The Elusive Billionaire (Happiness Ever After #2)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

SAVVY

Eight Months Ago

Awareness shoots up my arms—electricity racing across each tiny hair as though it’s a pinball bumping against every follicle. Even the damn air is thicker, more potent, alive.

Greyson Reyes is in the room.

I know it without turning around.

I feel it—a phantom itch I can’t, shouldn’t, scratch.

He’s a possession that invades every molecule and pore on my skin until pain and passion are braided together into a corset made just for me.

We fight to fuck, or we fuck to fight. I don’t even know which came first anymore, and my emotions for him run the gamut of hating to love him and loving to hate him.

Madi eyes me suspiciously and I quickly drop the thumb I was chewing the hell out of. My entire cuticle is probably bleeding, but I tuck it below my leg and hope that no one else notices.

My best friend’s future brother-in-law is so magnetic that every head in the Chug turns his way when he enters.

It’s as infuriating as it is mesmerizing, but the last thing he needs is one more person propping up his ego, so I intentionally don’t seek him out.

The Chug is Madi’s coworking space. Her grandfather owned the building, an old train station, for years, but she recently repurposed it, and it quickly became a gathering place for the residents of Happiness, Georgia.

“Geez, could you imagine having that kind of confidence?” Clover whispers.

Elle snickers. “If I looked like that, I’d be walking with much more swagger.”

“You’re married, Elle.” Damn. That came out harsher than I intended. Her smirk tells me she knows exactly what she was doing.

Dropping my head, I focus on the task before me—scheduling out the next three episodes of my podcast, Can We Talk About That?

I read the same sentence three times before Bethany’s voice digs at my spine with the finesse of a rusty knife.

“Oh, Grey. I didn’t know you’d be in here today.” Her voice drips with so much sex, I think I need another shower.

“Have a good day,” he says dismissively.

That makes me feel marginally better.

God, this is so bad. The last time I got this excited by another human being, I almost lost my life.

And isn’t that a depressing thought? But it’s one that hasn’t been far from my mind lately because I know Riley, my ex, will be out of prison soon.

My stomach cramps as old habits try to take shape in my subconscious.

It’s the reminder I need to keep the boundaries in place where Grey and I are concerned.

Fuck buddies, not friends.

Cinnamon fills my nostrils, telling me he’s entered my space, and since my podcast is doing a shit job of giving me a distraction, I grab my phone and open the app that is my current obsession. There’s no way ChasingColors42 hasn’t responded yet.

I’m not trying to lead this guy on. We’ve been talking through a surrogacy app for about two months, but I have no intention of becoming a surrogate if I can help it. Yet somehow, he’s become the friend I need.

Signing up with Ray of Hope last year had been a panic response after receiving the call from my attorney that Riley would likely get out of jail at his next hearing.

I have no idea what kind of fight Riley or his family will bring to my doorstep, but with only $4000 in the bank, I needed a way of getting a substantial amount of money should the time to fight come. Again.

Where Grey makes my pulse race, ChasingColors42 just makes me feel…determined. He seems lost to me, lonely. I want to know what makes him tick, what makes him so sure that becoming a single dad is what will fulfill him, but it’s not my place.

I have told him that I’m not the surrogate for him, but he’s nothing if not persistent.

A small smile plays on my lips when I see his name on my screen.

The sound of wood scraping on the floor has me looking up from my screen. Grey’s joined our table with a moody scowl on his face, but he says nothing.

“Braxton will be here soon,” Madi says, mentioning Greyson’s brother and her boyfriend in a soothing tone he doesn’t deserve.

I like the secret thing we have going, but he’s a total asshole. Grey smiles pleasantly at Madi though, so maybe he truly does save his surly assholery for me.

Regardless, I’m not in the mood for his shit today. I’m about to open my messages when he leans in to my space.

“Miss me?” His gravelly tone has me sitting up taller as my entire body comes alive in a way it’s never done for anyone else.

“Not even a little.” The lie tastes bitter, but I ignore it. We have a physical connection, nothing more.

“So you’re not pissed that I snuck out of your bed this morning?”

I scoff, and my friends lean forward, attempting to eavesdrop on our whispered confessions.

“I appreciated it. It was an act of kindness I didn’t think you had in you.” I press my lips closer to his ear. “Any time you want to sneak out in the middle of the night so I don’t have to see your smug face in the morning is just fine by me.”

My breath hits the sensitive flesh of his ear, and he shivers. It’s an involuntary reaction I take great pleasure in.

“I’m only smug because I made you come three times last night.” He leans even closer, his lips ghosting the shell of my ear. “And you begged for it.”

“I don’t beg.” Liar, liar, pants on fire.

“Oh, but you do. And it’s my second-favorite sound on earth.”

Do not ask. Do not ask.

“What’s your favorite?” Damn it, Savannah.

His hand falls to my thigh under the table, out of sight of our friends. “I’m more of a show than a tell kind of guy. So, when I knock on your back door tonight, trust that I’ll show you the second I strip you down.”

“Awfully presumptuous of you. I never said you could come over tonight.” I hear Madi and Clover giggling in the background, but I’m addicted to the way Grey’s heat fills in my cold, dead cracks. “We’re not exclusive.” My gut lurches, but it’s the truth.

Greyson freezes. It’s a momentary blip in his shield that he quickly reinforces with steel.

“Beautiful little liar. You know I can’t stay away from you any more than you want me to.

Our…fighting during the day only makes our nighttime activities that much hotter.

” His voice drops with each passing word.

“And if you were seeing anyone else, I’d know about it, since I’m in your bed every fucking night. ”

“You are the most irritating man on the planet, you know that?”

He chuckles. It’s low and deep in his chest. My eyes close as I fight the way my body reacts to him.

“And you’re the rudest, most annoying woman I’ve ever met. It’s all that…hate that makes us so explosive, and you know it.”

I do. Jesus, do I know it. Except I’m not entirely sure it’s hatred I feel when he’s in my presence—not that I’ll ever admit that to anyone.

He runs his nose along my jawline. It’s the most physical contact we’ve ever displayed publicly, and I know I’ll get an inquisition from the girls the second he’s gone, but I couldn’t pull away even if he was literally on fire.

“It is…it is hate, right?” It’s the first time I’ve ever heard Greyson be anything but one hundred percent confident, and the red flags start waving in both hands.

Of course it’s hate, what else could it be? We fight any time we’re fully clothed. It has to be—

“Sorry I’m late,” Braxton says. “Pops was…er…causing trouble over at Huckabee’s Hardware. I had to sort that out on my way over.”

Madi groans and drops her forehead to the table. Her grandfather, Pops, is worse than a drunken frat boy out causing trouble. And that’s on a good day.

My phone vibrates in my hand, so I pull away from Grey, thankful for the reprieve a little space affords me, and unlock it.

ChasingColors42: Are you around?

Firefly12: For you? Always. Did you pick a new surrogate yet?

ChasingColors42: How could I when you’re the one that I want?

Firefly12: (eye roll emoji)

ChasingColors42: I won’t even drop off my semen or choose a donor egg until you’ve agreed to be mine.

My chest buzzes with warmth. I know he doesn’t mean his his, but dang, it’s been a long time since I ever associated belonging to anyone with anything other than dread.

Firefly12: Told you, while I love babies, this is a last resort for me. I won’t be accepting anyone unless life takes away my choices, and if you knew me, you’d know I’ll fight like hell to make sure that doesn’t happen.

ChasingColors42: You make me want to fix shit, and I don’t even know what’s wrong.

Firefly12: Because you have a God complex?

ChasingColors42: Something like that.

Damn. This got heavy fast.

Firefly12: What are you up to today? Got any good stories for me?

Sometimes he’ll regale me with stories of his grandfather that could rival Madi’s stories about Pops. It always makes me laugh.

ChasingColors42: Have I told you about my nephew?

I nearly drop my phone. So far, he’s kept his personal life private, except for his reasoning for wanting a child—his family has moved on without him, and he has a giant gaping hole in his heart where they used to reside.

My words, not his. I’m not sure ChasingColors is self-aware enough to make that connection.

Firefly12: No! I’d love to hear about him.

I settle into my seat and pull up my knees so my heels rest on the edge of my chair and my shins press into the table in front of me.

It has the added benefit of blocking out Grey.

He grumbles something I don’t hear, and I’m thankful that something has finally dragged his attention away from me.

I watch the bubbles move across my screen as ChasingColors types. It feels like an eternity before his message appears.

ChasingColors42: He’s a genius. He’s been taking college-level courses since middle school, but now he wants to attend college. And play football.

My feet fall to the floor with a loud thunk, and my face nearly smashes into the table.

“You okay over there, Savvy?” Grey’s voice swims in my ears as I stare at my screen.

“Yeah, sorry,” I croak. “I just booked a guest I was excited about. Um, excuse me for a moment.”

I don’t wait for a response. My fingers clench my phone so tightly they turn white as I skirt around table after table and hide in the room Madi has designated as quiet space. From here, I can see Grey sitting at our table, and I swallow hard.

Firefly12: He’s playing football? That’s great. What position?

If he says kicker, I will throw up.

Grey and Braxton’s nephew moved here with Grey four months ago. And he recently started college. And he’s playing football for the first time ever…as their kicker.

ChasingColors42: You know football? I played when I was younger. I’m just getting back into it now that he’s playing.

ChasingColors42: He’s the local university’s new kicker.

I press my nose to the glass door and watch as Grey types on his phone.

Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit.

ChasingColors42: I’m really happy for him.

ChasingColors42: I gave up a lot for my family.

ChasingColors42: I never want him to have to make the same sacrifices, you know?

I can’t respond.

Grey is ChasingColors? What the hell are the chances of that? One in a million? A billion? There can’t be another man in the US who wants a baby but not a wife and has a nephew with the exact same background, right? That’s too coincidental to happen twice.

ChasingColors42: He’s growing up and I’m…

What? He’s what?

I lift my head from my phone and find Grey staring at me. No. No, no. Does he know it’s me? The intensity of his glare sears me. I’m a filet left on the pan too long, and sweat gathers on my spine.

He shakes his head with a frown that fits him like sadness, then he drops his gaze.

A moment later, my phone buzzes, and I sink down to the floor, unable to stare at Grey a moment longer.

I feel dirty and guilty as hell.

ChasingColors42: I’ll never admit this to anyone else, but since you’re so adamant that we’ll never meet, I’ll say it to you.

Please don’t. Please, please, please don’t.

ChasingColors42: I’ve spent so long fearing I’d end up like my father that I’ve forgotten how to make real connections with people anymore. Even when I want to.

Oh, Grey. That’s not true.

ChasingColors42: I’m lonely. Isn’t that the saddest fucking thing you’ve ever heard? Thirty years old, and I’m lonely but too untrusting to let anyone in.

Greyson Reyes just decimated my soul with that one admission.

He wants love but doesn’t know how to accept it.

We’re more alike than he’ll ever know.

I can’t let him into my screwed-up life. Hell, I’ve had Madi, Clover, and Elle for ten years, and I’ve never once asked them for anything. Instead, I’ve made myself invaluable to them. I’m the friend they go to when all hell breaks loose. I’m their guardian angel, their sounding board, their rock.

It’s the only safe way for me to experience love now.

ChasingColors42: Did I scare you away with my neediness?

This is a sad version of Grey that he doesn’t share and I never would have imagined. He needs someone. No, he needs me.

This will undoubtedly come back to bite me in the ass, but how can I leave him in pain and all alone?

Lifting to my knees, I chance another peek at him. His brows are furrowed, and his mouth is set in a grim line, but now I’ve seen beneath the mask to the sadness he hides beneath.

I can’t leave him all alone, I just can’t. I’ll have to be the friend Grey needs but will never ask for. If he never finds out it’s me who’s supporting him as Firefly12 and also pushing him to open up as Savvy, we’ll be just fine.

This is a secret I’ll take to my grave, because if Grey learns to let someone in, he’ll be the hero every woman deserves but most never get. I know that in my soul, and he deserves to love and be loved that way—even if it’ll kill me to see him happy and in love with someone else.

Because the other thing I know for sure is that Grey can never be mine.

Firefly12: Never.

Firefly12: And I understand that kind of loneliness more than you’ll ever know.

Firefly12: I’m jumping into a meeting, but I’ll check in with you tonight, okay?

Firefly12: Thank you for opening up to me. I’m honored. Truly.

A moment later, my phone buzzes, but I pocket it, suck in a deep breath, and then chase after Grey so I can find a way to push him out of his online chats and into his real-life relationships.

Who knows, perhaps if I can help the storm cloud that is Greyson Reyes, then maybe, just maybe, there’s hope for me too.