The Billionaire's Fake Marriage: A Single Dad Next Door Romance

by Sarah J. Brooks

  I glanced down at my phone, silently cursing the text I’d gotten last night. The timing had been better than I wanted to admit, but now I couldn’t work up the nerve to go talk to her. She almost looked happy when I’d been called away, and for some reason, I couldn’t get the image out of my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking the smile she had given me seemed honest. Like she was truly happy I had to leave. No, that’s stupid.

  But I couldn’t help feeling it might be true.

  I’m old. There was no disputing that. I knew I was older than most guys she probably gave the time of day. I blew out a deep breath. Damn it. I was used to older women hitting on me. Some my age, some not. I wasn’t used to a young girl hitting on me, and more than anything, I wasn’t used to actually being interested in a younger woman. She was intriguing, smart, and fun to talk with. That wasn’t something I could say about most of the women I met here.

  My gaze snapped toward the driveway as a black car pulled up to the check-in building. It stopped, and a woman stepped out. She looked around maybe 50 years old, with blonde hair and big boobs. They shouldn’t have been the first thing I noticed, but they were … very hard not to see. She reached into her car, grabbed her purse, and headed for the door.

  I stood as she stepped inside. “Hi, ma’am.”

  She closed the distance between the door and the desk where I stood. Her eyes roamed over my body as a grin flicked across her face. “Hi. I’m here to check in.”

  “Your name?” I reached for my black book and started to flip through it.

  “Smith.”

  I nodded, letting her know I heard her as I flicked to the S’s.

  “Just me.”

  I looked up. “Pardon?” Had I heard her wrong?

  Her grin widened. “I said it’s just me. As in, I’m here alone. All by myself.” Her eyes trailed down my body.

  For the first time, I looked her up and down. She was hot. There was no doubting that; she was beyond beautiful, and despite the fact she had small lines around her eyes to show her age, she didn’t look old.

  “I see.”

  It was all I could manage. Normally, I would have been more forward with her. I’d ask if she needed any company after bringing her bags to her room. This time, it didn’t cross my mind until I realized I hadn’t done it.

  I met her gaze. She didn’t look happy about the way I’d reacted, but I dismissed it quickly, looking back down at the book. “Samantha Smith.” Who the hell would name their child that?

  “That’s me.”

  I took one quick look at her hand and realized Smith wasn’t her last name when she was a child.

  Christy

  It finally came. The moment I had been dreading the entire time I ate breakfast, but knew was going to happen. Why couldn’t it have been later in the day? I sucked in a deep breath and tried to keep myself calm. I could already feel my heart pounding in my chest.

  Thump. Thump. Thump.

  I couldn’t help staring at the girl beside him as he carried her bags toward the room beside mine. I suppressed the cringe that threatened to crawl across my face as our eyes locked.

  “Hi.” His gaze shifted away from mine quickly.

  Does he sound nervous? I forced a smile over my lips. “Hi, Alex.” I couldn’t help looking at the woman beside him again. My eyes trailed to her breasts on their own. They were really out there. She’s so pretty.

  I wished I had the confidence to pull off an outfit like that. A simple silk tank top with a pencil skirt. And damn, she looked like she should be on a red carpet, not on a ranch.

  “Hi.” She smiled widely and extended a perfectly manicured hand to me. “I’m Samantha. Are you … Alex’s daughter?” She looked from me to Alex.

  My stomach turned. She thought I was his daughter? God. See, this is why it would never work. He’s too old.

  It was like a movie when a couple goes out to dinner and they get mistaken for family. For a split second, I felt like I was going to puke.

  “No,” I finally said.

  The woman raised her eyebrow at me, then looked me up and down. Her nose wrinkled for a fraction of a second, and I felt the shot.

  Thump. Thump. Thump.

  My heart was racing even faster than it had been when I first saw Alex. I cleared my throat, trying to hide just how much this woman had hurt me. Okay, not hurt, but there was a shot to my self-esteem, that’s for sure.

  I forced another smile and turned my attention to Alex. “I’ve been meaning to see you after last night. Er … but I’d rather have the conversation alone. Could you please stop by my room once you’re done with … Sarah?” I said the last part like I honestly didn’t know it was wrong.

  I saw her flinch when I used the wrong name; she opened her mouth, but Alex got words out first.

  “Of course. I’ll be right there to help as soon as I have a free moment.” He turned to Samantha beside him. A smile spread over his lips, but he didn’t look happy. “Let’s get you settled in.”

  I watched as the two of them headed toward her room. Alex put her bags down, unlocked the door, and motioned for her to step inside before following her in.

  I felt jealousy tug at the pit of my stomach, but I tried to ignore it. I took a breath and turned to my own room, letting myself inside. I glanced over at the door Alex and what’s-her-face had stepped through. There was no sign of him coming out, and I have to admit it disappointed me. It doesn’t matter, I thought. I mean, it’s not like I was his girlfriend or anything.

  I was just some random girl he’d spent a short time in a pool with. That’s it. There wasn’t any reason for me to get all jealous like I was. Not that it had stopped me.

  Knock. Knock.

  I spun toward the door and watched as it opened. My heart skipped a beat. Then, when I saw the face in front of me, disappointment overwhelmed me.

  “Hi, Nat.” I forced myself not to sound as let down as I felt.

  “Hi.” She sounded far too happy.

  I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms over my chest. “What has you in such a good mood?” I didn’t need her to answer, though. I knew that look. And she didn’t answer her door when I went over to see if she wanted to grab breakfast.

  “You know those cowboys on the website?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, I can cross that off my list.” She closed the door as she came in and made her way to the bed. A soft sigh passed through her lips.

  “So you and Jeff?”

  “Yup.”

  I felt jealousy the second she said it, and I knew it wasn’t fair. I shouldn’t be jealous of my best friend; I should be happy for her.

  Her eyes sparkled as they locked on me. “And what about you? You and Alex seemed pretty into each other last night.”

  “Oh, I don’t think anything is going to happen between us.” I shrugged, not wanting to go into more detail for my sake more than hers. When I’m ready, I’ll tell her all about it. And I would. Maybe on the way home. Two more days. That was all.

  I had to see him for two more days. I had to deal with the awkwardness for two more days, and then I could go home, be done with it, and pretend it never happened.

  I could feel my best friend staring at me. Finally, I met her eyes. I could tell she was waiting for me to say more. She was waiting for all the dirty details she wasn’t going to get.

  “So, what’s the plan for the day?”

  I watched her cheeks turn a deep shade of pink, and my heart sank into the pit of my stomach. Oh, right that was stupid of me. I should have known better.

  “I, um, I actually—”

  “Right. That makes sense. I think I’m going to go for a hike today, anyway. It will be nice to be with my own thoughts for a little while.”

  I tried not to let her know how upset I was. After all, it only made sense she would want to hang out with the guy she was crushing on, but I was upset to know she had better things to do than hang out with me.

  Knock. Knock.


  Nat turned to the door and then glanced at me over her shoulder. “Were you expecting someone?”

  Shit. I’d forgotten about him coming over here. I’d been so caught up talking with Natasha.

  Without any chance to try and get involved, the door opened. Alex stopped, staring at Nat. He looked from her to me, then away from both of us. I watched his cheeks get red. “You asked me to stop by your room. Is something wrong?”

  That hurt. He wouldn’t even look at me, and then he acts all professional like nothing happened last night. Yeah, it stung.

  “No. Never mind,” I said quickly.

  I caught Natasha’s eye. She gave me a soft smile, but I could see the concern written on her face. I turned just in time to see Alex looking at me. Honestly, I knew I was supposed to be mad, and a couple of seconds ago I had been, but now I couldn’t give a shit. It was like someone flicked a switch. I stared at him, my eyes locking on his. I didn’t look away, even after his gaze shifted to the ground.

  “Oh. Okay, well you have my number if you need anything.” He looked up, meeting my eyes and turning on his heel. He closed the door behind him.

  Natasha spun to face me the second the door shut. “What the shit happened last night?”

  “Nothing,” I said quickly. The look on my friend’s face told me it was too quick, and she didn’t believe me for a second. I sighed and looked away. “I don’t even know,” I admitted with a shrug.

  “You don’t know?”

  “Nope.” I gave a fake laugh, but one of my convincing ones. “I think I’m going to soak up some sun by the pool instead of hike. You go find Jeff —”

  “I can stay.”

  “No, it’s fine.”

  “No, no. I can stay. We can do some girl time out by the pool.”

  “Nat, go have fun. I’m fine, trust me.”

  I walked toward my friend, grabbed her shoulders, turned her around, and shoved her toward the door. I knew how lucky I was to have a friend who was willing to ditch her hot date, but I didn’t want her to. I wanted to relax by myself and enjoy my own company. I liked it that way. At the door, I came to a stop.

  “Thank you, Nat, but I don’t need you to babysit me. I’ll be fine, I promise.”

  “Are you sure?”

  I could tell how hopeful she sounded. I knew how much she wanted to go. It had been a long time since she’d been on a good date, or whatever she and Jeff were calling this. To me it was basically a date.

  “Yes, I’m sure.”

  Natasha opened her mouth, then closed it and gave me a smile. “Thanks.” She hugged me and slipped out of my room.

  I watched as she headed for the trails, pulling out her cell phone.

  ~~~~

  After sulking for a little while, I put on some makeup, tied my hair up into a bun, and grabbed a good book, water bottle, and towel. I headed out of my room and toward the pool. The second I saw it, my heart tinged with pain. It’s stupid, I told myself. There was no reason for me to be upset about any of this. I mean really, it didn’t make sense for me to have any feelings toward Alex. Sure he was cute and fun to talk to, but that was it.

  “Hi!”

  Are you shitting me?

  I put on my best ‘nice girl’ face and turned to see the woman who spoke to me. She smiled brightly as she looked me up and down.

  “Hi,” I said flatly.

  “You’re Alex’s daugh – oh, I mean, you’re the one I met earlier.”

  “Yes.” I wasn’t sure if it was a question or a statement, but I decided to treat it like a question.

  Samantha nodded, watching me for thirty seconds. “I have a friend who came here a year ago. She said it was a blast.” She paused as if waiting for me to realize something she wasn’t saying.

  “I’m glad your friend had fun,” I finally said when I got sick of her staring at me.

  “Yeah, she said the guys around here were … very accommodating.”

  Yeah, Natasha knows all about that. I felt a little bit of jealousy. This time, I didn’t say anything. I waited. Just get to your fucking point so you can leave me the hell alone. Still, she stared at me for a few more seconds.

  “I hope you understand this isn’t personal, but I came here for one reason. To fuck one of the men who works on the ranch. See, the things my friend told me about them, well … you’re too young to understand half of it, I’m sure. But I saw the way you looked at Alex, and I just want to let you know I’m very used to getting what I want.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Without issues.” She spoke over me as if she didn’t give a shit about what I said.

  I opened my mouth, but no words came out. I just stared blankly, trying to figure out what I was supposed to say in return. What the fuck is wrong with this chick? I mean, really—what should I say? Should I be naughty or nice?

  That was the big question.

  I decided on nice.

  A smile spread over my lips. “That’s interesting, and I hope you have luck with it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I was just about to go hop in the pool.”

  I watched as her mouth fell open. She must have expected me to be naughty; however, my mother raised me better than that.

  I turned on my heel and followed the route to the pool. Is she going to follow me? If she did, I wasn’t sure I could behave.

  Once I made it a few feet away, I glanced over my shoulder. Thank God she hadn’t followed me. Now I hoped she didn’t come harass me later. If she does, I’ll just report her. If she was going to harass me, I’d contact someone. Not Alex; I had no clue how that would end up if I called him about a customer harassing me. I’ll talk to the one Nat is into. That way, maybe he would actually care about it.

  I padded toward the pool and, a few feet away, stopped. I spread my towel out on the pavement by the water and dropped down onto it, opening my book to the last spot I’d stopped reading.

  Alex

  I still felt bad about it. I knew it wasn’t my fault the way she had been treated, but I should have said something. I should have tried to let her know she wasn’t alone. And then when I’d gone to see her, she acted like she didn’t want anything to do with me. Not that I can blame her. I wouldn’t have handled it half as well if I were her. And here I am twice her age.

  I shook my head as I looked down at the cameras as they panned around the ranch. I didn’t like having them, but it was the right thing to do to help keep people safe. If something ever happened, I wanted to have a record.

  I stared down at the screen showing the pool. It wasn’t something I normally did. Since the cameras were so well hidden, a lot of people who stayed here would go for a dip late at night, without anything on. I figured it wasn’t any of my business, so I didn’t look at the pool very much.

  But not today. Today I focused on it.

  Christy was lying on her towel, the string on her bikini top undone.

  Damn it. I should go try to talk to her again. But I thought about the way she had looked at me. The anger in her eyes.

  Was it because I didn’t come say hi to her this morning, or was it because of the way Samantha had acted toward me? I couldn’t know the answer for sure unless I asked her, but I wasn’t sure I had the balls to do it. Damn it.

  I concentrated on the screen showing her. I knew I should go say something. Do something. I could at least try to work things out with her.

  Christy

  The cool water felt good against my body after lying in the sun for so long. I closed my eyes and blew out a deep breath. When I got home, I was going to the first yoga class I could find. No matter the price.

  “Hi.”

  My head snapped toward the voice. Shit. Alex stared down at me. I hadn’t even heard him walk over.

  “Hi.”

  He sat down by the poolside and held out a water bottle. “I thought you might need this.”

  I took it from him. I had run out of water and hadn’t gone back to get more yet. “How did you know I was here?” Had he gone loo
king for me? The thought made me happier than I wanted to admit.

  “I … er, there are cameras. Not that I was watching you or anything; I just saw you were out here.” The more he spoke, the faster he spoke, and the more his words ran together.

  I probably should have found it creepy, but I didn’t. Instead, I cracked open the water bottle and took a sip. “Thank you for the drink.”

  There was silence for a few moments. What the hell am I supposed to say? Were we supposed to talk about what happened last night? Or were we just going to pretend it never happened? Probably the easiest thing to do.

  But hey, easy never was my kinda thing. I opened my mouth to say something, but Alex beat me to it.

  “I was wondering if you’d like to join us for dinner again tonight.”

  “Is Samantha invited as well?” It came out before I really thought about it, but I didn’t feel sorry. I didn’t like her, and I wasn’t going to pretend I did. “If so, I think I will have to decline.”

  “You have something against Samantha?”

  “Yes.” I did. I wasn’t going to lie.

  “Oh. Well, you’re welcome to come if you’d like, but I can’t say for sure if she will be there. If that means you don’t want to have dinner with us, then, by all means, feel free to sit this one out.”

  My heart skipped a beat. Anger nipped at the pit of my stomach, and my brow furrowed. “I didn’t realize you were going to be so defensive of her. I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to offend you or attack your girlfriend. After all, I know Samantha gets whatever she wants. She made sure to tell me that.” I snapped the last part, all my sass coming out into those six words.

  Alex stared at me, confused. “What?”

  I sighed. “What, she didn’t tell you she stopped by to threaten me?”

  “She what?”

  I shook my head. “You should keep better tabs on your girlfriend.”

  There was silence. Alex stared at me. I stared back at him, anger burning inside my belly. I refused to look away.