Earned Husband (Billionaire Inheritance Arrangement #12)

Chapter 1

COLIN

Istayed in my car after I’d shut off the engine, just looking up at the house and mentally trying to prepare myself for the evening ahead.

Lights glowed from nearly every window. Music drifted across the lawn.

Through the open curtains, I could see bodies moving everywhere.

Tonight’s event was definitely shaping up to be more than just a quiet dinner party.

The party at Jane and Alex’s house had been on my calendar for at least a month. My sister and her husband had the occasional tendency to turn even something as simple as dinner into either an extravagant production or a social gathering loud enough to require permits.

Still, I’d come because the worst of summer was finally behind us. It was the beginning of August, and even though the fall slowdown wasn’t exactly a vacation, it felt close when compared to the insanity of construction season.

It was the perfect time to cut loose, maybe meet some new people, and catch up with some old friends.

This past year had been another busy one for the Westwoods, with new babies, preschool graduations, birthdays, holidays, weddings, and family vacations—and while I wasn’t even technically part of their family, I’d found myself deeply involved in an alarming percentage of those events.

Since my sister had married Alex Westwood, it seemed I’d become an honorary member.

The unofficial seventh brother of their crazy brood.

Especially after Theo’s insane romantic journey had ended with him moving to Arizona.

He was happier than any rational person should be, but he’d left me to pick up the brotherly slack when he’d left.

Unfortunately, there was also a growing body of evidence to suggest that he might’ve been onto something when he’d gone and risked it all for love. I wasn’t getting any younger myself, which was why I’d asked Alex if he’d help me find a wife, but I hadn’t even made time for that.

The thought followed me up the front walk once I finally left my car. What was the point of sitting through dates with socialites when I already knew exactly what I wanted?

I didn’t need Alex’s help with that. It just felt like there was a lifetime between asking someone about their favorite color and finally having the conversation about what to name our kids.

Theo was only a year younger than me, and at thirty-one, I was financially secure, emotionally available, gainfully employed, over six foot, and capable of maintaining basic hygiene. Since the universe had produced a wife for him, I’d assumed I was suitably qualified as well.

Instead, I had zero prospects of a relationship on the horizon. Shaking off the thought, I knocked on the door and it swung open a few seconds later to reveal Alex, my brother-in-law.

“Colin!” he said a little too cheerfully and a little too loudly, his eyes glazed as he waved me in. “You came.”

Alex is tipsy? That was not on my bingo card. Not for tonight or… ever.

Alex Westwood was many things, intimidating, relentless, and occasionally terrifying, but drunk? I’d never met this side of him.

I smirked as I stepped past him. “It looks like this is quite the party.”

He chuckled and shut the door behind me. “Yeah. The kids are spending the night with Nate and Kate, so Jane and I are unsupervised adults this evening. It’s been a while, so let’s just say we’re making the most of the opportunity.”

“God help us all,” I muttered, laughter drifting through the open floor plan as I walked in. “I’m going to have to play catch up.”

“That’s what you get for insisting on finishing that report before you came,” he said, pointing toward the living room and slinging an arm around my shoulder. “To the bar! I’ll introduce you around later.”

As I followed him to the long table set up on the other side of the room, I quickly learned that later in tipsy-Alex lingo meant right now. We dropped into tons of conversations before I even had a drink in my hand. Then he disappeared and left me to my own devices to go refill my sister’s glass.

I knew a few of these faces from either business dealings or our shared social circles, but I stuck mostly to the sidelines, only joining a conversation when I got pulled into it.

Most of them revolved around the same three things—work, money, or whatever public scandal was dominating the news cycle.

Eventually, I managed to find an excuse to escape a debate about the thrilling subject of retirement annuities when Alex asked me to grab another bottle of scotch. The kitchen was down a long hallway and I breathed out a relieved sigh when I walked in, grateful for the moment of silence.

The gratitude, however, didn’t last long.

I’d thought the kitchen was empty, but when I looked up, I forgot why I’d even come here at all.

As soon as I saw the woman standing on the opposite side of the island, my brain ceased to perform all but the most basic functions of breathing and producing saliva.

The raven-haired goddess was reaching for a wine glass, a perfectly ordinary action that still somehow knocked every coherent thought out of my head. She looked over, obviously having heard me come in, and when our eyes met, my pulse sped up and my palms broke into a sweat.

I suddenly had the distinct feeling that the universe had forgotten to send me the memo about her.

Generally, I preferred advance warning before life-changing events, and somehow, some way, staring into her rich, golden brown eyes seemed to be exactly that.

A moment that would alter the way I thought about women for the rest of my life.

Her eyes were warm and intelligent, the observant quality in her gaze instantly making me aware of the fact that I was staring like a fool.

“Are you alright?” she asked with a lilt of a foreign accent in her tone. The cadence of her voice was different too, elegant and crisp.

While her question was entirely reasonable, I struggled to formulate an answer. I regularly presented financial reports to board members and investors alike, all without breaking a sweat, but in the face of this woman, my brain seemed to have turned into more of a decorative object.

Finally, she offered me a small, uncertain smile, as if she suspected I might be having some sort of episode. Then she nodded. “Okay, then.”

With her wine glass in hand, she walked around the island toward the door.

As she passed me, I caught the subtle scent of her perfume and it gave my pulse new and exciting ways to misbehave, but after I inhaled, an explosive sneeze tore through me that made her flinch.

The wine sloshed in her glass but didn’t spill.

“Excuse me,” I said abruptly, finally rediscovering my ability to speak.

She glanced back over her shoulder as she continued on her way out of the kitchen, looking like she might laugh, but instead, amusement simply flickered in her eyes before she continued down the hallway and disappeared from view.

Once she was gone, I dragged both hands across my face and silently berated myself.

What the hell was that? And when did your game become so pathetic?

I honestly wasn’t sure, but I did my best to shake it off, turning in a slow circle trying to remember what I’d forgotten instead. I’d come in here for a reason, but my mind remained completely blank.

Alex wanted… Shit, what did he want?

Finally, I stopped beside the refrigerator and forced myself to think. After a minute of staring blankly at the ceiling, the answer suddenly arrived. Scotch.

It took me all of two seconds to swipe another bottle from the collection on the counter and I returned to the party, but my heart rate was still erratic and I wasn’t really focused on where I was going until I nearly collided with someone.

“Colin?”

I blinked the room back into view and recognized the face immediately, feeling a grin break out across my lips as I looked at her. “Ashanti? It’s so good to see you. It’s been years.”

She threw her arms around me in an enthusiastic, older-sister type hug. “Look at you, all grown up. Little Colin Thayer certainly isn’t so little anymore.”

I laughed and hugged her back, happy that my brain seemed to have somewhat returned to its regularly scheduled programming. “That could have something to do with the fact that I haven’t seen you since I hit puberty.”

Honestly, I couldn’t even remember exactly how long it’d been. Ashanti had been one of Jane’s ride-or-die friends back in high school, around so much that she’d practically been like another child in our house, but then she’d moved overseas and I wasn’t sure I’d seen her since.

When she stepped back, she slid her hands to my shoulders and looked me over. “God, I can’t believe it. You’re, like, a real man now.”

“I’m officially in my thirties. It would’ve been a bit weird if I hadn’t grown up yet. Although I’ve always envied Peter Pan.”

“Most of us do.” She chuckled, dark eyes glittering with genuine fondness and laughter. “In my head, I think you’ve always just been a teenager. It’s really odd that you’re an adult now.”

As I laughed, movement behind her caught my attention and a familiar figure stepped into view. The woman from the kitchen was approaching.

Once again, all I could do was stare, and apparently, I was so obvious about it that Ashanti turned and followed my gaze.

Jane appeared then, sliding into the conversation seemingly out of nowhere.

She launched herself at her old friend, giving her a hug and gushing about how excited she was to have her here.

The two immediately dissolved into girlhood, giggling and chatting like not a day had passed, but after a few moments of this, Ashanti suddenly pulled back.

“Colin, this is my sister-in-law, Deja.” She reached for the mystery woman and gently tugged her forward. “Deja, meet Colin Thayer. Jane’s brother.”

Deja. Her sister-in-law.

That meant she was Deja Saad, Basel Saad’s daughter. Ashanti was married to his son, but I couldn’t believe that his daughter was the woman who’d knocked the thoughts straight out of my brain.

My father had spent years before his arrest trying to seduce Basel, a chemicals magnate, into a merger. Now his stunning daughter stood there watching me process this unbelievably surprising information with her head slightly tilted and amusement still sparkling in those golden eyes.

As soon as I extended a hand toward her, she smirked, like she knew exactly the effect she was having on me. She placed her palm against mine. “It’s lovely to meet you, Colin. Did you eventually manage to find whatever you were looking for in the kitchen?”

“Scotch, and yes, I found it. Thank you.”

That wasn’t the only thing I’d been looking for, though. It also wasn’t the only thing I’d found. As I stared into those mesmerizing eyes, it felt like the floor had disappeared from under my feet.

Never before had I been so taken with a woman, but this one was special. She was different—and if I had my way, she would be mine.