The Billionaire's Beautiful Runaway Read online

  Table of Contents

  Billionaire Brothers:

  The Billionaire’s Beautiful Runaway

  Copyright

  Thank You!

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Epilogue

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  About the Author

  The Billionaire’s

  Beautiful Runaway

  Billionaire Brothers:

  The Malloys

  Book Two

  By

  Dakota Rebel

  and

  Brynn Paulin

  Supernova Indie Publishing Services, LLC

  www.supernovaindie.com

  Powered by Your Imagination

  The Billionaire’s Beautiful Runaway

  by

  Dakota Rebel and Brynn Paulin

  Luke

  I fell in love with Laura months ago, but she's determined to be "free" and not fall for anyone who might take over her life. I’ll admit, as a billionaire, a CEO and the oldest of five brothers, I'm prone to being bossy, but I don't want to keep her under my thumb. I want her under me in the best possible, most pleasurable way. Because regardless of what she might think, she's mine and I'm hers. I knew it in an instant. Now, I just need to bring her onboard with it.

  Laura

  Luke Malloy is the most dangerous man I've ever met: handsome, smart, powerful, dominating. It's the last characteristic that frightens me. On the run from my domineering father, who wants to force me into an arranged marriage to a man I’ve never even met, I’m desperate to find the freedom to live my life on my own terms. No matter how much I want Luke, I’m afraid I may fall under his control and lose the only thing I’ve had to cling to all my life: Myself.

  Copyright

  © 2020, Brynn Paulin and Dakota Rebel

  The Billionaire’s Beautiful Runaway

  Cover Art by Supernova Indie Publishing Services, LLC

  Published by: Supernova Indie Publishing Services, LLC

  Electronic Format ISBN: 978-1-62344-316-0

  Warning: All rights reserved. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and occurrences are a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, places or occurrences, is purely coincidental.

  Thank You!

  Thank you for your purchase of The Billionaire’s Beautiful Runaway by Dakota Rebel and Brynn Paulin. We hope you’ve enjoyed the story and will consider leaving a review and telling a friend.

  Brynn and Dakota love hearing from readers! Please visit their websites at www.brynnpaulin.com and www.dakotarebel.net.

  Dedication

  To our faithful readers:

  Thank you for your support…and your patience.

  We hope you love Luke and Laura as much as we do.

  Prologue

  ~ Luke ~

  I stood next to my brother, Chase, on the happiest day of his life, his wedding day to Emerson. I’m sure the entire crowd there noticed the scowl on my face. I didn’t care how I looked. I was too busy glaring daggers at Emerson’s maid of honor, Laura Moretti.

  It kind of shocked me she’d actually risked showing up at this wedding. She’d been running from me, and everyone else, for a month and now she was trapped on a boat with me for the weekend. And there was no way I’d let her get away again.

  When she’d broken off her joke of an engagement to a man she’d never met, I’d been very clear with her that she was to immediately come to my family in Las Vegas for protection. But she hadn’t come. And I’d been worried sick about her.

  As much as I teased Chase about falling in love with Emerson the first time he’d seen her, I’d been a total hypocrite. Though I wasn’t totally convinced I was in love with Laura, I was utterly fascinated by the exotic beauty currently glaring daggers at me across the aisle.

  Even though she was standing just feet from me, it may as well have been an ocean away. I hadn’t seen her until she was walking down the aisle in front of Em, who I’m sure looked beautiful, but I hadn’t been able to focus on anyone but Laura.

  Her black hair shone in the sunlight streaming through the windows in the ship’s cathedral and the mauve bridesmaid dress she wore was low cut in the front, slit high on the side and hugged every single one of her delicious curves. She looked so damn sexy, I’d had to hold my hands in front of my crotch to hide the interest she instilled in my body.

  She was here. And she couldn’t be more captive than on a ship in the middle of the ocean. Once the ceremony was over, I planned to drag her to my room and… Well, I wasn’t sure what the what was yet. Half of me wanted to put her over my knee and give her a world of hurt for scaring me. Except, she wasn’t mine to worry about.

  Yet.

  A sharp nudge to the ribs brought me out of my inner diatribe.

  “Can you maybe wait until after I’m actually married to drag Laura to bed?” Chase growled into my ear. “You’re a terrible best man.”

  “Sorry,” I whispered.

  “Give me the fucking ring,” he whispered back.

  I fought a blush as I pulled Em’s wedding band from my pocket and handed it to my brother. When I looked up at Laura again, she was hiding behind her bouquet, but I could tell she was smiling at my mistake.

  Her grin vanished when she caught my narrowed gaze across the aisle. I didn’t know what was happening to me. I didn’t believe in love at first, or second, sight. In fact, I’d teased Chase mercilessly as he’d pined for Emerson after their first encounter. But look at them now. Getting married, starting the rest of their lives together.

  Could you really know you wanted someone forever before you really knew anything about them? As I gazed at Laura again, I started to believe if maybe you could.

  Finally, Chase and Emerson were announced properly wed, and they headed up the aisle together. I strode over to Laura and took her arm in mine. I’d forgotten how much smaller than me she was. Even in heels she barely came to my shoulder. I had to stoop to murmur in her ear.

  “I hope you’re not planning on running off again.”

  “First chance I get,” she confirmed, meeting my gaze as she hurried us. “Truth be told, I’m pretty tired of men I don’t know telling me what to do. So, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll back the fuck off.”

  Damn it, that was entirely too true of a statement. I didn’t have an argument for that at all. When she’d done nothing but try to escape people trying to force her into something, I’d demanded where she go and what she do. Just like that fake fiancé of hers.

  “I apologize,” I told her. “That wasn’t what I was trying to do.”

  We’d reached the corridor outside of the chapel, and she allowed me to steer her aside, letting the rest of the people from the ceremony head out toward the reception area.

  “No one is ever trying to,” she said, crossing her arms under chest. “Everyone just seems to know what’s best when it comes to my life. And I don’t need some billionaire asshole trying to weasel his way in to do the same.”

  “Whoa!” I glared at her. �
�I was just trying to help. You needed a place to stay, somewhere safe where no one would look for you. I had that place available. I wasn’t telling you what to do.”

  “Tell her to come here,” she spat, quoting what I’d told Emerson when Laura had called her in a panic after running away from home.

  “Yes, because, as I said, you needed somewhere you could be protected.”

  “I don’t need to be protected,” she argued. She straightened and blew out a sigh. “What I need is to be left the hell alone.”

  She shoved past me and I let her go, frustrated but knowing I’d just make the situation worse if I followed after her now. I’d give her time to cool off then try to talk to her again after the reception.

  Unfortunately, she managed to disappear again. When I went to her room later that night I found that she’d switched with someone else. This girl was damned hard to track down when she didn’t want to be found.

  And she obviously didn’t want to be found. I spent the rest of the cruise trying to locate the elusive Laura, but she was in the wind. And when I begged her number off of Emerson, my calls relentlessly went to a full voicemail.

  I flew home alone, angry at myself and at her. Suddenly, Chase’s insane stalking of Emerson started to make sense and I vowed I’d find Laura and set everything right if it was the last thing I’d ever do.

  Chapter One

  ~ Laura ~

  Fuck my life. Fuck my family. Fuck this credit card. Fuck this damn rain and this broken-down car. Just fuck, fuck, fuck!

  My head dropped forward as I took deep breaths and tried to fight my tears. I wasn’t usually a crier. I certainly wasn’t usually a swearer. But everything about this day was more than I could handle with calm and composure.

  And here I was, all alone, in BFE—AKA Northern Michigan.

  I leaned my head against the steering wheel, wishing some hot tow-truck driver would materialize and take away all my worries. If he looked like Luke Malloy, all the better.

  And fuck my libido or whatever it was that wouldn’t let me forget that man. Even when I’d been engaged—albeit unwillingly to a man I’d never met—everything in me had stood up and paid attention the first time I’d met Luke. My girlfriends and I were in a club in Vegas, Diamond, and we’d met Luke and his brothers ten minutes before we were supposed to leave for a show.

  That ten minutes? Life changing.

  It was the reason I’d put down my foot and refused to marry the guy my parents arranged for me to get hitched to. Yeah, unfortunately, arranged marriages are still a thing, especially in old-school, totally religious-fanatical families like mine.

  And fucking fuck that.

  I grinned for the first time in an hour, enjoying my little bit of rebellion.

  My refusal hadn’t gone well that day. My father had locked me up; I’d run away. I’d been subsisting on my cash savings, but when my car had broken down no one would help me without a credit card. Not that I had much cash left. I was down to my last couple hundred.

  That’s how I found out my dad had canceled my Visa. Effectively stranding me. And it would be just my luck he had people watching the card. He was trying to force my hand with the credit card thing. Heck, he’d likely report my car as stolen if it weren’t in my name—a technicality from a mistake that had never been corrected. But without money to repair my car, what could I do?

  For about the millionth time, I questioned not getting a job, but I was afraid I’d be traced with my social. Not that I had experience doing anything. I had an Applied Arts college degree, but it’s hard to get a gig designing people’s living rooms when you’re on the run.

  I needed to call Emerson. My best friend would know what to do.

  Except she was on her honeymoon.

  But I was stuck, and literally, she was all I had. Sure, I had other friends, but none were as close to me as Emerson was. Plus, I knew Em didn’t particularly care for my relatives, so she was team runaway all the way. She’d been less than thrilled over my engagement but determined to stick by my side and give me every bit of support I asked for. I hadn’t asked for anything.

  At first, I’d resolve to just do what my parents wanted. It was the way in our family and with all our family friends. Heck, I was lucky I hadn’t ended up a child bride. My mother had put down her foot on that and somehow kept my father from marrying me off, as she’d been when she was fifteen. She put on a good face, but I knew she wasn’t happy. She was totally stuck. For all my family’s wealth, she had very little freedom.

  I would never be like her. I would never let someone else rule over my life.

  What Em had with Chase was nothing like that. Again, I thought of Luke and wondered what it would be like with him. Would he be like Chase or like my family? Finding out, loving him and being stuck, scared me. It was why I’d avoided him, both at Christmas and at Emerson’s wedding. God, that had been difficult. Because I was drawn to that man as I had never been to another. He looked so similar to Chase, yet I had no interest in my friend’s husband, not even a flicker of attraction. Luke, however…

  That man set off all my alert systems.

  I needed to stop thinking of him, with his dark hair, chocolate-y eyes, and lickable physique I wanted to climb like a—

  Stop it, Laura!

  I pulled out my phone. I still had signal, thank God, but my battery was dangerously low. With my dead car, I couldn’t even charge it.

  Emerson answered on nearly the first ring. “Laura, what’s wrong?”

  “I see the ESP is in full-force,” I laughed.

  “Well, I know you wouldn’t call me on my honeymoon unless there was a problem.”

  I heard Chase in the background, telling her to find out where I was.

  “My car died,” I told her. “I’m sorry to call you; I really am. But I didn’t know who else to call that wouldn’t sic my dad on me. He canceled my credit card, so I can’t even get someone to come tow it, so I can get it fixed.”

  “Where are you?”

  “In the middle of BFE Michigan?”

  “More specific?”

  “Northern BFE Michigan. I’m about ten miles outside of Brandywine. Upper Lake Michigan.”

  “’Kay,” she said. “Hang tight. We’ll get you taken care of and safe. Could be a couple hours, all right? But we’ll have you out of there by tonight. Will you be okay to wait there?”

  I heard Chase talking in the background while I glanced down at my console. “Yeah, I have water and my reader. I’ll just kick back with a book. I’ll wrap up in a blanket, since it’s February and pretty dang cold. At least, it’s not snowing.”

  Yet.

  “Stay as warm as you can. Don’t go off with any strangers; you hear me? We’ll be there soon?”

  “You’re coming?” Crap, I didn’t want her leaving her honeymoon for me.

  There was no answer. Glancing down at my phone, I saw it hadn’t died yet, but the wind must have shifted or something. I had zero bars.

  I sighed, tossing it on the seat beside me. This day was just great. And I’d just disrupted Em’s day, by dragging her into my drama, too. Well, fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck.

  * * * *

  The knock on my window startled me from sleep, and I jumped about a mile, slamming my head against the window in the process. I rubbed my hand across the frosted-up glass to try to clear it enough to see outside.

  All I could make out was a large body in what looked like a long wool coat. It was open, revealing a charcoal suit, white shirt and silvery-gray tie. I couldn’t see the person’s face through the icy glass. This wasn’t a tow-truck driver or some regular Joe happening by. A businessman of some sort?

  Then he leaned down, and I reared back, my eyes wide as I met the dark-brown stare of the man I’d been trying so hard to forget.

  He didn’t look happy, even as a smirk lifted one side of his lips.

  Luke…

  “Open the door, Laura,” he ordered, his voice muffled by the window.

&
nbsp; I hesitated. If I released the lock, there was no protection from him—not that I thought he’d hurt me. I just… It was a deeper, more fragile part of me in danger.

  “Laura,” he growled.

  What was I going to do? Stay here and freeze? I didn’t have much choice. Even bundled up as I was, my fingers barely worked anymore from the cold. I fumbled with the mechanism. I’d barely clicked it when the door opened, and Luke leaned inside. He pulled me into his arms, leaving everything else, then stalked toward a black SUV, waiting several yards away. My arms went around him. I held on tight, even though I didn’t think he’d drop me. His warm woodsy scent enveloped me, and I closed my eyes momentarily just letting it sink into me. Along with it came surprising peace.

  “What are you doing here?” I murmured into his neck.

  “Get everything from her car. Everything. Clean it out,” he told the man we passed. I hadn’t even seen him until we were going by him.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Luke didn’t say anything else until we were settled into the back of his vehicle. “I’m here to get you.”

  “I…”

  He shook his head, and the words froze in my throat. He was here. He was saving me. But he was super pissed.

  “I’m sorry you had to come get me. I—”

  “Don’t,” he interrupted.

  “But—”

  “Don’t,” he said again through his teeth. “Just give me a minute to calm down.”

  He wasn’t calm? He seemed calm.

  “Do you have any idea what could have happened to you? My God, Laura. When I think about it…” He lifted a hand as if to swipe away his words and sighed, staring out the window opposite of me.

  My eyes burned, and I blinked back my emotions. I hated him being upset with me. And what was that? I’d never felt that way. My father was the master of guilt, and I’d learned early on not to give in to it. But with Luke… I wanted to promise him anything to ease the pain or irritation he obviously felt.