Forgetting the Billionaire (A Clean Billionaire Romance Book 1) Read online

  “Are you sure she’d come here?” he asked.

  Charlie nodded. “Yes. It’s one of the places.”

  A few miles down the road the trees stopped. A field had been cleared and gravestones rose up from the grass.

  “Stop,” she said, raising her hand.

  Mitchell pulled off the road.

  Charlie opened the door and got out. He followed her. Tucked in the corner of the graveyard was Francis. Her arms were folded as she stared down at a headstone.

  “She comes here, you know, when her memory returns,” Charlie said as she weaved in and out of the other stones.

  “Does it happen a lot?” Mitchell asked as he kept up with her.

  “It’s happening less and less.”

  He knew little about the disease. Any words he thought to say seemed superficial.

  “Francis?” Charlie said as she approached.

  Francis turned. Her eyes were red from tears. “Charlie?” she choked out.

  Charlie walked over and pulled Francis into a hug. “You okay?” she asked.

  Francis shook her head. “It’s been a while since I’ve been here, hasn’t it? The flowers have died.” She waved to the pots on either side. Sticks stood up where the flowers once were.

  “Almost three months,” Charlie said.

  “Three months,” Francis repeated as she turned her gaze back to the stone.

  Neil James Born 1946 Died 2009 Beloved Father and Fisherman was written across the front.

  “Was this your husband?” Mitchell asked as he stood next to her.

  Francis glanced over at him. “It was.”

  “What’d he fish for?”

  “Everything in the sea. He was stubborn. Always the last one to get out of the water when the season ended.”

  Mitchell shot her a smile. “Sounds like my kind of guy.”

  Francis laughed. “He was a character.” She peered over at Charlie. “Who’s this? Your boyfriend?”

  Charlie sputtered and shook her head.

  “I’m Mitchell, Rose’s grandson.” He reached out his hand, and Francis took it.

  “It’s nice that you came to see Rose. She’s really missed you, ya know,” Francis said.

  His stomach twisted at those words. Had Rose told them about their past? “Yeah?”

  Francis nodded. “She was so proud of you and the man you’d become.”

  Mitchell cleared his throat. Too many emotions had settled there. He didn’t know how to process the words Francis had just said. Especially when he doubted their truth.

  “Do you have a girlfriend?” Francis’s question pulled him from his thoughts.

  “What?”

  “A girlfriend. Do you have one?” She smiled at him.

  After taking a quick peek at Charlie who was focused on tapping a stick with her toe, he turned back to Francis. “Sort of.”

  Francis walked over to the gravestone and brushed a few leaves off the top. “What does sort of mean?”

  “I do, but we’re not that serious.” Why couldn’t he just say yes? His gaze found its way back over to Charlie. She had picked the stick up and was pulling bark from it as if to distract herself. He couldn’t deny the sparks that had flown between them. If he was honest with himself, he didn’t want to be tied down right now. The girl with the dark hair in front of him might be one of the reasons why.

  “Charlie’s single,” Francis continued. “I mean, she was single.” She glanced over to Charlie. “Are you still single?”

  Her cheeks reddened. “Francis!” Then her gaze flicked over to him. “Yes, I’m single.”

  Francis patted Mitchell’s arm. “See, she’s single.”

  Mitchell nodded. For some reason, his heart skipped a beat when he heard that.

  “If you decided to dump your sort of girlfriend, you should ask Charlie out. You won’t find a sweeter or kinder girl anywhere.”

  “Francis!” Charlie’s eyes widened.

  Mitchell smiled at Francis. “I promise,” he said. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about it.

  Francis pulled her sweater tighter around her chest. The rain had started up again. Her face relaxed as she glanced over to Charlie. “Take me home?” she asked.

  “Of course,” Charlie said, taking her arm and leading her toward his rental car.

  Mitchell followed behind as the two women talked softly about the daisies Francis wanted planted in the pots. She insisted that Charlie do it just in case she didn’t remember.

  Mitchell opened the back door, and helped Francis get in. Charlie climbed into the seat next to her. They continued talking as Mitchell got behind the wheel and started the car.

  Once they were back at the retirement home, he helped Francis out of the car and up the back steps. When they got inside, Charlie smiled at him as she took Francis’s arm.

  “Come on, I’ll help you to bed,” she said.

  Francis nodded, and Mitchell watched as they made their way through the kitchen.

  Once they were gone, he took out his phone. He tapped on his text messages and read the last one. I’m coming. By the time he’d called Sondra to get her to stop Victoria, Sondra informed him that Vic had already left. Since the flight was roughly eight hours, he’d been unable to reach her on her phone.

  Normally, he was used to Victoria intruding in on his life, but right now, the thought angered him. He focused on the door that Charlie had slipped through. He wasn’t sure he was ready to share this place just yet.

  As if sensing his thoughts, Charlie emerged from the hall. Her shoulders were slumped, and the sparkle in her eye that he’d seen when she was dancing earlier was gone.

  “She okay?” he asked.

  Charlie glanced over at him and nodded. “She’s sleeping now.” She sighed as she sat. “Too bad tomorrow she won’t remember me and this will start all over again.”

  He wanted to fix this. How could he make her happy? There was a deep-down need to see her smile. He felt ridiculous for feeling this way. He’d only just met the woman. But the desire was there. And it was eating at him.

  Standing, he made his way over to the radio and turned it on. He could feel Charlie’s gaze on his back as he flipped through the stations. Finally, he found a slow ballad. Taking a deep breath and feeling like a complete idiot, he turned and headed straight toward her.

  Her eyebrows shot up as he reached out his hand.

  “Dance with me?” His voice came out lower than he intended.

  “Wha—”

  He grabbed her hand. Instantly, her gaze dropped to his fingers.

  “You do so much for these ladies, it’s time you did something for yourself. You said you love dancing. Dance with me.”

  A look of uncertainty passed over her face. For a second, he thought he’d made a mistake. But she stood, causing his thundering heartbeat to slow to a gallop.

  She placed her hand on his shoulder. He wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her close. Now inches away, he counted the beats in his head, thankful for the distraction that brought him. His mind was screaming from how near she was to him.

  He took a step forward, and Charlie stepped back. It only took a few beats until they were waltzing in sync around the kitchen. He could smell the peach scent of her shampoo as he leaned in closer. Her warmth cascaded over him as he tightened his hand on her waist. He never wanted this moment to end.

  He applied a little pressure to her hip, indicating he wanted her to spin. She dropped her hand in compliance, and he spun her out.

  As she stretched out from him, her gaze met his. That familiar twinkle in her eyes had returned.

  “You’re not that bad.” she giggled as she spun back into his arms.

  He reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her back closer to him. “You’re not too bad either,” he said into her ear that was inches away.

  She turned around and placed her hand onto his shoulder. There was something in her countenance that had changed. She pulled her gaze up to me
et his. It held a longing there that he hadn’t seen before.

  Suddenly, he didn’t want the distraction that dancing brought. Instead, he wanted to stand there, lost in her gaze. He dropped her hand, but kept his other one wrapped around her waist. She didn’t resist when he brought his now free hand to the other side and pulled her closer.

  Her gaze never left his face as she chewed her bottom lip. For a moment, he wondered what her lips might feel like. He leaned down, hoping that she might move to meet him. She tilted her head up, bringing their lips closer together. He hovered there, praying that he was reading her signals right.

  “Mitchell, I…” Charlie’s voice fell to a whisper. She leaned in for a second, then pulled away. “I’m sorry.”

  “Mitchell!” A familiar voice reverberated in his ears.

  Glancing to the door, he silently cursed. Victoria was standing there with a large, floppy hat and a pink sundress that matched his rental car. Her lips were parted as she glanced between the two of them.

  She grabbed the handle of her suitcase and rolled it into the room. “What-what’s going on here?” Reaching out, she grabbed his arm and sidled up next to him.

  Charlie had backed away and was now staring at the two of them. “I’m sorry. I’m Charlie, and you are?”

  Victoria moved closer. “I’m Victoria, Mitchell’s girlfriend. Well, who are we kidding? I’m basically his fiancée.”

  “Fiancée?” Charlie seemed to choke on the word as she glanced over to him.

  Mitchell tried to push Victoria away. She didn’t budge. “She’s my girlfriend. Not my fiancée.”

  Victoria’s high pitched laugh bounced off the walls. “We have a date set, sweetheart.”

  Mitchell stared at her. “No we don’t.” From the corner of his eye, he saw Charlie moving toward the door. His gaze whipped to her. “No we don’t.” He shook his head to emphasize just how much they didn’t have a date set. But the look on Charlie’s face said she wasn’t convinced.

  “It’s late. You two obviously have a lot to catch up on. I’m just gonna head to bed.” She wrapped her arms around her chest as if to protect herself.

  “Charlie—” Mitchell stepped toward her.

  But she raised her hand. “It’s been a long day. I just want to go to sleep.” The look in her eye told him not to push it further. But how could he show her that the dance and the almost kiss had meant something to him?

  Victoria’s fingers encircled his arm, and she pulled him back to her. “I’m here now. I had to finagle the address from Sondra and take a disgusting cab to get here. Let the woman sleep, silly.”

  He took one last look at Charlie as she slipped from the room and disappeared.

  Anger raced through his body as he turned and glared at Victoria. “What are you doing here?”

  Victoria batted her eyes at him. Why women did that and thought it was sexy confused him. All it did was make them look like they had something in their eye.

  “I missed you. Besides, your mom’s freaking out about you not being there to help. So, I promised her that I’d come here and bring you home before you did something you might regret. Looks like I got here right in time.” Her gaze turned icy as she glanced up at him.

  Mitchell pulled his arm away from her. “But I specifically told you not to come.”

  The same grating laugh filled the kitchen. “I know. But I thought that was you just doing that thing you do where you say you don’t want me, but secretly you do.”

  He stared at her. Was she serious? He shook his head. It hurt. He needed to get some sleep. This day had been a rollercoaster of emotions. He needed a good night’s rest and maybe a drink. “I’m going to bed.”

  “Great! I’ll come with you,” she said. The sound of wheels rolling across the tiled floor followed her words.

  Mitchel grumbled, but didn’t say anything as he led her up the stairs. Hopefully the accommodations would help change her mind. When he opened his bedroom door, Victoria’s shoulders tightened.

  “This is where you are sleeping?” Distain dripped from her words.

  “Yeah, isn’t it nice?”

  She scoffed as her gaze roamed the room. “It’s like pink and tiny. Are you even going to be able to fit on that bed?”

  “Yep, because I’ll be alone.” He gave her a pointed look.

  She shook her head. “I don’t sleep on anything smaller than a king size bed.”

  He sat down on the lumpy mattress. “Well, you’re going to have to get back on your plane and fly somewhere else. This is the only place that has a vacancy.”

  “What?”

  Sighing, he stood. “I’ll go see if Charlie can make you up a bed.”

  Grateful for a reason to see Charlie and leave Victoria, Mitchell slipped from his room. He breathed a sigh of relief when Victoria didn’t follow him. Right now, he wanted to see Charlie again without Victoria hovering over them.

  His head pounded as he descended the steps. What would he say to her? As much as he tried to stop them, his thoughts kept returning to her lips.

  On the first floor, he peered down the hall. Besides the kitchen and library, there were only two other rooms, and they had their doors shut. One of them had to be Charlie’s. Taking a guess, he reached his hand up and knocked.

  7

  Charlie

  Sitting on the chair in front of her vanity, Charlie ran a brush methodically through her hair. She tried to keep her thoughts from falling back to Mitchell and their almost kiss. But she was unsuccessful. She touched her lips as she remembered how close they had gotten.

  Sighing, she put the brush down. She could be such an idiot sometimes. Thankfully, she had stopped the kiss. He had a fiancée.

  Three knocks pulled her from her thoughts.

  She made her way over to the door and opened it.

  “Mitchell,” she said, her heart quickening.

  He was leaning with one arm against the door frame. Maybe it was her eyes, but she swore she saw his face light up when his gaze met hers.

  “Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you had a room for Victoria.”

  Pulling her robe over her pj’s, she glanced out to the hall. “Is everything okay?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. It’s just that with her in my room it’s a little crowded.”

  “Oh.”

  He studied her. “Hey, I wanted to apologize, for earlier. If I overstepped, I didn’t mean to. You know, with the dance and the…” his gaze fell to her lips.

  “It’s okay. We got caught up in the moment. Had I known you were that serious with Victoria, I would’ve never let it go that far.” She shoved her hands into the pockets of her robe and tried to brush away the memory. They had a moment, but she needed to move on. He was spoken for.

  His brows furrowed, and he opened his mouth to say something. Instead of allowing this conversation to move into unknown territory, Charlie pushed out to the hall. “I’ve got a room for her.”

  She could feel Mitchell as he followed close behind her. Maybe too close. She fought the urge to turn around. She needed to start distancing herself from him. So, she took the stairs two at a time. Just as she neared the top, she tripped.

  Hands instantly wrapped around her waist. Mitchell had caught her.

  “Whoa, you okay?” he asked.

  She straightened, cursing the heat that burned her cheeks from his touch. Instead, she climbed the remaining steps, effectively removing his grasp. “Yep.” Pinching her lips together, she headed down the hall. Victoria was standing in the middle of his room, a disgusted look on her face.

  “Looking for a room?” Charlie asked, waving her out to meet her.

  “If this is the only place, then yes.” Victorian’s nose crinkled as she joined Charlie.

  “It’s not fancy, but it’s a warm place to sleep.” Charlie headed down the hall to the only other vacant room on the floor. She pushed open the door and motioned for Victoria to enter. Victoria’s expression remained the same.

&n
bsp; Once Charlie made the bed and fluffed the pillows, she gave Victoria the run down on the bathroom, then left, shutting the door behind her. Mitchell remained close. Why was he following her?

  She turned to head down the stairs, but he caught hold of her elbow.

  “Hey.”

  She pulled away, and he glanced over at her, one eyebrow raised. She rubbed her arm. “What’s up?”

  “I want to pay you, you know, for Victoria’s room.”

  She glanced around. Did he figure it out? Did he know she was broke? “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I’m happy to have her.” That was a lie.

  He reached out, but she backed away. They really needed to stop touching.

  “Please, let me do this. I won’t take no for an answer,” he said.

  She wanted to keep rejecting him, but the truth was, she needed the money. “Okay, if you insist.”

  A half-smile spread across his lips. “Thanks.”

  She nodded and started down the stairs.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked.

  “I have nowhere else to go.” She glanced up at him.

  “Can’t wait to see what makes this island so great.”

  She shot him a small smile then bounded down the rest of the steps. Inside her room, she crawled under her covers and pulled them up over her head. Hopefully tomorrow she’d feel better. Tomorrow, these feelings better disappear.

  Charlie’s alarm buzzed way too soon. It felt as if she’d just fallen asleep. But breakfast wouldn’t cook itself. Pulling off her covers, she rubbed her face and pulled open the door. A shower. She needed one badly.

  Once she was clean, she slipped out of the bathroom. Back in her room, she dressed. Pulling her hair up in to a bun, she opened her door and made her way to the kitchen.

  Just as she entered, she stopped. Mitchell was standing in front of the counter, looking confused.

  She took a deep breath. “Good morning,” she said, walking up to him.

  He turned, flashing her that half smile again. “Morning.”

  She grabbed the coffee maker from the cupboard and set it on the counter.