Sweet Water: Destination Billionaire Romance Read online

  Sweet Water

  Laurie Lewis

  Gelato Publishing

  Contents

  Copyright

  Foreword

  Introduction

  Free Destination Billionaire Romance

  Dedication

  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

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Acknowledgments

  Free Destination Billionaire Romance

  Check out these fun Destination Billionaire Romances

  About the Author

  Also by Laurie Lewis

  Excerpt from The Shell Game

  Excerpt from Hearts On Fire

  Copyright © 2017 by Gelato Publishing

  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, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover art by Steven Novak

  Editing by Jenna Roundy, Jeanette Lewis, and Rolayne Day

  Foreword

  by Amberlee Day

  What an honor to present Laurie Lewis’s debut Destination Billionaire Romance, Sweet Water. I’ve read it, loved it, and I’m confident you will, too.

  In Sweet Water we witness a beautiful, believable romance that makes our hearts hope and our knees weak. The characters are people you want to know. Hudson Bauer isn’t a swashbuckling hero with a charming smirk, but he steals your heart without even trying. Dashing, humble, approachable, and sexy in the best way. I confess to a not-small literary crush on this one.

  He’s also nursing a shattered heart, and I promise you’ll want to help him heal it.

  And our heroine? Olivia’s nerdy smart, and honestly doesn’t know she’s beautiful. It’s an appealing combination. She’s also damaged, inside and out. Despite her rough experiences, she’s genuine and likable, and I rooted for her all the way. I think you will, too.

  Knowing she’s published in a variety of genres, I asked Laurie about her experience writing a Destination Billionaire Romance:

  “I'd like to think I keep the characteristic elements of my books no matter the genre—complex characters in situations that uplift and challenge the reader. I hope readers find those elements in Sweet Water, along with a little sizzle.”

  As one writer introducing another, I’m genuinely impressed with Laurie Lewis. She crafts a delicate, tender love story, but frames it with an intriguing plot. And the kissing scenes…yep. Darn good kissing scenes that you won’t be too embarrassed by to enjoy.

  If you’re like me, you won’t want to put Sweet Water down once you start.

  Happy reading!

  Amberlee Day

  Author of The Angler, the Baker, and the Billionaire

  Introduction

  Have you ever attended the Parade of Homes? Every night of the tour is an opportunity to step into the foyer of another brand-new, gorgeous home, unique from the previous one, each more perfect than the last. Decked out with the latest technologies, trend-setting styles, and architectural wonders, the homes allow you to escape into a world different from the normal, everyday life. Someplace more beautiful, more exotic, and more glamorous—at least for the moment.

  In Destination Billionaire, each sweet romance is like stepping into another elite Parade home. Set in an exotic location so well researched and beautifully described that you feel you’re on vacation, escape awaits as you experience something unexpected and exciting around every corner. Hawaii, Louisiana, Alaska, the Caribbean—all locations perfect for blossoming romances.

  Like the Parade homes, the Destination Billionaire characters find life can be lived dramatically when money is no object. Imagine living as one of the community’s elite, having the best of everything—which for the characters, includes artistically painted sunsets, skillfully crafted banter, and perhaps best of all, sweet, electric kisses all framed within the promise of a happy ending.

  I hope you enjoy exploring each of the Destination Billionaire books. Just as each showcased Parade home is crafted by a different builder, each of the Destination Billionaire authors is a craftsman with her own style and story to tell, all the while solidly building the quality you’ve come to appreciate in the Destination Billionaire series.

  I’ve been thrilled to be part of this series and look forward to reading each of these titles, and I hope you are too!

  Maria Hoagland

  Author of The {Re}Model Marriage and the Romance Renovations series.

  Free Destination Billionaire Romance

  You can get a free copy of The Reclusive Billionaire by Lucy McConnell by clicking here.

  As an added bonus, you’ll also receive updates when the next Destination Billionaire Romance is released so you don’t miss out on one of these sweet romances.

  To Tom

  Who still leads me to sweet water.

  1

  The fog of medication lifted enough for Olivia McAllister to flutter one eye open and see the cold frame of bars surrounding her elevated bed and the chaotic network of wires and tubes snaking across her barely gowned body; all confirming that her nightmare was true. There had been an accident. A terrible accident.

  An athletically built woman with long brown hair stood by the window. Her angular jawline and strong brow, Jeff’s signature features, identified her as her sister-in-law Susan. The two women had only met once, some eleven years ago, when Jeff brought his baby sister to the University of Washington’s Seattle campus to celebrate her high school graduation. The pride she displayed while being escorted on her football-star brother’s arm was now replaced with grief, dispelling any hope Olivia had about the outcome of the accident.

  Jeff was gone.

  Olivia lowered her eyelids, shutting out the conscious world again even as the soft whoosh of the door brought in light from the noisy hall and someone else into the room. After introducing herself to Susan, the physician moved to Olivia, brushing the tangled mass of dark hair away from her bandaged shoulder.

  “Mrs. McAllister. Mrs. McAllister …? Please open your eyes for me, Olivia.”

  When Olivia didn’t respond, the physician’s citrus scent moved closer. She forced each of Olivia’s eyes open and passed a light back and forth across them. Olivia’s mind surrendered to the medication again, grasping hold of a recent memory as it retreated.

  A picnic. With oranges.

  Flashes, like lightning strikes, followed. A checkered tablecloth. A bag of orange slices. Happy faces. A kind woman. A small child. Laughing men tossing a football. The football wilted in midair as she watched herself and Jeff enter their extravagant Lexus sedan to drive away. An icy spray of fear dismissed the images as the doctor called her name again.

  Olivia’s mind ignored the summons to consciousness as the images of that picnic taunted her peace. She heard another veiled call from the doctor, who tapped on her inner arm above the IV, but Olivia felt no compulsion to open her eyes and respond. Silent moments passed until the quiet was broken by a question on the topic Olivia most wanted t
o forget.

  “Do you know what caused the accident?” the doctor asked Susan. “I hear they were both out of the car.”

  “I only know what the police told me,” said Susan. “That a truck was taking the turn on a mountain road when my brother was crossing four lanes of traffic on foot. The driver swerved, but—” Her voice caught, and then she continued. “He clipped the car, which was parked on the narrow shoulder. They think that’s where Olivia was standing. She was thrown about twenty feet.” Susan’s voice broke, and she paused before continuing. “None of it makes any sense.”

  The discussion ended, and the door eventually swished closed, darkening the room once more. Olivia’s mind rewound to the drive from the picnic, which replayed in a staccato pattern of still photos, each one popping up like tissues being torn from a box. The replay paused on a face filled with anger. Jeff’s face. For a moment, Olivia wondered at the reason for his anger, and then she remembered his reaction to the news she’d shared. Happy news that led to tragedy.

  She longed for someone to hold her, to make everything all right. A face came to her. Not Jeff’s face, but that of another man. The sweet warmth it brought quickly soured, leaving her utterly alone. Voiceless moments passed, interrupted only by the sterile beep of monitors and the faint street sounds below. And then the door opened again.

  Olivia heard a cry break from Susan, followed by rapid footsteps and muffled weeping. “You came. Thank you.”

  “I’m so sorry, Susan.”

  Olivia tensed. The male voice was familiar, yet strange. Eight years had matured it, deepened it. Eight years and unimaginable wealth had added an air of poise and confidence the owner had lacked in his youth. He had once been her best friend, her confidant, but not now. Now he was her enemy. The man responsible for destroying her family.

  She heard Susan choke out, “I’m sorry for bothering you. My parents are devastated. You were the only other person I could think to call.”

  His voice was raspy as he replied, “Of course I’d come.”

  The full gamut of emotions, pent up over a twelve-year roller coaster of struggles, roiled in Olivia’s battered body, pushing past the medicated fog. “Get out,” she muttered weakly.

  Susan rushed to her. “You’re awake! Hudson, catch the doctor. Tell her—”

  “Get out,” Olivia repeated more audibly, clenching her jaw so tightly she shook as she turned her head toward the man. She forced her eyes to open long enough to meet his. “Get out. You’re not welcome here. Get out! Get out!”

  * * *

  Hudson Bauer had dined with royals, danced with starlets, and negotiated with business titans across the globe, but none of those experiences had been as daunting as entering Olivia’s hospital room. He caught only a quick, disconcerting glance at her when he entered before moving into Susan’s waiting arms. That one stolen glimpse of Liv, bruised and swollen, her wounds wrapped in gauze or splinted, was enough to reopen the gash in his heart, and then he froze as she splayed him open.

  He had prepared himself for the emotional tsunami seeing her would launch, but he was not prepared for her rage. Their eyes connected, and for a second, they were back in time: a geeky computer science major and the shy, leggy coed he first saw in the library at the University of Washington. And then it was gone, replaced by anger and something else.

  The look in her eyes froze him where he stood, making him an inanimate target for her fury. He racked his brain to recall eyes that had affected him similarly, and then he knew. He had been in Rashaya, Lebanon, a day ago, setting up funding for humanitarian groups handling the flood of Syrian refugees flowing into that country. Those refugees bore the same look he now saw in Olivia’s eyes. Not the hollowness of hunger, but the vacant look of defeat.

  For a second, he regretted coming, but ignoring Susan’s message about the accident had never been an option. That he received it at all was a miracle. He had completed the tour of a refugee camp when the text arrived from Alejandra, his personal assistant, telling him about a curious call—Susan’s—made to a corporate number she had found from a Google search of his name. The switchboard operator had inadvertently put it through to his personal line. He was on a plane within an hour, flying halfway around the world to see a woman who had left him broken and empty.

  In a moment, Susan was beside him, urging him into the hall. She kicked the door closed with her foot and said, “Hudson, she doesn’t know what she’s saying.”

  “No. She knew exactly who I was. She meant every word.” He ran his hands through his tangle of brown curls. “I was prepared to find her grieving, but she blames me. For what? For this? What has Jeff told her these eight years?”

  Susan’s shoulders slumped. “I’m sure you have a pretty good idea.”

  She leaned against the wall, her head flopping back as if her neck couldn’t bear its weight. “I should be sad and grieving. I’ve lost my only sibling. Instead, I’m just so angry. I’ve hardly heard from Jeff in eight years, and now I’m expected to handle this?” She groaned and dropped her head into her hands. “I’m sorry. I don’t really mean that.”

  Hudson moved beside her.

  “I really did love my brother. And I think Olivia and I could have been friends under other circumstances.”

  “Could have been? You blame Liv?”

  “Jeff was always Jeff—an irresponsible, party-loving jock with a flock of gorgeous dates. Olivia had to know that. From what I see, she’s the one who changed.”

  It was true. Hudson regretted introducing the awkward University of Washington coed to Jeff almost immediately. Jeff had no interest in Liv beyond what tutoring help she could give him, but Hudson clearly remembered how quickly she morphed from a geeky scholar who was more comfortable writing HTML code than love letters to a shy beauty soon after he inserted her into the odd friendship he enjoyed with his high school jock friend, Jeff. He felt like a harness over the next four years, stabilizing two very different members of the trio while maintaining a healthy separation between Liv and Jeff. He told himself it was for the good of the work, but he knew it was more. Even though the pair showed an outward indifference to one another, Hudson knew Liv turned herself inside out to impress Jeff.

  He raised his hand, ending further excavation of their buried pasts. “I don’t suppose who did what to whom matters anymore.”

  “It evidently does to Olivia.”

  Desperate to segue on to a different topic, Hudson asked about Olivia’s health. “What are the doctors saying?”

  Susan gathered her hair and twisted it nervously. “She was thrown down a ravine when the truck hit the car. Something cut her leg pretty badly. They say she lost a lot of blood. Other than scrapes and cuts, her worst injuries are soft tissue damage to her shoulders and knees.” Susan’s hands dropped to her sides. “Except… she lost her baby, Hudson. I don’t even know if Jeff knew he was going to be a father.”

  Hudson’s heart stuttered and his palms went clammy. He rubbed them against the front of his jeans as he slid down the wall into a squat to break eye contact and hide his reaction to Susan’s ongoing report.

  “They’re running more tests, but she’s going to need a good deal of rehab. They want her to stay close by if possible, but I don’t know what to do. My parents moved out of state, and my place is two hours away. Plus, I need to be back at school by mid-August to train on new equipment.”

  Her shoulders slumped in defeat. “I’m sorry, this shouldn’t be about me. It’s just that an anonymous donor completely funded a new, fully equipped school specially designed for disabled students. It’s everything I’ve fought for, but what do I do about Olivia? I’ve been through her wallet, and I can’t find any contact information for her mother or even a physical address or an insurance card for her, so I told the doctors I’d make local arrangements for her convalescence.”

  Hudson released a rush of breath and stood again. He pulled his key ring from his pocket, removed two keys, and pressed them into Susan’s hand. �
�I bought my parents’ Cannon Beach house. Here are the spare keys to the front door and the key to the Nissan in the garage. You and Olivia can stay there and use the car for as long as you need.”

  Susan’s eyes glistened as her hand closed around the keys. “Thank you,” she muttered, bringing her hand and the keys to her breast. “I know your parents’ place was the closest thing Olivia had to a home during your college years.”

  His heart clenched over the comment. He quickly changed the subject. “How are your parents?”

  Her lips trembled. “Not good at all. Jeff never introduced Olivia to them, and the only contact we’ve had with him was a few calls over the years. He closed a door on all of us. But the news was still devastating. He was their only son.”

  An awkward silence passed between them until Susan asked, “How are your folks? Jeff only took me to one of your working luaus, but I loved that weekend and your parents.”

  Hudson smiled. “They’re great. They’re in Africa, working on a water project for the WHO.”

  “The World Health Organization? So now your folks are helping you save the world?”

  “Villages need water. Dad always was the best well driller in Tillamook County. I just made the introductions.”

  Another awkward pause ensued while Susan stared blankly at the floor.

  “I know you’re overwhelmed right now. Liv was never close to her mother. She never wanted to talk about their relationship, so there might not be much help there, but we can hire help once she’s released. And don’t worry about school. We’ll make sure you meet all your deadlines.”

  “Thanks, Hudson. I really am excited to start this new year. I’d love to thank the donor who made this possible.”

  “I’m sure they’d tell you their part was easy compared to what you do every day.”