The Brave Billionaire (Clean Billionaire Beach Club Romance Book 11)

by Elana Johnson

  “What if it drives her away?” He looked to Lexie for the answer, because while she had a good head for money and finance too, she was also a woman and would likely speak from the heart.

  “No woman I know minds when a handsome man shows up and says he loves her.” Lexie gave him an encouraging smile.

  “You think he’s handsome?” Jason asked.

  “Oh, come on.” Lexie laughed. “Look at him. He’s drop-dead gorgeous. Any woman with even one eye would drool over him.”

  Lawrence gaped at Lexie. “I asked you out once. You said no.”

  Lexie shrugged, a smile all the way up in her eyes. “I didn’t think you were my type.”

  “A drop-dead gorgeous man isn’t your type?” Jason asked, his voice straying up into a different octave.

  Lawrence laughed at the teasing glint in Lexie’s eyes. “Oh, come on, man. I knew why she rejected me. She was already in love with someone else.”

  “Who?” they asked together, looking at one another.

  “Duh,” Lawrence said, rolling his eyes and picking up his fork to start in on the eggs.

  “It was me, right?” Jason asked, chuckling.

  “Duh,” Lexie said before kissing him, and Lawrence usually didn’t mind when they showed how much they loved each other in front of him. But this time, all it did was remind him of how lonely he was. How empty his life had been these last eight weeks, though he’d attempted to fill it with adventures and anything but indoor activities.

  And how all he had was a giant penthouse apartment to go home to.

  Seventeen

  Maizee had worked out with Willie to work from home three days a week. He opened her office in the morning as if she were there, but she handled all the online support now, as well as any loans that came in digitally. Polly set up appointments for her when she was in the physical building, and she made sure her door was closed during the times when Lawrence arrived or left.

  Once or twice, he left in the middle of the day while she was in her office, and she’d rush to the bathroom or stare at the computer screen intently as if she were solving the hardest puzzle on earth.

  He’d never come in, and he’d only texted one time. She’d responded, hoping he’d continue, tell her about the kayaking and what he’d seen. But he’d fallen into silence again, and Maizee didn’t know how to break it.

  She looked at her phone, wishing it would brighten with his name and picture on the screen. Roger shifted from his position on her feet, finally getting up and trotting over to the back door.

  Maizee heaved herself out of the chair at the dining room table and let the dog out, standing there and inhaling the fresh air for a few minutes. Roger had come back in a while ago, and Maizee had work to do. She should go back in and do it.

  She honestly wasn’t sure she could do it for another few hours. And the thought of doing it for another year? A sigh leaked from her chest, and she turned back to the kitchen table, which she’d set up as a home office.

  “Gotta keep doing it,” she said as she sat down in front of her laptop. “One more year.” She couldn’t give up nineteen years of retirement savings and all the time she had already put in just because things were hard right now.

  So she went through the loans, the emails, the customer service surveys. She filed everything the way she’d been told, and she sent her daily report to Willie.

  He texted back with, Great job, Maizee. You’re the best.

  He had been highly complimentary of her work since the case had been opened, and Maizee was glad everything had been settled. Winn no longer worked for Gladstone Financial, as he’d had enough years at the company to retire and move on.

  Her phone chimed again, this time with Evie’s name on the screen. Tommy and I are going out again tonight. Fourth date. Do you think it’s too early to kiss him?

  Absolutely not, Maizee texted back. Did he like your haircut?

  I think so? Evie said. He grinned and ran his hand around the back of my neck. I actually thought he’d kiss me then, but he didn’t. #sigh

  Definitely kiss him tonight, Maizee said. And if he doesn’t, just ask him when he’s going to so you can stop worrying about it.

  Does that work?

  In Maizee’s experience, asking a man when he was going to kiss her always led to a kiss, usually only a few minutes later. Definitely that same day. So she texted back, Every time.

  Thanks, Maize, Evie sent, and those few minutes of texting became the highlight of Maizee’s day. Heck, probably her entire week.

  She stood and put together a quick dinner of pork chops and peas, feeling very un-Hawaiian. But she did eat on the back porch while the sun went down, pondering her mother’s question.

  Will you be joining us for Thanksgiving or Christmas?

  Maizee didn’t want to go home for the holidays, but the thought of being alone was infinitely worse. Maybe it didn’t matter that she didn’t like being alone. That didn’t mean she wasn’t herself when she was with someone. Did it?

  She didn’t think so. She still got dressed, did her hair, and put on makeup just to sit at her kitchen table and answer emails. She was who she was. She was high maintenance with jewelry and makeup and clothing.

  So what?

  After dinner, she walked Roger and returned home, the quietness in the house almost unnerving. She turned on the Internet radio, navigated a conversation with Hope Sorensen down at Your Tidal Forever, the wedding planning service she’d told her sister Jules about. Since Jules wasn’t here on the island, some things had fallen to Maizee, and she ended up scheduling an appointment to go down to the shop on Monday during lunch to look at fabric samples.

  When she entered the shop, she was overwhelmed with the sheer bridal nature of it. Lacy curtains and scented pillows on the seating over to the side. A pretty woman sat at a desk, and she jumped to her feet when Maizee walked in.

  “Hello.” A smile stretched her mouth. “Can I help you?”

  “I have a meeting with a woman named Hope? About a dress?” She stretched out her hand for the other woman to shake. “I’m Maizee Phelps. It’s for my—”

  “Your sister Juliet.” The woman nodded. “I’m Riley, and we have the green room ready for you.”

  “Ooh, the green room,” Maizee said with a smile. “Lead on, Riley.” She followed the other woman who wore pencil skirts and had every hair in place, with silver hoops swinging from her ears. Maizee thought maybe she could be friends with this woman, and as she stepped through a doorway and into a room that had green paint on the walls, a bright green table in the middle of it, and mint green curtains hanging on the window, she knew instantly that she’d be hiring Your Tidal Forever to plan her wedding. If she ever made it that far in a relationship, that was.

  “Here you are,” she said. “Ash and Hope will be in soon.” Riley flashed a smile and backed out of the room. “Can I get you something to drink?”

  “Sure, I’ll take some water.”

  Riley nodded and left completely. She’d been gone maybe two seconds before the door opened again and a petite woman dwarfed with white fabrics entered. Maizee lunged forward to help her, and the woman who introduced herself as Ash Fox, the dress designer, spread out the cloth on the table. It looked even whiter against the green of the table.

  A moment later, another dark-haired woman entered and said, “Oh, Ash, you’re here. Good. Hello, Maizee.”

  “You must be Hope.” Maizee shook her hand too. “Let me call my sister.” She opened her video chat app and pressed the only contact she had in it: Jules. They’d spent the last couple of days getting things set up and practicing.

  “Hey,” Jules chirped, perfectly put together for this call with her wedding planner. “Hi, Hope. Let me see Ash.”

  Maizee held the phone so Jules could talk with her people, and then Ash went through the fabrics, showed sketches to Jules, and they talked about what would work with the venue—Jules had decided on the backyard, as long as Hope could transform it
into the most beautiful Hawaiian garden anyone had ever seen.

  She’d sent pictures to Hope, and the wedding planner had assured her that everything would be beautiful for Jules’s big day.

  And their mother had been ecstatic. Maizee had learned that her younger sister still listened to her, as she’d been the one to tell Jules, “Look, Mom just wants you to be happy, but she’s investing a lot in this. Would it kill you to have the wedding in the backyard? She’s been maintaining in for that purpose for twenty years.”

  Jules had resisted the idea at first, and Maizee hadn’t brought it up again. But a couple of weeks later, Maizee had gotten a text from her mother that Jules had agreed o have the wedding in the backyard. Maizee had been as surprised as she’d acted, and she hoped Jules was being nicer to their mother.

  The meeting took Maizee’s entire lunch hour and then some, but she stayed to the end to make sure Jules could get all of her questions answered. Plus, Maizee didn’t want to have to come back here for a while. This place screamed at her that she needed to get married, as if she didn’t already know.

  And as if she hadn’t already been dreaming about walking down the aisle to meet Lawrence, say I do, and kiss him as his wife.

  Maizee’s anger grew as she drove back to the bank. She wanted to be with Lawrence. So why was she preventing herself from being with him?

  At the bank, she sat in the car for an extra moment, thinking about what today’s lunch hour would’ve been like had she been wearing Lawrence’s diamond. For one, he would’ve been there with her. For two, they’d be at lunch right now instead of lamenting the fact that they hadn’t eaten yet and didn’t have time to eat before getting back to work.

  And she was tired of pretending like she wanted to be alone when she didn’t.

  She thought a lot about how Lawrence had been expanding his horizons, trying to be brave enough to go hiking in unknown trails and out in sea kayaks. He’d calmed her when she was freaking out, and while he’d avoided some things she wished he would’ve taken on, she wanted to be with him.

  So she had to be brave too.

  She unbuckled and went inside, bypassing her office and taking the steps up to the second level. To her right, a door said SECURITY in all capital letters, and there was only a couple of other doors. Restrooms from what she could see at the end of the hall, and one more door that had Lawrence’s name affixed to the wall outside of it.

  The door was open, and she had no idea if he’d be inside the office or not. Her heart beat in her chest, loudly, as if it were an empty drum. But she hadn’t come this far for nothing. She stepped over to the door and knocked, saying, “Lawrence?” before peering inside.

  His office was empty, as the huge wall of windows and all the light they let in revealed. She marveled at the size of this place—it was easily as large as her entire house. He could section off the end of it and make a bedroom, and with the bathroom right down the hall and how he never cooked, he could live in this office.

  Two couches had been arranged in an L, and she didn’t dare sit on them because they looked like no one had ever done so before. His desk was covered with papers and folders, but it wasn’t in a messy way. His computer screen showed the screen saver, which meant he hadn’t been there for a while.

  Maizee wandered over to the windows and gazed out of them. The building was only two stories tall, but she could still see across the street, through the treetops, and the slip of blue on the horizon that was the ocean.

  No wonder Lawrence spent so much time up here. He had beautiful views, and she knew how much he loved to work, so this place was probably a little slice of heaven for him. The whole room smelled like him, like his musky cologne and fresh cotton scent.

  She turned and found a clothing rod holding several suits and an array of ties. Classic Lawrence, and somehow Maizee liked seeing extra clothes there, because it meant he liked to look good too.

  His voice came up the stairs, getting closer and closer, and Maizee panicked. Should she rush over to the door so he could see her as soon as he reached the top of the steps? Or take a seat on the couch and pretend to be engrossed in her phone?

  “…I don’t know, Mom,” he said, almost upon her now, and she hadn’t even moved from the windows.

  She still stood there when he entered his office. He froze, his phone still at his ear. He stared at her and blinked, pure shock on his face.

  “I need to call you back,” he said. He hung up and lowered his hand to his side.

  “Hello,” Maizee said, lifting her fingers in a little wave. Foolishness raced through her, and she wound her fingers around themselves. “I just wondered if maybe…I don’t know. Maybe you had time to talk?”

  “About what?”

  He looked dashing in a light gray suit, his hair all swept up, those eyes dark and dreamy. Maizee’s stomach quaked, but she didn’t want to go home alone tonight.

  She opened her mouth to say something, and “I don’t want to go home alone tonight,” came out. She sucked in a breath and wanted to pull back in the word tonight. But more streamed from her instead. “I miss you. I don’t need to be alone. I love you. I don’t want to spend the holidays alone. I—”

  He held up one hand, and she stopped talking as if he’d pushed mute on her vocal chords. “Let’s back up and go one step at a time. I think you started with you miss me?”

  Maizee couldn’t tell if he was being serious or if he was teasing her. Those dark-as-night eyes sparkled, but the glint in them was hard to decipher.

  And she’d come this far. “Yes,” she said. “You heard me right.”

  “And you don’t need to be alone.” He took a step toward her, obviously in much better control of his faculties than she was.

  “I don’t,” she said, suddenly itching to have his hands cradle her face, touch her skin, hold her close. She knew what she’d said next, and Lawrence had obviously heard her too.

  Was he going to make her say it again?

  He took another step toward her, his face deadly serious and pure electricity sparking from his eyes.

  Eighteen

  Lawrence’s chest squeezed and squeezed, like someone had wound a huge rubber band around him and was twisting it tighter and tighter.

  And tighter.

  He’d heard what Maizee had said.

  I love you.

  I don’t want to spend the holidays alone.

  He loved her too, and he definitely didn’t want to spend his holidays alone.

  “You have a nice office,” she said, and Lawrence saw her slipping into her freaked out mode. “I haven’t been here long,” she continued, glancing around and then turning back to the windows. “I swear. And I didn’t touch anything.”

  “Maizee,” he said, drawing her back to him. “You love me?”

  She threw up her arms in exasperation, and her chin wobbled. “Do I have to say it again?”

  He nodded, advancing toward her again. “Yes. Yeah, I’m definitely going to need to hear you say that again.”

  Her eyes turned glassy; her chin came up. “I’m in love with you.”

  “I love you too,” he said quickly, because it seemed like she was going to keep talking. “And I don’t want to spend the holidays alone either.” He reached up and trailed his fingers through her hair, something he’d been wanting to do for months. “Or my evenings. Or my weekends.” He touched his forehead to hers, the time to be the bravest he’d ever needed to in front of him.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t claim you as my girlfriend to my employees, to the bank, to everyone.”

  “The case is settled.”

  “Yes, it is.” He put one arm around her waist, glad when she inched closer to him and put both hands on his chest.

  “I’m sorry I stayed silent when I should’ve called you.”

  “We’re both guilty of that.”

  He supposed she was right. After all, they both had working phones. “I missed you so much,” he whispered. “I hate my penthouse. I
hate how big this office is. I hate that I can’t lay in your hammock and watch the sun set from your backyard.”

  She wrapped her arms around him too. “You don’t like your penthouse?”

  “It’s too big, and you’ve never even been there.”

  “Why is that?” She leaned back and looked at him with those great big blue eyes that had pulled at him since the first moment he’d met her.

  He shrugged. “My place…I liked your house better.”

  She tilted her head slightly but didn’t ask another question.

  “I’m not perfect,” he said, his voice lowering to a near whisper. “I know that. I’m good at some things and bad at others. And I’ve made some mistakes with you, but I’m going to fix them. I swear. I am.”

  Maizee tucked herself right back into his chest, and said, “I could say all of those same things.”

  “So we’ll just try harder,” he said. “Okay?”

  And there was no better word in that moment than, “Okay.”

  Lawrence took off the blue shirt and reached for the gray one. Honestly, he’d never cared what color he wore before, but he also hadn’t been expecting to meet Maizee’s family quite so soon after they’d gotten back together.

  He decided on the gray and tossed the blue one back in his suitcase just as Maizee knocked for the second time. “Larry?” she tried this time.

  He shook his head and smiled before stepping over to the door to open it. “Sorry, I was just changing.”

  She raked her eyes from the top of his head to his feet and back. “This looks great.” She reached up and fiddled with the buttons on his collar. “They’re going to love you.”

  “You sound like you’re trying to convince yourself.”

  She blinked at him for a moment and gave a nervous giggle. “It’s been a while since I brought someone new home.”

  “Did Winn come to family dinners a lot?”

  “Yes,” she said. “But he always wanted to go to his parents’ place too, so our visits were always cut short.”