Beauty and the Billionaire Boss
A Bad Boy Romance
Nicole Elliot
Pink Empire Publishing
Contents
Beauty and the Billionaire Boss
1. Kaylee
2. Kaylee
3. Kaylee
4. Kaylee
5. Kaylee
6. Grayson
7. Kaylee
8. Kaylee
9. Grayson
10. Kaylee
11. Kaylee
12. Kaylee
13. Kaylee
14. Kaylee
15. Kaylee
16. Kaylee
17. Kaylee
18. Kaylee
19. Kaylee
20. Grayson
21. Kaylee
22. Grayson
23. Kaylee
24. Grayson
25. Kaylee
Are you ready for the next Beauty Book?
Bad Boy Boss
1. Luka
2. Vienna
3. Luka
4. Vienna
5. Vienna
6. Luka
7. Vienna
8. Luka
9. Vienna
10. Luka
11. Vienna
12. Vienna
13. Vienna
14. Luka
15. Luka
16. Vienna
17. Luka
18. Luka
19. Vienna
20. Luka
21. Vienna
22. Vienna
23. Luka
24. Vienna
25. Luka
26. Vienna
27. Luka
28. Vienna
Epilogue
About Celia Ryan
Copyright © 2017 by Pink Empire Publishing
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places or events are entirely the work of the author. Any resemblance to actual persons, events, or places is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Please purchase only authorized editions and do not participate in piracy of copyrighted materials.
Join my newsletter to find out when all my releases are live!
You’ll get a free short story for signing up!
Created with Vellum
Beauty and the Billionaire Boss
1
Kaylee
“Don’t go,” her mother cried out as Kaylee reached for her bags, trying desperately to drag them into the truck. The hot sun in Angie, Louisiana beat down on her neck, and a trickle of sweat to snaked down her back. She stopped to pull her long brown hair up off her neck into a messy ponytail. Stopping was a mistake. It gave Kaylee enough time to see the sadness that had consumed her mother’s frail body.
“I need to,” Kaylee said, and she quickly shifted her eyes downward. Kaylee couldn’t bear to see her mother start to cry. She hated that she was causing her this pain, but she knew that she had to leave. Kaylee’s father pushed past her roughly and held the truck door open, ready for her to jump in.
“New York will eat you alive!” her mother voice was choked.
Kaylee took a deep breath. She’s right. But the thought of staying in this small town any longer made her heart hurt. “I can’t stay.” With those words she quickly closed the truck’s door before she could change her mind.
“Frank why are you letting her do this?” her mother screamed as he started the engine. Beside her, Kaylee’s father slumped in the driver’s seat. He let out a long breath. Kaylee knew he wasn’t disappointed in her like her mother was. Even if he didn’t want to see her leave, he understood that she had to go. Kaylee’s father was the only one that knew the truth.
Kaylee stared out the window as the truck slowly pulled out of her parent's driveway. Her mother stood on the porch, with her arms wrapped around her body. She looked like she was about to fall apart, and Kaylee hated herself more for being the one that was doing that to her. But if Kaylee stayed it would only make her life worse, even if her mother didn’t want to believe her.
Kaylee paused and tried to remember why she had decided to leave the only place she had ever known. Kaylee had lived in the small town of Angie, Louisiana her whole life. Growing up in Angie was simple, and life was comfortable. Everyone in her small town seemed to know each other, and with a population of a little over 200, it was hard not to. Kaylee and her younger brother used to play outside for hours, without their mother ever having to be fearful that something bad might happen to them. It was almost as if they were in a small, protected bubble that separate from the rest of the world. As Kaylee got older, the comfortable bubble that she was living in began to feel more like a cage. Kaylee grew to hate how her town seemed to shelter itself from the outside world. The same people that she grew up with became the only people she ever saw. Politics and events that were happening around the world never mattered to people in their small town. They would brush it off and focus on what was right in front of them. All that mattered was the local gossip and what was going on with their neighbors.
Kaylee had escaped reality through reading, and she would read pretty much anything she could get her hands on when she was younger. While all of her friends were outside playing sports, Kaylee would head to Angie’s only library, instead. As soon as Kaylee walked through those doors, she always felt like she was home. The librarian, Mr. Roberts would always have a list of books for her to read, usually his favorites. Over the years a lot of people in town started to make fun of Kaylee for how often she had her nose stuck in a book. It seemed like the whole town thought that Kaylee's head was trapped in a fantasy world, but Kaylee didn’t care.
Unlike her mother, Kaylee’s father had grown up far from Angie, Louisiana. When she wasn’t reading, Kaylee would sit and listen to his stories of growing up wild in New York City. She was completely fascinated by his past. Her father had grown up in Brooklyn, and even though he never would give her a straight answer, Kaylee always thought he had some connections to the mob. His childhood always sounded too much like one of her favorite books about Al Capone. There were too many favors and debts amongst his friends. Kaylee’s mother hated hearing the stories. She would always interrupt him and send him outside to finish some chores. It was as almost if her mother never wanted Kaylee to know about her father’s past.
Because of her father’s stories, and from all the books Kaylee read, she knew that life had more to offer her than the tiny town of Angie, and she kept a journal of all of the places she eventually wanted to go, but the place that was always on top of that list was New York City. She was determined to have as many adventurous stories as her father did when she grew up. When Kaylee was old enough to take a part time job, she started saving money with the hope that one day she would finally be able to leave this small town and have an adventure somewhere else. Between babysitting and picking up shifts at the local diner, by the time Kaylee reached high school, she had saved up enough money to purchase a round trip ticket to her dream destination. New York City.
Kaylee’s mom had begged her not to go. She claimed that it was too dangerous, especially for a pretty girl like her, but Kaylee wouldn’t let her stop her. Kaylee’s father was always on her side, and somehow he had convinced her mother that it would be fine to let her visit. He had arranged for her to stay with her aunt and m
y uncle and they would make sure to keep her safe.
The moment Kaylee stepped off the bus in Manhattan, she fell in love. The sites and the sounds drew her in, and she knew that one day she would eventually make this concrete jungle her home. What Kaylee had loved most about New York was the sheer number of people there were. Never in her life had she seen that many people all in one place. Kaylee loved the thought of being lost in the crowd, and not knowing every person that walked by. Kaylee could be someone completely different in New York City.
Kaylee’s father cleared his throat roughly, pulling her from her thoughts. She looked over to him and gave him a small smile.
“Thank you for driving me to the station,” she said. Kaylee’s father glanced over in her direction. “I know mom isn’t happy, and that you’re never going to hear the end of it, so just know I appreciate this.”
Her father let out another long sigh, “Kaylee, I know why you are doing this.”
I opened my mouth to try and explain, but my father cut me off. He might have had an idea of what had happened, but she wasn’t sure that he knew the full story. “I know you aren’t happy here. I can see it in your eyes.” Kaylee stared at her knees. So, he didn’t know the full truth. “You have my blood in you kid, you want to experience the world just like I did. I just need you to promise that you’ll be safe and smart about it.”
A small smile spread across Kaylee’s face as she reached over and squeezed her father’s shoulder. I truly do take after him.
“I will, dad. I promise.”
He looked over at her and smiled. “I know you will, kid. Don’t worry about your mom, ok? Your brother and I can take care of her.”
Kaylee’s smile faltered slightly. Her mother had never seemed to understand her. Kaylee’s father gently placed his hand on her knee.
“Trust me, kid. She just has never been outside of our small town, she never wanted to either. She only wants you to be safe.”
“I know, I just don’t want her to hate me for leaving, like everyone else.”
“She doesn’t hate you,” he said finally. “She just had a different plan for you.” Silence filled the truck cab again as Kaylee let her thoughts wander as she stared out the window.
Since her trip to New York, Kaylee had known that the big city was where she belonged. Kaylee graduated high school that summer and while taking classes for her degree at a local community college in nearby larger town, she started to work as a secretary for the local realtor—the only realtor in town. Kaylee enjoyed it a lot. Adam, her boyfriend at the time, hated it. He said he didn’t see the point of Kaylee working, but he would entertain the idea until they had kids and settled down. Adam, like everyone else in their small town, felt that it was the man’s job to be working while the woman stayed at home. Kaylee had always hated that idea, she wanted to finish her degree in business and start something amazing of her own.
Adam was Kaylee’s childhood sweetheart, the literal ‘boy next door,’ living just across the fence. Adam was slender but toned from working on the farm. All of the other girls in town seemed to fawn all over him, which at times annoyed Kaylee. Adam would always laugh off their attentions, and tell Kaylee that she was the girl he was going to marry.
When Kaylee and Adam had finished high school, Adam started to take more responsibility for his family’s farm and started saving up money to get their own place. It always made Kaylee nervous to think about them living together. While they had been dating for years, she still wasn’t sure that she was ready to take that step. Kaylee always felt that they needed to grow up a bit before they moved in together. “Why wait?” Adam would say, echoing the sentiments of both of their parents. It felt like the whole town was saying the same thing. That was when the pressure started.
“When you two gettin’ married?” was the question Kaylee heard all day long, every single day. She would always smile and laugh and try her best to hide the deep panic that would form in her stomach. As much as she cared for Adam, she knew that she didn’t want to marry him. She knew that if she did marry him, he would just completely start to control her like the rest of the men did in their town. Kaylee knew that was meant for so much more than to be a farmer’s wife.
“Did you give him back the ring?” her father asked quietly, pulling Kaylee from her thoughts. Kaylee glanced down to her left hand where the ring used to be. Tears slowly formed in her eyes, and for a moment, she hated herself. She hated that she didn’t force herself to end things with Adam sooner, before things became too serious. She knew how controlling he was from the beginning, but she always seemed to push it aside. It wasn’t until she felt trapped into engagement with him that she knew something was wrong.
“Yes, I did,” was all Kaylee could muster without her voice quavering. Giving Adam back the ring was the hardest thing she had ever had to do. In all the years that she had known Adam, she had never seen him get that upset, and she hoped she would never see that again. Kaylee’s father glanced over at her with a look of concern in his eyes.
“Dad, I am fine. Truly, it was for the best.”
2
Kaylee
The truck slowed to a stop as they pulled up to the bus station. Kaylee reached down to unbuckle her seat belt as her father cleared his throat.
“Kaylee, do you know why I ended up in Angie?”
Kaylee pulled her hand away from the seat belt and relaxed back into the seat. “No. I don’t think you ever told me why you came here.” Kaylee’s father gripped the steering wheel and looked over at her. For the first time, she saw deep concern in his eyes.
“I left, because I had gotten involved with some people that I shouldn’t have. The only way to truly escape them was for me to completely leave that life and start over somewhere new.”
Kaylee let out a breath that she did not know she was holding in. So, her father’s involvement in the mob was true.
“I just want you to be smart, Kaylee,” he said. “I don’t think that everyone in New York will be out to get you, I do know that there are some not so good people there as well. Just be smart ok?”
All Kaylee could do was slowly nod her head. For the first time, Kaylee could see that her father was conflicted about her actually leaving for New York. He knew how much Kaylee hated it in Angie, but he also knew about dangers that she had never experienced. Kaylee placed her hand on her father’s shoulder.
“I’ll be smart, I promise,” she said the words with as much confidence as she could. He nodded and loosened his grip on the steering wheel. Kaylee knew that her father would never truly tell her why he left New York, but she was thankful in that moment that he trusted her enough to not make his same mistakes.
* * *
Kaylee watched her father’s truck drive off, choking on the dust the tired kicked up all around her as she stood in front of the bus station. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and she pulled it out. A smile spread across her face as she read her brother, Tyler’s text.
I don’t get why you are leaving, but I love you.
Telling Tyler that she was leaving was probably harder than telling her parents. Tyler was her younger brother, but by the way he towered over her, everyone thought that he was older. Despite their height difference, Tyler and Kaylee shared a lot of similar characteristics and it was easy to tell that they were related.
Tyler had always had it a lot easier than Kaylee did. Once he had started to walk and to run he was thrown into the world of football. Throughout high school he got better at the sport and now scouts were looking at him for different schools around the country, but Kaylee knew that he wouldn’t ever leave Angie. As much as she wished that he would take the chance and go to college in another city, she knew that he would end up at the state school that was only a few hours away.
A strong gust of wind brushed across Kaylee’s body and she took a deep sigh. She quickly typed back a message to Tyler.
I love you too. Come visit me soon, ok?
He quickly respon
ded. Of course I will.
Tyler would find his own way, just like Kaylee was finding hers. Kaylee reached down and grabbed her two small suitcases and walked into the station. She got her ticket from the attendant and looked up at the board with all the bus schedules. She had about thirty minutes before her bus left. Kaylee found a nearby bench and sat down. She closed her eyes and let her mind wander.
When Adam started to take over his family’s farm, his parents offered for her to move in and live them. Kaylee couldn’t bear the idea of living with his family. She loved Adam’s family, but she knew that by living with them, it would be like she and Adam were married already, and then she would never be able to do anything she wanted.
Being in a relationship with Adam was easy at first. Kaylee enjoyed it but she felt almost as if she was just going through the motions. Once they got older, Adam’s control issues started to shine through. He began to question her every move, and why she would get home from work late, as though when he took over the responsibility of the farm, he had to control everything else around him, including Kaylee. As the months passed, Kaylee realized that there was no passion or chemistry between them.
Even though on the outside Kaylee looked like she was fine, deep down she wasn’t happy. Adam’s control issues started to get worse and she started to be slightly frightened that he would never let her out of his sight, which made Kaylee feel as if she was a shell of a human just going through things day to day. Kaylee knew she needed to leave, even if it would be the hardest thing she had to do.
It was about a month ago when she finally gathered up the courage to tell Adam that things were over. It was a rainy Saturday afternoon and Adam had left his apartment earlier that morning to go and take care of the animals on the farm. Adam had convinced Kaylee to stay the night. That morning, Kaylee had woken up in his bed by herself, and she had let out a long sigh of relief that Adam wasn’t there. In that moment was when she finally realized how much she wanted out. She had let all of the thoughts about leaving stay bottled up inside her for so long. She didn’t want to do what everyone in the town, including her parents, expected her to do, and she didn’t want Adam to control her every move. Kaylee got up that afternoon and sat in the living room waiting for Adam to come home. Knots tied up in her stomach because she was afraid of how he would react, but she knew things would be better this way.
Beauty and the Billionaire Boss: A Bad Boy Romance Page 1
