My Billionaire Secret Santa: Clean Billionaire Romance Read online

  My Billionaire Secret Santa

  A Peachtree Billionaires Short

  Cate Remy

  Contents

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  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  Books by Cate Remy

  About the Author

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  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, dialogue, incidents, and places either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  My Billionaire Secret Santa. Copyright 2018 by Cate Remy

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be resold, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author. Piracy is illegal. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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  Chapter 1

  Atlanta, Georgia

  “Double espresso latte for Brie.”

  Brie McIntyre heard her name and moved to the side of the counter in the Jumpy Java cafe to get her coffee order. “That’s me.”

  The barista set her cup on the counter. “You wanted almond milk, right?”

  “Yep. Thanks.” She was running late to pick her ten year-old daughter Kianna up from school, and needed the extra caffeine to help her power through a long shift at the department store Darcy’s this afternoon. Ever since Black Friday shopping started, she got called in to do extra shifts in the daytime and sometimes evenings.

  Brie didn’t complain about working the shifts. She needed the money to pay for Kianna’s medical bills. Her daughter’s new motorized wheelchair cost an extra thousand dollars more than the insurance wanted to pay. Brie got out her phone to check the time. Kianna was supposed to get out of school in fifteen minutes and then right off to the sitter’s. Yikes, she had almost no time.

  “Oof.” She collided with a man who opened the door and barged into the cafe as she was on her way out. He knocked her arm. Latte foam bubbled up from the opening of the lid and splashed the back of her hand.

  “I’m so sorry.” He put the brakes on his fancy leather oxfords. He wore a navy wool coat that looked like it was from a high-end line sold at Darcy’s for about seven hundred a pop. “I made you spill your coffee.”

  A brown stain spread up Brie’s coat sleeve. “It’s okay.” It really wasn’t, but she wanted to be polite. She searched the counter for a napkin dispenser. The one turned up empty. “Fabulous. No napkins.”

  The man opened his coat and reached into the lapel of his suit jacket for a pocket square. “Use this.”

  She touched the sky blue square. It matched his eyes. “Are you sure? This is silk.”

  “You need to wipe your hand. My suit will be fine without it.” Before Brie could take the pocket square from him, he took her hand and started dabbing at the latte foam. “Did you get burned?”

  Surprised by how he took it upon himself to clean up her hand, she shook her head instead of giving a verbal reply. His head was lowered, so he didn’t see her gesture. When he looked up, she noticed a bit of refined gray along the temples of his sandy blond short hair.

  She remembered he asked her a question. “No, I didn’t get burned. It was only almond milk foam.”

  “Good to know.” He dabbed at her wrist. It kind of tickled.

  “I promise not to sue.”

  “Please don’t. I’m a lawyer and I just finished cleaning out my case log in time for Christmas.”

  That explained his nice suit and seven hundred dollar coat. “Then I guess I’d be the one with trouble on my hands.”

  He gave her a smile. He had a few days’ growth of beard that was coming in nicely along his square jaw. “Looks like I already did that for you by making you spill your drink.”

  If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was acting a bit on the flirtatious side. Brie heard a phone ring. She wondered if it was a teacher from Kianna’s school calling to see where she was.

  “That’s me.” The suited lawyer had the same ringtone as she did. He took his phone out of his coat pocket. “It’s my partner at the office.”

  “I need to run. My daughter’s waiting for me.” She secured the lid of her coffee cup.

  “Tell me your name.”

  “I’m Brie.”

  “Brie, I’m Jackson. Sorry I bumped into you like this.”

  Her phone rang. This time it was Kianna’s school. “I definitely have to leave.” She flew out of the door and ducked out of the way of a couple college students with bookbags and designer headphones.

  Latte foam leaked out of her coffee lid again. This time, it landed on the pavement. Brie answered her phone. “Hello.”

  “This is Niles Elementary. Is this Mrs. McIntyre?” a female voice came on the phone.

  “Miss.” Brie skirted around a man selling tamales from a cart on the sidewalk. Thank goodness he wasn’t blocking her van. “I had my name and my daughter’s changed to my maiden name years ago.”

  “I don’t know why we have you listed as married in our files.”

  Brie wondered that, too. Her divorce was years ago.

  “Your daughter Kianna is in the attendance office waiting for you. Her class let out a few minutes before the bell.”

  “I’m on my way.” Brie slipped her phone in her coat pocket and got in her van.

  She drove the next three blocks in rush hour traffic. The school was the next block up. Brie waited for the pedestrians to cross the street. She took a drink from her latte. The light turned green and she went around the street corner before having to stop again at another red light. She realized she was holding something else in her hand along with the cup. Jackson’s blue pocket square.

  Fabulous. She forgot to hand it back to him and she didn’t have time to circle back to the cafe to return it. He probably got his coffee and left, anyway.

  The light turned green. She turned onto the next street. Maybe during her break at work, she could search online to see if his business address came up. Then she could mail it to him.

  Wait. He didn’t tell her his last name. She wouldn’t have much luck searching by only a first name in a city as big as Atlanta. There were more attorneys in this city than there were traffic lights.

  Jackson got in line at the cafe after the pretty woman with the curly hair and ebony skin named Brie left to go pick up her daughter from school. He hated that he spilled coffee on her hand. He was such a klutz.

  His cell phone rang again. What was going on with his partner calling? They worked in entertainment law. Did one of their clients get into trouble by having a meltdown on social media?

  “Cooper, what is it?”

  “Why aren’t you answering your phone?” His law partner demanded.

  “Because I’m trying to get a cup of coffee.”

  “You need to get down to the office ASAP.”

  “What’s the crisis?” Jackson reached for his medium black coffee the barista set on the counter.

  “You just need to get down here.”

  Cooper was never this cagey. Jackson didn’t waste more time at the cafe.
He took his coffee and did a mix of walking and jogging to make it to the law practice on Peachtree Boulevard.

  Ten minutes later, he entered his suite to see the empty front desk. He found the paralegal standing outside the door of his office. “Martina, why aren’t you at the front desk?”

  “Sorry. Cooper told me to stand guard outside the door and wait until you came.”

  “Stand guard?”

  “Some super secret lawyers from Georgie Peach Records are here to see you.”

  Georgie Peach. That was his uncle’s company. More questions formed in Jackson’s head. Why were record company lawyers in his law office? “Thanks, Martina. You can go back up front.” He opened the door to his office.

  Inside, his law partner and a team of two men sat on the furniture. Cooper occupied the chair in front of the desk while the other men took the couch and matching chair. Their laptops and tablets filled the space of the coffee table.

  “Good. He’s here.” Cooper waved him in. “Shut the door. Have a seat.”

  Jackson looked at the pair of foreign faces in his office as he went around to his desk. He set his coffee down but didn’t take a seat. “Tell me why everyone’s acting strange.”

  “Mr. Barnes.” The lawyer on the left end of the couch stood. “I’m Ted. That’s Kevin. On behalf of the legal team at Georgie Peach Records, we wish to express our condolences.”

  “Wait, what?”

  Kevin, the lawyer on the right side of the couch spoke. “The CEO of the company, your uncle, passed away yesterday morning. His housekeeper found him.”

  Jackson absorbed the news. The last time he saw his uncle George was more than fifteen years ago, when he was just starting his entertainment law practice.

  “Have you spoken to him recently?” asked Cooper.

  “No. He was estranged.” Jackson recalled one occasion when he invited his uncle to have dinner with him and his now late wife to celebrate the opening of his new practice. Uncle George never showed up or called. “We lived in the same city, but he kept to himself.” Not knowing what else to say, he picked up his coffee and took a drink, still stunned by the news.

  “You’re his last surviving relative. Our team spent the past twenty-four hours going through his papers.” Ted perused his laptop. “His wishes were to be cremated immediately with no memorial service. He left instructions in his will to make you the sole inheritor of Georgie Peach Records.”

  Hot coffee burned Jackson’s lip. He put the cup down and rubbed his mouth. “That can’t be right.”

  “We have his instructions right here.” Ted held out a print copy. He got up and put it on the desk, along with two copies of documents to sign. “You’re the new CEO of Georgie Peach.”

  Jackson’s lips stung and his mind reeled. He was the CEO of a recording company? This was crazy.

  “We’ll give you a few minutes to look over your uncle’s instructions.” Kevin stood and straightened his jacket.

  Cooper got up and opened the office door for the lawyers. When the last one left, he closed the door and turned to Jackson. “I’m speechless.”

  “For once.” Jackson sat down in his chair.

  His law partner came to the desk. “Do you know what this means?”

  Jackson reached out for the copy of his uncle’s instructions for the company. “It means I need to read through this to see if there’s been a mistake.”

  “There isn’t. You heard them. They spent the past day combing through your uncle’s documents.”

  “I just inherited a record company overnight. That doesn’t sound strange to you?”

  “Correction. You inherited a billion-dollar record company. Which makes you a billionaire. Let it sink in.”

  Jackson found it impossible to believe. His head swam. “I think I need another cup of coffee.”

  “You haven’t finished the one on your desk. Besides, you need something much stronger than that to celebrate.”

  “My uncle just died, Cooper.”

  “I thought you said you were estranged.”

  “It’s still not a time to party.”

  “I hear you loud and clear.” His law partner went out of the office, likely planning which bar to go to after work.

  Jackson remained seated at his desk. He hadn’t seen Uncle George in ages and the man turned his life upside down in a blink of an eye. A billionaire record exec? Him? If he hadn’t already ingested plenty of caffeine, he would have sworn he was at home in bed, still asleep and having the most insane dream.

  He read the document, a plan that detailed the record company’s steps it needed to take to keep running in the event of his uncle’s death. Sure enough, there was Jackson’s name in bold letters in the first paragraph. In the event of my untimely passing, the corporate and day-to-day management will go to my nephew, Jackson Reese Barnes, esquire. The paragraph gave way to a twenty-page list comprising of a hundred or so bulleted points of his new duties and expectations as Georgie Peach’s new CEO.

  The record company’s lawyers filed inside his office again. Cooper was with them.

  Jackson rose from his chair. “You’re going to have to give me time to study all of this.”

  The record company lawyers shook their heads. “We don’t have the luxury, Mr. Barnes,” said Kevin.

  “Who’s the acting CEO of the company? I’ll talk to him or her.”

  “Your uncle didn’t appoint one after the COO resigned last spring.”

  “Why the resignation?”

  Kevin adjusted his tie. “Your uncle and he had a few disagreements.”

  Jackson wasn’t surprised. Uncle George hadn’t been the easiest person to get along with. “You realize your corporate structure has big holes in it?”

  “You see why it’s necessary for you to sign those papers, Mr. Barnes,” Ted pointed out. “Georgie Peach Records needs a leader.”

  He hated when other people made better counterpoints than he did. Jackson took a pen from the holder at the corner of the desk. “I’m signing, but I will be reviewing the company’s corporate structure immediately.”

  “We expect nothing less from Atlanta’s top entertainment lawyer.”

  “Flattery will get you nowhere with him.” Cooper rolled his eyes.

  Jackson finished signing his name on the two documents that established him as CEO of his uncle’s recording company. His world started to feel as loopy as the last S in his signature.

  Ted collected the documents. “We’ll get these notarized and have a courier deliver your copy this afternoon. By the way, what do you want your press release to state?”

  Jackson motioned his head no firmly. “I don’t want a press release. Tell the media there’s a new CEO, but I’m not ready to make my name public.” He looked at the documents as the attorney filed them away. “I need to tie up a few thousand loose ends at my office first.”

  “Please.” Cooper scoffed. “We knocked out the backlog.”

  Kevin collected all the computer equipment he and Ted brought into a rolling case. “When can we expect you at the company?”

  “As soon as this afternoon. I’d like to meet everyone.”

  “We’ll send a moving truck. Have a good day, Mr. Barnes.”

  The two attorneys gathered their things and gave a nod to Cooper on the way out. After they were gone, Cooper plopped down in the chair in front of the desk. “What are you going to do now?”

  Jackson stared at the steam rising from the opening in the lid of his coffee cup. “Guess I’ll start clearing my desk.”

  “That’s the spirit, Billionaire Barnes.”

  “Don’t call me that.”

  Cooper stood. “I’ll just call you the new Georgie Peach record exec. How’s that?”

  Jackson wasn’t comfortable with that title, either.

  Chapter 2

  Brie sat in the patient examining room with Kianna in the children’s hospital while the pediatrician finished writing notes in her daughter’s chart. “Thanks for seeing Kia
nna today for her checkup. They changed my schedule around at work because of the holiday shoppers.”

  “I understand. Seems to get crazier every year.” The pediatrician clicked the retractable pen. “Kianna’s doing great. Her muscular dystrophy hasn’t progressed in the past year. Keep taking her to therapy and basketball practice to build up her arm strength.” The pediatrician handed Kianna a candy cane. “I’ll see you both in January.”

  Brie helped her daughter into her coat and hat after the pediatrician left. “Time to get you to the sitter for a few hours.”

  Kianna was much more interested in peeling off the wrapper on the candy cane. Upon succeeding, she stuck it in her mouth and promptly made a yuck face. “It tastes funny.”

  Brie looked at the brand on the wrapper. “It’s sugar-free. It’s better for your teeth.”

  “I want a candy cane hot cocoa from Jumpy Java.”

  “Mommy will buy you one next time we go there. Mommy has to work this afternoon.”

  “Awww.”

  Brie remembered when she was at Jumpy Java yesterday. Her hand was none the worse for wear after getting milk foam on it. She hoped she could say the same for Jackson’s pocket square. She left it soaking in her bathroom sink in warm water and mild detergent. Hopefully, the detergent would get the coffee stains out without ruining the silk fabric. It doesn’t matter. There’s no way you’re going to see him again to give it back.

  She carried her daughter’s bookbag and lunchbox out to the front. She walked by the receptionist and waved goodbye.

  “Ma’am, can I see you for a moment?”

  Brie went to the front desk. Her daughter came up beside her. “Yes?”