Love, Lust & A Millionaire
Sandi Lynn
Love, Lust & A Millionaire
Copyright © 2015 Sandi Lynn
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used factitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover Design by Cassy Roop @Pink Ink Designs
Photography by Sara Eirew @Sarah Eirew Photography
Models: Manuel Magnan & Joanna Skrzypczak Ardila
Editing by B.Z. Hercules
Table of Contents
BOOKS BY SANDI LYNN
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
About The Author
Playlist
BOOKS BY SANDI LYNN
The Forever Series:
Forever Black, Forever You, Forever Us, Being Julia
A Forever Christmas, Collin
A Millionaire’s Love Series:
Lie Next To Me, When I Lie With You
Love Series:
Love In Between, The Upside of Love
Stand Alones:
His Proposed Deal
A Love Called Simon
She Writes Love
Then You Happened
Remembering You (A Novella)
Chapter 1
“Delilah, wake up! You’re going to be late for work again.”
I opened my eyes. Jenny, my roommate, was staring down at me. “Remember what Frank said? He said he’d fire you if you were late again!”
“Shit.” I grabbed my phone from the coffee table. It was eight-thirty. Double shit. “Why didn’t you wake me earlier?” I jumped up from the couch.
“I did and you said you were getting up. I just got back from my run.”
I ran into the bathroom, dabbed some toothpaste on my toothbrush, and vigorously brushed my teeth as I ran to my bedroom, picking up yesterday’s jeans off the floor, throwing them on, and grabbing the red t-shirt that displayed “Frank’s Diner” across my chest. After spitting in the sink and rinsing my mouth, I ran a brush through my long, brown hair and threw it up in a ponytail. Tossing my makeup in my purse, I grabbed it and flew out the door. I had exactly ten minutes to get to work. I shouldn’t have been out so late last night, but it couldn’t be helped. I had this perfectly timed. If I ran to work, I would make it there at exactly eight fifty-five. Five minutes early and Frank couldn’t say a word to me. Five minutes to put my makeup on in the bathroom. I was notorious for being late and was put on warning more times than I could count. If I could quit, I would. But I needed this job.
As I ran past Freddie’s fruit stand, Freddie yelled, “Running late again, Delilah.”
“Like always, Freddie.” I smiled.
I looked at my watch as I opened the door to the diner. Yes! It was eight fifty-five.
“We’re busy, Delilah. Get moving,” Frank said in a harsh voice.
“I have five minutes until my shift starts,” I said as I flew past him and into the bathroom.
As I looked at myself in the mirror, I swept a champagne-colored shadow over my blue eyes and brushed my lashes with mascara. After sweeping a pink color across my cheeks, I dabbed my lips with some pink petal lip gloss. It was nine o’clock and I heard Frank yelling my name.
“Good lord, Frank. I’m right here,” I said as I put on my apron and grabbed my order pad.
The morning rush finally ended and it was time to prepare for the lunch crowd.
“Delilah, I need to talk to you in the back, now!”
I rolled my eyes. “What is it, Frank?”
“You’re spending too much time talking to the customers. They aren’t here to chat up. They’re here to eat. So take their order and move on. We need to get these people in and out as fast as we can. Time is money, Delilah, and I won’t tell you again.”
“Fine, Frank. I won’t talk to the customers.”
The lunch crowd was starting to stagger in and, once again, the race was on.
“Is Frank giving you a hard time again?” Daphne, the other waitress asked.
“When isn’t he?” I smiled as I walked over to table number five and took their order.
The bells that hung above the diner door chimed, and when I happened to look over, a man in a suit – a very handsome man in a suit – walked in with a little girl. I walked to the kitchen and placed the order ticket on the ticket rack. When I turned around, I noticed they were sitting in my section.
“Hi, can I get you two something to drink while you look over the menu?”
His blue eyes looked at me. “I’ll have coffee and she’ll have milk.”
“I want juice, Daddy.”
“Correction. She’ll have juice.” He smiled.
I poured him some coffee and set the cup of juice with a lid on it and a straw down in front of the little girl. She was really cute with her long, blonde hair that sported light waves and her big green eyes.
“Are you ready to order?” I asked as I took my order pad from my apron pocket.
“I’ll have a garden salad with Italian dressing and a cup of chicken noodle soup and she’ll have the grilled cheese.”
“Would you like French fries with that, sweetie?” I smiled at her.
“Yes, please.”
“One salad, soup, and grilled cheese coming right up.”
I placed the ticket up on the counter and attended to my other tables.
“That guy with the kid is fucking hot,” Daphne said as she walked by.
“I know. I can’t stop staring at him. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man so perfect.”
“There’s nothing sexier than a hot and sexy man with a kid.” She smiled.
And he was sexy. He stood a little over six feet tall, had light brown hair that was perfectly styled short all the way around, and amazing sea-blue eyes. His concrete jawline and chiseled cheekbones defined him as godlike. While I was in my daydream, Frank rang the bell, alerting me that an order was up and ready. I walked over and put the food on a tray and took it over to his table.
“Here you go. One salad with Italian dressing and a cup of chicken noodle soup. And one grilled cheese with French fries for the little lady.”
She giggled. “What’s your name?” she asked.
“My name is Delilah. What’s yours?”
“Sophie.” She picked up a fry and took a bite.
“It’s nice to meet you, Sophie.”
I looked over at her dad
and he was staring at me. “Delilah is a pretty name.”
“Thanks.” I smiled as I took my fluttering heart and walked away.
The diner was getting more crowded by the minute. After attending to some other tables, I walked back to the table where Sophie and her dad were sitting when she knocked over his cup of coffee.
“I’m sorry, Daddy.” I heard her start to cry.
“It’s okay, Sophie. It was an accident.”
I ran to get a towel and, when I came back, Sophie was crying and throwing a bit of a temper tantrum. I wiped up the coffee as he wiped his pants with the napkin.
“It’s okay, Sophie. It was an accident,” I said to soothe her. But it didn’t work.
“Sweetheart, please stop. It’s okay.” People around the diner were staring.
I sat down next to Sophie and began to sing. “The itsy bitsy spider walked up the water spout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out.” She joined me. “Up came the sun and dried up all the rain, and the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.” I ran my fingers up her arm and she giggled.
“Delilah! What did I tell you about the customers?”
“Frank, I was just calming her down. She’s a kid, for God’s sake.”
“I’m done talking to you. That was the last straw. You’re fired.”
As I sat there and stared at that heartless son of a bitch, anger rose up inside me. I stood up from the booth, took off my apron, and threw it at him. “You can’t fire me because I quit!” I went to the back, grabbed my purse, and stormed out of the diner. As I was walking down the street, I heard someone call my name.
“Delilah.”
I stopped and turned around to see Sophie and her dad walking towards me.
“I’m really sorry about your job.”
“Nah, don’t be. Frank’s an as—” I looked at Sophie. “Frank’s not a nice man.”
“Will you sing to me again?” Sophie asked as she looked up at me.
“Of course I will.” I smiled as I bent down in front of her. I cleared my throat. “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don’t take my sunshine away.”
“You sing pretty. Doesn’t she, Daddy?”
“Yes, Sophie. She has beautiful voice.”
“Thank you.” I smiled.
After staring at me for a few moments, he reached in his pocket and pulled out a white card. “My name is Oliver Wyatt of Wyatt Enterprises. Can you stop by my office around four o’clock? I would like to talk to you about something.” He handed me his business card. “The address is on the back.”
Okay, this was strange. Why would he want to talk to me?
“Sure, but may I ask what you want to talk to me about?”
“You’ll find out when you come to my office. I’ll see you at four o’clock, Miss—”
“Graham. Delilah Graham.”
He nodded his head as the corners of his mouth curved up and the two of them turned and walked the other way down the street. Sophie turned her head and gave me a small wave and smile.
Chapter 2
When I walked into my apartment, I found Jenny and her boyfriend, Stephen, fucking on the couch.
“What are you doing home?” she asked as she sat up and peeked at me from over the couch.
“I quit the diner. Well, Frank fired me first.”
She pulled up her underwear and threw her shirt back on. Stephen pulled up his pants and looked at me.
“Bummer, Delilah.”
I walked into my room and threw myself on the bed. Jenny lay down next to me and we both stared up at the ceiling.
“Why did he fire you?”
“For singing to a kid who spilled coffee and was crying.”
“Bastard.”
“I know.”
“Hey, Jenny. I gotta go, babe. I’ll see you later. Sorry about your job, Delilah.”
“Thanks, Stephen. Sorry to interrupt your sex session.” I smiled as I looked over at Jenny.
“It’s fine. He was taking too long to come anyway.” She grabbed my hand. “What are you going to do now?”
“I don’t know. The weird thing is that the kid’s father is Oliver Wyatt. He gave me his business card and asked me to stop by his office at four o’clock because he wants to talk to me about something.”
“The Oliver Wyatt?”
“I guess. Is there more than one?”
“Not in New York. I’ve heard stories. When you get a chance, google him. I have to get ready and head down to the fruit market. The oranges must be restocked.” She smiled as she got up and went to her room.
I sat up, opened up my laptop and googled Oliver Wyatt. God, was he hot. I was feeling things twitching down below that I never felt before just by looking at someone. I clicked on images and a bazillion pictures came up with him and different women. But the most recent pics were of him and some blonde Barbie-looking girl. One of the captions read: “Oliver Wyatt attends ‘Home for Hope’ event with girlfriend, Laurel Madison.” All the women he was photographed with were gorgeous and filled with Botox.
I pulled out his business card from my purse and looked at the address. His building was on West 43rd Street. I looked at my phone. It was three fifteen. It would take about fifteen minutes to get there by cab, but at this time of the day, it might take longer. I went to my closet and pulled out my black cotton sundress.
“This will have to do,” I said to myself. I didn’t want to go to his office in jeans.
After changing, I pulled my hair from the ponytail and ran my fingers through it while I lightly sprayed it, giving it a bit of volume. I freshened up my makeup and slipped my feet into my low-heeled strappy sandals. Hailing a cab, I climbed in the back and told the driver to take me to West 43rd Street.
Nerves settled inside of me as I stood in front of the tall, glass building. As I walked through the large revolving door, I had to pass through security first before approaching the large, curved wooden desk that sat in front of a massive wall fountain.
“How may I help you?” the pretty blonde with her hair up in a tight bun asked.
“I have an appointment with Mr. Wyatt at four o’clock.”
“Your name, please,” she asked as she picked up the phone.
“Delilah Graham.”
“There’s a Delilah Graham here to see Mr. Wyatt. Appointment is for four o’clock.”
She looked at me with her hazel-colored eyes. “Mr. Wyatt is ready to see you now. Just take the elevator to the right up to the twenty-second floor.”
“Thank you.” I politely smiled as I walked away.
Before I approached the elevator, the doors opened and I stepped inside. My stomach was in knots and I wasn’t sure why. I was never nervous around people, but there was something about Oliver Wyatt that made me uneasy. Maybe it was his hotter than hell looks or maybe it was the way he seemed confident, controlling, and well poised. The doors opened and, as I stepped out, a woman with long black hair and shockingly red plump lips smiled at me.
“You must be Miss Graham.” She got up from her seat and led me over to the oversized, dark stained wooden doors. She placed her hand on the lever and opened it, announcing my arrival. Oliver was sitting at his large, curved desk, which sat in front of a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows.
“Miss Graham, thank you for coming. Please have a seat,” he said without so much as cracking a smile.
I took a seat in the leather chair that sat across from his desk as he sat down in his executive chair. I was nothing but a bundle of nerves as I gave him a small smile.
“I asked you here because I would like to know if you have any experience with children.”
“Huh?” I asked in confusion.
He narrowed his eyes. “Do you have any education in child care, Miss Graham?”
“If you consider raising my three siblings an education in child care, then yes. As for formal education, no.”
&nb
sp; He cocked his head as he leaned back in his chair. “Please elaborate on that.”
“Mr. Wyatt. Is this some sort of interview?”
“I guess you can call it that. Look, I need to find someone to take care of my daughter.”
“You mean a nanny?”
“Yes.”
“They have nanny services throughout New York you can call.”
“Yes, Miss Graham,” he said in irritation. “I know that and so far none of them have worked out very well. My daughter has some issues. She lost her mother recently and is having a hard time dealing with it. She can be a handful and the nannies that I’ve hired, she’s driven to quit.”
I raised my eyebrow. “And how old is Sophie? She can’t be older than five.”
“She is five and she has mind of her own.”
I laughed. “Most girls do right from birth.”
He didn’t find that funny as he shot me a stern look. “Today at the diner, I saw something in the way she looked at you that I haven’t seen with the other nannies. She seemed to like you and trust you, which I found comforting for her. I won’t lie to you, Miss Graham. I did a background check on you. I know about you losing your mother at the age of eighteen and you becoming the legal guardian of your two brothers and sister back in Chicago.”
“Wow. Okay. I guess you’re a man who’s in a position to find out anything about a person.”
“Yes, I am, and I get the impression you are in desperate need of a job.”
He was right. I was desperate and if he was offering me a job, I wasn’t about to lie to him.
“I’d been taking care of Braden, Colette, and Tanner since I was a little girl. My mom was an alcoholic and she couldn’t hold down a job. She drank all night and slept all day, leaving me to take care of the others because I was the oldest. So to fully answer your question, I have a great deal of child care experience.”
“What about your father?” he asked.
God, this was embarrassing to tell someone like him. I took in a deep breath before answering his personally invasive question.
“The four of us had different fathers and my mom couldn’t tell you who each of our fathers were.”
“I see,” he said as he raised his eyebrow. “How long have you lived in New York and why did you leave Chicago?”
“I moved here a year ago. My siblings are at various colleges now and I wanted to get out of Chicago. New York is the center of the universe as far as I’m concerned and an ever changing place to live. Plus my roommate already lived here, so I didn’t have to worry about a place to stay.”