Jill leaned towards her, her eyebrows disappearing behind her bangs. “Yeah…I’ve got some questions for you, girl.”
“Later,” Charlotte said.
When Nate arrived at the dugout, he dropped his duffel bag in the dust, and scanned the bleachers. His eyes landed on her, and he smiled and gave her a manly chin flick like she was the only person around. She blushed as she felt the full weight of all the incredulous female eyes that turned her way. Blast the man. But her embarrassment didn’t stop her heart from pounding with the intense pleasure of having him single her out like that. Even though she was still mad at him. A little.
Charlotte heard him thank Josh for starting practice for him as he walked up. “My plane got delayed a bit. Thanks for covering for me,” Nate said.
Josh tossed a ball out to the kids again. “No problem, man.”
“Let’s divide ‘em into teams. They need some playing time since their game is next week,” Nate said. “Will you take a team?”
“Sure.”
Nate walked back over to the dugout, and as he passed, he looked at Charlotte and asked, “Did you miss me?”
Charlotte blushed as the magpies turned around to look at her with surprised expressions. Was he flirting with her? In front of all these people? But she didn’t want him to think he could win her over that easily. “You’d have to be gone a lot longer than that.”
Nate laughed. “Well, I don’t mind admitting I missed you.” Then, he jogged back over to home plate as if he hadn’t just made her the object of everyone’s curiosity.
Charlotte felt a strange sensation, and looked over toward the dugout, where she caught Justine glaring at her with venomous eyes. The woman turned away sharply and started yelling at the kids to stop flipping their water bottles.
When Charlotte looked away, feeling unsettled, she found Jill staring at her with a meaningful expression. “What?”
“You know what,” Jill whispered. “He missed you while he was gone?”
“He was just teasing me.”
“Okay. You’re in denial, and I want to know why. Because if that man had smiled at me like that, you can bet I’d be owning it.”
“Jill, can you please stuff a rag in it till later?” Charlotte motioned to the ladies below them, and leaned closer. “I’d rather my business wasn’t being gossiped about while they smoke a cigarette in the parking lot later.”
“Fine. But it’s going to test my patience.”
“What patience?”
For the rest of practice, Charlotte enjoyed having Jill there to cheer for Taylor with her. He blossomed under the attention. It surprised Charlotte how far along Taylor had come from the enthusiastic, but awkward player he’d been a few weeks ago.
When practice was over, Taylor ran up to her and Jill. His cheeks were red and beaded with sweat, and his grin bright. “Coach says I have an arm,” he said proudly.
Charlotte laughed, and said. “Last I checked, you had two of them.”
As Taylor rolled his eyes, Charlotte looked over his shoulder and saw Nate heading towards them. Taylor spoke, pulling her attention back to him. “No, he means I can throw it really far. I would have gotten Zander out at first if Ryan had caught the ball.”
Nate reached out and pulled the brim of Taylor’s cap down to his nose. “Now you need to work on your batting stance.”
Taylor fixed his ball cap and grinned at him. “You can come over and practice with me. And Mom too. Her stance is terrible.”
“I’d love to help your mom with her batting stance.”
Nate’s words sent shivers down Charlotte’s back. The thought of being close to him like that, with his arms around her, sounded delicious.
“That’s alright, Taylor,” Charlotte said. “I’m not planning to take up the sport anytime soon.”
“Yeah. You’re kind of old for it. But that’s okay, I bet you and Nate can go on a date instead.”
“What?” Charlotte asked, both surprised and appalled.
But Taylor kept talking. “Mrs. Johnston said he wanted to be your boyfriend, remember? I asked my friends at school what a boyfriend does and they said they take you on dates. And they said dates are for giving hugs and eating at restaurants. And you like hugs and restaurants, right Mom?”
Throughout Taylor’s speech, Charlotte opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish, looking for an opening to jump in and stop the flow of words. Nate wasn’t even trying to disguise how much he enjoyed her embarrassment.
His eyes gleamed wickedly at her. “That’s great info there, buddy. She likes hugs and restaurants, huh?”
“Yeah. And she likes to cuddle—mostly at bedtime. Right, Mom?”
Charlotte wanted to gag the kid. Seriously. Why didn’t six-year-olds come with a mute button? “Taylor?”
“Yeah, Mom?”
“Go play for a minute. Far away.”
He shrugged and picked up his ball and glove from the bench in front of him. “Okay.”
As he ran away, Charlotte shouted after him, “But stay where I can see you.”
Then she looked up at Nate, who was grinning at her. His arms were folded across his chest, unfairly drawing attention to his great biceps, and making him look much more relaxed than she felt. “Jill, this is Nate Haverton, Taylor’s coach and the thorn in my side.”
Jill smiled and held out her hand for Nate to shake. “Nice to meet you. I hope you were taking notes while Taylor was making suggestions.”
Nate nodded. “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll remember every detail. In fact,” he said, his eyes glancing over to Charlotte, “I was going to ask her out tonight, but I didn’t know she had a friend visiting.”
“Yeah. Sorry,” Charlotte said, grabbing onto the excuse. “Jill is only here for two more days and I have to make the most of her visit. She’s helping me get all my business stuff sorted out.”
Jill yawned, rather enthusiastically. “You know what, though? I’m actually beat. I think maybe Taylor and I could chill out at your house while you and Nate go get some dinner.”
Charlotte glared at Jill then glanced up at Nate, trying to gauge his reaction. He was grinning, drat the man.
“I like you already,” Nate said, nodding at Jill. “How long can you stay?”
“I didn’t say I was going,” Charlotte interjected.
Nate met her eyes, his own intense and questioning. “Well, will you? I mean, you’ll have to choose between a plate of nachos at the soda shop or chicken fried steak at the diner, but I’ll splurge on dessert afterward.” Then he winked, and Charlotte couldn’t help but laugh.
“Come on. What is wrong with you?” Jill asked in a fierce whisper. “It’s one little date.”
“Can’t it just be two friends grabbing dinner together?” Charlotte asked.
Shrugging, Nate said, “Sure. Call it whatever you like as long as it means you sitting across a table from me with good food in the middle. Oh, and don’t forget, Taylor thinks we should cuddle before bed.”
Charlotte shot him a death glare. “Not happening.”
Nate laughed. “I aimed high, because I knew you’d shoot me down. I’ll settle for a hug.”
Relaxing a little, Charlotte said. “I can probably allow that. But, I’m warning you—I don’t like to share my dessert. You’ll have to get your own.”
“Wow. If I’d have known you were that stingy, I would have asked Jill out.” Nate turned to Jill. “Are you single?”
Jill grinned. “Yes I am, as a matter of fact.”
Even though she knew he was joking, Charlotte pulled on Jill’s arm. “Too late,” she said to Nate. “You already asked me. You don’t offer a girl nachos, and then take them away.”
“Oh sure,” Nate called after them. “It’s the nachos you want.”
“You didn’t think it was anything else, did you?” Charlotte called back, walking away quickly.
“I’ll pick you up at seven.”
Charlotte nodded and turned her back so he wouldn’t see
the silly smile she couldn’t keep off her face. What was she doing? Nate was the last person she should be dating. He’d already been high-handed with her twice, pushing his way into her life, and using his money to pave the way. And he was out of town all the time. As much as her traitorous heart wanted to forget about all of that, her brain wouldn’t.
Chapter Ten
Nate looked across the dark cab of his truck to Charlotte’s profile, highlighted by the streetlights they drove past on their way to dinner. It wasn’t only that she was beautiful. He knew a lot of beautiful women, but he didn’t feel this spark of happiness just from having them near.
“You want nachos, huh?”
“Does Miss America want world peace?”
Nate chuckled and parked in front of the soda shop on Main Street. “Then get ready to have your mind blown.”
“Looks like my kind of place,” Charlotte said, studying the street-front windows as Nate helped her out of the truck. She paused to look over the windows painted with pictures of ice cream cones, root beer floats, and cherry pie. As they went inside, he saw her look up and smile at the bell tinkling over their head.
He was glad Charlotte seemed to like this place, unlike Alexa who had turned her nose up at it the only time he’d brought her here. But he didn’t want to think about Alexa right now. In the last couple of weeks, Alexa had been texting and calling every day. She was expecting something from him he could no longer give now that he’d met Charlotte, but he hadn’t figured out how to approach that conversation with her.
Nate pushed this concern aside as they walked up to the counter where Millie was spraying whipped cream from a can all over someone’s hot fudge sundae.
She looked up and smiled, the warm expression softening her square, lightly-wrinkled face. “Haverton, where’ve you been the last couple of weeks?”
“Busier than I wanted to be. Charlotte, this is Millie Edwards. She’s owned this place since I was a kid.”
“Nice to meet you,” Charlotte said, her sweet smile lighting up her face.
Nate kept his eyes on her until Millie said, “Happy to meet a friend of Nate’s. You here for a visit?”
“No. I moved here recently after I inherited my grandma’s house.”
“You’re Anne’s granddaughter? Okay, then. I’ve got to ask you a question. The whole town’s been trying to figure out what you’re doing with that building you put on your property.”
Charlotte smiled. “It’s going to be a salon. I hope to open next week.”
Millie laughed. “Glory be. Won’t Betsy be in a take? She owns Cut and Curl down the street. It’s been the only place to get your hair done in this town for twenty years.”
“Yes, I know,” Charlotte said, her voice remorseful and her mouth turning down at the corners. “She’s going to hate it.”
“Sure as a dog will sniff its own poop. But don’t let that worry you. There isn’t a young person in Chester who will set foot in her place. Betsy knows how to do one style really well and it involves a lot of teasing and hairspray.”
Nate enjoyed watching the two women chat, but he’d waited too long for this date to have it be waylaid by a chatty woman waving a can of whipped cream around. As soon as there was a two second pause in their conversation, he jumped in. “Millie? I’ve been telling Charlotte that your nachos will rock her world. Will you fix us up?”
“Sure thing, Nate. Extra jalapenos?
He looked to Charlotte, raising his eyebrows.
“I can take it if he can,” she said.
Millie grinned. “Ah, he’s a wuss. What can I get ya’ll to drink?”
Nate grinned. “You know you don’t have to ask.”
“Okay. Sweet tea for the man with no imagination. How about you, honey?”
Charlotte grinned. “A cherry vanilla Coke.”
Millie looked at Nate and nodded toward Charlotte. “Now there’s someone with good taste.”
Nate chuckled and led Charlotte to an empty table in the back with his hand on the small of her back. He pulled out her chair and helped her in as if they were at a fancy restaurant instead of sitting down at a table with a plastic tablecloth and beer bottle salt shakers.
“I’m opening the salon next week,” Charlotte said.
“Really. That was fast. You didn’t mention it in any of your texts.”
“That’s because I wasn’t certain I could pull it off. But I’m ready and I have the whole day booked solid.”
“Wait. I never even heard that you decided on a name for it. I came up with a great one by the way.”
Millie brought their drinks over, and Charlotte took a sip of her Coke. “I can’t wait to hear this.”
“The Snip and Clip.”
Charlotte eyed him like he was crazy, but laughed “Yeah, if I wanted people to think I was performing vasectomies.”
Nate chuckled. “Well, what did you come up with?”
“Southern Roots Salon.”
He tilted his head to the side, considering it. “It’s clever. I like it.”
She smiled. “Good, because the sign arrived today, and it’s stamped on everything.” Then she looked solemn. “I’ve gotten a lot done while you were out of town.”
He heard the unasked question in her words, but he hoped teasing her would shift the conversation away from a tricky conversation about his time commitments. “I knew you missed me.”
“Maybe a little. Are you always gone so much?”
Ah well. So much for that. “The short answer is, yes. Though I’m working on changing that. No matter how many people I hire, I have a hard time turning over big decision to others, the result being that I spend too much time micro-managing my business. A lot of people depend on me for their livelihood, and I don’t take that responsibility lightly.”
“But what about your life? It sounds like you need to find someone you trust to take care of them like you would.”
Nate stared across the table at her, appreciating her intuitive ability to cut to heart of things. He wanted to tell her that if anything motivated him to solve this problem, it would be her. But with things so tentative and new between them, he shied away. Instead, he teased her again. “You want me around to help mow your lawn more often?”
She rolled her eyes. “No.”
Millie brought the nachos over before he could tease her further. The platter took up an indecently large section of the table, and Charlotte’s face lit up as she dug in. Nate was impressed with the way Charlotte used her fork to put a jalapeno on top of each chip she ate, and fought him for her share of the fresh guacamole.
By the time Charlotte was full and left the rest to him, she had gotten several text alerts from her phone. “Do you mind if I check my phone? It might be about Taylor.”
“Of course.”
Charlotte wiped her fingers carefully on a paper napkin and read her texts. Nate sipped his tea, watching her expression for a sign as to whether everything was okay.
Within seconds, Charlotte’s eyes popped open wide.
“Everything okay?” Nate asked.
“No. Yes. I’m just… Jill is messing with me. She has to be messing with me.”
“What?”
Charlotte looked up at him. “She says you’re a billionaire.”
Nate flinched, and looked anxiously around the restaurant. He’d hoped to keep the extent of his finances undercover until she knew him better. Too late for that, thanks to Jill—and likely Google. But the whole town didn’t need to know about it. “Um, yeah. What do you say we go talk about this somewhere else?”
Charlotte’s face paled. “You mean it’s true? Are you freaking kidding me? I thought you’d laugh.”
Nate got up and held his hand out to her. “Let’s talk in my truck.”
She took his hand and he led her to the front, but she moved with no resistance at all, as if she was in shock. Nate stopped to pull out his wallet to pay for dinner.
“But I fed you ramen noodles,” Charlotte said.
“Who feeds a billionaire ramen noodles? Me, that’s who.”
“What was that, honey?” Millie asked heading over to the register.
“Nothing,” Nate said, handing her a twenty.
“You don’t owe me anything,” Millie argued. “You still have a huge credit on your account.”
“We’ll hash it out later,” Nate said, not taking the twenty back. He once again pulled Charlotte behind him, holding the door for her, and breathing a sigh of relief when they were outside.
He unlocked the truck and helped Charlotte inside. When he got in a few seconds later, Charlotte turned to him and asked, “Why don’t you drive a Lamborghini or something?”
Nate chuckled. “What? Don’t you like my fully-loaded, luxury model Ram truck? Well, you can take your pick from my garage next time we go out.”
Charlotte moved suddenly, turning sideways in her seat. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re a billionaire?”
“I only became a billionaire recently, during this fiscal year actually. I’d rather live as normal of a life as possible, which would be impossible if people knew. And after the way you’ve been freaking out about money, I sure didn’t want to tell you yet.”
“Yeah, well, I knew you were rich. Daniel was rich. But I thought maybe you were a millionaire. Wait, how many millions are in a billion?”
Nate opened his mouth to answer, but Charlotte held up her hand to stop him. “So, if you had nine hundred and ninety-nine million, nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars, and earned one more dollar, you’d have a billion?”
Bobbing his head from side to side, Nate said, “That’s one way to say it, yes.”
Charlotte was gaping at him now. “Holy cow. That’s an obscene amount of money.”’
He glanced sideways at her as he backed out and cruised down main street. “I mean, it’s not like I have that much cash laying around. My net worth is from all my holdings, stocks, real estate, businesses—you know.”
The Trouble with Billionaires (Southern Billionaires Book 1) Page 7
