Going for Broke: Oakland Hills Friends to Lovers Romantic Comedy (Friends with Benefits) (24 page)
Read Going for Broke: Oakland Hills Friends to Lovers Romantic Comedy (Friends with Benefits) Online
Authors: Gretchen Galway,Lucy Riot
T
wisting
her toes in the warm sand, Billie drained her iced tea and gazed out on the ocean horizon, searching for Ian’s figure in the waves.
There he was. All buff and sexy, his silver-gray swim shorts slung low on his hips, glistening with South Pacific seawater. They’d been snorkeling on the reef, but she was taking a break.
Over the last three days, they’d kept busy, wanting to enjoy every day of her limited vacation days. She’d considered quitting her job altogether—she was engaged to a millionaire, after all—but she’d decided, for now, to keep working at the permit center. It felt right. And her new boss was a nice woman who hadn’t asked her once if she’d slept on her hair or suggested she take a long jump off a short pier.
Billie had hired a tutor to help her prepare and apply for college again. This time, she was going to get a degree. Maybe even two or three.
She’d long since stopped worrying about accepting Ian’s help. She helped him too. For instance, today she was going to go to the hotel gift shop and buy him a swim shirt, because that fair skin of his was going to burn.
With a sigh, she leaned back and closed her eyes. Married life was going to be sweet. He looked out for her, she looked out for him. He had more money than anyone would ever need, but if it weren’t for her, who would tell him to put on a swim shirt? Who would convince him he didn’t have the DNA for all-day sun exposure near the equator? No one but her.
Wife-to-be. Ball and chain. Old lady.
Smiling, she reached into their cooler and pulled out another iced tea.
Soul mate.
They weren’t married yet, but she was feeling like they were. The vows and the paperwork and the parties and the gifts would be on the surface, only formalizing the silent promises they’d already made to each other over all the years they were friends.
They would be kind, they would be considerate. They would arrive on time if possible—but of course it so often wasn’t—and apologize readily whenever it might be remotely necessary.
They would split their burgers and they would share their fries. They would offer the popcorn, they would hold the door. They would do all of this because they were partners and because life was too difficult to navigate alone.
They would love each other.
Here I go again
. When she felt her eyes fill with tears, Billie stood up and brushed the sand off her butt.
Seeing her rise, Ian waved and gestured for her to join him. She had to adjust the bikini top that kept falling down (Ian had picked it out and didn’t seem to mind that it barely covered her nipples and kept coming untied in the back) as she made her way across the beach to the water, where her handsome hero stood in the surf with a camera.
She’d given up trying to stop him from taking candid pictures of her. Combined with the loft porno, these engagement-trip shots were going to make quite an embarrassing website.
Couldn’t be helped. Besides, she took plenty of pictures of him to get even. And just because.
Even better, she’d recorded a hilarious two minutes of him singing “Poker Face” in Spanish while he showered, not knowing she was sitting on the toilet with her phone. She’d been biting back laughter, but she’d been proud, too, because it had taken him almost two months to learn all the words.
He wasn’t always a genius.
Five feet away, Ian took another picture of her with his waterproof camera, signaling for her to spin around and show him everything.
Glancing around, she decided the other people were far enough away, and probably busy, to allow her a little fun. Striking a pose, she turned her back to him, paused, then pushed her bikini bottom down her hips. Just as quickly, she pulled them back up and ran for the water.
Ian tackled her into the waves, kissing her as his arms came around her waist.
“Got you,” he said, grinning. The camera around his neck banged against her shoulder, and seawater splashed into her mouth, but she laughed and laughed and would’ve drowned happily if that were the price of this man, this love, this life.
She wrapped her legs around his hips and clung to him like a soft, nimble starfish. He hadn’t shaved for a few days, and she kissed the new whiskers on his chin.
“That picture’s going to be one of my favorites,” he said.
“Pose for me and we’ll have a matched set. We can put them on the mantel of the new house.”
Happily for her, he wasn’t very attached to the paint factory. They were going house shopping when they got home. Something not too far from Jane, who had bought out Billie’s share of Grammy’s house and was going to rent out a room to cover costs.
“All right,” he said, nibbling her ear. “As long as I get another photo shoot with you if this picture doesn’t come out.”
“Seriously?”
“Why not? I’m not ashamed of my body,” he said. “Are you?”
“I’m a little embarrassed to be engaged to a guy who could model for Armani, but I’ll get over it in time.”
“I’m asking a lot, I know.” His hand roamed over her thighs. The waves were sweeping them down the shore, but the surf was gentle.
She rested her cheek on his shoulder. It was already getting sunburned, and she needed to get him inside. “I love you,” she said, gently stroking the curve of his shoulder.
He squeezed her harder. “I love you too, Billie. More than I can say.”
Holding his hand, she dropped into the water and pulled him into shore, where she’d shop for a swim shirt as soon as they took care of a few other things.
T
he
Friends
with Benefits
series is a collection of seven contemporary romances by bestselling authors on the same theme -- friend-only relationships that spark into so much more.
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he Billionaire's Ballet
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he Billionaire Escape Plan
by Ember Casey
Mae loves to make fun of Alex, her best friend-turned-billionaire (Can you blame her? The guy used to live in ripped jeans, and now he won’t be caught dead in anything less than a designer suit). But when her life implodes around her, he offers her exactly the escape she needs.
Joelle and Nick's lifelong friendship blossoms into love just as he is deployed, but the trials they face while apart only strengthen the bond forged since childhood.
When Riley and Andrew team up to help their small town win a reality show, their friendly rivalry takes a passionate turn.
T
he Rock Star’s Secret Baby
by Blair Babylon
Dr. Andy Kumar really wishes that her patient's hot rock star daddy would quit hitting on her.
G
oing
for Broke
by Gretchen Galway
After inheriting a broken-down house, Billie asks her sister’s ex-boyfriend for help, only to discover the hunky millionaire wants the impossible—and so might she.
A friends to lovers romance starring a man-bun-sporting South African rugby god and the heiress next door he swore he would never date.
G
RETCHEN GALWAY is
a
USA Today
bestselling author who writes romantic comedies because love is too painful to survive without laughing. Raised in the American Midwest, she now lives in California with her husband and two kids.
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