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

by Sarah J. Brooks

  I smirked.

  I’ve been wishing I had more money since I was 15, and now that I have the opportunity to make as much money as I can, I want to go back to being broke. I shook my head.

  That wasn’t it. Even to myself, I couldn’t work it right.

  “Morning, gorgeous.” His voice sent a chill down my spine. A good one.

  I turned to him. My heart skipped a beat, and for a split second, I questioned everything I had just thought about.

  I stared at the man in front of me, and at that moment, I could see everything flash before my eyes. Wedding, kids, success, happiness. A smile touched my lips. He was in every one of those pictures with me.

  I stood and padded over to him, wrapping my arms around his neck.

  “Morning.” I placed a soft kiss on his lips, pulling him closer to me. “I’m glad you’re up in time to watch the sunrise with me.”

  “How romantic of you.” His eyes sparkled as I pulled away. He looked me up and down as we drew apart, taking my hand as he reached out with the other hand and grasped my coffee cup. He drank half of it before giving it back.

  I took it from him, trying to decide if I wanted to give him shit or laugh. Instead of doing either, I let him pull me over to where I had been sitting. We dropped down together.

  “So, what’s the plan for the day?” I asked.

  “I was thinking nothing. We laze around on the beach all day and read, or go on Twitter, or something.” He smiled as he looked out at the sunrise.

  And that was exactly what we did most of the day. We sat around and did nothing. We lay on the beach, we read, we swam. Garth even tried to learn how to surf—which was much more fun to watch than anything I could have asked for.

  He tried to convince me to join him, but I had no interest in learning how to surf. So I just sat back and watched as the girl tried to teach him, and as he sorta figured out what he was supposed to do. It was actually nice, both of us having our own thing to do. Mostly, I let my thoughts take over.

  As I sat on the beach, I thought about everything I’d be able to teach everyone and the idea of having to do it. I’d never been good at speaking in groups. But I taught Alyssa before.

  My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. We’d gone to her funeral, along with everyone else who had worked with her, but since then, I hadn’t seen any of them. I hadn’t really wanted to go, but Garth insisted we did.

  “Hey.”

  His voice snapped me back to reality. “Hey, done already?” I looked him up and down. He had his clothes back on though his hair was still damp. He ran his fingers through it grinning.

  “Yea, my body’s sore.” He laughed. “Anyways, I thought we could go do a little touring around.”

  I stood, grabbing my purse and slipping it over my shoulder.

  “Sounds good. Where did you have in mind?”

  He shrugged. “I was just going to head downtown,” he said, taking my hand.

  We headed for the hotel where we had a cab call for us. I waited outside, looking around. It truly was gorgeous. Even nicer than the postcards made it out to look. The palm trees rose high above the rest of the buildings around us, not that there were many buildings around us. There was the hotel and a couple other places like a restaurant. But it was pretty underpopulated compared to where I was used to living.

  Garth came out and stood beside me. “They said they should be here soon.”

  I nodded, crossing my arms over my chest. The sky was blue, and what few clouds were in it looked like you could just reach up and grab them without any issue. I knew that wasn’t true, but even still, I was tempted to try.

  “Garth ...” I cleared my throat. “Do you think I have what it takes to help run this company?” I asked.

  Garth paused, biting his lip. “Honestly, after everything that has happened recently, I’m inclined to doubt just about anything. But … I think you can. I think you have a chance at being amazing, honestly.”

  “Are you going to be okay? I mean, starting a new business so soon.”

  We hadn’t really talked about it.

  Garth shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’m taking it one step at a time and seeing where I end up. It’s just a shame … I mean, he did it all for the payout. If I’d known he didn’t want me in the company … I’d have happily left, and we could have gone out on our own. I could have left the company, the money wouldn’t have mattered to me. I would have gladly given that up. I wouldn't have even batted an eyelash, but he hadn’t come to me about it. He’d never even suggested it might be an option.”

  Garth stared off into space.

  I reached out and grabbed his hand, squeezing gently.

  “It’s just a shame, but I guess that’s what he deserves.” I couldn’t dispute him on that.

  I knew Brent was Garth’s best friend at one point, but I had no attachment to him; other than the fact that he tried to kill me. I didn’t want anything to do with him ever again, and honestly, I never wanted to think about him or know if he was even alive or not.

  Still, I knew it was hard on Garth, and if he was going to push me to go to therapy, I was going to go, but I was going to make sure he came with me. A smile touched his lips. “How did I get lucky enough to have you?”

  “I was just wondering how I got lucky enough to have you,” I lied. Sure, that might not have been what I was thinking, but it was something I had wondered. So that kinda counted, right?

  The fact is, I wanted to make him smile, and I did. So that was what mattered.

  “Oh, there’s our cab,” I said, pointing towards it as he pulled into the parking lot and came towards us. It came to a stop, Garth stepped forward and opened the door for me.

  “Thank you,” I said sliding into the back seat; he followed me and turned his attention to the driver.

  “Downtown, please.”

  The driver nodded, not saying anything as he put the car into drive and we headed towards the downtown area.

  It didn’t take long; during the drive, neither Garth or I said a word. Garth paid the driver as he came to a stop. We got out, Garth held his arm out to me, and I took it.

  “So, what do you buy while in Hawaii?” I asked, looking around.

  “A snack.” Garth pulled me towards a street cart full of food. My eyes widened. The place we’d tried to go to last night had been closed, which meant we’d had to settle to for American. Now I stared at a sign that said Manapua. My brow furrowed as I looked at the small bun, and my mouth watered. It looked so good.

  We made our way up to the cart and Garth ordered us each one, along with a papaya to split.

  We took them over to a bench and sat down together.

  My stomach grumbled as I stared down at the pastry, eagerly unwrapping it. My eyes sparkled as I took a bite.

  “Mhmm.” I chewed, savoring every moment of it.

  It was so fucking good. A sweet meat paste oozed out of the bite I’d just taken. I chewed quickly and swallowed.

  “Here,” Garth handed me a piece of fruit before I could take another bite of my bun. My brow creased as I took the fruit from him; it’s not that I didn’t want it, just that I wanted to keep eating the bun.

  Flavor overwhelmed me as I bit into it, the fresh juice trickling down my chin.

  I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath.

  The warm sun beat down on me. Garth sat beside me, and the food was amazing; the air smelt fresh, the scenery around me was gorgeous. I wasn’t sure what more I could want from a vacation. Except a little bit of shopping.

  We finished our meal and stood again.

  “That was really good,” I said, swallowing down the last bite.

  “I can tell; you didn’t say a word the entire time.” Garth’s eyes sparkled.

  He held his arm out for me again, and I took it, letting him lead me around.

  “So, have you been here before?”

  “Nope.”

  “No?” My brow furrowed. “But … it’s like you know what yo
u’re doing.”

  Garth laughed again. “I did a quick Google search, nothing that impressive.”

  My cheeks flushed. Why hadn’t I thought about doing that? I’d been so excited about the trip. I should have thought to do a little research.

  “So, we’ve got to bring back souvenirs, right?” His voice snapped me back to reality.

  “I guess that’s probably a good idea.” I mean, no one actually knew we were here—but it would still be nice of us. Right?

  Let’s try this place.” Garth motioned towards a small store.

  My jaw dropped when he opened the door. I wasn’t sure how he’d decided on this one, but it was a good choice. The walls were full of shelves, all of which had something that looked homemade on it.

  There were cans of preservatives, there were sweets, bags of coffee, purses, flowers, even jewelry. I bit my lip looking around.

  There were so many options. I reached for a bracelet.

  “Hi.” A woman smiled to my left. “Can I help you with anything?”

  “Just looking around.” I gave her a soft smile.

  “Are you visiting?”

  “Yes,” Garth said.

  She nodded, her gray curly hair bobbing up and down. “Just so you know,” She pointed towards a pile of purses. “Those are all made by a local designer. A great gift to take back for loved ones, or for yourself.” Her eyes shone. “If you need anything, just let me know.”

  “Thank you,” I said, surprised she wasn’t trying to sell us everything in the store.

  Garth padded over to the purses and looked through them.

  “I bet my mom would love this,” he muttered, more to himself than anyone else. But it was a good idea.

  I frowned as I grabbed a necklace and then headed over to the purses.

  “That’s a good idea.”

  Garth laughed softly. His eyes sparkling as I reached for a purse.

  We headed back home the next day. We had needed a suitcase by the time we finished our shopping, and more than anything, we were going to be in need of a couple picture frames. I was excited to start personalizing the place, but it was what Garth said as we sat watching a movie that took me off guard,

  “You know, we’re going to have to sell your place or mine depending on where we decide to live.”

  My jaw dropped. I hadn't thought about it. “Well, I’m in a lease for a year still.” I bit my lip. What were we going to do? “You own this place?”

  Garth nodded. “A friend of mine built the building, he gave me a good discount if I sold all the other condos within the first year of it being built.”

  “And you did?”

  “I had them sold within three months and even got a bidding war on two of them. He ended out making over two million that year.”

  I stared wide-eyed at him. Wow. I had no clue how he had managed to do that, but I was impressed.

  “So, you think we should get rid of my place?” I asked.

  Garth bit his lip softly. “That depends; do you want to look for new places altogether? Or do you want to save up a little longer so we can afford something really nice?”

  My heart skipped a beat. I honestly had no clue. “Let’s wait a little while. I’ll talk to my landlord and see what they say about getting released from the contract.”

  After we figured out what was happening with that, we could figure out what to do next. I reached out and pulled him closer to me. I couldn't believe we were talking about houses and weddings. Not long ago, we hadn’t even really known each other.

  It didn’t seem like that long ago that I jumped at the chance to move up in the company so that I could make more money. And when he’d taken me out shopping for the first time and said I couldn’t wear twenty dollar shoes to sell billion dollar homes—oh, I’d wanted to hit him!

  I smirked.

  Garth stretched out, resting his head on my lap as he took a deep breath.

  “No kids, not any time soon,” he said out of the blue.

  I stared down at him and snorted. “Alright.” I had no trouble agreeing to that.

  We had our whole lives ahead of us.

  We had England, and Ireland, and Canada ahead of us. Kids could wait for a little while; right?

  My fingers tangled in his hair, and we both relaxed. This was what it was going to be soon. Work and relaxing together.

  “So,” Garth cleared his throat. “Rebecca asked me if I’d be willing to take the stand during trials.”

  My heart skipped a beat. All sense of calm I had was gone.

  “What did you say?”

  “I said I would if it meant you didn’t have to.”

  “I can do it.”

  I’d faced him down before, I could do it again.

  “No. I’ll do it. I have to, for Alyssa.”

  He wasn’t willing to admit it, but I think Alyssa’s death had hit him harder than he was saying.

  “I think she’d rather you take the stand than I did.” I gave him a soft smile. “After all, you know how much she hated me.”

  “I don’t think she hated you. I think she just hated the fact that I love you.”

  When she found out about Garth and I, I’d thought she would try to kill me. There had been a couple times I thought she might try.

  It’s a shame. And it was a shame that she had been taken advantage of by Brent. That he had dragged so many people into this without any regard for them. It made me sick that he could so easily disregard their lives—hell, even my life he so easily disregarded.

  I had been in the way, and he thought the best thing to do was kidnap me. I should have been thankful it was Alyssa who was down there the entire time; I had been able to get through to her.

  “I’ll be there with you,” I said.

  Garth’s brow furrowed, processing my words.

  Had I been lost in my own head that long?

  “I mean when you’re testifying.”

  “Oh. Are you sure? He might be there.”

  I shrugged, pretending it didn’t matter. “I’ll be there with you.”

  This was about us being there for each other. If that meant I had to be in the same room as Brent then I would have to suffer with that. I wasn’t going to leave Garth to go it alone.

  We were in this life together now. We had to be there for each other, and I was going to be there for him. It was just that simple.

  He reached up and grabbed my cheeks, pulling me down gently into a kiss.

  “You’re amazing,” he whispered. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  His lips touched mine ever so gently.

  The kiss was soft, loving. I poured every ounce of emotion I had for Garth into that kiss, hoping that he would be able to feel it.

  He pulled away from me and sat up, pulling me into his arms. I reached out and grabbed the blanket, resting against his warm body. I wrapped the blanket around us and closed my eyes.

  In my fiancé’s arms, I felt safe—despite everything we had been through and despite everything we were going to have to go through, right here and right now, I felt safe.

  THE END

  About the Author

  Sarah has been writing since she was 16 years old and has published multiple Amazon bestselling books. No matter if her heroes are Billionaires, Bad Boys or both - she loves to write about hot and sexy alpha males, who are protective and sometimes bossy, as well as the women they crave. Her exciting stories are always steamy, with a lot of twists and turns and a guaranteed HEA that leaves you satisfied after a wild ride - just like it should be in the bedroom, you know?

  Sarah loves to travel the world, because new places always inspire her. Right now she enjoys time in europe while writing new books.

  If you wish to get in contact:

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  See you on the other side ;-)

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