Acquired

Home > Romance > Acquired > Page 1
Acquired Page 1

by Charlotte Byrd




  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1 - Blake

  Chapter 2 - Blake

  Chapter 3 - Emma

  Chapter 4 - Emma

  Chapter 5 - Emma

  Chapter 6 - Blake

  Chapter 7 - Emma

  Chapter 8 - Emma

  Chapter 9 - Blake

  Chapter 10 - Emma

  Chapter 11- Emma

  Chapter 12 - Emma

  Chapter 13 - Emma

  Chapter 14 - Blake

  Chapter 15 - Emma

  Chapter 16 - Emma

  Chapter 17 - Emma

  Chapter 18 - Emma

  Chapter 19 - Emma

  Chapter 20 - Emma

  Chapter 21 - Blake

  Chapter 22 - Emma

  Chapter 23 - Blake

  Chapter 24 - Emma

  Chapter 25 - Emma

  Indebted (Book 1)

  Chapter 1 - Wyatt

  Chapter 2 - Brielle

  Chapter 3 - Wyatt

  Chapter 4 - Brielle

  Chapter 5 - Brielle

  Chapter 6 - Brielle

  Chapter 7 - Brielle

  Chapter 8 - Wyatt

  Chapter 9 - Brielle

  Want to read the rest of Indebted Book 1?

  Indebted (Book 2)

  Chapter 1 - Sebastian

  Chapter 2 - Sebastian

  Chapter 3 - Jane

  Chapter 4 - Jane

  Chapter 5 - Jane

  Chapter 6 - Sebastian

  Chapter 7 - Jane

  Chapter 8 - Jane

  Chapter 9 - Sebastian

  Chapter 10 - Jane

  Chapter 11 - Jane

  Chapter 12 - Sebastian

  Chapter 13 - Sebastian

  Chapter 14 - Jane

  Chapter 15 - Jane

  Chapter 16 - Sebastian

  Chapter 17 - Jane

  Chapter 18 - Jane

  Chapter 19 - Jane

  Chapter 20 - Sebastian

  Chapter 21 - Jane

  Chapter 22 - Jane

  Chapter 23 - Sebastian

  Chapter 24 - Sebastian

  Chapter 25 - Jane

  Acquired

  An Alpha Billionaire Auction Romance

  Charlotte Byrd

  Byrd Books

  Contents

  Copyright

  About Acquired: An Alpha Billionaire Auction Romance

  Chapter 1 - Blake

  Chapter 2 - Blake

  Chapter 3 - Emma

  Chapter 4 - Emma

  Chapter 5 - Emma

  Chapter 6 - Blake

  Chapter 7 - Emma

  Chapter 8 - Emma

  Chapter 9 - Blake

  Chapter 10 - Emma

  Chapter 11- Emma

  Chapter 12 - Emma

  Chapter 13 - Emma

  Chapter 14 - Blake

  Chapter 15 - Emma

  Chapter 16 - Emma

  Chapter 17 - Emma

  Chapter 18 - Emma

  Chapter 19 - Emma

  Chapter 20 - Emma

  Chapter 21 - Blake

  Chapter 22 - Emma

  Chapter 23 - Blake

  Chapter 24 - Emma

  Chapter 25 - Emma

  FREE BONUS Book! Auctioned to Him

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Get the Auctioned to Him - Deleted Scene!

  About Auctioned to Him 2

  Auctioned to Him 2

  About Auctioned to Him 3: Back to the Yacht

  Auctioned to Him 3

  About Auctioned to Him 4

  Auctioned to Him 4

  About Auctioned to Him 5

  Auctioned to Him 5

  Enjoy this book? Make a Difference!

  EXCLUSIVE BONUS CONTENT

  Indebted (Book 1)

  Chapter 1 - Wyatt

  Chapter 2 - Brielle

  Chapter 3 - Wyatt

  Chapter 4 - Brielle

  Chapter 5 - Brielle

  Chapter 6 - Brielle

  Chapter 7 - Brielle

  Chapter 8 - Wyatt

  Chapter 9 - Brielle

  Want to read the rest of Indebted Book 1?

  Indebted (Book 2)

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Kiss, but Don’t Tell

  1. Grant

  2. Grant

  3. April

  4. April

  5. April

  6. April

  7. April

  8. Grant

  9. Grant

  10. April

  11. Grant

  12. April

  13. April

  14. Grant

  15. April

  16. Grant

  17. April

  18. Grant

  19. April

  20. Grant

  21. April

  22. Grant

  23. April

  24. Grant

  25. April

  26. Grant

  27. April

  Climax

  Chapter 1 - Sebastian

  Chapter 2 - Sebastian

  Chapter 3 - Jane

  Chapter 4 - Jane

  Chapter 5 - Jane

  Chapter 6 - Sebastian

  Chapter 7 - Jane

  Chapter 8 - Jane

  Chapter 9 - Sebastian

  Chapter 10 - Jane

  Chapter 11 - Jane

  Chapter 12 - Sebastian

  Chapter 13 - Sebastian

  Chapter 14 - Jane

  Chapter 15 - Jane

  Chapter 16 - Sebastian

  Chapter 17 - Jane

  Chapter 18 - Jane

  Chapter 19 - Jane

  Chapter 20 - Sebastian

  Chapter 21 - Jane

  Chapter 22 - Jane

  Chapter 23 - Sebastian

  Chapter 24 - Sebastian

  Chapter 25 - Jane

  Enjoy this book? Make a Difference!

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2017 by Charlotte Byrd

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  About Acquired: An Alpha Billionaire Auction Romance

  What would you do... if you had to pay a large debt you never knew you had. Would you sell yourself at an auction to a man of your wet dreams?

  When I see a woman I want, I go all in. I crave her. I buy her. I want to give her non-stop pleasur
e with no strings attached. But then things get more serious…is this what they call love?

  WARNING: This is a HOT modern day STANDALONE erotic romance with an alpha billionaire for fans of EL James, Pepper Winters, and Alexa Riley. It contains NO CHEATING and a Happily Ever After.

  Chapter 1 - Blake

  I fill my lungs with the dense, salty air and feel the misty spray hit my face as the boat plows into the light chop. Where the Potomac empties into Chesapeake Bay, the seas can be confused as wind-driven waves interact with complex currents. But the vessel I am sailing takes no notice, carving a straight, strong line back toward the Annapolis boat yard where she was built. This is her first time out on the water and she has performed admirably. At fifty-five feet with a narrow bow and the beam wider aft, she points well upwind and is remarkably stable. She is also fantastically easy to sail single-handed, which is my preference. There is something about being alone on a sailboat, no sound but the wind and water, the snap of the sails, and the creak of the standing rigging. Of course, the vessel is performing exactly as well as I expected. It should, I designed it, after all.

  E.B. White once said, “If a man must be obsessed by something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most.” A lot of people become obsessed with sailing over time, as the grind of having a real job makes the idea of giving up everything and sailing around the world more and more appealing. But for me, I was born with the ocean in my veins. My family has been involved in shipping for generations, with branches of professional sailors and ship owners going back until they disappear into the mists of time. I’m not much involved in the big business shipping side of my family. My mother always told me I had a romantic soul and wasn’t cut out for business. So, I followed my passion and started designing sailboats. Unexpectedly, at least as far as my family was concerned, my designs took off and now I am one of the premier naval architects and yacht designers in the world. My boats fill the fleets of boat makers like Amel, Garcia, Hanse, Oyster, and Beneteau.

  But this beautiful sloop-rigged cruiser was a custom creation. The guy paying for it had made a fortune as a lobbyist in D.C. and now he wanted a symbol of his success. He wasn’t much of a sailor. I had taken him out on another boat before I agreed to take on the commission. It was important to figure out how a person sailed, what their goals were, their capabilities, when you design a vessel that they are going to be sailing. This boat was as idiot-proof as it was possible to get on a sailing yacht. In reality, this boat is probably going to spend most of its life sitting in its slip, hosting parties so the owner can show her off. What a waste. I almost want to just tack about and point her back out to sea. But I keep my course.

  I pass Smith Island, home to about two hundred and eighty people. Accessible only by boat, the island has been shrinking for centuries. Now it is mostly wetlands. The people there have an odd accent, more English than American. It is one of those strange little places, the places you only see if you got out on the water. That is why I love sailing. One of the reasons, at least.

  Not that there weren’t drawbacks. My work takes me all over the world, to boatyards in Germany, France, Sweden, England, Korea, Taiwan, and South Africa. When I’m not in an office in front of a computer or sketching new designs, I am on the water, often for days or weeks at a time. Most of my romantic relationships have either been long distance, short term, or both.

  The hull cut through the cold green water with a hiss. I check the GPS display and do a quick calculation in my head. I should be tied up at the slip in an hour. I call ahead to a restaurant at the marina and order some takeout. I give them a lot of business. Even though I travel around the world, Annapolis is my home port and O’Leary’s is my place for a meal after a day, or week, on the water. They have my phone number in their system, so as soon as I call, they have my order entered. I let them know I will be there in a little over an hour and then toss the cell phone back into the cup holder on the side of the helm station. I’m back to the pure sounds of the boat and the water. Sometimes, I like to go out without my phone, turn off all of the electronics, and sail without any modern conveniences, steering by compass, map, and stars. But today my growling stomach is happy I can order food ahead of time.

  I take down the main and the genoa and flip on the electric engine. The vessel moves silently through the glassy calm water of the marina. A few other boats are about, but I navigate the channel easily. Pulling into the slip and tying up can be a challenge single-handed, but with the bow thrusters and the electric motor set onto the rudder, even at fifty-five feet this boat handles with absolute precision. I bring it to a stop and toss the dock lines around the cleats, hopping lightly out onto the dock, and securing the knots.

  When I look up, Clara, my assistant, is walking down the dock toward me.

  “Welcome back, Blake! Trevor is waiting in your office.”

  She must have seen the change in my expression because she immediately follows up.

  “I tried to tell him that you were going to be gone all day, but he insisted on staying. He’s been there forty minutes.”

  “He hasn’t tried to hit on you yet, has he?”

  She screws up her face as if she smells something unpleasant. Trevor is a good-looking guy and nice enough to be around. We have been friends since we were children. But Trevor hasn’t really grown up. He still acts like he is at the Yale fraternity where he’d wasted away his college years. I don’t understand how he is able to convince any woman to sleep with him. But he does. That is probably why he is here. He loves to stop by to regale me with stories of his latest encounters.

  “Let Mr. Gordon know his boat is ready for inspection. He can schedule for anytime next Tuesday or Wednesday. Then go ahead and go home. Take tomorrow off, too. Have a long weekend.”

  Clara smiles and nods.

  I set my jaw and prepare to go listen to Trevor’s tales of conquest.

  Chapter 2 - Blake

  I find Trevor sitting behind my desk, his feet propped up insouciantly on the hundred and fifty year old wood. I had this desk custom-made from a ship I helped salvage off the coast of Ireland a few years ago. But Trevor isn’t the kind of guy to notice stuff like that. I can’t remember him ever having had a job other than spending his trust fund. His father had been a wise man and set up the trust to only disburse a certain amount per month. It is a lot, but Trevor is usually through it in no time anyway. He just has no concept of what things cost. It’s not like I grew up poor, but I have some measure of self-discipline.

  “Feet off the desk,” I say, perhaps a bit too harshly. Trevor sweeps his calfskin loafers off the lacquered surface and leans back in my chair.

  “Dude, where you been? I’ve been waiting here for like an hour.”

  “Did I miss something? Were we supposed to meet up?” I am pretty sure we didn’t have anything planned, but then again, I am pretty bad at remembering anything that gets in the way of getting me out on the water. “I had to do the sea trial for the new fifty-five. The owner is getting impatient for delivery.”

  “Who is that, Ted Gordon?”

  I nod yes.

  “Screw that guy, he can wait. I met him at one of my dad’s parties. He’s an ass.”

  I exhale slowly. Trevor doesn’t understand anything about consequences, about relationships, about reputation. He walks around with a get out of jail free card for any situation. His family is rich and connected, even by the standards of the crowd we run in.

  “He may be an ass, but he is a paying client, and one with a lot of very rich friends.”

  Trevor blows a raspberry.

  “When are you going to build me a boat, Blake? I’m a rich friend. Man, think of the tail I could pull with a yacht.”

  “You have to learn to handle a boat, first, dumbass. You won’t be getting laid when you run your boat onto the rocks and drown your date.”

  “What the hell would I be doing driving the boat? That’s what captains are for, right? I’ll be sunnin
g naked with some hotties on the, what do you call it, foredeck?”

 

‹ Prev