Billionaire at Sea (A Romantic Adventure) Read online

  Billionaire at

  Sea

  K.L. Middleton

  .

  Copyright ©2016 by Kristen Middleton

  Cover Design – Book Cover By Design

  All rights reserved.

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of this copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  The characters and events portrayed in these books are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. The author acknowledges the trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which has been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owner

  Contents

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  1

  Mia

  “Mia, are you there?” asked Ridley from the other end of the phone.

  “Yes,” I replied, gritting my teeth. “Why didn’t you tell me that we were catering a bachelor party?”

  “Because I knew you’d say ‘no’,” she said, matter-of-factly.

  “Because you knew I’d say… for God’s sake, Ridley, what in the world were you thinking?!” I snapped, seething inside. “You of all people should know that the last thing I want to do is place myself on a boat filled with drunken assholes for an entire week.”

  “Number one, it’s a yacht. Number two, they’re extremely rich assholes who will tip us very well. Number three, we only have to be around them for a couple of days and number four, the owner of the boat is Damian Stryker.”

  “Yeah, so?” I answered, not recognizing the name and not giving a rat’s ass if he was the president of the United States. The thought of being trapped, in the middle of the ocean, with a bunch of horned up, self-deserving men made my skin crawl. If anything, I was hurt. Hurt because Ridley, one of my best friends in the world, had to know how upsetting this would be. Especially since my ex had cheated on me at his own bachelor party less than a year ago.

  “If you watched baseball, you’d know he’s the pitcher for the Tampa Bay–”

  “I don’t care who this Damian guy is,” I replied, pacing back and forth in my living room. “Seriously, Ridley, you know why I don’t want to do this.”

  “I’m sorry, Mia. I really thought you’d be over the incident with John by now. Besides, these are all strangers; for all we know, they’ll be very well behaved.”

  “I’m trying to get over it, but this certainly won’t help,” I said miserably.

  My heart still ached from the memory of walking into our newly built house the morning after his stag party. I’d been out of town for a catering convention with Ridley, and we’d returned earlier than planned. I’d found him naked and passed out in bed, but not alone. Apparently, one of the strippers from his party had given him a ride home in her fancy new Corvette, and then another in our bed. After waking him with a cold bucket of water, John had begged for my forgiveness, using the excuse that he hadn’t remembered anything. But from the smirk on the stripper’s face and the number of condom wrappers on the floor, I knew he was full of shit.

  “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. The truth is, we need this gig. I’m behind on some bills and if we don’t do something quickly, we’re going to lose the catering van,” said Ridley.

  I groaned. “Seriously?”

  “Seriously.”

  “I knew we should have taken that Bar Mitzvah party last weekend.”

  “I had the flu. We couldn’t.”

  “Maybe I could have tried doing it myself,” I murmured.

  “Listen to me – the guest list was too big and pulling it off would have been a nightmare.”

  “At least we’d have been paid,” I replied glumly.

  “We will be paid big time if we take this gig.”

  I didn’t say anything.

  “Come on, Mia,” she pleaded. “You even mentioned that you were having a hard time coming up with rent for next month. Damian Stryker is paying us enough money that you won’t have to worry about it for the next six.”

  I sighed.

  “Look, all we have to do is prepare the meals and hand them off to the servers. We’ll be in the kitchen most of the time and probably won’t be anywhere near the guests.”

  Admittedly, that didn’t sound completely horrible.

  “My brother told me that Damian’s yacht is ridiculously huge. Seriously, I’m sure we’ll never have to deal with any of the drunken idiots.”

  Mia’s brother was a sports agent and had a lot of connections. He’d been the one who’d set up our gig with Damian Stryker. When I’d first learned that we’d be spending an entire week cruising near the Virgin Islands, I’d been ecstatic. Now, I felt nothing but anxiety.

  “Is your brother going to be there?”

  Michael was a decent guy and someone who I trusted to keep things under control.

  “No,” she replied. “It’s a very private party and even he doesn’t know who’s going to be on the guest list. More than likely, a bunch of sports celebrities. You know, this could actually be the chance of a lifetime. It may even earn us more business, once they try our food.”

  As long as that was the only thing they tried tasting. I couldn’t speak for myself, but Ridley was beautiful and men were always asking her out. She had a boyfriend, however, and wasn’t the cheating kind. Even with someone rich, handsome, or famous.

  “I guess it does sound like a great opportunity,” I admitted, reluctantly giving in. “And, as you said, it’s not like we have to be anywhere near these guys during the bachelor party.”

  “Exactly. All we have to do is make sure their tummies are happy. As far as other parts of their bodies, we’ll let the strippers, or hookers, worry about that.”

  “Yuck,” I replied, grimacing. “Do you really think there could be prostitutes at this thing?”

  “I don’t know. They certainly have the money to get whatever it is that they want. I can’t imagine a bachelor party without some kind of naked entertainment.”

  Hopefully, it would stop at pornos, but I didn’t believe we’d be so lucky.

  “So? What do you think? Are you in or out?”

  I stared outside of my living room window and smiled grimly. “What I think is that I’m crazy for agreeing to this.”

  “But, you’ll do it?”

  “Yes. It sounds like we don’t have a choice. We both obviously need the money.”

  She squealed. “This job is going to change our lives. I can feel it in my bones.”

  All I felt was a tight knot in the pit of my stomach. Something told me she was right, but at what price?

  2

  Mia

  The followi
ng day, Ridley’s brother, Michael, invited us both to dinner to discuss the trip and Damian Stryker. We had a week to plan the menu and purchase what we needed for the stag party, and I had yet to meet the man hiring us.

  “Michael said Damian is going to try and meet us for dinner,” she told me when we were in my kitchen and drinking coffee, earlier in the day. “So, wear that black cocktail dress of yours.”

  John had picked out that particular dress and I hadn’t put it on in months. It was tight, flirty, and drew attention, which wasn’t something I particularly wanted. Since breaking up with him, I’d been taking a sabbatical from the opposite sex and still wasn’t ready to return to the dating scene.

  “Why?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. “Wait a second. You’re not trying to set me up with this guy, are you?”

  She gave me an innocent look. “No. Of course not.”

  I stared at her hard. “Ridley…”

  “What?” she said, trying to keep a straight face. “Even I know that it would be totally unprofessional and in bad taste.”

  “You’re damn right it would.”

  Removing a binder from around her wrist, she pulled her blonde hair back and made it into a ponytail. “I mean, if he finds you attractive, and decides to ask you out, that might not necessarily be such a bad thing, would it? He is rich and now very available.”

  “He’s single?” I replied, not even sure why I was asking. I certainly wasn’t interested in dating anyone and didn’t know what this guy looked like, or even more importantly, how he treated women.

  “He was recently divorced,” she said. “From what Michael said, it was pretty messy.”

  “Let me guess… he had an affair,” I said dryly, knowing that I was being cynical but had good reason.

  “No. In fact, I think it was all her. They have a son together and it sounds like she’s a shitty mother.”

  I sighed. “Really? That’s too bad.”

  Ridley nodded. “Obviously, he travels a lot and apparently, she parties like a rock star. I’m sure there’s more to it than that, but Michael told me that Damian ended up getting full custody of their son. Poor kid. The woman must be truly neglectful to lose in court. You hardly ever see cases go that way.”

  “Or the judge is a big baseball fan,” I replied, taking a sip of coffee.

  Ridley shrugged. “I guess there’s always that. Money and fame do strange things to people, even judges. Anyway, you still have to feel sorry for their son. I think he’s only eight.”

  “Damn,” I replied, picturing a sad little boy who was probably missing the hell out of his mommy. Even if she was a party-animal, that didn’t mean he loved her any less. “So, if Damian has full custody, does he take his son along with him when he travels?”

  “I have no idea. I’m sure he has a nanny or something.”

  “So, basically, he probably doesn’t get to see his father or his mother very much.”

  “Maybe, maybe not. On the other hand – his dad is a famous baseball player and probably spoils the crap out of him.”

  “Even so, money can’t replace someone you love,” I replied, remembering when my parents had divorced. I’d just turned eleven when it happened. My father had been an alcoholic and after many years of trying to get him to quit drinking, my mother couldn’t take it anymore. One morning, after he’d banged up the car because of drinking, she kicked him out of the house, refusing to let him back in until he sought treatment. Unfortunately, my father didn’t believe he had a drinking problem, nor did he like ultimatums. He ended up getting his own place and I was able to visit him every other weekend. Luckily, he was usually sober during those times, although I suspected it hadn’t been easy for him. Tragically, he ended up passing out behind the wheel while returning home from a Christmas party, five years later. His car hit a tree and it was said that he died upon impact. My heart broke after hearing the news. As many problems as he had, I always knew that my father had loved me, and I’d never stopped loving him.

  Ridley’s eyes softened. “I know. You’re right and I’m sure you know that more than anyone. I’m just saying that Damian Stryker wouldn’t necessarily be such a bad catch.”

  “I’m sure he wouldn’t, but I’m not interested in casting out any lines. Not right now, at least.”

  “Fine. I get it. But, it’s been almost a year since John pulled that crap on you, and your social life is like a cat lady’s, minus the cats. You might be missing out on the man of your dreams because you’re living like a hobbit. And no, I’m not necessarily talking about Damian.”

  “I know that this might be hard for you to comprehend, but my life doesn’t have to revolve around a man or my search for the perfect one. I’m quite happy being alone.”

  “You’re quite happy sitting home every weekend, all by yourself?” she asked with a small smile.

  Admittedly, I did get bored and even missed John, at times. I sometimes had to stop myself from answering his calls or messages. Just last week he’d sent me a text.

  Mia, I know I made a mistake, but I love you and we can still have a life together…

  As usual, I’d ignored him, although it hadn’t been easy.

  “I’m fine with my life right now. Besides,” I told her, “most of the weekends are tied up because of the business anyway. I don’t remember many of them where I’m sitting at home, bored out of my skull and miserable.”

  “Whatever. There’s time. I find it with Adam. I am starting to think that you’ve forgotten how to be single.”

  “Believe me, that’s definitely not the case,” I said dryly. I was reminded of it every day when I woke up and found myself alone in bed.

  “Still, you need some fun in your life.”

  “I have fun.” I nodded toward my trusty camera sitting on the counter. “When I’m bored I take that out.”

  “And take naked pictures?” she teased.

  “No. Of course not.”

  Ridley picked it up and turned it on. She began looking through my most recent photos, which I’d taken at the beach, right before sunset.

  She glanced at me. “I mean, I have to admit, you take stunning pictures…”

  “Thank you.”

  My father had given me my first camera, after he’d moved out of the house. I soon developed a passion for photography, but mainly as a hobby. Cooking was still my first love, which my mother had introduced to me when I was old enough to look over the kitchen counter. The camera, on the other hand, brought me a different kind of joy. It captured moments in time that you’d never get back, but could still reflect on fondly.

  “You know, Mia, you could probably sell a lot of these photos online,” she said, looking through more of them. “There are websites that allow you to do that.”

  “Why would I want to sell them?”

  She gave me a surprised look. “For money?! I mean, look at this photo. Whose dog is this? He’s adorable enough and you were able to catch him at just the right moment, when he’s airborne. And look at this one… it looks like something you’d see in National Geographic.”

  I walked over and smiled at the pictures I’d taken on Cocoa Beach. A man had let his Golden Retriever puppy loose near the water. He’d allowed me to take a couple of shots while the animal taunted a ghost crab moving in the sand.

  “I doubt I’m allowed to sell most of the pictures I’ve taken, without getting a release form from the models.”

  “Something tells me that this one would have given you a ‘ruff’ time,” she joked.

  I laughed. “Exactly. Anyway, this really is just a hobby. Not like cooking.”

  She handed me back the camera. “I guess I should be happy that you’re not investing too much time with this or making it a career. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  Although Ridley was a fantastic cook, and we’d both graduated from culinary school together, she didn’t have a lot patience, especially when it came to food preparation. If something went wrong it wasn’t unusual for her t
o fly into hysterics. Usually, it was up to me to calm her down and get us back on track.

  “We do make a great team,” I agreed. “Although, it would be nice to start earning enough money that we could hire an assistant or two. Then we could start doing much larger parties.”

  At the moment, we were currently working out of Ridley’s mother’s gourmet kitchen in Miami. Her parents were loaded and owned three homes – one in Florida, one in Hawaii, and one in New York. Her father was some kind of real estate developer and they were currently in Maui on business. Although it was saving us a ton of money, we really wanted our own facility to work from and had been discussing the possibility of applying for a loan to do just that.

  “I’m telling you, this gig we have coming up might just allow us to do something like that.”

  “How much is he paying us? You didn’t really give me an actual figure yet,” I asked, before finishing the rest of my coffee.

  “Enough so I can purchase those Jimmy Choo sandals I saw at Sak’s yesterday.”

  “Which is?”

  “Twenty grand. Plus, the cost of food,” she said, beaming.

  I stared at her in shock. Had I heard her correctly? “Twenty thousand dollars?”

  She nodded.

  I knew she’d said the money was going to be great, but I had no idea.

  “That’s insane. How many guests?” I asked, elated now.

  “Roughly fifteen. I mean, we’ll have our hands full. We have to prepare breakfast, lunch, and dinner from Friday through Sunday. And that’s not including the actual party.”

  “Twenty grand. I can’t believe it,” I replied, feeling a rush of excitement and relief, especially knowing that the bills really would get paid for the next few months. I could even afford to have someone look at my truck, which was making a clunking noise every time I turned a corner. “Are you sure he said ‘grand’?”

  “I’m positive. We’ll verify it with him tonight, since he might be joining us for dinner. I seriously can’t wait to meet this guy in person. Maybe I’ll stop by Sak’s on the way home and see if they still have those sandals in my size,” she said, grabbing her cell phone. “I’d love to wear them tonight.”