The Billionaire's Kiss (The Sherbrookes of Newport Book 14) Read online

  The Billionaire’s Kiss

  The Sherbrookes of Newport

  Christina Tetreault

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Other Books By Christina

  About the Author

  The Billionaire’s Kiss, ©2020 by Christina Tetreault

  Published by Christina Tetreault

  Cover Designer: Amanda Walker

  Editing: Hot Tree Editing

  Proofreading: Hot Tree Editing

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from the author. This book is a work of fiction. The characters, events, and places portrayed in this book are products of the author’s imagination and are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author. For more information on the author and her works, please see www.christinatetreault.com

  ISBN: 978-1-7352976-1-3

  Digital ISBN: 978-1-7352976-2-0

  Chapter 1

  Most days, her condo’s windows provided Juliette Belmont with an excellent view of Central Park and the city as a whole. Today gray skies and a torrential downpour that mirrored her mood obscured it. Closing her eyes, she pressed a palm against the cold glass while her mom continued to berate her over the phone. Well, perhaps berate was too harsh a word, but at the moment, Marilyn Belmont was sharing her true feelings and holding nothing back.

  I get it, Mom. Can we move on now? Juliette resisted the urge to tell her mom to shut up. She might be an adult, but there were still some things you didn’t say to your mother. Still, she wished her mom would put a sock in it. Especially since it wasn’t as if Juliette didn’t already know she’d royally screwed up. And if it was possible to travel back in time, she’d do so and tell Daniel Green to take a hike the night he approached her. But she couldn’t change the past, and her mom’s lecture only made her feel worse.

  “I know you wanted to do some campaign work for your uncle, but under the circumstances, I think it’ll be better to wait a little while.” Mom had moved the conversation on to a slightly different topic, at least.

  Uncle Warren, or President Warren Sherbrooke, as most of the world called him, certainly didn’t need her help, but she’d been looking forward to assisting him. Unlike many of her family members, she hadn’t helped with his campaign efforts the first time he ran for president. Now that he was running for a second term, she wanted to do her part.

  “Your dad agrees with me,” her mom continued.

  Wow, big surprise. Her parents—whom she adored—rarely disagreed on anything.

  Juliette rolled her eyes and looked at the ceiling. The way her parents were acting, one would think she’d committed armed robbery or something.

  “This should all be old news in another month or two, and then you can help out.”

  Juliette hoped so. Although accustomed to having her face on the covers of magazines and all over the internet, she wasn’t used to such negative publicity. And that was all she’d been getting since the first photos of her and Daniel and the story came out.

  “I’ll let Francine know I won’t be attending the fundraiser this weekend,” Juliette said, finally able to get a word into the conversation. Up until now, she’d managed only a handful.

  “Great. And once this little situation passes, your uncle will be delighted to have your help. While I have you on the phone, have you thought any more about coming to work at the foundation?”

  Ever since her older sister, Courtney, had taken a position at the Helping Hands Foundation, her mom had been after her to join them. While the foundation was a wonderful organization and she didn’t mind helping with its various fundraisers, she wasn’t sure she wanted to work there full-time.

  If she was being truthful, she wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted to do anymore. She had no intention of admitting that to her mom. While Marilyn had never come right out and said it, Juliette knew her mom wished she’d pursued a career in something other than modeling—a career she’d loved until recently.

  Nope, if it’d been up to her parents, she would have joined Sherbrooke Enterprises like her older brother and so many of her cousins after graduating from Columbia with a degree in marketing and a minor in dance—a degree she’d only pursed because her dad thought attending Columbia was a far better idea than Juilliard, her first choice of colleges.

  Not that any of it mattered now, because she had a career most could only dream of, and if she woke up tomorrow and decided she needed a complete career change, she could have a position at Sherbrooke Enterprises with only a simple phone call. Honestly, though, any position that required she spend hours sitting behind a desk didn’t appeal to her, and she didn’t know how other people did it.

  Since the weather made it impossible for her to enjoy the view, she turned away from the window. “A little, and I’m going to pass at least for now, Mom.”

  “Well, if you change your mind, my offer stands.” A hint of disappointment laced her voice, but she didn’t press the issue. “Can we expect to see you soon?”

  Although she called New York City home, she spent a decent amount of time at her parents’ house in Massachusetts. At the moment, she had no desire to be there. “I’ll let you know.”

  Before her mom posed any additional questions, the doorbell rang, saving her. Few people visited her without calling first. “Mom, I need to go. Someone is at the door. I’ll call you later this week.”

  After disconnecting the call, Juliette left her cell phone on an end table and crossed the living room.

  Please don’t be Scott. She adored her older brother, but this afternoon she wasn’t up to facing him. He’d called her Wednesday after the first pictures of her and Daniel hit the internet. She’d let his call go to voice mail. The message he left merely said to call him, so she didn’t know what his take was on her current scandal. But her brother was as straitlaced as they came. Never in his life had the media printed anything negative about the guy.

  Holly Lambert, who lived on the floor below her, stood on the other side of the door. She’d met Holly while doing her first runway show in Milan. At the time, Holly had already been on her way to being a household name even though she had only started modeling the previous year. They’d been close friends ever since.

  While Holly regularly visited and never called first, Juliette hadn’t expected to find her ringing her doorbell today. The last time they spoke, Holly was vacationing in Anguilla.

  “Hey, when did you get home?” She stepped back so Holly could enter.

  “Yesterday. I thought about coming up to see you, but it was late.” Holly didn’t wait for Juliette to tell her to make herself comfortable before entering the kitchen and switching on the single-cup coffee machine. She treated Juliette’s condo as her second home. Actually, she spent more time at Juliette’s than she did her place.

  “You saw the pictures?”

  Holly nod
ded. “Did you really not know he was married?”

  The comment caused her to grind her teeth together. She would have thought Holly knew her better than that. Sure, she dated a lot and rarely stayed in any one relationship for too long, but she never played the role of the other woman. There were plenty of single men in the world, so she saw no need to spend time with married ones.

  Juliette shook her head. “It’s not like I have a background check done on every man I go out with, and he never wore a ring.” In the future, perhaps she should, though, and save herself from facing this issue again.

  “But didn’t you ever see any hints of a woman at his house? Clothes in the closet, makeup remover in the bathroom?” Holly removed a cup from the cabinet and pressed the brew button on the coffee machine. “She must have stuff there.”

  She hadn’t been thinking about a coffee, but now that she smelled it, she wanted a cup. Juliette retrieved her favorite mug from the cabinet and placed it under the machine before selecting a dark roast coffee pod from the stand.

  “I didn’t exactly go snooping in his closets, Holly. And we spent a lot more time here than we did at his place.”

  “Next time you get involved with a man, maybe you should take a peek.” Holly sipped her coffee and leaned back against the counter. “Considering all the time you spent together, I’m surprised Daniel’s wife didn’t learn about you two sooner.”

  “She’s been in England for the past two months because her grandmother was ill—or at least that’s the story the media is printing.”

  The media often altered the truth to suit its own narrative, but on this account, she saw no reason not to believe that Daniel’s wife had only arrived in the United States recently. However, the woman must have suspected her husband was fooling around while alone in New York if she hired a private investigator to follow him.

  Holly took another sip of her coffee before speaking again. They both tended to drink more coffee than was probably good for them. “Did she really find you together at his house?”

  The media had left little out of the stories it had published so far. Juliette nodded and then gestured toward the living room with her coffee cup. Holly wouldn’t let the matter go until she got the whole story, and Juliette would prefer to be sitting while she gave it. Holly took the hint and headed for the other room.

  “We were in the middle of dinner when she came home. To say Daniel was shocked would be an understatement.” Crossing her legs in front of her on the sofa, Juliette sipped her coffee as an image of Daniel’s face when he first saw his wife came to mind. Under different circumstances, it would’ve been funny.

  “He tried to play it off that we were business associates. As if anyone would believe that. Of course, Katherine knew the truth before Daniel opened his mouth. At some point in the past month or so, she’d hired a private investigator. She tossed at least a dozen photos of Daniel and me together at us. Some were taken inside the house, so I guess the person she hired somehow set up cameras in Daniel’s place.”

  Holly grimaced. “Well, it could’ve been worse. She could’ve come home while you were both naked and in bed.”

  Yep, that would have been far worse. “After Katherine tossed my glass of chardonnay in my face, she told Daniel to expect to hear from her lawyer.”

  “I would’ve thrown it in Daniel’s face instead. He’s the one really to blame, not you. Anyway, what happened after that?”

  “She left. I stuck around long enough to wash my face and get my coat and purse. Daniel kept going on about how screwed he was. I’m guessing they have a prenup, and it has a clause addressing infidelity. Prenups often do.”

  “Makes sense.” Holly kicked off her shoes and tucked one leg under her. “According to the article in Today Magazine, Katherine’s father is not only an English baron but a member of the House of Lords. Daniel’s father is the current Viscount of… honestly, I don’t remember and worth millions. People with that kind of background wouldn’t get married without a prenup.”

  Juliette didn’t agree. While she knew prenups weren’t uncommon among couples in her social circle, none of her cousins or siblings had ones prepared before getting married.

  “Have you heard from him?”

  She swallowed her mouthful of coffee and set her cup down. “Nope, and I don’t want to.”

  “I never really liked him. He was always a little too…” Holly paused and tapped her fingers against the arm of the sofa. “Something. I don’t know what.”

  She found it odd Holly never said anything. Holly wasn’t known for keeping her opinion to herself. “At this point, I just want to forget about the whole thing. Which we both know is easier said than done, thanks to the media. When I tried to go out yesterday, three photographers were hanging around outside the building. I turned around and walked back inside.”

  “I saw one hanging around when I came back this morning. If he’s still out there, I hope he forgot to bring an umbrella with him.”

  Juliette knew the lengths some paparazzi would go to get a picture, and they included standing in a downpour on a cold late-February afternoon.

  “You, my friend, need a vacation. Someplace where the media or anyone else won’t bother you.”

  She’d been contemplating a vacation for some time. She’d hoped a change of scenery would help her reassess her life. Even before her brother’s wedding in November, she’d been unsatisfied with the status quo. When her sister had announced back in January that she was engaged, the feeling picked up speed, and now it plagued her every day.

  “Sounds fabulous. Too bad I can’t think of anywhere that fits that description.”

  Since all of her favorite vacation spots were also popular among Hollywood’s elite, photographers were always lurking, ready to snap a photo when you least expected it. Not only that, she also didn’t want to be around a lot of people, once again making all her usual destinations out of the question.

  “If you know of any, feel free to share.” Juliette took the last sip of her coffee and stood. “I’m making another cup and getting some lunch. Do you want anything?”

  “I can make more coffee. And I’ll have whatever you’re eating.”

  Unlike her brother, who knew his way around the kitchen, Juliette didn’t possess too many culinary skills. Still, even she could manage a garden salad, and she always had grilled chicken included in her weekly grocery deliveries.

  Holly followed her toward the kitchen and made a beeline for the coffee machine. “I might know of someplace you could go where the media wouldn’t bother you. Really, I don’t think anyone would bother you. But it’s nothing like the places you usually visit.”

  She’d consider almost anywhere if it meant no nosy photographer or reporters. “As long as it doesn’t involve a tent out in the middle of a forest, I’m open to suggestions.” She’d forgo access to a beach or five-star spas, but she drew the line at not having a comfortable bed and a roof over her head.

  “Avon, New Hampshire,” Holly answered, joining Juliette at the kitchen island and setting down both coffee cups. “There is a campground on the northernmost part of Avon Lake. It’s owned by the Wright family. They close up most of the cottages in the fall, but a few they rent out year-round. There’s a ski resort about twenty-five minutes away, and skiers will sometimes stay there instead of the resort because it’s cheaper.”

  An image of a log cabin with no running water or electricity in the middle of a campground came to mind. “Yeah, I can live without room service, but I need running water and heat, Holly.”

  “It’s not some rustic campground. All the cottages have everything a house would. Some even have two or three bedrooms. And they all have access to the lake, although it’ll still be too cold at this time of year to swim in. It might even still have some ice on it. And even if we don’t ask Mrs. Wright not to share that you’re there, she won’t email the Star Insider or announce your arrival on Twitter the minute you check in. She’s not like that.” Holly snagge
d a grape tomato from the plastic container and popped it in her mouth.

  A cottage overlooking a lake somewhere up in northern New Hampshire sounded rather lovely. More than once, Holly had shared details about the small town she’d lived in until moving to New York, and it did sound charming.

  “I can call Mrs. Wright and make reservations for you. She knows me. She and my mom are friends, and her youngest daughter and I were friends all through school. We still text each other every once in a while.”

  Juliette considered her friend’s suggestion. If Holly believed she wouldn’t be bothered, she trusted her assessment. And while the town might be small and in the middle of nowhere, it wasn’t as if she planned to relocate there permanently. “Are the cottages close together?”

  Holly had said not many people stayed there this time of year, but on the off chance others were there, she didn’t want any neighbors staying mere feet away.

  “Unless they’ve changed things since I was last there, it depends on the one you stay in.” She grabbed a slice of cucumber off the cutting board. “If you’re worried about neighbors, you could always stay in one cottage and rent out the ones on either side of you. That’s what I’d do.”

  Juliette added an equal portion of cucumbers and tomatoes to each bowl before reaching for the bag of shredded carrots. “Exactly what I was thinking.” Depending on how many cottages were available right now, maybe she’d just rent them all out for the next two or three months and guarantee she had the place all to herself.

  “If you have the number, I’ll call before we eat lunch.” The sooner she made reservations, the sooner she’d get away from the city.