Buch lesen: «Taking Home The Tycoon»

One

For self-made cybersecurity billionaire Max St. Cloud, his life as a teen on the unforgiving streets of LA—panhandling, Dumpster diving for his next meal and hot-wiring cars for cash—seemed like a distant dream. Fifteen years later, hotshot Max enjoyed the hell out of his life in Seattle.

He adored his fleet of fast cars and hangar full of planes. His state-of-the-art modern marvel of a home was any techie’s wet dream. He had his pick of women equally as committed to their professions. And he was married to St. Cloud Security Solutions, his corporate computer and building security firm.

So why in the hell was he sitting here in small-town Royal, Texas, sporting one helluva hard-on for a scrubbed, fresh-faced woman wearing mom jeans?

The ginger-haired beauty seated in the wingback beside him seemed unaware of his dilemma. A good or bad thing? He wasn’t sure.

Digital tablet on his knee, he shifted in his leather chair, one of a pair by the fireplace in a meeting room at the Texas Cattleman’s Club’s lodge. Given he’d been called in as a security expert, he should be focused on this latest interview into a cyberwar being waged on the citizens of Royal.

Those were the key words: should be. He stole another glance at the woman beside him.

Clearing his throat, Max forced himself to take notes on his tablet because the odds of him remembering the details of this conversation with Natalie Valentine were next to nil. He stared at his notes about her: twenty-nine years old, war-widowed mother of two, wedding-dress designer, owner of the Cimarron Rose Bed and Breakfast in the center of town.

The simple facts didn’t come close to revealing how damned appealing he found her.

“Mrs. Valentine—do you mind if I call you Natalie?”

“That’s fine. Of course.” She scratched a finger along the flour stain on her denim-covered thigh—her empty ring finger. “Actually, I prefer it.”

The flash of pain in her eyes made him feel like an ass for jonesing over another guy’s wife. Even a dead guy. Especially a dead guy. “I appreciate your taking time from your business day to speak with me.”

“I’m still fairly new to the town. Surely there are people better suited than I am to share about the personalities in this area.” Her fitted green T-shirt only made her massive emerald eyes glitter all the more. Her shoulder-length red hair was swept up into an unfussy ponytail. Little pretense. Raw beauty. And those eyes. Damn, they were intrinsically vulnerable and full of heart, yet the tip of her chin spoke of spirit just begging to be uncovered.

He recognized grit when he saw it, a kindred spirit. “I have a different take on you being too new to help. It’s my experience that newcomers can also offer an objective perspective.”

But the stakes were high on this security-consulting gig. Max had been called in by his longtime friend Chelsea Hunt—Chels—to help trace who was waging cybersmears on the good citizens of Royal. Chels had been one of his few true friends back in his early twenties. They’d both been hungry hackers with a bent for justice during a time she ran to LA to get away from her overprotective parents. But Chels had a more cultured upbringing. She’d helped him smooth out his rougher edges as he sought entry into the legitimate business world. She’d believed in him when no one else did. She’d been the sister he’d never had, cheering him on.

So some wannabe troll was hell-bent on destroying the lives of members of Royal’s Texas Cattleman’s Club? The sorry son of a bitch had picked the wrong firewalls to infiltrate. As far as Max was concerned, once a hacker, always a hacker. He was certain he could beat this amateur...or team. He had a hunch it wasn’t one man or woman working alone...

“Mr. St. Cloud—”

“You’re Natalie. I’m Max.”

“Yes, then, um, Max, I’ll try to help, but I’m usually running full tilt at my bed-and-breakfast.” Natalie fidgeted with her simple silver watch, checking the time. “I don’t mean to rush you, but I have dough rising for bread and pastries that I need to check on soon.”

With each breath, her chest rose and fell faster, which happened to draw his eyes to the pink rose logo in an oval between her breasts. The paneled walls with trophies and historical artifacts closed in on him. The space seemed tighter. More intimate.

Mom jeans. A T-shirt. And the thought of tasting pastry filling on her lips.

Seriously?

“I realize your time is precious and I’ll try to make this quick.” Quick? Quickie... Damn, she sent his mind down distracting paths. So much for logical, techie objectivity. “You would be surprised at the details you hear without consciously registering them. And there are impressions gained in passing. You have the heartbeat of the town with your B and B...and with the wedding dresses you make.”

Surprise turned her cheeks pink, her eyes widening and lips parting ever so slightly. “You know about my dresses?”

“I do my research,” he said simply. “Experience with individuals in your line of business leads me to conclude that people talk to you, a lot. They share their life stories—about their children, their dates, their dogs, hell, even their medical history. They even, dare I say, gossip.”

“I don’t think of it as gossip really. I prefer to believe they feel comfortable at my B and B, whether they’re spending the night or just stopping to join in a hot breakfast.” Absently, she fingered her watchband.

“And there’s no counselor-patient confidentiality involved in pastry making and stitchery.”

She laughed, a full-throated, sexy laugh that relaxed stress lines from her pretty face. “Clearly.”

“So I would like to pick your brain about...just impressions.” He hated seeing the smile fade from her lips and her eyes, but he did have a job to accomplish. “I’m not asking you to implicate anyone. It’s up to me to put together a whole picture that points to the culprit or gives ideas for ways to smoke him or her out. So if you’re comfortable just talking...let me do my thing.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Do your thing? Is that computer-tech talk out West?”

Well, hell. So much for the badass-businessman persona he’d cultivated from his street-rat youth. He’d just been taken down a peg by a sassy ginger rocking her flour-stained jeans.

* * *

Nearly a half hour later, Natalie was fairly certain her stomach had more fizzing going on than the air bubbles in her likely overflowing dough back at the bed-and-breakfast.

Max St. Cloud was a man. All man. A testosterone powder keg of sexuality. And after over a year of abstinence, her sex-starved body couldn’t help reacting. Her military husband had died a year ago, and he’d been deployed to the Middle East for eight months when he died in an explosion.

Still, though, while her B and B, the Cimarron Rose, might be open to the public, her heart was officially closed for business. She was one hundred percent devoted to carving out a life for her and her two children. Colby and Lexie were her world now. They’d suffered too much loss and change. She owed them stability.

The insurance money had just barely paid off their debts.

Her husband had left behind an overextended double mortgage on their home in North Carolina. Doctor and therapist bills for her special-needs son were costly, but necessary. Working and paying for childcare had stretched her budget to the limit. She’d feared she would have to cave and move in with her parents for her children’s sake, and then her late husband’s military friend Tom Knox had insisted she move close to his place in Texas so he could help and keep an eye on her.

She hated exploiting his kindness, but truth be told, she wasn’t close with her family in her hometown of Phoenix. So she’d taken Tom up on his offer. Her family had never been supportive of her decision to travel the world with her military husband, and they definitely weren’t supportive of his back-to-back deployments that left her essentially a single parent for years.

The bed-and-breakfast had been a godsend that just sort of fell into her lap—the former proprietor was an older woman who decided to move to California to be with her daughter and had sold it for the right price. Exactly the amount she received on the North Carolina house.

Since four-year-old Colby had recently been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, running the B and B was a perfect fit for being more flexible to meet his needs as well as keeping up with her two-year-old daughter. It allowed Natalie to stay home with the kids and pursue her dreams of designing wedding gowns, and gave her the one-on-one time to work with a trainer for their young golden retriever to become her son’s service dog. Miss Molly had the smarts and the aptitude, and heaven knew, Natalie needed all the help she could get.

All of which left little time for fizzy flutters in her stomach for tall, dark and dangerous.

Natalie gripped the arms of the leather chair in the Cattleman’s Club lounge. “While I want to help, I’m beginning to lose the thread here on your questions. I feel as if we’re covering ground you must already know from your research.”

“I’m digging for nuances.”

“I don’t mean to be rude, but you’re a computer techie. Not a detective.” Okay, so she’d actually been a little rude, but only to give herself distance from Max and his striking aqua eyes with dark lashes, his dark brown, rumpled hair that her fingers itched to comb through. He was quite simply imperfectly gorgeous. This ex-hacker-turned-billionaire tech genius. Bad-boy brilliant. A potent mix.

“I’m experienced with cyberprotection, so it is a combination of both. Quit worrying about what I need to know. Leave that up to me.”

“I just expected this interview to go faster.”

“Your bread and pastry dough. Can’t it be punched down and rise again?”

Now, that surprised her. Because he was right. “A few more minutes, perhaps. But I need to pick up my children from preschool soon.”

He nodded, his booted foot resting on his knee and twitching as he took notes on his tablet. Hiking boots. Expensive, clearly, but worn in. Not worn just for show. “Of course. I’ll move this along, then.”

The image of those well-worn boots and faded jeans contrasted with the button-down shirt and pocket protector. God, why couldn’t life be simple for once? “At least Cecilia, Simone and Naomi—they’ve gone from suspects to victims. Nothing seems off-limits to this creep in what secrets are revealed. Exposing Cecilia’s birth certificate in spite of her closed adoption. Sharing private medical details about Simone’s in vitro pregnancy. Then announcing Naomi’s pregnancy and stealing her chance to share that special news? It’s crazy around here. All of us feel vulnerable.”

She crossed her arms against her chest, a poor attempt at a shield from all this mess. Still, it made her feel better, if only temporarily.

“You have nothing to hide.”

“Everyone has secrets.” And she had so many parts of her past that she wanted, more than anything, to wish away.

“You look pretty squeaky clean on the internet.”

Her secrets weren’t internet worthy. They just made for grief and nightmares and a difficulty in trusting in picket fences anymore. “Well, having our friends hurt is wounding, too.”

“I’m not giving up until this bastard is found and stopped.” His large hands clenched into strong fists along the arms of his chair.

Very large hands.

Lord, she didn’t want to think about clichés about the size of hands and feet right now. She kept her eyes firmly off his boots, damn it.

But the way those hands then unfurled and carefully handled the thin tablet had her envisioning nimble touches and more...so much more.

There was no denying the conviction in his voice, and she couldn’t help admiring that. He truly was here to help, and her adopted town needed that help. The people here deserved the best. They’d done so much for her, welcoming her and her children with open arms. She should be helping rather than being so caught up in her own concerns.

This town had welcomed her wholeheartedly and she wanted to feel a part of things, to make a contribution however she could. And she really only had one thing to offer.

She tipped her chin and, before she could change her mind, blurted, “Mr. St. Cloud—um, Max—you can stay at my B and B free of charge, as my thanks for helping out the town.”

She might not have as much as some residents of this wealthy town, but she had her pride and she could offer something to help out Royal in its time of need. She was not going to fall victim to some smooth-talking player. For the next few days—or even weeks—she could hold strong.

Besides, it wasn’t like she was his type of female.

“Thank you very much, Natalie. I will gratefully accept.”

He smiled.

And holy hell, that gave her pause. His smile lit his eyes and made her stomach flip in a way she’d forgotten was possible.

What had she gotten herself into?

* * *

Cell phone in hand on his way to his rental vehicle, Max charged through the Texas Cattleman’s Club parking lot. The old-world men’s club dated back to around 1910, and was a large, rambling single-story building made of dark stone and wood with a tall slate roof. He needed to touch base with Chelsea and report on his progress with interviews this afternoon.

And let her know he wasn’t going to be staying with her after all. He’d made—his mouth twitched—alternative plans. He unlocked the rented Lexus SUV—a larger car was a must to transport his gear.

Natalie’s offer had stunned the hell out of him, but he hadn’t even hesitated. Would seducing a suspect jeopardize his investigation? Sure.

Lucky for him, she wasn’t a suspect.

Thumbing speed dial for Chels and setting the phone for hands-free talking, Max steered past the stable, pool and tennis courts, all TCC member perks. And all freshly maintained. Chels had told him part of the clubhouse roof and many of the outbuildings had been damaged in a massive tornado a few years back. The group now took special care to reinforce the roof and had added some height to the ceilings so the main building seemed airier than before.

For a club steeped in tradition, a lot had changed in the TCC lately. He might not be a member, but he’d done his research since this group seemed to be the focus of the hacker’s attacks. Colors had been brightened. It wasn’t such an “old boys’ club” anymore, especially because women were now full members.

He accelerated out of the lot and headed toward town, toward the B and B, just as Chelsea answered his call.

“Max!” Her voice chimed through the car’s speaker as he drove. “Hello, my friend. How did the fact gathering go after I left?”

“Interesting... Nothing conclusive yet, but lots of pieces to review and leads to follow once I get my gear set up.” He’d come straight from the airport.

“I can’t thank you enough for dropping everything and coming here personally to help.”

Chels’s voice filled the car as he made his way down the road. His eyes darted from the asphalt in front of him to the dusty town.

“That’s what friends are for. We go way back. I still owe you for teaching me about which fork to use,” he joked, tapping his brakes to let a minivan out of a parking lot. She’d taught him more than that. She’d helped him learn the nuances to moving in circles of society he needed to build his business.

She’d also given him the nod to be himself and not let those societal boundaries contain him. Heaven knows, she was an edgy original herself. They really could have been siblings, as they were made from the same mold in many ways.

Slowing, he drove past a school yard teeming with children living idyllic lives of normalcy so different from his. Adults rushed to organize their students into an efficient line for parent pickup. Each little face trusted that their parents or a car pool member would arrive right on cue.

Even from a passing glance, he saw the effort it took to contain the wildness of the children bursting with excitement to return to their home lives and after-school activities—activities that did not include Dumpster diving.

“But you surely have higher-paying clients—especially since you’re doing this pro bono, in spite of our offers.” She exhaled a hard sigh and he could envision her shoving back her thick honey-blond hair impatiently. “And this feels, perhaps, below your pay grade. You could have sent one of your staff.”

“This is sensitive. The info this bastard is sharing hurts you and your friends. I trust my staff, but I don’t want you exposed any more than is needed.” The criminal had made this personal by launching slanderous attacks on Chels’s friends here. Someone had infiltrated their personal data and found dirt for blackmailing—everything from revealing a man’s love child, to concocting the appearance of an affair to destroy a marriage, to dabbling in land documents to threaten land holdings. Nothing was secret or sacred to whoever had it in for the people of this town.

Anger rippled through Max as he turned off the main road, eyes squinting in the glare of the September sun.

“Thank you.” Her voice wobbled, full of emotional appreciation. She’d always hated to feel like an imposition, and he never wanted his old friend to feel that way.

His pal had always been an in-your-face, indomitable spirit, ready to kick ass for a cause one moment and outrageously issue a skinny-dip dare in the next. That someone had his friend so afraid and off balance...pissed him off.

“No thanks needed, Chels. I’m here for you, and I’ll do whatever it takes to see this through.”

“You’re a good friend. I look forward to catching up with you while you’re staying with me.” Even over the phone, he could picture her smile. Loyal. Genuine.

And now he had to figure out how to tell his pseudo sister that he’d made other arrangements for his stay in town.

“Um, about that. I really feel bad about putting you out, so I made arrangements to stay at this nice little B and B called the Cimarron Rose.”

Silence stretched for a few heartbeats.

“That’s Natalie Valentine’s place. You interviewed her today after I left, right?” Her question came out quiet, noncommittal.

He couldn’t get a read on her—was she defensive or enthusiastic? Chels wasn’t usually guarded around him, so she must be fishing.

Well, he wasn’t feeling the need to share about his attraction. While Natalie might be new to the area, it was clear she’d become the town darling. The small community had embraced the young widow, and he sure as hell wasn’t the boy-next-door type of person. “Yes, I spoke with Natalie Valentine today. That’s how I heard about her place. It seems like a solid fit for me, given I don’t know how long I’ll be here.” He’d done some additional online digging into her business after Natalie left. More detailed, yes, more personal.

The house was a far cry from the penthouse hotel suites he usually frequented. The B and B looked cozy—it was a white wood home, with large porches, ferns and rocking chairs. The ancient oak spread welcoming branches casting long-reaching shadows.

And it was as far from the harsh streets of LA as he ever could have imagined. The town sprawled, buildings seemed to resist the urge to converge, to press against one another. There was space here. Places to go and exist. Places to hide, too.

“Okay, that’s cool, Max,” Chelsea said slowly.

“You aren’t going to argue?” he asked, surprised. “That’s a first.”

“Nice. Not,” she joked right back.

“I would just expect you to warn me off her, given you know who I am, how I am. She’s a war widow with two children.”

“Of course I know you. Very well, in fact. And I know someday you’ll stop running.”

Unease crawled up his spine. “Are you trying to push me toward her? Matchmake?”

She chuckled lowly. “I wouldn’t dream of maneuvering your life.”

Yeah. Right.

Staying silent, he kept on driving, noting the old 1960s’ tin diner on the side of the road. A mix of old, rust-peppered cars were scattered throughout the parking lot, contrasting with newer, sleeker models. He had to be close to Natalie’s place. Based on the concentration of buildings—the diner, a strip mall and a grocery store—he guessed this was the center of town.

“Max, really, I just figured you must be drawn to her if you’re staying there. You have to admit, that isn’t the kind of accommodations you usually choose.”

True, perhaps. But there was a time he would have considered the Cimarron Rose pure heaven and far out of his reach. In many ways, it still was. He’d chosen a different path for his life. Impersonal. Sleek.

Impenetrable. Just like his cybersecurity.

So how to deal with Chels’s Cupid leanings?

Don’t even take the bait. This was about him and Natalie. And who the hell even knew where it might lead? But he wouldn’t want there to be gossip. “Natalie offered.” Remembering that moment pleased him. She had seemed to surprise herself with the offer, but she’d been sincere. Hell, something told him she’d needed to make the offer and contribute to keeping her town safe. He liked that. “She seems to want to help. I’m comfortable with the choice, and it will give me the opportunity to get the pulse of the traffic flowing in and out of town in a way I wouldn’t be able to do staying at your place.”

“Right,” Chels said skeptically. “Okay, so you’re staying there because it’s comfy. Got it. Are you sure there’s enough bandwidth for you there?”

As if he would rely on anyone else’s connection?

“Ah, come on, you know me better than that. Since when do I travel without remote-access capabilities?” He had his own equipment and boosters up the wazoo.

“Okay, I’ll be frank. I know you too well to buy these cagey answers. Natalie is not the kind of woman you usually pursue, so I think you need to be careful, for your sake. I care about you, bro.” Chels always had a knack for being blunt, even when Max didn’t want to hear it.

She was worried about his feelings?

For real?

“Who even said I’m chasing her?” he asked too quickly. Damn it. Still, he wasn’t giving ground. He pulled into the B and B’s lot.

No. This wasn’t the kind of place he typically stayed in. The pictures online hardly did the place justice.

The white cottage with reddish-brown trim was framed by an oak tree that seemed to use a tree branch to gesture invitingly to the front door. A warm glow emanated from the windows.

His eyes were drawn to the side yard—to Natalie. A golden retriever danced around, nuzzling Natalie’s son. Her daughter stood leaning against her leg, head thrown back in a giggle, red pigtails dancing.

“I just said I’m staying at her place. In fact, she generously offered a room to thank me for helping out with the investigation.”

“Uh-huh, okay, Max...”

The rest of his friend’s words droned in his ears as he couldn’t tear his eyes off Natalie. She’d exchanged her flour-flecked clothes for a simple, long sundress that grazed her curves. She was still earthy but fresh, and her hair swung free.

As if she could tell he was entranced, she turned, looked straight at him. His breath caught in his chest. Like a fist right to the sternum. There was no denying the impact.

He turned off his car. “Chels, I gotta go.”

Time to check in to his new digs.

And check out his new landlady.