The Trouble with Billionaires (Southern Billionaires Book 1)

by Michelle Pennington

  “Good morning,” he said, standing at ease beside Nate’s black Bentley.

  “Good morning. Have you seen Nate?” she asked.

  “Not a sign of him.”

  “Good.”

  Sam raised an eyebrow at her, but didn’t say anything as he helped the chauffeur load their bags. Just as Charlotte thought she’d get away without facing the awkwardness, Nate came striding out the wide front door. She eyed his expression for any sign of how he was feeling, but it was tense and closed-off.

  With no word of greeting he took her by the shoulders and asked, “Why did you go to bed last night without waiting for me?”

  “You know why.”

  “Did Alexa say anything when I was gone?”

  Charlotte nodded to Taylor, who was looking for lizards in the landscaping again. “Not now.”

  Nate’s jaw flexed, but he nodded and stepped back. “I’ve been working since dawn, so I’m sorry I didn’t see you until now. And it’s going to take a miracle for me to make it home for the game tomorrow night. At least tell me we can talk afterward.”

  “Maybe. Give me some time to think.”

  Nate sighed and gave a wry smile. “You think too much. I’d rather you trusted your feelings more.”

  “Well those are in complete confusion too. But thanks so much for giving Taylor and me an amazing weekend.”

  “Such as it was, huh? This house will seem empty without you.”

  “You’re a very busy man. You won’t even have time to notice.” She looked past him then and said, “Taylor, come say goodbye to Nate.”

  Taylor ran over. “Goodbye, Nate.”

  “Tell him thank you,” Charlotte prompted a stern whisper.

  “Thanks. I love your pool and your giant house, and your tv room. Can I come back again?”

  “Any time, buddy. Any time.”

  Charlotte frowned, but didn’t say anything as she directed Taylor into the car. “See you tomorrow,” she said quietly, before getting in after him.

  Sam and Nate spoke briefly before they left, and Charlotte wondered what they were talking about because both men looked more tense than she’d ever seen them. But she didn’t dare question Sam about it. Instead, she sat silently through the rest of the journey, in car and plane, with a strong longing in her chest as she got further away from Nate.

  Once they were home, there was so much to do, she didn’t have time to focus on her emotions—which was a blessing. She knew Taylor would be wiped out, so she let him relax in front of the television. He’d be back to school tomorrow, but for now, he could rest. She, however, had clients starting right after lunch.

  She started a load of laundry, unpacked their suitcases, and headed out to unlock the salon thirty minutes before her first appointment. She went around turning on her flat irons and curling irons, turning up the air conditioner for the hot afternoon ahead, and getting her computer up and running for the day. And then her first client came in, jingling the bell she’d put over the door.

  Misty pushed her sun glasses up and said, “You got a tan, girl. I guess you really did go to Florida.”

  Charlotte smiled, but knew it probably looked as tense as it felt. “Yep. We’re doing a trim and highlights today?”

  “Yeah. And maybe some layers. I thought about getting bangs, but bangs are like a night out drinking with the girls—I always regret it the next day.”

  Charlotte laughed and led the way to the sink. Misty dropped her purse and sunglasses on a table and settled back for her shampoo.

  “Tell me if the water is too hot,” Charlotte said as she got to work.

  “No, it’s fine. I heard a rumor you were visiting Nate Haverton. Is it true?”

  Charlotte paused, her sudsy fingers stilling for a few seconds. “Yes. I wasn’t keeping it a secret.”

  “Well, Justine is telling everyone who will listen to her that you’re after his money.”

  Surprised, Charlotte accidentally snorted. “That’s too ironic for words. His money is the last thing I’m after.”

  “Yeah. He’s so hot, I’d go after him even if he didn’t have two nickels to rub together.”

  “No, I mean, I’m not after him at all.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t blame you if you were. And I told Justine there’s nothing wrong with two consenting adults sleeping together. So that’s when she told me that Nate is engaged to this Alexa chick, and that you two are having an affair.”

  “Oh good grief,” Charlotte said, running conditioner through Misty’s hair. “Nate and I aren’t sleeping together. We aren’t even dating. He’s not engaged to Alexa Merrill any more than you are, and I took Taylor with me. Do you think I’d take my son if I were doing what she’s saying?”

  “No. Now remember, I never believed her about him being engaged to someone else. It ain’t hard to tell he’s got the hots for you, what with the way he’s always looking for you in the stands, and taking such an interest in your son and all. But my sister owns the Magnolia Inn, and she says that there’s a blonde woman who always comes to visit him. I thought it might be the same woman who was at the game last week. Girl, she had her claws in him!”

  “Does nobody have anything to do in this town but gossip?”

  “Not really, honey.”

  Charlotte wrapped Misty’s hair up in a towel and led her to the barber’s chair. She pulled the cape around her shoulders and secured the Velcro before meeting Misty’s eyes in the mirror. “Well, then, let them talk. They can gossip to their heart’s content for all I care. I know there’s nothing scandalous going on. In fact, there’s not even anything not scandalous going on.”

  Misty frowned. “Well that’s too bad. Delynn and I really thought there was.”

  Charlotte opened her mouth, nearly giving Misty an update on the situation, but decided she’d better not. It would be all over Chester before sundown.

  Misty barely paused her wagging tongue though. “All the idiots around here who are calling you a skank are secretly jealous of you. Don’t mind them any.”

  Charlotte closed her eyes. “Wow. Just wow.”

  “Don’t worry. All us moms from the t-ball team are standing up for you, and your neighbors, and Millie gave Justine a lecture right there in her shop in front of everybody. I thought I should warn you what’s going around.”

  “That’s sweet of you,” Charlotte said, though she had a feeling Misty was thoroughly enjoying being the bearer of scandalous news.

  “Yeah. And don’t worry about those witches calling you a gold digger because you’ve gotten your hands on two rich man, counting your ex-husband. It’s not like they wouldn’t jump on either one of them if given half a chance. No woman would. Let’s just be real.”

  Charlotte sighed. No woman, except, apparently, her. “About two inches off?”

  “Yeah, let’s start with that. And you can tell me all about your weekend in Tampa. And I do mean all of it.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Tension pulled at Nate’s muscles. Charlotte had only responded to his texts with short answers since she left for home the day before. And now, because of his tight schedule, he was once again having to race to the ball field from the airport after changing on his jet. He wanted nothing more than a chance to talk to Charlotte, but he had a game to coach first.

  As he arrived at the park and hurried to the dugout, the thought occurred to him that if things didn’t work out with Charlotte, he would miss being so close to Taylor as well. More than miss, actually. It would tear him up.

  Pasting a smile to his face, Nate walked into the dugout, slapping high fives with several of the boys as he walked past. Then he saw Taylor at the far end, sitting up on top of the low concrete wall, leaning back against the chain link fence and talking to one of his teammates. “Hey, there, buddy!”

  “Nate!”

  Walking over to give him a high five, Nate paused as something caught his eye. The whole side of one of Taylor’s cleats had completely blown out. “What happened to
your shoe?”

  “Oh, it ripped open during the last game, but Mom says they’ll have to last through one more game. There weren’t any at the store, so she’s going to order some online.”

  “Oh yeah?” Nate turned to find Charlotte in the bleachers. She sat higher than her usual spot, isolated from the rest of the parents. There was a tightness to her expression that concerned him, but his first concern was Taylor’s shoes. He whistled, high and sharp. Everyone in the bleachers turned to look for the source of the whistle, including Charlotte, and he was able to motion her over. He hated how reluctantly she moved.

  “What’s up?” she asked through the fence.

  “Taylor can’t play in these.”

  Her lips pressed together. “They’ll be fine for tonight.”

  “Charlotte, if he puts any pressure on these at all, his whole foot is going to pop out.”

  “Well, I didn’t know about it until he was getting ready for the game. I stopped by the store to get another pair, but they were out.”

  “Didn’t I tell you?”

  Her expression darkened still further. “You’ve been waiting for this all season, haven’t you?”

  He had, in fact, expected it. If he was honest, he’d even been looking forward to teasing her a bit when the time came, but there was no way he was going to let Charlotte’s pride or their relationship problems get in the way of Taylor having good shoes.

  “Let’s just be calm here,” he said. “Luckily, the shoes are still in my truck.”

  “I am perfectly calm. And those shoes can stay in your truck until they rot from age.” Before Nate could say another word, she spun around and stormed back up the bleachers.

  Nate turned back to Taylor, who was staring at him with big, concerned eyes. “Taylor, buddy?”

  “Yeah, Coach?”

  “Do you want to wear another pair of shoes?”

  “Yeah. I can’t run like a cheetah in these.”

  Nate patted his leg. “Okay. Hold on here a second.”

  After glancing at his watch, he saw it was time for the game to start. “Hey, Josh. Here’s the batting lineup. Keep things moving. But hold Taylor out until I get back.”

  Josh nodded and Nate ran back toward the parking lot, cutting across the outfield and jumping the fence to save time. He dug the shoes out of their spot under the back seat and ran back. Charlotte was going to fight him on this, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t going to let her stubborn pride get in the way of Taylor having a great last game.

  He knew Charlotte was watching him as he got back to the dugout. He could feel her eyes on him, but he didn’t dare make eye contact with her. He knew she wouldn’t make a scene in front of all these people, but he was in for it later. With his chest rising and falling as he tried to catch his breath, Nate pulled off Taylor’s busted shoes, and untied the laces on the new ones. He helped Taylor wiggle his foot inside the first one and left him to tie it while he put the other shoe on. When both cleats were tied, Taylor jumped down from his perch and did an experimental dash across the dugout. Then he grinned. “Wow. These are way better than my old ones. Now I’ll run really fast.”

  “You bet,” Nate said.

  “My mom is going to be mad at you,” Taylor said, his voice full of concern.

  “Probably, but don’t worry about it. We grown-ups can work things out. You get out there and enjoy your game.”

  “Taylor?” Josh called out. “Get ready.”

  “Yes!” Taylor ran over and grabbed a batting helmet and his bat, bouncing excitedly on his toes. For the first time ever, Nate avoided looking in Charlotte’s direction.

  Then there was a commotion in the bleachers, and he turned to see what was going on. A tall man in a Royal’s baseball uniform was climbing up the bleachers toward Charlotte, and everyone was going nuts.

  Daniel Mabry. What was he doing here?

  Charlotte looked shocked as her ex-husband nodded at her and sat down only a few feet down the bench from her. People flocked over to him to shake his hand and get his autograph. Nate was torn between an uneasy feeling that Charlotte was definitely going to kill him, and a surge of satisfaction that maybe Taylor would finally have his dad in his life more. If only the man had given them some warning. Still, it would be good to make the best out of the situation.

  “Hey, Taylor buddy. Look who’s here.”

  Taylor followed the direction of Nate’s pointing finger and gasped. “Dad!”

  Before Nate could say another word, Taylor was running out of the dugout and up the bleachers to go hug his dad. Nate watched, pushing down the surprising surge of jealousy that came from watching Taylor hugging and talking animatedly to his dad, then sent out the next kid to go bat.

  When Taylor came back a few minutes later, it was just in time for his turn at bat. He ran out, and tapped his bat on the dirt before swinging it over his shoulder. Then, before Josh could help him adjust his stance, Taylor swung hard and missed, his momentum carrying him all the way around again so that his bat hit the tee, knocking the ball off. Josh picked it back up, put it back on the tee, and this time, helped Taylor get his stance squared up to the tee better. But once again, Taylor missed.

  This was common in t-ball, but Nate knew Taylor was struggling with nerves from having his dad in the stands. Running over, Nate motioned to Josh to change places with him.

  “Okay, buddy,” Nate said, raising the tee a couple of inches and putting the ball back on top. He glanced at Taylor’s face and saw the sheen of tears in the boy’s eyes. “Look, don’t be nervous. Shake it off. All the major leaguers miss the ball more than they hit it. Even your dad.”

  Taylor sniffed, but nodded and pressed his lips together in determination.

  Nate moved around behind him and guided his hands further down the bat, nudged his feet so they were square to the tee, and helped him practice where to swing the bat to hit the ball. “Now, let’s see you blast it.”

  Stepping back, Nate held his breath and watched as Taylor swung with all his might. This time he connected and the ball soared out over the infield, past second base, and over the bored boy kicking at the grass in the outfield. “Run, Taylor,” Nate called when Taylor stood there gaping at how far the ball had gone. Half of the other team took off chasing the ball down, then ended in a big pile as they all groped for it in the tangle of limbs. This gave Taylor and the other three boys already on base plenty of time to race to home plate. Nate whooped and high-fived each of the runners, but scooped Taylor up in a big hug and swung him around.

  “You did it. Taylor the Phenom! What a hit, buddy.”

  Taylor jumped up and down, pumping his fist in the air like he’d won the world series. And in his world, maybe this was even better. He’d just hit the t-ball version of a home run in front of his dad.

  When the game was over, Taylor ran straight to his dad after shaking hands with the other team. Nate watched, trying to measure how Charlotte was handling all this. But her expression was closed off and tight except when Taylor looked at her—at which point she would smile and nod at him. But Taylor didn’t get much time with his dad before people were asking for pictures of their sons with Daniel Mabry, the major league baseball player, and Taylor got shuffled out of the way. He stood next to his mom, watching sadly as his dad posed for pictures with all of his teammates.

  Nate finished gathering up the equipment and cleaning up the dugout, then walked up to the bleachers, wishing there was something he could do. Finally, they were all gone, and it was just the four of them left. If anything, that made it worse.

  Nate felt Charlotte’s aggravation radiating off her, and he wanted nothing more than to make this situation better for her and Taylor. There wasn’t much he could do except support her through it.

  He held out his hand to Daniel. “Hello. I’m Nate Haverton, Taylor’s coach.”

  Mabry raised his eyebrow. “Yeah? I wondered if that’s who you were.” There was a cold mockery in the man’s voice.

  Nat
e tensed, but stayed determined to keep things civil. “You surprised everyone by coming today, but it meant a lot to Taylor, so thanks for showing up.” He’d intended the words to be polite, but there was a sharp edge to them he couldn’t do anything about.

  “Yeah, well, some people seem to think I don’t do enough for my kid.”

  Charlotte looked back and forth between the two of them. “What’s going on here? Do you two know each other?”

  “Never met him in my life,” Nate said. He clenched his jaw to keep from saying anything further.

  Mabry turned to Charlotte. “What’s this guy to you? Your boyfriend?”

  She narrowed her eyes. “It’s none of your business.”

  “If it affects Taylor, it’s my business. So, I repeat, is he your boyfriend?”

  “No,” she said calmly.

  Her words were like a dagger to Nate’s gut, even though it was true.

  “I’ve got a check for you,” Mabry said to Charlotte, though his eyes bored into Nate’s. “It has come to my attention that I have neglected to pay you the last few months.”

  Charlotte didn’t reach for the check he held out to her. “Oh yeah? My repeated texts didn’t bring it to your attention?”

  Mabry shrugged. “Let’s just say, someone was very convincing in their argument.” His eyes shifted coldly to Nate, who met his glare unwaveringly.

  “Okay,” Charlotte said, her voice going shrill. “What’s going on?”

  “I’m not at liberty to say,” Mabry answered, his voice full of mockery. “Take this please, so I can get out of here.”

  Charlotte reached out and snatched the check away, not even looking at it. “You mean you’re just going to show up in your freaking uniform and cause a whole big ruckus at Taylor’s game, then disappear again?”

  “Oh yeah, I forgot,” Mabry said. “Taylor come take a picture with me.”

  Nate watched with a storm of anger in his gut as Taylor went to his dad with an expression of injured hero-worship, and posed with his dad the same way his teammates had. But Charlotte didn’t move when Mabry tried to hand her his phone.