The Billionaire's Heart Read online

  “Did you play soccer?” Reese asked, licking a blob of ketchup that had dripped out of her burger off her finger, something both Erin and Piper would do without a second thought. They, like most children, loved ketchup. He didn’t understand how anyone ate the stuff. Even as a kid he’d hated it. But Erin and Piper added it to almost everything. He even once caught Erin putting it on her pancakes.

  “Yep. That and basketball. I started when I was around your age and played until college. My daughter plays too.” Since Leah knew about Erin, he didn’t need to keep silent about her any longer.

  The mustard bottle Curt had picked up slipped from his hand and landed in the bowl of chips. He didn’t bother to retrieve it.

  “You have a daughter?” Curt’s gaze swung in Leah’s direction. “Did you know Gavin has a daughter?”

  Perhaps taking pity on her brother, Leah fished the mustard bottle from the chips and held it toward him. “Yes. She looks just like him.”

  “What position did you play?” Reese asked, oblivious to the look Curt was sending his sister’s way. “I’m usually a striker, but sometimes my coach makes me play defense. Once he made me play goalie. I didn’t like it, and I hope he doesn’t make me do it again.”

  In the beginning Erin had hated playing goalie too, until she realized how important a position it was. “I started playing goalie in sixth grade. It’s a critical position.”

  Reese didn’t look convinced. “Coach Simon told me that too. Maybe we can all play after lunch.” She looked expectantly at each of the adults seated at the table.

  “I’m up for a game.” He never turned down an opportunity to play soccer or basketball. “Leah?”

  “I haven’t played since gym class in school, but I’ll try.”

  “Auntie Taylor played soccer like me. Did you play sports when you were a kid?” Reese asked before sinking her teeth into her burger.

  Good question. He pictured Leah as more of a dancer, but if she enjoyed watching sports, perhaps she’d played them as well.

  “I played field hockey; it’s similar to soccer. And I danced,” Leah answered.

  “My best friend Hazel dances. She wants me to do it with her, but I don’t want to. It’s boring.”

  Reese would get along very well with his daughter. Unless she was dancing in her bedroom, she felt the same way about dance, much to Amber’s dismay. She’d danced competitively and wanted their daughter to love it as much as she did.

  “Have you ever tried it?” Leah asked.

  He’d worried she’d be uncomfortable around Erin when they finally met, but all day yesterday and again today she’d seemed comfortable interacting with Reese.

  “Auntie Taylor signed me up once for ballet. It was awful, and I had to wear tights.”

  “Ballet can be a little slow compared to other styles. Maybe you’d like jazz or hip-hop. Dance can be a lot of fun.”

  Reese looked unconvinced as she added another spoonful of potato salad to her plate. Gavin didn’t blame her. Vivian had danced, and he still remembered sitting through the painfully boring recitals. If Erin decided to give dance another try, he’d go and watch, but honestly he was happy she’d given up after her first year. She hadn’t even made it to the end of her first year. About two months before her recital, with her costumes in the closet, she quit and she never asked to try it again.

  ***

  Using the ruse that she intended to help her brother get the dessert ready, Leah left Gavin, Taylor, and Reese on the beach kicking around a soccer ball. Although it wasn’t any of her business, she wanted answers to questions she didn’t want to ask in front of Curt’s girlfriend or Reese.

  “Need any help?” Leah called out, entering the large open kitchen.

  At the counter, Curt transferred the most delicious-looking cupcakes she’d ever seen onto a serving plate. A large fruit torte was out of its box and waiting to be served next to it.

  “Couldn’t keep up with Reese?” He set the last cupcake on the plate and then licked the frosting off his finger. Then after washing his hands, he went to the fridge and pulled out another pastry box.

  “She does seem to have an endless supply of energy.” Leah pulled out a barstool at the counter and sat. “Is she always like that?”

  “Yep. She’s either on full speed or sleeping. She doesn’t have a middle setting.”

  “You two seem close. Does Taylor babysit her a lot?”

  Curt shook his head as he took an éclair from the box. After tearing it in half, he handed her part of the tasty treat. “Taylor is Reese’s guardian. She has been since Reese was a baby.”

  Her brother’s statement explained so much. Taylor was more or less the girl’s mother. “How old was Reese when her mom died?”

  It seemed like a logical question. Why else would Taylor be Reese’s guardian? The sudden anger that swept over Curt’s face told a different story.

  “Eliza isn’t dead. Right now she’s in jail, and hopefully she’ll spend the rest of her life there.”

  Leah shivered at Curt’s frigid tone, and considering his reaction, she wasn’t going to ask any more questions. If he wanted to share more, he would. “Well, she’s a sweet girl and seems to adore you.”

  “What about Gavin’s daughter? Do you two get along?”

  She decided now was as good a time as any to sample the half of the éclair Curt handed her. So rather than answer, Leah took a big bite from the custard-filled pastry. “This is awesome. Where did you get them?”

  Curt polished off the half he held, then went back to adding the box’s contents to a plate. “They opened an Ambrosia in Newport a few months ago. I stopped over there this morning after breakfast.”

  Leah was familiar with the family-owned pastry shop and café based out of Providence. “I wish they’d open one near me. I’d be there every other day. Did you get any of their cannoli?” She’d yet to find a bakery that made better cannoli than Ambrosia.

  “Not today, and back to my question, which you so nicely ignored.”

  Why did I bother? Ignoring one of Curt’s questions and hoping he’d forget about it was pointless.

  “We haven’t met. She lives in Providence with her mom and usually Gavin goes there to see her.”

  “And?” he prompted.

  “And what?” Leah asked, focusing on the selection of desserts before her rather than Curt.

  “There’s more to the story. I hear it in your voice, Leah.”

  Her brother could be too perceptive on occasion. “Until yesterday I didn’t know Gavin had a daughter.”

  Curt made a sound of disapproval. “A child is something he should’ve told you about before yesterday. I assume he had a good excuse.” He leaned back against the opposite counter.

  “I wish he’d told me sooner too, but I understand his reasons.”

  “As along as you’re okay with it, that’s what matters. Gavin seems like a good guy, but be careful. If he kept a daughter a secret this long, he might have other ones too.”

  Leah appreciated and understood her brother’s concern. “True. He might snore like a bear.” She picked up the platter of cupcakes. “If we stay in here any longer, I’m going to eat all of these.”

  Pushing off the counter, he took the other two plates of treats, but he didn’t move any farther. “When the two of you have the time, come up and visit me. You still haven’t seen the new house. I’ve made a lot of progress. And you can meet Taylor’s mom. She lives with Taylor and Reese.”

  Dragging Gavin away for a day or so to visit her brother might be tough. It was a good thing she liked a challenge. “I’m dying to see what kind of mess you’ve picked up this time. We’ll be around soon.”

  Chapter Six

  Rolling over, Leah opened her eyes and gazed up at the ceiling. Judging by the amount of sunlight in the room, it was still early. Sometimes she didn’t know why she bothered setting an alarm when she stayed at her apartment in the city. No matter what time she went to bed, she always woke up
long before she needed to. The same thing happened whenever she traveled, regardless of whether it was for business or pleasure. She assumed it was because she wasn’t sleeping in her bed. Well, when she stayed at her place in the city, it was technically her bed, but not her normal bed. In fact, it wasn’t uncommon for weeks to go by between her visits to the apartment, because as much as she loved visiting the city and working there, she much preferred living away from it. Still, she kept the place, located inside one of the Sherbrooke hotels in Manhattan, because some days she didn’t feel like dealing with the traffic out to Greenwich. That had been the exact case last night.

  She’d had a late afternoon meeting that lasted much longer than it should have. Afterward she visited her cousin Scott and his girlfriend, although she would’ve preferred another evening with Gavin. They’d seen each other every day since the previous Saturday except for one. Bright and early yesterday morning, he’d driven out to Maine and had spent much of the day there. Even though she didn’t see him, she had talked to him. Per her request, he’d called when he got back to the city around eleven so she knew he’d made it home safely.

  Thankfully, today was Saturday and she had a whole weekend with him to look forward to again. Gavin hadn’t shared any details other than to say he had plans for them, and she hadn’t pressed the issue because unlike some people, she enjoyed surprises. It didn’t mean she hadn’t spent the past two days guessing what he had in store for them.

  Regardless of what it was, she expected to enjoy herself because in the week they’d been together, he’d been the perfect boyfriend. Despite his over-the-top work ethic, he was attentive and at the same time not overbearing. Plenty of times in the past she’d dated men who all but wanted to put a tracking device on her so they knew exactly where she was at all times when they weren’t together.

  Leah grabbed her phone and scrolled through her various playlists. She knew from experience that falling back to sleep was out of the question. At the same time, she had zero desire to get out of bed and do anything productive. Losing herself in a book while she listened to music seemed like the ideal way to pass a few hours.

  She’d always loved music regardless of the type or the era it came from. She had playlists consisting of everything from songs made popular during the British invasion in the mid-1960s and hits from the hair bands of the 1980s to pieces written by composers such as Mozart and Beethoven. When she’d been younger, her brothers loved teasing her about some of her music choices, especially when she played Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin. They’d remind her both were singers their grandmother loved, as if that somehow diminished the fabulous voices the two men had.

  This morning she selected the playlist consisting of symphonies written by Mozart and his contemporaries. After pressing play, she moved into an upright position and grabbed the e-reader she kept in her nightstand for mornings such as this. She had another one by her bed in Greenwich, so no matter where she stayed she could read whenever she wanted.

  After powering on the device, she opened to the eighth chapter in Fatal Deception. Recently she’d decided to reread Curt’s debut novel because she’d gone through it so fast the first time around she’d missed subtle details—details Gavin had brought to her attention the evening they’d discussed the book over dinner.

  Was that really only a week ago?

  Rather than start reading, she thought back. Yep, it had definitely been less than two weeks ago. They’d talked about the novel and Gavin’s prediction as to what would happen next based on the clues he’d picked up the same night she’d invited him to her parents’ party—an invitation he’d accepted with far less resistance than she’d expected. At the time she’d wondered why, but considering the turn their relationship had taken on the beach, she now suspected she understood. And it had definitely taken a turn the moment she slipped her arm around his waist.

  Or had it?

  True, in the very beginning she’d viewed him as nothing more than a friend, someone to meet for dinner or play golf with. Back then she’d even toyed with the idea of playing Cupid and setting him up with one of her cousins. And like a strictly platonic friend, she hadn’t cared whom he spent time with or whether a woman flirted with him when they were out together.

  Leah didn’t know the precise moment, but she couldn’t deny that at some point long before her parents’ party something had shifted. She’d lost count of how many times she’d seen a woman flirt with Gavin or even simply send him a suggestive look and she’d gotten annoyed.

  In fact, the very night she invited him to Newport for the Fourth of July, she had to remind herself that they were merely friends each time the waitress came over and did everything she could to catch his attention. And she really had done everything, including giving him her phone number, not that Leah had seen the waitress slip it to him. Gavin had shared the annoying detail as they walked to their cars after dinner, and when he did, the desire to demand he tear it up before they left the parking lot had all but choked her. Somehow she managed to keep the words from spilling out. Of course, it’d helped when Gavin admitted he’d left the note behind on the table because he wasn’t interested.

  Leah considered herself an observant individual, yet somehow despite the emotional clues she’d experienced, she’d missed the writing on the wall. It had taken Gavin’s run-in with Tasha, of all people, to set her straight. The moment she’d seen Tasha standing so close wearing her I’m on the hunt expression, her emotions took over, and she’d moved in to protect what her subconscious evidently already considered hers.

  She might not consider Tasha her favorite person in the world, but she definitely owed her one for giving her the proverbial kick in the pants she’d obviously needed. Too bad she couldn’t send the other woman a box of chocolates or some flowers with a thank-you note attached. Although she’d never in a million years do it, Leah considered the wording for such a card.

  Dear Tasha, thanks so much for making me jealous last weekend. Without your help, I’d still have my head in the sand.

  Yep, such a message would sum up her sentiments well.

  Turning her attention back to the novel, she started on the first paragraph of the chapter. Memories from their walk on the beach after leaving Tasha pushed their way forward before she’d made it past the third sentence.

  She’d only realized the transformation in her feelings last weekend, but when had things shifted for him? Had it hit him over the head the night she invited him to the party? Or had he realized it months ago?

  She hadn’t analyzed their conversation before or after their first kiss. Now she wanted to. Leah tossed aside the e-reader and thought back. She might not be a genius like her cousin and able to remember every minute detail, but she didn’t forget much, especially when it pertained to significant events. Their time on the beach certainly qualified as being significant.

  Leah replayed the afternoon, starting with the moment Gavin thanked her for rescuing him from Tasha. Before they moved from the deck, she’d been certain he wanted to kiss her. Instead of kissing her, he suggested they take a walk. Then before Gavin touched his lips to hers, he said something along the lines of there is no other place I want to be.

  “And like an idiot I told him I’d been thinking of setting him up with Courtney or Juliette.” She shook her head as she remembered that. Really, who said that after they kissed a guy? Evidently ninnies like her did.

  “Let it go. It’s not the first stupid thing you’ve ever said, and it won’t be your last.” But even if it had been a poorly thought-out statement, his response made up for it. He’d made it clear he wasn’t interested in someone else. Unfortunately, she’d cut off the rest of his sentence by kissing him. Back then she hadn’t wondered what else he had to say, but now she wished she’d let him finish.

  ***

  The doorman opened the door as Leah approached. She hadn’t been back to Gavin’s condo since the night she caught Harry entertaining another woman. Instead, whenever she and Ga
vin got together they either met somewhere or he came to her house. Occasionally she felt guilty about that, but not guilty enough to risk running into Harry again. Thankfully Gavin had never complained either. Since he always came to her, she’d insisted on meeting him at his place this morning. He agreed with no argument, which she interpreted to mean he planned to get some work in this morning before they set out for the day.

  As she crossed the empty lobby toward the elevators, a flashback to her last visit hit her, momentarily stopping her dead in her tracks.

  Gavin’s nothing like Harry. I have nothing to worry about, she reminded herself as she stepped inside the elevator.

  The doors were almost closed when a woman approached, forcing the doors to reopen. It wasn’t just any woman either. Leah mentally shook her head as Amy, the redhead she’d found with Harry, joined her for the ride up. Really, what were the odds of her running into the woman today, considering the number of people who lived in the building?

  Amy pressed the button for the floor below Gavin, but her attention was focused on Leah. “Did you just move into the building? I thought I’d met everyone who lived here,” Amy asked.

  “No, I’m just visiting a friend.”

  “You look familiar. Have we met before?”

  In a manner of speaking, yes. “Not exactly,” Leah responded. Before she could come up with a nice way of explaining why she looked familiar, Amy snapped her fingers.

  “I know. I saw you at Harry Kincaid’s. You used to date him,” she said, suddenly looking uncomfortable. “I’m so sorry. When he invited me up, I really didn’t know he had a girlfriend. If I’d known, I never would’ve gone.”

  How did one respond to such an admission? “No need to apologize. It wasn’t your fault.” At the moment it was the best she could come up with.

  The elevator doors opened at Amy’s floor, but she didn’t immediately exit. “I walked out right after you that day, and I haven’t seen the dirtbag since.”