

  Frank looked across at him, his left eyebrow twitching slightly. “Nate, why do you want this so bad? I’ve looked into you. You’re brokering deals all around the world that have more digits than a phone number—with the area code.”

  “Yeah. But this is my home. And you don’t let your home fall apart when you can do something to fix it. I’ll let ya’ll know when I have a solution.”

  Nate chugged the last of his tea. The ice rattled in the empty glass as he sat it down and stood to go. Figuring this out would mean more of his time pulled from other important things, but this was important to him. And so was getting to Charlotte. Something was going to have to give.

  Chapter Five

  “Come on, Mom. You said you’d call him.”

  It was Saturday afternoon and Charlotte was sweaty, dirty, and only half-way through mowing her yard. She had seriously underestimated how long it would take to mow her half acre lot with a push mower, and she still had to mow Lanelle’s grass. It was no wonder she was getting tired and extremely cranky. Now Taylor was driving her nuts to call Nate.

  She had a dozen reasons to tell him no. She was busy, looked awful, and the man posed a colossal threat to her year-long run of avoiding men. But she had promised, and Taylor had perfected puppy-dog eyes. And after all, Nate was coming over for Taylor so maybe she wouldn’t even need to talk to him much.

  “Fine. I need a break anyway.” She turned off the idling mower and walked to the wide, wrap-around back porch while Taylor followed doing an excited, skip-walk.

  Charlotte wiped her buzzing hands on her cut off shorts and pulled her phone out of her pocket before sitting down on one of the vintage metal porch chairs.

  Her heart pounded as she called him, trying to control her breathing before he answered. Of course, with her luck, he answered after the first ring.