by Elsa Kurt
BILLIONAIRES
CLUB
An Anthology
BILLIONAIRES CLUB
Copyright © 2018.
All rights reserved.
First Print Edition: October 2018
Crave Publishing, LLC
Kailua, HI 96734
http://www.cravepublishing.net/
Formatting: Crave Publishing, LLC
ISBN-13: 978-1-64034-456-3
ISBN-10: 1-64034-456-X
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Romance in the Alley
By JS Andersen
Whatever You Want
By Chevoque
The House Always Wins
By Catherine Curtis
A Billion Reasons
By Elsa Kurt
Kylie: Crossing Lines
By AJ Renee
Romance in the Alley
By J. S. Andersen
Chapter 1
Sandy Beach Café sat at the end of Harvey Street, close to the ferry docks, and had a gorgeous view of the Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, in Seattle, Washington. Twenty-three-year-old Sandy Taylor, loaded the dishwasher as she looked out the back window; the old building across the alley had sat vacant for years. The last few days, she noticed construction vehicles and a lot of nice-looking men hauling in tools and building supplies. She yelped as her aunt, Laura Staley’s finger poked her back. “You’ve got to stop scaring me.”
“You would’ve heard me if you weren’t glaring out the window drooling. I’ve noticed the construction guys myself. Which one catches your eye?”
“All.” Sandy laughed. “But there’s something about one I’ve seen twice…my heart skips a couple beats.”
“What does he look like?”
“Brown eyes and dark brown hair that could use a half inch trim.”
“Enough to run your fingers through, more like it.”
“Yes.” Sandy rose up on her toes to get a closer look out the window. “I believe it’s his truck parked by the dumpster.”
“You can see clearer if you take out the garbage,” Laura said as she elbowed Sandy’s side.
“I don’t want to make it look obvious. I did it yesterday at the same time he got tools out of the back of the truck. He smiled.”
“Chicken. You want to.” She jeered, as she dried a big pot Sandy washed and put it away.
“Yes. But I’m sure he’s married or has a serious girlfriend. Heck, any guy who looks good and works hard all day will have a long line of ladies wanting him at night, if you know what I mean.”
“Not all of them.”
“My luck, this guy does.”
“It wouldn’t hurt to try. Plus, with your skinny body and sandy blonde hair, any guy would want to get to know you better.”
“Yeah, right. Want me to put on five-inch heels and strut to the dumpster?”
“Won’t hurt to try. I hear them construction workers go home and dive into a deep pool of money.”
“True, and your serious boyfriend who’ll never ask you for marriage brings in the bucks for being a top-notch security military dude.”
“I’m sure not as much as the men across the alley.” The bell rang on the door up front. Laura glanced at the clock, 12:55 p.m. “Customers at closing time. Not good.” She went to take an order. Next, a screech bounced off the walls. “Oh, my gosh. What are you doing here? Sandy and I just finished talking about you.”
“Good, I hope,” a gentleman’s voice replied.
Sandy peeked through the window of the swinging door separating the kitchen from the dining area and saw Laura and her boyfriend, Bob Frederickson, lip-locked. Bob loved to make surprise visits that lasted five minutes up to an hour before he had to leave. He was mostly out of town and state.
Grabbing the last of the trash, Sandy waited a few seconds before entering the alley. She felt center stage, nervous as heck. Not seeing any hunky men, she continued her mission to dump the trash. So far so good, no encounters. Sandy wished she had a free hand to plug her nose from the dumpster smell as she lifted the lid to toss in the garbage.
She looked at the truck and the building, lost in thought. She turned to leave but didn’t make it past two steps. Sandy planted chest to chest to the guy she had her eyes on. His hands wrapped around her arms in case she fell. “Oh, my. I’m so sorry.” She stepped back. “What a klutz, not watching where I’m going.” Sandy felt electric from the contact. The good kind.
“You okay?” The gorgeous man asked, with his hands still on her arms. “The smell can kill brain cells, and if you ask me, you can be a klutz by me all you want.”
“I’m fine, thanks. I wouldn’t be surprised by the smell.” Not sure what to say Sandy gawked at the man she wanted, and asked, “The building going to be torn down or have a massive makeover?”
He unlatched his hands, wiped a smudge of cinnamon roll frosting off Sandy’s cheek, and turned to observe the ten-story building. “Four penthouses on top, business offices in the middle, a store or two on the main, and a gym in the basement.” He looked back at Sandy. “I’m Clint,” and offered his hand for a shake.
She ran her hand over her face to feel for any more unwanted objects and returned the gesture. Both touches from his hand sent shivers down her spine. He held her hand firmly and didn’t let go. “I’m Sandy.”
“Your café?” He released her hand, but to Sandy, it felt he didn’t want to.
“No, my Aunt Laura and her boyfriend. She named it after me.”
“Mind if I ask why?”
She looked down at the graveled road and back at Clint. “She raised me after my parents died in a car crash.” Sandy didn’t like getting into her past in detail. She felt at fault for her parents’ accident.
At age twenty, Sandy’s Aunt Laura got legal custody and took her to live in a different city. Sandy didn’t like it and acted out, thus, causing problems. To feel important and in control to cover the fault she felt, Sandy started hanging around with the rowdy kids.
She ended up doing a five-hour community service task of pulling weeds and picking up trash to learn her lesson for dumping garbage cans out by the street for pick-up the next day. It didn’t make a difference. She liked the challenge and ventured into graffiti and stealing. She eventually got caught and faced the judge with her aunt in tears. Sandy was subsequently placed in a detention center with other troubled teens.
During the months she spent there, Sandy realized it wasn’t the life she wanted to live and changed her attitude. It wasn’t her fault her parents died, and she felt bad for what she put her aunt through. It took time for Laura and Sandy to re-bond, but they grew close as good friends.
Clint touched under Sandy’s eye as if to wipe off an invisible tear. “I’m sorry. How long ago?”
“Ten years, when I was thirteen. Laura took me under her wings like a hen and her chicks when she was twenty. It wasn’t easy at times, but we pulled through. I’m fine if I don’t think about it.
Clint’s cell buzzed. He glanced at it. “What time are you off work?”
“We open at six a.m. and close at one p.m. I can make you something quick if you’re hungry.”
“Not hungry, but do you have plans tonight?”
She widened her eyes in disbelief. “Um, no. Why?”
“I’ll meet you here at eight.” He turned and went back into the building.
Still in disbelief, Sandy walked back to the kitchen. Dishwasher running, Laura finished the last big frypan.
“You okay? Hypnotized by the building full of sexy men?”
Sandy shuddered to come back to reality. “He wants to meet me tonight.”
“Who?”
“Clint, the man I’ve been watching.”
Laura tossed the washcloth into the sink. “What? Are you serious?”
“I know, right? I bumped into him at the dumpster. I’m nervous. It feels like my first crush in seventh grade.”
“It sounds like puppy love.”
Sandy grabbed a dry hand towel and threw it at Laura. “Watch it. The next one will be soaking wet.”
After taking a shower, Sandy stood in front of her closet staring at her clothes. Wet hair wrapped in a towel, she talked to her dear, best friend, Heather Dewitt. “You remember me telling you about the construction worker I saw the other day?”
“If I counted from last Thursday to today, Monday, I’d say a hundred times,” Heather mocked.
“You’ll never believe what happened today.”
“He picked you up on his white stallion and galloped off to his castle?”
“Close, he asked me to meet him back by the dumpster.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Not. I ran into him when I took out the garbage. He touched me and I melted.”
“Romance in the alley. I love it. You could write a book about your imaginary love affair. Did you Facebook him?”
“I don’t know his last name.”
“Is it on his truck?”
“I didn’t see any names on anybody. I was too busy looking at the guys’ faces.”
“I’m sure you were looking at their bodies too.”
“Okay, so I was. I didn’t see any construction business names on shirts.”
“Find out tonight and you can do some snooping to see who this Clint is. See if he’s full of girls on his friends list.”
“Ugh. I don’t want to feel like I’m a detective digging into his personal life…yet.” Sandy put her cell on speaker and set it on her dresser.
“True.”
“What should I wear?”
“Hmmm. Builders run along the same lines as cowboys. You need new-looking jeans, no holes or stains. Shoes with a lace, but not tennis shoes, and a nice button up shirt. A thin gold chain necklace and gold studs for the earrings. It’s his turn to melt in your arms.”
“Thanks. You are definitely a fashion consultant. You need to get with a top magazine and get your own section titled, Styles to impress on your first date.”
“I can start my own or have Matt, my smarty pants hubby, come up with fashions for dating game. Not sure if Minds Are Us would think it was a good enough learning program to help widen your brain’s knowledge.”
“You never know.” Sandy took a light blue collared shirt off the hanger and put it on. “I can see the game and your face on a digital figure.” She grabbed the newest jeans she had off the shelf. “Oh, and hairstyle?”
“Natural dry. You got a beautiful wave, and put the front sides in a barrette on the back, hanging loosely.”
“Got it, and I’ll do a selfie to get your approval.”
“You know the rules.” Heather laughed and clicked off.
Sandy finished getting ready in the bathroom, and as promised, sent a selfie to Heather, who approved.
Laura sat in the living room reading a book with the television on low volume. She heard Sandy walk in and gave her the eye. “I like. Nice on the casual side.”
“Thanks. What did Bob have to say about himself? He’s been gone for weeks.” Sandy got an apple out of the fridge, cored it, and chewed on a piece.
“Says a big project is in the works but can’t tell me a thing. I asked him why he told me. His response was, ‘it can affect us for the better.’”
Sandy sat by her aunt on the couch and asked, “Think he’ll finally ask for your hand?”
“Who knows? I’m not sure I want to get married.”
“You act like you are.”
“No. We can’t be. Bob’s always gone.”
“Do you love him?”
Laura glanced at Sandy, “Yes,” then looked at the clock. “I believe it’s time for you to go.”
“I’m not sure what I got myself into. My luck, Clint will be a no-show.”
Chapter 2
Seattle is known to be a rainy city, but the last couple days in the middle of June, it eased off to a drizzle, and tonight, the clouds, minus a few small rebellious ones, went to play elsewhere for a short time. Sandy stood by the dumpster, still wondering what she got herself into.
Back in her senior year of high school, Sandy had a boyfriend., Aaron McEntee. Puppy love turned into what Sandy thought was real love by the time graduation ended. Aaron wanted Sandy to move with him to England, where he was going to study literature for his major and art as a minor at one of the universities. Sandy didn’t want to go to a different country and restart her life for the second time, so their relationship ended, and after a couple years, the birthday and Christmas cards ended too.
The past four years, Laura tried to set Sandy up with friends she knew, but it never worked out. Her focus was to help run the café and possibly in the near future take a class or two at the University of Washington.
Sandy heard the door shut and saw Clint walk toward her. The bright colored sunset made a breath-taking silhouette of the man she was falling for. He wore tight jeans and a long-sleeved plaid shirt buttoned up to the middle of his chest covering a light blue t-shirt. She didn’t think love at first sight existed until tonight.
He stopped a few inches away. “Good evening.” A breeze waved the back of Sandy’s hair and set some on her shoulder. Clint softly pushed it back. “You look nice tonight.”
Sandy’s stomach tightened. She thought, Man this guy makes me feel like a firecracker about to pop. “Where are we going?”
“A surprise.”
Oh great. I’m not sure what to expect and it doesn’t sound good. “Why do you want to show me a surprise? I don’t even know you.” But I want to know you bad.
Clint led the way back into his building and to the elevator. He pushed the up button. He looked at Sandy, saw the questioning look, and chuckled. “A view.” The door opened and they stepped in.
A view of what? She wiped her damp hands on her pants. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”
“It all depends.” The elevator stopped on the top floor, number ten. A few feet in front of the elevator door was an exit to a small deck outside. “This is where we’ll eat, but I want to show you something first before it gets dark.”
Sandy followed Clint by his side down the hall to the right. He opened a door to a big room, finished but unpainted. “This is one of the penthouses. As you can see it’s done, but needs paint and flooring.”
“Wow.”
“You share with your aunt and live above the café?”
“Yes and yes.” She walked into the different rooms and ended up in the master bedroom. “This is as big as my apartment. It’s like a house inside a house.” She saw a space for a sitting area with a window facing the Puget Sound.
Clint smiled. “Here’s the bathroom, dressing room, and makeup room for the lady of the house by her own walk-in closet.”
“All I can say is wow.”
“You like it?”
“A wow is lots of wows of me liking it.”
“I designed it.”
Still looking at the bathroom setting, she wondered why the man with the ‘body to grab’ wanted to show her the penthouse.
He led her to the separate bathroom for the man of the house and the connecting walk-in closet. “It has a three-bedroom layout, including an office.”
“I’m speechless. I’m sure
the view is beautiful.” She looked out the double glass sliding door to a small deck from the master bedroom.
“This room and the dining room have their own deck. There’s another one I’ll show you after dinner.”
“No surprise now you told me.” Sandy smiled.
“You’ll be surprised. I bet you’re starving.”
“Food does sound good.”
They went back to the main deck, where Sandy saw a small circular table with two chairs on either side. She went to the edge by the deck’s rail. “I’m amazed the clouds haven’t rolled back in and rained.”
“They knew it was a special night.” He put his hand on her back. “Dinner is ready.” He gestured to another table against the wall by the door. “It’s not much, and since I don’t consider this an official date, I don’t feel bad offering you the crew’s leftover lunch.” They walked to the table full of salads, and lots of ingredients to make sandwiches.
“Yummy. It looks great.”
Clint handed her a paper plate. “Dig in. The silverware is at the table, as I’m sure you saw, with napkins. Juice, water, and soda are in the bucket of ice. No alcohol at the workstation. Rules you have to follow.”
“Thank you. So much to choose from.”
“Like a buffet, you can come back for more.”
Sandy’s way at a buffet was to try it all, so she took one small scoop from the six salads and made two half sandwiches with different meats. She grabbed a bottle of water for her drink. Clint had a few big scoops of potato salad and made a ham sandwich. He snatched a can of Coke from the cooler. They then sat at the table to eat.
“You from this area?” Clint asked.
“When I was with my parents, I lived in Lynnwood. After their accident, I moved to Bellevue with my aunt until she opened the café a couple years ago. You? Are you from this area, and by the way, what’s your last name? Who do you work for, and how old are you?”
