Read The Billionaire Playboy Online
Authors: Christina Tetreault
Tags: #sweet, #new england, #series romance, #billionaire, #United States Navy, #captain, #contemporary romance
The Billionaire Playboy
Published by
Christina Tetreault
Copyright 2012
Christina Tetreault
Cover design by Calista
Taylor
Interior
layout:
www.formatting4U.com
All rights
reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval
systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or
reviews—without permission in writing from the author via her website. This
book is a work of fiction. The characters, events, and places portrayed in this
book are products of the author’s imagination and are either fictitious or are
used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely
coincidental and not intended by the author.
For more
information on the author and her works, please see www.
http://www.christinatetreault.com
ISBN: 978-0-9883089-0-9
This book is
also available in print from some online retailers.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedicated First
to My family and Friends.
Thank you for
all you love and support. And also to all the other romance authors who have
helped me along the way.
Chapter
1
I sure picked a hell of a time to come home
. Charlotte
O'Brien, or Charlie as her friends called her, sat in the darkened living room
of her family's bed and breakfast, The Victorian Rose. Outside, Hurricane
Andrea raged with gale force winds exceeding 110 miles per hour. As expected
the hurricane arrived in the northeastern part of Massachusetts in the early
morning hours. While it was not the first hurricane she had experienced in her
life, it was the fiercest she could remember.
She could hear
the howling winds outside as they caused the branches from nearby trees to slam
into the side of the house. A constant deluge of rain pelted the windows, which
rattled from time to time under the onslaught. Frequently she'd see debris fly
by the window. The most recent object looked like siding from a nearby house.
So far her family and their home remained unscathed, but what about the rest of
the town? Charlie reached for the battery-powered radio and switched it on. After
several tries she got a local AM station to come in. The faceless voice of the
radio announcer filled the silent room. “Severe flooding is already being seen
on Church Street.”
This
announcement came as no big surprise. It had poured almost every day the
previous week and the waterlogged ground and swollen rivers couldn't
accommodate this new round of rain.
The sound of
shattering glass, followed by a crash, filled the room and blocked out anything
else the radio announcer may have said. Without a second thought Charlie jumped
to her feet and yanked her mother off the couch in front of the windows and
pushed her toward a chair in the corner. At the same instant her brother Sean
burst into the room.
“A tree just
went through the dining room window. Take Ma into the basement.” After giving
his order Sean disappeared upstairs, his huge Irish Wolfhound, Max, following
at his heels. She hated to admit it, but she should have thought of that sooner.
The basement was the safest place during a hurricane.
“Come on Ma,
let's go.” Charlie grabbed the battery-powered radio and flashlight next to her
and stood.
“What about
Sean?” Maureen O'Brien sat perched on the edge of a chair, her face pale and
her hands gripping the arms of the chair.
For half a
heartbeat anger and resentment surged through Charlie. Why couldn't the woman
ever do anything she asked? It was always about Sean. Almost as soon as the
emotions came on they disappeared. Circumstances outside everyone's control had
created a much tighter relationship between her mother and older brother. It
wasn't fair to either of them to resent it—it wasn't as if her mother didn't
love her. Sean was her mother's rock and had been since that day seventeen
years earlier when her dad walked out on them. That day Sean became the man of
the house. “Sean wants us downstairs now. He'll be down soon.”
With some
reluctance Maureen came to her feet and, as usual, Charlie felt like a giant
standing next to her mother. At five feet eight inches she towered over her
mother who barely reached five feet. Despite the height difference there was no
mistaking them for mother and daughter. Both had thick red hair, and hazel eyes
that seemed to change colors depending on their mood.
Using her
flashlight, Charlie led her mom through the dark house toward the basement
door, a door she could have found even without the bright beam of light. Having
grown up in the old Victorian she knew every nook and cranny of the house. Without
even thinking she instinctively flipped the light switch then felt like an
idiot when nothing happened.
“Be careful,”
Charlie said over her shoulder as she started down the steep wooden stairs.
The beam from
her flashlight bounced off the rock walls as the familiar scent of the basement
enveloped her. She hadn't stepped foot in the basement in years, yet she would
have recognized the smell anywhere. Since the basement remained remarkably dry
her mom hung fresh herbs down there making it constantly smell like basil and
rosemary.
Some things just never changed.
Behind her she
heard the bottom step creak, as it had for years, letting her know that her
mother had safely made it down the stairs.
“I hope everything is all right out there.”
Was her mom
serious? A hurricane raged outside. Though a smart reply was on the tip of her
tongue, Charlie held it back. When her mom was upset she had a tendency to
ignore the obvious. So instead of saying anything she headed over to a
partitioned-off section of the basement where her brother kept his pool table
and several folding chairs.
After taking
down the battery-powered lantern on the shelf and turning it on, Charlie sat in
one of the stiff plastic folding chairs and listened to the news reports coming
over the radio.
“Reports are
coming in that the Stonefield Dam shows signs of giving out. Anyone living near
the dam or along the river should leave the area immediately.” The faceless
voice came through the radio, causing a ball of dread to form in the pit of
Charlie's stomach. The area around the river and dam was heavily populated. If
the dam let go a lot of people could be hurt. Unfortunately, there wasn't a
thing she could do about it. Instead of focusing on what she couldn't control,
Charlie thought about the things she could. Right now that meant keeping her
mom safe and calm until the storm passed.
“I noticed that
you repainted the living room. It looks nice.” Idle chatter would help her mom
pass the time and focus on something other than the hurricane and Sean's
absence. Drumming her fingers on her leg she waited in the semi-darkness for
her mom to answer.
“It hadn't been
done in a long time. Sean thought it was a good idea,” Maureen replied as the
sound of heavy footsteps coming down the stairs alerted them to Sean's arrival.
Before Charlie
could comment further all six feet three inches of her brother appeared along
with his giant dog.
Immediately the
smell of wet dog assaulted her senses. No wonder it had taken Sean so long to
get down there. He'd gone outside. What had he been thinking?
“You two okay? The
big maple near the shed just went down. The roots were ripped right out of the
ground.” Sean pulled a chair next to Charlie's.
***
Charlie blew a
strand of hair which had escaped from her bun out of her face and rolled her
shoulders. Sweat trickled down her back causing her t-shirt to stick to her
skin. More than anything she wanted a hot shower to wash away the grime and
sweat covering her body.
Since early morning she'd been systematically
going through town with the other volunteers checking on its citizens and
assessing the damage. It wasn't a pretty sight. The once picture-perfect New
England town looked as if a Navy bomber had dropped a missile on North Salem,
Massachusetts. The most severe damage was down by the river where the dam once
stood. The entire area now sat under several feet of water. Charlie and several
others were slowly working their way to that end of the town. Toppled trees and
downed power lines made the trip slow and dangerous. On the positive side
though, there had been very few serious injuries reported. Most of the ones
she'd seen or heard about involved gashes from breaking glass and thrown-out
backs from moving tree limbs and other debris. With any luck it would stay that
way.
Rolling her
shoulders Charlie looked around at the other volunteers. Many of them leaned
against trees or sat on the rain-drenched ground oblivious to the mud as they
took a much-deserved break. Like her, most had started working hours earlier,
the minute the storm passed.
Despite the
fatigue clawing at her body, Charlie didn't join the others. She needed to keep
working. When there was work to do, she couldn't rest. After taking a long
drink of water, she tossed the bottle back in her backpack and walked over to
Tony Bates, the town administrator’s son.