by J. S. Scott
Temporary Groom
Copyright © 2018 by J. S. Scott
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher or author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. The story contained within is the work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual person’s living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN: 9781946660619 (ebook)
ISBN-13: 978-1719453806 (paperback)
Cover Design by Stacey Chappell
Formatting by Jera Publishing
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CONTENTS
PROLOGUE Lia
CHAPTER 1 Zeke
CHAPTER 2 Lia
CHAPTER 3 Lia
CHAPTER 4 Zeke
CHAPTER 5 Lia
CHAPTER 6 Lia
CHAPTER 7 Lia
CHAPTER 8 Lia
CHAPTER 9 Zeke
CHAPTER 10 Lia
CHAPTER 11 Lia
CHAPTER 12 Lia
CHAPTER 13 Lia
CHAPTER 14 Lia
CHAPTER 15 Zeke
CHAPTER 16 Lia
CHAPTER 17 Lia
Sample of Billionaire Unloved
Sample of The Accidental Billionaires
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PROLOGUE
Lia
Seven Years Ago…
“I love you.”
The words had just fallen out of my mouth. I hadn’t stopped to think about them, nor was I worried about how my best friend, Zeke Conner, would interpret the statement.
In my more than slightly inebriated state, I just didn’t care about anything.
And it had suddenly become of the utmost importance that Zeke knew how I really felt about him.
Maybe because I would have never said those words had I not been two sheets to the wind because it was my twenty-first birthday, and I’d spent the entire night getting drunk for the first time.
“I love you too, my little drunken friend,” Zeke answered with a grunt as he hoisted me onto my bed.
Okay, maybe I needed to try again so he’d really understand what I meant. “I want to have sex with you,” I confessed, my words sounding a little slurred. But he ought to get what I meant this time.
He grinned as he straightened up. “Everybody wants to have sex when they’re drunk.”
I frowned at him. Here I was, spilling my guts to him, and he wasn’t taking me seriously.
It wasn’t just the alcohol at work. Sure, I’d drunk a lot, and I wasn’t in complete control of my words, but I really did love Zeke. I’d been crazy about him for years. But I’d never had the guts to admit it.
Now, I was ready to spill the fact that every wet dream I had revolved around him.
And he wasn’t going to take me seriously.
“Where are you going?” I called to his retreating figure as I flopped back against my pillow.
“I’ll be back,” he hollered from the kitchen.
I tried to decide if the bed was really spinning as I listened to him rummage around in the kitchen.
My new apartment was tiny, but I loved it. I’d just moved out of my grandmother’s house a few weeks ago because I’d gotten promoted to manager at the coffee shop I worked in.
Someday, I wanted to open my own place, but in the meantime, I was learning everything I could about the business of all things coffee.
I sighed as Zeke walked back into the room. He was so hot. And it wasn’t easy having a best friend like him. Especially not when I wanted to be so much more than just his friend.
“Drink some water, and take these,” he insisted as he sat on the bed and handed me a bottle of water. He put a few more bottles on the bedside table.
I held my hand out unsteadily, and he took it and tucked the aspirin into the palm of my hand.
I took the pills because he seemed to be waiting for me to do it, and then took some healthy slugs out of the water bottle he handed me.
“Drink water as long as you’re awake. Lots of it. I’ll be back in the morning with some food,” he said gruffly.
Sometimes, Zeke could be a man of few words, but he got me. I was pretty sure he was the only person in the world who really did.
He’d spent the evening barhopping with me to celebrate my birthday, but he hadn’t had more than one drink himself. As usual, he considered himself my protector, and it was his obligation to see me through my coming of age drinking spree.
He’d probably had better things to do than watch me get drunk, but it had been his idea to go on this mission while he was here on Thanksgiving break from college.
I sat up and carefully put the water down as I said, “Did you even hear me say I wanted to have sex with you?”
“I heard you,” he said with humor in his tone. “But I know it’s the alcohol talking.”
“It’s not,” I argued, and wrapped my arms around his neck. “I really want it.”
I felt his shoulders tense. We were suddenly face-to-face, so close that all I had to do was close the minimal distance between us and I’d finally have his mouth on mine.
I felt his warm breath on my face, and my body shuddered.
Wanting Zeke had become a habit I couldn’t break, and a dream I couldn’t seem to stop coveting.
His blue eyes turned stormy and turbulent as he stared at me. “It’s not happening, Lia. I wanted to take you out to the bars so that I could watch out for you on your birthday. I don’t want this, and neither do you. Being drunk makes everything look different. You won’t feel the same way in the morning. Trust me.”
I closed my eyes as he leaned forward and kissed my forehead, my disappointment flooding through me in waves.
I wasn’t going to feel differently in the morning. I’d wanted my best friend for a long time, so I knew it was something that wasn’t just going to go away.
He gently pulled my arms away from him and stood as he grumbled, “Call me if you need me.”
I already needed him, but he’d just firmly and soundly pushed me away. “Okay,” I answered, feeling dejected.
He didn’t say another word as he exited the bedroom. I heard the apartment door open and close a few moments later.
I had no doubt he’d locked up since he had a key, and Zeke was nothing if not thorough in his desire to make sure I was safe.
I flopped back on the pillow again, regretting the abrupt motion because it made me dizzy.
My emotions were running rampant, and tears leaked from my eyes as I realized that I’d just been soundly rejected by the man I wanted most in the world.
He doesn’t want me back.
I let out a strangled sob, and then another, until I finally cried myself to sleep.
The next morning, Zeke did come back as promised. I was hung over, but I felt better once I’d eaten breakfast.
Just like he’d warned, I was mortified that I’d confessed my feelings for him, and even more em
barrassed because he’d firmly let me know he didn’t feel the same way.
I think he assumed I didn’t remember, and I certainly didn’t bring it up.
Zeke and I were friends. Good friends. And the line I’d crossed the night before was horrifying.
I stuffed the adolescent emotions back inside me, so deep that I knew I’d never bring up the subject again. Hell, those feelings would never even see the light of day.
I had Zeke’s friendship, and because he wanted nothing to do with a more intimate relationship, that was always going to have to be enough.
CHAPTER 1
Zeke
I’d never forgotten the first time I met Lia Harper, even though it was well over a decade ago. It was the first time I’d been the recipient of her gorgeous smiles that made me feel like her hero.
And I had no problem admitting that shit had become addictive over the years.
I’d been a senior in high school, and Lia had been a freshman.
Some bastard had been trying to feel her up in the hallway next to her locker.
And for some damn reason, I’d felt it was my duty to set the asshole straight about how fucking inappropriate it was to try to force himself on a female.
One broken nose—his, not mine—later, Lia had smiled at me, and my whole damn world had changed.
It hadn’t been a sexual thing back then because that would just be creepy. But somehow I knew that nothing would ever be quite the same.
After I’d left her attacker on the hallway floor holding his bloody nose, I’d taken Lia home to her grandmother’s house, and we’d been friends ever since.
The following year, I’d gone away to Harvard, but we’d seen each other on my college breaks, and in the summer. She’d been one of the best friends a guy could ask for, even when I was on the other side of the country attending the university.
Problem was, she’d grown up, and my dick had noticed it long before my brain had.
By the time I’d moved back to Seattle after I’d gotten my law degree, I’d already known I was royally screwed. I sure as hell had wanted to take our relationship to another level after college, but Lia hadn’t seemed interested, and the last thing I wanted was to lose her as a friend.
Okay. Yeah. She’d once told me she wanted to have sex with me. Too bad she’d been too intoxicated at the time to know what she was saying. And she damn well hadn’t mentioned it since, or I would have taken her up on the offer and gotten her naked before she could change her mind.
But after her twenty-first birthday, she’d treated me like I was her brother, making it pretty clear that she had no interest in exploring carnal knowledge of each other.
So I’d suffered in silence as I watched her date one guy after another, knowing damn well that not a single one of them was good enough for her. But don’t feel too sorry for me. I became a man whore, hoping another woman would finally feel as right as Lia did when we were together.
Unfortunately, that had never happened.
There had been a time a year or two ago when I was ready to put our friendship on the line to tell her the truth. I’d psyched myself up to let her know that I thought we should be dating and burning up the sheets. But that was when she’d met Stuart, and I’d known I was completely fucked.
Her relationship with a guy I hated had turned into love, and then an engagement.
All those years of keeping my mouth shut was what brought me to my current predicament of sitting in a church, waiting for the woman I wanted to walk down the aisle to marry another man.
How could I not attend an event that was so important to Lia? That would make me a pretty shitty friend. And she didn’t deserve that. It wasn’t her fault that she’d never been attracted to me that way.
I looked around, noticing that the church was full. My gut already hurt, so I had no idea how I was going to manage watching Lia say her vows to the man she loved, a guy who wasn’t…me.
Maybe if I thought she was going to be happy, this whole thing would be easier to swallow. Or…maybe not. I didn’t know Stuart all that well, but enough to know he was a rich prick who wanted everything his way. We’d pretty much had a hate-hate relationship from our very first meeting at Lia’s apartment.
It was the first time that jealousy had reared its ugly head inside me, and I’d never gotten past the feeling that Stuart was all wrong for Lia.
I squirmed on the uncomfortable bench seating, the necktie that matched my custom suit feeling like it was a little bit more snug than it had been when I’d put it on earlier, as I waited to hear the dreaded Wedding March.
I should have just fucking told her.
“Shit!” I cursed under my breath as I jerked on my tie. “I’m never going to be able to hold my peace.”
There was no way I could be silent because I had plenty of objections. I just hadn’t realized quite how many until I’d sat down in the church for the ceremony.
Maybe my timing wasn’t exactly ideal, but I knew I couldn’t let Lia marry Stuart without telling her exactly why she shouldn’t.
I’d dropped plenty of hints, and Lia knew I thought Stuart was a jerk. But had I ever really told her that he wasn’t ever going to be the guy she needed?
Nope.
I hadn’t.
Not directly.
And I hated myself for it.
Stuart was never going to appreciate Lia for who she was. He’d try to mold her into somebody else who fit his ideal. He was already trying, and in the end, Lia would end up miserable.
Stuart would never understand her ambitions, and desire to make a difference in the world.
Stuart would never get Lia’s addiction to Peanut M&M’s.
The bastard would never comprehend why she cried at sad movies when someone died.
He’d never joke around or fight with her just to get her big-hearted hug when it was all over.
I felt a few droplets of sweat fall down my forehead as I stood up, my heart hammering against my chest wall.
It’s not too late. Not yet. I can talk to her. Make her wait for somebody who will actually make her happy. Fuck Stuart.
As I made my way determinedly down the aisle, I knew that nothing would stop me from saying everything I’d never said.
Okay, maybe I wouldn’t admit that she should be with me. That obviously wasn’t something Lia had ever wanted, and I respected it. But I was going to finally lay out every single reason why she shouldn’t be getting married to Stuart, minus my usual bullshit.
I was done being sarcastic about her choice, and throwing her hints about why I thought her fiancé was an asshole.
Reality had slapped me in the face a little bit late, but I was still reeling from the blow. And I wasn’t going to be normal again until I talked to her.
Before the service started.
As I shoved my way through the closed double doors that lead to the hallway outside the chapel, I stopped abruptly when I lifted my gaze and saw Lia.
My first thought was how beautiful she looked in her wedding dress.
But after the initial quick glance, the second thing I noticed was the tears pouring down her face as she met my gaze.
She looked broken and upset.
So, my last thought as I pushed through the people around her, and she flung herself into my arms, was all about how I could make her happy again.
And that was the only thing that really mattered.
CHAPTER 2
Lia
OhmyGod! OhmyGod! OhmyGod! Stuart isn’t here. He’s not coming to the ceremony.
My fiancé’s brother had retreated as quickly as he’d arrived to give me the news that my husband-to-be had found a woman who was more suitable for him, and that Stuart was backing out of the wedding.
My entire body was trembling, and I could feel the tears of relief falling down my cheeks.
I’d woken up this morning with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that I’d tried to ignore, but it wasn’t until I’d pulled on my wedd
ing dress in the changing room that I’d realized I couldn’t get married.
Some strange force had finally knocked me in the head to get me thinking straight, and I’d been on my way to search out my fiancé when his brother had told me Stuart’s news.
Granted, the bastard could have told me he was bailing out himself instead of sending his brother, but I was pretty sure I’d never been more at peace with a particular outcome than I was right now.
I pulled the stupid veil that Stuart’s mother had insisted on from my head, and my eyes met a familiar stare as I looked over the heads of the small gathering around me.
Zeke. My friend. The one guy who had never let me down.
He was so tall and broad that he dwarfed almost everyone around him.
My best friend’s startling blue-eyed gaze never left mine as he pushed his way through all of the people muttering their apologies. I found my reprieve by flinging myself into the arms of the one person who had always been there for me, sobbing out all my confusion on his muscular, powerful shoulder as his arms wrapped around me protectively.
“What happened?” Zeke’s gentle voice queried as I settled down.
“Stuart is marrying somebody else,” I said tearfully. “His brother just left. He only stopped by to let me know that Stuart had found a woman much better for him than me.”
And I’m perfectly fine with it.
Granted, it doesn’t feel good to get dumped, and it was humiliating to know that everybody would be talking about how Stuart had dumped the second-class woman he planned on marrying in favor of someone better. But those feelings were already fading away. Really, I’d just dodged a bullet. I was torn between wanting to punch Stuart and wanting to thank him for breaking things off, even though he’d done it in a pretty mortifying manner.
“Fuck!” Zeke cursed. “Let’s get the hell out of here—unless you really want to stay.”
I moved back and shook my head. “I can’t. Not yet. I have to tell everybody—”
“I’ll take care of it, Lia. Go with Zeke.” I felt a gentle touch on my arm as the soft, female voice spoke.
My friend, Ruby, had obviously heard Zeke and me talking. “I can’t just go.”
“Yes, you can,” she insisted. “And you will. You don’t need to make the announcement yourself. Let Zeke get you out of here, and Jett and I will let everybody know.”
