The Millionaire's Revenge Contract Read online

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Discover more category romance titles from Entangled Indulgence… A Game of Chance

  A Nanny for the Reclusive Billionaire

  Scotland or Bust

  Wife for Hire

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 by Sonya Weiss. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

  Entangled Publishing, LLC

  2614 South Timberline Road

  Suite 105, PMB 159

  Fort Collins, CO 80525

  [email protected]

  Indulgence is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.

  Edited by Alycia Tornetta

  Cover design by Heather Howland

  Cover photography by GettyImages/iStock

  ISBN 978-1-64063-650-7

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  First Edition November 2018

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for supporting a small publisher! Entangled prides itself on bringing you the highest quality romance you’ve come to expect, and we couldn’t do it without your continued support. We love romance, and we hope this book leaves you with a smile on your face and joy in your heart.

  xoxo

  Liz Pelletier, Publisher

  For the minions.

  Chapter One

  If giving in to tears would help, Maddie Russell would cry buckets. She’d failed her younger sister, lost her job, and now her day was about to get even worse as she spotted a colleague who constantly asked her out striding toward her, a leering grin on his face. A self-centered braggart who made fun of others, Frank was on her oh-hell-no list. She couldn’t tolerate being in the company of mean people.

  He passed the elevators, getting closer to her, and Maddie whirled around in the opposite direction. She couldn’t deal with him right now. With housekeeping being understaffed today, she’d traded her pencil skirt and blazer for a maid’s uniform, and her kindness had been rewarded by being fired. Yanking a master keycard from the pocket of her work smock, she slid it into the lock and darted into the sanctuary of the Russell hotel’s finest luxury suite. She’d played here as a child and had always loved this room, with its overstuffed furniture, cheerfully colored walls, and panoramic views.

  It was hard to believe the family hotel was now lost thanks to what she was sure was a mistake on her grandfather’s part. His hunger for money and material possessions had always made Samuel Russell just as driven as it had her parents, but he’d loved her fiercely and had often been her only port in the middle of the dysfunction storm.

  But the recent decline in his mental function had led her grandfather to do something that in his right mind, he never would have done. He’d cleaned out the hotel’s operating accounts and taken her sister Dani’s inheritance—money Dani was counting on to live on and to make her home wheelchair accessible.

  Today, the hotel had been sold to pay off the debts against it, and that was a huge, bitter pill to swallow. Rumor had it that the hotel’s new owner, a ruthless multi-millionaire, according to employee gossip, was making sweeping changes. Turned out that rumor was true, as evidenced by the email she’d received earlier letting her know she was fired. She’d worked here all her life, and now it was gone.

  Once the panic had passed, she’d made a plan to do whatever she could to get a meeting with him to ask if there was any way she could keep her job. A good portion of her paycheck secretly went to her sister, and there was no way she could earn the amount she made in salary anywhere else. Her grandfather had paid her generously for her executive management position. He paid everyone well—he always said it was just good business to let employees know they were valued. Losing that income would be devastating.

  Her cell phone vibrated, and Maddie answered in a whisper.

  “Everything okay?” Dani questioned, instantly sounding worried.

  Maddie did the same thing she’d been doing for the last few weeks to protect her sister. She told another lie. “Of course. I’m just busy.” Dani didn’t need to know about the financial ass kicking that was coming if Maddie couldn’t find a solution. Her sister had enough to deal with.

  “Just wanted to call to remind you not to forget to pick up Sam’s birthday cake.”

  They were celebrating her six-year-old nephew’s birthday tonight with a few of the kids he’d befriended during this vacation stay with Maddie. Her heart squeezed when she thought of how lucky she was to still have him around.

  “I’ll remember. The bakery is on the way to the apartment,” she said.

  The doorknob rattled behind her as someone thrust a keycard into the lock. Crap! Frank must have decided to follow her.

  “Gotta go. I’ll call you later.” Maddie hung up and darted into the bathroom, quietly closing the door behind her before stepping into the bathtub and pulling the shower curtain closed. If she stayed here long enough, hopefully he would go away.

  Her heart racing, she listened intently, waiting for the coast to clear.

  Are the footsteps coming closer? She sucked in a breath as the bathroom door opened. Omigod.

  When the shower curtain was pulled back, Maddie let out a yelp of surprise at the so naked, so not her colleague guy standing in front of her looking as shocked as she felt.

  Flustered, she grabbed the shower curtain, tossed it over the man’s head, and ran like hell. She sprinted toward the door and almost had it open when he caught up to her.

  Maddie pressed her back against the door, fumbling behind her for the handle.

  The stranger held his hands up and took a step back. At some point, he’d grabbed a towel to cover himself. “Whoa, honey. I’m not going to hurt you. Are you okay?”

  With his words, tension drained from Maddie. He seemed genuinely concerned, not to mention he was hot, in a smoldering, I’d-be-so-good-at-it way.

  “Yeah, thanks. You just surprised me.” She couldn’t stop herself from discreetly checking him out, but she tried to do it without showing that she appreciated his deliciousness. He had impressively cut abs, and she knew from her sneak preview earlier that the bulge now hidden beneath the towel was just as impressive. Raising her eyes to his face, she let her gaze run over his chiseled jaw and day-old facial scruff. With hair as black as a crow’s wing and eyes so dark brown they appeared almost black as well, he was a definite ogle-fest.

  His gaze traveled over the spare maid’s uniform she wore. “You’re supposed to check first.” His voice was hypnotizing. Deep and rich, like the calorie-laden chocolate cupcakes she loved from the sweet shop near her apartment. “As you can see, this room is occupied.” His smile was sexier than it had any right to be.

  “I can see that…all of that now,” she said, teasing right
back, not correcting his belief she was with housekeeping. After the stress she’d been under lately, she could use some light-hearted banter, and revealing who she really was would likely end that. It always did. “It’s my last day. I was just checking one final room before clocking out.” It wasn’t a total lie.

  He laughed, and delicious warmth heated her from head to toe at the sound.

  “You don’t have to run away. I promise you, I’m not the big bad wolf.” He flashed a wicked grin that did nothing to cool the heat.

  It was Maddie’s turn to laugh. “Something tells me you’re having an identity crisis, Mr. Wolf.”

  He rubbed his chin, his eyes narrowed. Searching. “I feel like I know you.”

  “You don’t.” She would definitely remember him. She couldn’t help adding, “You just wish you did.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Maddie lowered her eyes to the towel and then gave him an impish grin. “Oh yeah.” Her gaze slammed into his, and the delicious zing of hot guy awareness stormed her senses. Clearly it had been too long since she’d gone on a date, and now her body was going haywire.

  “We can change that.” He motioned behind him toward the bathroom. “Why don’t I get ready and we can meet at the bar to finish this discussion?”

  The last thing Maddie wanted to do was sit at the bar in the hotel she loved while knowing she’d never be part of it again. Too many memories. She shook her head. “How about the coffee shop next door?” she said, still in disbelief that this was actually happening. She was being asked out by a gorgeous, half-naked stranger after being fired. No one would believe her when she told them.

  “Deal. Twenty minutes?”

  Maddie nodded. “See you there.”

  “Wait,” he said as she started to leave. “What’s your name?”

  She didn’t want to give it to him yet—as soon as guys discovered she was related to the Samuel Russell, they only saw dollar signs when they looked at her. They didn’t know she was actually broke, having funneled the majority of her money into helping pay for Dani’s needs. Instead, she gave him her middle name. “Athena.”

  “Daughter of Zeus.”

  She smiled. “You know your mythology.”

  “Let’s just say I once knew a woman who knew a lot about Greek goddesses.”

  Enjoying his company and the flirting, Maddie said, “It’s amazing what you can learn when you let a woman teach you. And you are?”

  “Didn’t you recognize me without the towel?”

  Narrowing her eyes, Maddie studied him, looking for something familiar. “No, I don’t,” she said finally.

  “I thought it would be obvious. I’m Mr. Big.”

  She laughed out loud, delighted at his wit. From what she’d seen, she sure as hell couldn’t correct that. “Okay, Mr. Big, I’ll meet you in twenty minutes.”

  With the way that her life was going, Maddie had no intention of getting seriously involved with anyone. But she’d never felt a spark like this before, and a little harmless flirting with an obviously handsome man—she was guessing businessman—was right up her alley. What could it hurt?

  …

  By the time Cole Mitchell reached the coffee shop, the beautiful brunette from his room was already waiting at a table. He wasn’t sure what had come over him to ask her out, especially since he now owned the hotel where she worked—or used to, which made it a little better—but the pull he’d felt toward her had overridden his brain.

  She pointed to a cup across from her. “I ordered for you. Black, no sugar, no cream.”

  He sat in the chair opposite her and then pulled the cup toward him. “How’d you know?”

  “I’m guessing you don’t like anything that weakens your coffee. You seem like a give-it-to-me-straight kind of guy.”

  He wasn’t sure whether to be impressed that she’d gotten such a good read on him—or concerned she’d read him so easily. “I don’t like everything given to me straight. I do like a few things out of the ordinary.”

  “I can imagine.” She winked.

  Most women he’d known, even the ones who knew the score, would duck their heads or look away, coyly pretending they didn’t get his meaning. Not this woman. She stared right back at him. Assessing, in a game-on kind of way. To be sure he wasn’t reading something that wasn’t there in the conversation, he said, “We are talking about sex, right?”

  She scrunched up her nose, and her blue eyes sparkled with amusement. “At least I am. I like a few things out of the ordinary, too. The same old missionary position can be such a snooze-fest.”

  Cole was in the process of taking a drink of the coffee and ended up taking too big of a gulp. His upper lip stinging, he set the cup down and regarded her carefully. The image of her long, tanned legs and her shapely ass had seared his brain from the first glance. He wanted her with an intensity that made it hard to focus on anything else. “Are you sure I don’t know you?”

  She wagged her finger and tut-tutted. “Been that many, huh? Faces of the women you’ve known all blurring together?”

  “I’m not a playboy,” he said with a half smile at her teasing. “I’m more discerning than that.” He still couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d crossed paths with her somewhere before. The way she wiped her index finger across her pouty lower lip to remove a drop of coffee was a familiar gesture. Flicking her shoulder-length hair over her shoulder, sliding her thumb beneath a bracelet to move it back and forth…those were things he knew, but he couldn’t bring the who and when to mind.

  “I’m supposed to take your word for that?” She blew gently on her coffee, regarding him over the rim, her eyebrows arched and her eyes full of amusement. “Or are you going to offer to show me your ‘discernment’?”

  Cole laughed. “Why don’t you have dinner with me this evening and get to know me better?”

  “Can’t. I wish I could.” She shook her head. “I have my nephew’s birthday party tonight.”

  He was surprised at how badly he’d wanted her to say yes and how much disappointment he felt. “Tomorrow, then?”

  “I’m supposed to go to a masquerade ball.” She chewed on her lower lip.

  Cole wanted to stop her and lean in to touch his mouth to the spot. He didn’t understand the strong attraction, but he couldn’t bring himself to quit trying to get to know her. “Are you allowed to bring a plus one?”

  After a second, she nodded. “Give me one good reason I should give you my extra ticket.”

  “Because you want to see where this leads as badly as I do.”

  Her eyes widened. “You don’t pull any punches, do you?”

  That was an understatement. “Polite conversation sends you home alone. Being upfront gets you laid.”

  She laughed a deep belly laugh. “Okay, Mr. Big. Since I agree that I do want to see where this leads as badly as you do, it looks like you’re going to the ball. I’ll leave the ticket for you at the door. The event is at the Rice River mansion at eight. Eighteen-hundreds dress. The sponsors will be taking donations, and the proceeds will go to benefit teens who age out of the foster care system.”

  “That’s a worthy cause,” he said, impressed.

  “It is. I mentor some of those kids. Their stories would just break your heart.”

  “I can imagine.” Cole nodded.

  She balled up a napkin. “Well, I guess I’ll see you then. I’ll be wearing a mask, so you might have trouble recognizing me in the crowd.”

  Cole doubted that. “The most beautiful woman in the room always manages to stand out.”

  “Okay.” She dragged the word out with a slight tinge of disbelief before she finished the rest of her coffee. Holding onto the empty cup, she said, “I’d better get back to the hotel to get the rest of my things.”

  “How long were you a maid there before you quit?” he asked.

  An odd expression crossed her face, and she glanced down at the table before answering. “A while.”

  Reluctant to end their t
ime together, Cole rose as she stood. “I have a meeting I need to get to, so I’ll walk you out.” He went with her and stood on the sidewalk close to the shop’s outdoor seating area.

  She inclined her head slightly. “See you tomorrow, Mr. Big.”

  “Please. Call me by my first name.”

  “Which is?”

  He smirked. “Very.”

  “Naughty.” She pursed her lips and shook her finger at him. “I think my first impression of you might be correct.”

  “Oh yeah? What was that?”

  “That you’d probably be good in bed but bad on the heart.”

  “You’re wrong.”

  She arched her eyebrows. “You’re saying you wouldn’t be bad on the heart?”

  “No. I’m telling you I’d be great in bed, not just good.”

  “Maybe we’ll see about that if you’re lucky,” she teased with a wink.

  “Then I’ll change my name to Lucky.”

  At the corner, as they parted, she looked at him with a smile that made his breath hitch. The blue-eyed goddess was the most interesting woman he’d ever met. He didn’t believe in destiny, but there was something about her that made their meeting feel like some kind of cosmic force had a hand in it. Which given the reason he was even here was icing on the cake.

  It was a culmination of a long journey that had begun when Samuel Russell had lied, claiming he’d witnessed a teenage Cole and his friends start a fire that had nearly burned out of control. They’d all been sentenced to the juvenile facility in Butler Field, Texas. He’d survived. His friend Adam had not.

  Cole still carried the pain and helplessness he’d felt as he’d watched Adam die at the hands of the guards. The burn for revenge had seared into his soul. He’d worked his ass off, shedding his wrong-side-of-the-tracks upbringing to become a millionaire.

  Now the time had come to make his goal a reality. Starting with buying the Russell hotel. First to go was all of Samuel’s alliances. Friends, family members who worked at the hotel. All fired on his order. He didn’t want the man to have anyone he could turn to.

  He was going to take everything and everyone from Samuel and financially ruin the man who’d cost him so much. When the dust settled and the Russell family empire belonged to him, Cole would finally have the peace that evaded him.