The Protective Billionaire Read online

  The Protective Billionaire

  Billionaires Find Love

  Christine Kersey

  Contents

  Note to Readers

  Book Description

  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

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Epilogue

  The Missing Billionaire Chapter 1

  Books by Christine Kersey

  About the Author

  Note to Readers

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  Book Description

  In hiding from her stalker, actress Aubree Nichols holes up in her friend's mountain cabin. Then, while on a walk on the wooded property, she catches a glimpse of a man nearby. Terrified that her stalker’s found her, she overreacts.

  Billionaire Cameron Shah just wants to enjoy the solitude of his new mountain cabin. But when his beautiful yet baffling neighbor threatens him with a branch, he's intrigued. Too bad she won't tell him her name.

  When Cameron cooks up a plan to help Aubree, she has to decide if she wants to stay in hiding forever, or if with Cameron's help, she's ready to come out of the shadows.

  Chapter One

  Aubree Nichols tugged the ball cap down over her chin-length white-blonde hair before climbing out of her car and making her way inside the grocery store. It wasn’t that she didn’t want anyone to recognize her as the former actress from the daytime soap Love & Lies—normally she loved running into fans. No. It was for another reason entirely. A reason that had nothing to do with taking selfies with fans and everything to do with staying hidden from her stalker.

  A bell tinkled against the glass door as she pushed it open, then she walked inside the small market. It was early in the morning—too early for most people. Just the way she liked it.

  Keeping her head down, Aubree wrestled a cart away from the row of carts that were jammed together, then made her way to the produce section. As she picked up an avocado and gently squeezed, testing for ripeness, resentment toward her stalker made her squeeze a little too hard. Fortunately, the avocado was nowhere near ripe so she didn’t do any damage.

  Still, her resentment lingered. If it wasn’t for Tyler, she’d be home in Los Angeles, blissfully living her life. Okay, maybe her life wasn’t completely blissful—after all, Tyler’s constant harassment had led the producers to kill off her character on the soap. At least that was what she believed. They’d claimed it was what was best for the storyline and that her character wasn’t that important. Yes, her part was small, but it had been her regular gig for the last six months. Regardless, now she had no job and no income and her small savings was rapidly running out.

  Before she’d gained a stalker, she’d lived without fear. Now though, she and her dog Maya were hiding in her friend Janie’s unused cabin in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas until Tyler could be found and taken into custody.

  Desperately hoping that would be soon, Aubree forced all thoughts of Tyler out of her head and focused on something safe—the weather. The weather wasn’t threatening her, wasn’t claiming she was engaged to him. And it wasn’t breaking into her house and digging through her most personal belongings.

  With a shudder, Aubree looked toward the large glass windows that fronted the store, concentrating on the gorgeous day. Thank goodness it wasn’t the middle of winter. Then she’d have to trudge through the snow. Not something this Southern California girl would appreciate at all.

  Instead, it was May. Snow remained in the highest elevations, but where Aubree was staying the temperature was cool but comfortable.

  Sighing at her plight, Aubree bagged three avocados, then grabbed a bag of spinach leaves before moving on to the tomatoes. Nothing like a big green salad to make her feel better. That and a piece of dark chocolate.

  She went to the dairy section and put a half gallon of skim milk into her cart, wondering if her former co-workers were missing her—because she missed them and her job desperately. Then she made her way down the canned goods aisle.

  Cameron Shah parked his black Jeep, hopped out, then strode into the market. He had a lot of groceries to buy and didn’t want to take a lot of time to buy them. The pantry in his newly purchased cabin was nearly empty, and besides a few drinks, his fridge was bare as well. Even so, he’d always disliked grocery shopping. Maybe it stemmed from his childhood when there never seemed to be quite enough food and each shopping trip was like a giant math test where he had to help his mother decide what to put back when they added up the cost and knew they couldn’t get everything they needed.

  Money was no longer an object, but those lingering memories had him checking prices on most items before placing them in his cart. He was worth over a billion dollars now, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling that it could all come crashing down.

  He rolled his shopping cart up and down the aisles, stocking up on protein-packed foods as well as carb-loaded items. Though he spent the bulk of his time at his desk, at twenty-eight, he had energy to spare and running helped to keep his athletic body trim.

  Pausing to look over the different cuts of meat, Cameron thought about his job. But it was more than a job. It was his life. As the developer of several wildly popular gaming apps, he got a thrill every time he saw someone playing one of them, often having to stop himself from peppering players with questions about what they liked or disliked about the games. Holding back a grin, he placed several packages of meat in his cart.

  It was early and the store was nearly empty, so when he turned down the cereal aisle and saw a woman using the bottom shelf as a step to reach a box on the top shelf, he kind of gawked for a second. She was petite—couldn’t have been much over five two—and slender. A ball cap obscured her face, but he was able to see the smooth skin on her jaw, and her full lips drew his attention as well. Form-fitting jeans accentuated her trim hips, and as she reached upward, a strip of tanned skin appeared between her jeans and light blue t-shirt. With her left hand she gripped an upper shelf, the toes of her tennis shoes clinging to the bottom shelf, and with her right hand she struggled to grab a box that was just out of her reach.

  I should help her.

  When the thought came to mind, Cameron felt like an idiot for watching her struggle instead of going right to her aid. Moving forward with purpose, Cam
eron said, “Let me help you with that.”

  As his deep voice pierced the silence, the woman screamed, and before Cameron knew what was happening, he saw her tumble backwards, landing on her rear end on the hard floor of the market.

  Feeling like her fall was somehow his fault, and worried that she’d hurt herself, he hurried toward her.

  Chapter Two

  Aubree’s heart thumped painfully against her ribs, but she hardly noticed because she was so startled by her fall. Taking stock, she didn’t think she was hurt, although her tailbone was a bit sore. Then she saw a tall, muscular man rushing toward her.

  Throwing up her hands in a defensive move, she nearly screamed again, and when he stopped and knelt beside her, it took everything in her to not scuttle away from him. Instead, drawing in a shuddering breath, she took a moment to get herself under control.

  It’s not him. It’s not Tyler. He hasn’t found me. I’m still safe.

  Her terror slowly began to seep away as her heart returned to its normal rhythm. Still, realizing how vulnerable she was by being out in public gave her a sense of urgency to finish her shopping and get back to the cabin where she felt invisible.

  “Are you okay?” the man asked.

  Why was this man bothering her? Why couldn’t he mind his own business? If he hadn’t rushed up to her she wouldn’t have fallen and she wouldn’t be sitting on the cold, hard floor of the market feeling vulnerable.

  “I’m fine.” Her tone came out sharper than she’d meant it to, but that was okay. Maybe he’d get the message to leave her alone.

  “I’m sorry if I startled you,” he said.

  Pressing her lips together in annoyance, she avoided his gaze because she was also deeply embarrassed. She shouldn’t have been climbing the shelves in the first place, so it was really her own fault. But dang it! She’d wanted that particular cereal but it had been just out of reach. Being petite, she’d had to boost herself on bottom shelves before—it was a hazard of being vertically challenged. But in all those times she’d never fallen. Then again, she’d never been so on edge because of a stalker.

  Falling in front of an attractive man just made it that much worse. With a quick sideways glance she’d seen that he was hot—short dark hair, full lips framed by a short beard, square jaw. And he looked like he was in excellent shape.

  Forcing her thoughts away from whether or not this stranger was attractive, she began pushing herself to her feet.

  “Here,” the man said, his hand outstretched, “let me help you.”

  She was not about to compound her mortification by letting him help her up. She could do it herself, thank you very much. “I’ve got it,” she said, and when he withdrew his hand, she smiled in satisfaction. She could take care of herself. It was bad enough that she had to rely on Janie to basically hide out in her cabin. She could at least manage to stand on her own.

  When she was on her feet, she kept her chin down—better to hide her identity—lifting it only high enough to get another glimpse of the hot stranger.

  She had to stop thinking of him that way.

  He was tall though—at least a foot taller than her own five foot two inches. And yep, her first assessment was correct. Hot. Then again, all the men she worked with on the soap were hot. But something about this man was different. He was more than attractive. The way he held himself told the world that he was confident in who he was. Or was he just cocky? Not sure, Aubree pushed aside all thoughts of him. What she needed was to finish her grocery shopping and get back to Maya and the cabin where she felt safe.

  Being out here in the open where anyone could approach her? Nope. It didn’t feel safe at all.

  “Need help getting something off the shelf?” the stranger asked.

  Yeah, she did. But it was time to move on. She would have to get that cereal on her next trip.

  With a shake of her head, she stepped to her shopping cart, placed her hands on the handle, and hurried away.

  Cameron watched the woman push her cart away from him. What was her problem anyway? She’d obviously wanted that box of cereal. She’d risked injuring herself trying to get it, so why not let him help her? Unless she was one of those women who refused to let a man do anything for them. He admired women who were independent—preferred them, actually. But come on, what was wrong with asking for help once in a while?

  The woman reached the end of the aisle and turned right, disappearing from view. Tempted to follow her, Cameron felt a smile bloom on his mouth as he shook his head. Women usually threw themselves at him, not walked away from him. That’s all this was, this compulsion to run after her and make her notice him. The need to prove that he still had that draw on women. Of course, part of his attraction to those women was his wealth. This woman didn’t know anything about that. If she knew, would she have been more friendly?

  His lips tugged downward as he shook his head. Better to finish what he came to do—fill his pantry.

  Then why was he grabbing a box of the cereal the woman had been trying to reach and placing it in his cart?

  He needed food. Cereal was a food. So, he’d get it. It was some sort of bran cereal. Looked like it would be good for him.

  With a soft chuckle, he continued down the aisle, and when he reached the end, he couldn’t stop himself from looking for the woman, but she was nowhere to be seen.

  He’d barely gotten a glimpse of her face when she’d stood in front of him. She’d kept that darn ball cap tugged down and she hadn’t made eye contact with him. Despite that, he’d gotten a good look at her mouth—rosy lips that were full of promise. And he’d seen her cute little turned-up nose. But her eyes had been well hidden under the brim of her hat. It was almost as if she’d been hiding.

  Why was he thinking so much about her when he should be grocery shopping? Instead of filling his cart, he caught himself standing in front of the shelf of seasonings, his gaze out of focus.

  With a blink, he turned his attention to the options on the shelf, then he picked out his favorite seasoning and placed it in the cart. He’d grill a steak for dinner that night. And eat it all alone.

  Yeah? So? He ate alone all the time. Developing gaming apps kept him busy—not to mention the crazy hours he worked. Who had time to date? It was a distraction he didn’t need. That was one reason he’d bought the cabin. To have a place where he could give his complete attention to developing the new game he’d dreamt up. No one to interrupt, no demands on his time. Just him and his computer.

  Cameron went down two more aisles, filling his cart but not seeing the woman. When he was done, he strode to the register and unloaded his groceries onto the conveyor belt. Surreptitiously looking around, when his gaze went to the plate glass window and to the parking lot, he saw her. She was loading her bags into the trunk of a late model Honda Accord.

  Watching her every move, when she climbed behind the wheel and vanished from view, he felt a pinch of disappointment. Maybe he should have looked for her, talked to her. At least gotten her name.

  Ah well. What did it matter? He had more important things to focus on. Besides, she clearly wasn’t interested in him.

  Chapter Three

  Before leaving the parking lot, Aubree let her gaze probe the area. Wanting to make sure no one was watching her, no one was following her, she stared at each car in the lot, verifying that it was vacant before moving on to the next one. It didn’t take long to look—there were only a handful of cars. One of them was a big black Jeep.

  I’ll bet it belongs to the hot stranger.

  Why she believed that, she didn’t know. And why she was thinking about him at all was a bigger mystery. Right now her focus was on staying invisible, staying safe. She was using this time away from Hollywood to read the scripts her agent sent her. And when she needed another creative outlet, she took out her paints and canvas, found a bit of scenery that spoke to her, and went to work.

  The cabin had a landline, but cell service was spotty. Ergo, few distractions. It was har
d to be away from social media and all the hustle and bustle she was used to, but she also found it liberating. She’d even considered staying off of social media permanently.

  Now though, satisfied that no one was watching her, she started her car and pulled out of the parking lot before driving back to the cabin. The moment she opened the front door, Maya greeted her with her tail wagging so hard that her entire back end swung from side to side.

  “I wasn’t gone that long, baby girl,” Aubree said as she knelt beside the Golden Retriever and stroked her back.

  Maya panted, her doggy smile wide.

  “I missed you too,” Aubree said before placing a kiss on the top of Maya’s cream-colored head. “Now, help me bring in the groceries, okay?”

  With Maya on her heels, Aubree grabbed two bags of groceries, then set them on the counter in the tiny kitchen. After she’d brought them all in, she began putting them away, lamenting that she’d let her fears keep her from getting that darn box of cereal. It wasn’t that she wanted that cereal so badly. It was more that she hadn’t gotten what she wanted simply because she’d let her nerves get the better of her.