Barefoot Bay: The Billionaire's Convenient Secret (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read Online Free PDF Page A

very core, she admitted as she stepped from the relative cool of the store into the heat and humidity of springtime in Florida. He’d gone so far out of his way to help an elderly customer that the word kindness might as well have been tattooed on his broad chest. She’d caught the tail end of his dealings with the two youngsters, heard him offer the boys a way to help themselves. The confident air he’d shown in asking her out had never crossed the line into cockiness. Those traits alone set him apart from the type of men she usually dated, men who were interested only in their needs, their careers.
    Maybe she should take that as a sign. Maybe it was time she set her sights on a different kind of guy. One more like Josh. It couldn’t hurt. Up till now, she’d been searching for her soul mate among the movers and shakers in the corporate world. That approach hadn’t gotten her one step closer to finding the Prince Charming of her little-girl dreams. Someone who’d appreciate her strengths. Someone she could lean on when things didn’t go her way. Someone who’d have her back the same way she’d have his. Lately, she’d grown so tired of being alone all the time. Of eating dinner in front of the TV because she simply couldn’t bear the thought of telling yet another maître d’, “Table for one.” She hated lying alone night after long, lonely night.
    Was it possible Josh was the one?
    She reeled back, shaking her head. Nah. If she’d been introduced to him at the office, bumped into him at the local Starbucks one morning, if their eyes had met across a crowded bar, she’d have been interested. But they hadn’t. Though they’d both come from humble beginnings, where Josh had settled for the status quo, she’d hauled herself up, climbed out of the red sticky muck, studied hard, worked harder and made a good life for herself. A man content to make a career out of ringing up groceries at a mini-mart—yeah, that wasn’t her idea of a soul mate.
    Even if his looks were positively swoonable.
    As long as she kept their differences in mind, though, it might be fun to hang out with Josh a bit. She had no doubt he’d provide a pleasant diversion from the job that normally consumed her days and the emptiness that filled her nights. Combining business with pleasure, she’d mine him for information while he played hard to get. And who knew? If they both happened to enjoy each other’s company, they could stretch the game out for the entire weekend. But things absolutely wouldn’t go any further than that. Come Monday morning, she’d walk into the office brandishing Charity Grambling’s signature on the dotted line, her time with Josh over and done.
    With a plan of sorts in the making, Charlie slipped behind the wheel of her car and headed across the island to the Casa Blanca Resort & Spa. Driving onto the grounds a half hour later, she repressed the urge to whistle at the soothing oasis that stretched as far as she could see. Graceful palms and lush tropical plantings edged the wide pavered entryway. Through the trees she spied white, Moroccan-style buildings topped with red-tiled roofs. Even with her windows rolled up, she caught the scent of the Mimosa Key’s namesake flower wafting in the air.
    At the entrance to the main building, an efficient teen opened her door practically before her car rolled to a stop beneath the portico. Offering assurances that the valet service would see to things, he hoisted her single overnight bag and whisked it out of sight. She stood for a moment, smoothing her jacket and trying not to gawk like some country girl on her first trip away from the farm.
    How would Josh react to the resort he’d never visited, she wondered. She imagined his expressive eyes widening at his first look at the luxurious surroundings and almost wished he’d come with her. Not that he had anything to do with her growing desire to see what Mimosa Key had to offer.
    Not in the least.
    She shook her head.