The Billionaire Fake Fiancé

The Billionaire Fake Fiancé
Buy "The Billionaire Fake Fiancé" on amazon.com
The Billionaire Fake Fiancé
Escape to Sun Valley
Rating: 4.3 star rating4.3 star rating4.3 star rating4.3 star rating4.3 star rating 174 reviews
By: Sarah Gay
Release Date: Dec. 1, 2021
Format: Kindle
Series: Grant Brothers Romance (Book 7)
Timeline: See the Chronology & Timeline
Genres: Sweet Romance, Romantic Comedy, Christian Romance

The Billionaire and the Matchmaker.

She needs to prove that her matchmaking software works. He needs a girlfriend.

He thinks he's asking her out. She thinks he's proposing.

After the most embarrassing night of her life, will their fake engagement guide them to their happily-ever-after?

Excerpt
Chapter One
Sun Valley

John Grant stepped outside into the white night. November blizzard. He shoved his hands into his suit pant pockets with a grunt. Icy wind bit his cheeks. Better to freeze to death than be forced to converse with the rich and famous who loved talking about themselves. Excluding a few of his brothers who rose to fame through sports, his family was simply rich, not famous.

Thanksgiving should be about family and food, lots of food, not pompous movie stars. Earlier that day, his mother had told him that he needed an attitude adjustment. He took that to mean that, at his age: mid-twenties, he was entitled to have a bad day.

His feet prickled. To keep from losing his toes to frostbite, he started walking. Being a mile outside of town and well hidden in the forest, he had nowhere to walk to. Jumping in his car and driving away wasn't an option either. It would only upset his family, and Kora, if he left. His exercise would have to be limited to the path around the building.

Muffling his grievances under his breath as he walked, he kept to the heated receiving area in front of the museum, not veering too far from the stainless steel, standing propane heaters. He smiled at a woman dressed in a dalmatian coat which reached her ankles. As a teenager, he used to love people-watching at the galas his mom and aunt Char threw.

Tonight's gala was to celebrate Charlotte's crown. At least that's what the press had dubbed Kora's crown. To be fair, Kora refused the limelight. She was happy to be the person who would manage the collection and eventually run the museum in Hawaii when it was finally retrofitted and equipped to receive the treasure of gold coins and the crown.

Kora had also given him a heads up that she and Noah planned to formally announce their engagement tonight after the crown was revealed to the public. She might as well have punched him in the solar plexus and taken his wind, permanently.

He hadn't always been in love with Kora, only since he'd pulled her out of the ocean thirteen years ago. His mistake had been to trust that she would always love him. She had loved him...and he took her affections for granted.

A long gray limo pulled up to the curb. Before the driver exited, a tall woman in a formal blue gown stepped out of the passenger seat and handed John her empty mini bottle of whisky. "Please dispose of this," she said, without looking at him.

His jaw clenched as he took the bottle. Mumbling words under his breath that his mama wouldn't approve of, he walked over to the steel garbage can and tossed the bottle in with a clank.

"Getting boozed up tonight?" Charlotte asked with a playful smile. She was dressed in a chic, purple satin gown and high heels. Her silver hair contrasted her defined, dark eyebrows beautifully.

"You don't want to provoke me right now, Charlotte," he warned.

"I see," she said with a sigh. "I'm sorry. I really thought sending you and Kora together to Hawaii would solidify things between you two."

Rubbing the back of his neck, he lamented, "I always thought she'd be there for me."

"That she'd wait?"

What did Charlotte expect? It had been at his family's urging that he traveled the world to discover what he wanted to do and be before entering into a serious relationship. "I know what you're going to say. That it's all my fault. That I messed things up with Kora."

Charlotte gracefully sat on the iron bench beneath a heater and delicately scratched her neck with her French-tipped nails as if deep in thought. "On the contrary," she said, patting the seat next to her. "If you had spent more time together in Hawaii, you would have both realized that you aren't a perfect match. Who knows? Maybe you two would've given up and both come home instead of finding the treasure like you did."

He plopped down next to her and leaned his spine back into the cold metal. "You're wrong."

She raised a brow, challenging him. "I am?" she said with a light laugh. "So, what you're telling me is that you can see yourself with Kora and only Kora, forever."

He envisioned Kora's plump red lips, jet-black hair, and emerald eyes. His shoulders dropped with his exhale. "Absolutely."

Abruptly crossing her arms in front of her chest, she said, "What do you envision doing on a Friday night with Kora?"

Hot blood pumped through his veins. "Friday night?"

She shook her head. "Strike that. Not night. On a Thursday. 2pm." Charlotte had always been on the pushy side, and he didn't appreciate her telling him who was right for him.

"Wow, that's specific. Kora and I would be playing chess," he answered jokingly.

"You know what I'm getting at. You two don't have anything in common." She tilted her chin into her chest and bore her eyes into him. "Think about it. Would you still be enamored with Kora if she didn't have someone like Noah?"

An image of Kora and Noah kissing on the beach shot through his mind, causing his gut to wrench. "They're just so happy." He experienced a moment of sudden insight. "And I don't have that." He leaned forward and dug his fingertips into his forehead. "You're right. I've been watching my brothers all fall in love. I've seen how it's changed them. They don't need me or Tom anymore. And now that's happened to Kora. I wish it didn't sicken me to see her with Noah, but it does."

"Ahh." Charlotte's facial expression grew serious and sympathetic. "You want what she has? You want to fall in love?"

John coughed at his unease. "When you say it like that, I sound bitter and desperate."

She clapped her hands with gusto, causing the guests on the patio to stare, then pointed at him. "Bingo."

He allowed his face to drop into a deadpan expression. "Remind me to never ask you for a pep talk. Ever."

"I'm sorry," Aunt Char said, pulling him into a hug. "You're fantastic in every way." She squeezed him tight, limiting the oxygen entering his lungs. She released him, pumped her fist in the air, and said, "Let's go find you your perfect match."

John stretched out his back as he stood. "An engagement?" he said in a mocking tone. Then looked at his watch. "Do you think you could muster up a fiancée for me, in say...ten minutes?"

Extending her hand out to him to assist her up from the bench, she said, "You're so entertaining. I need to go help inside. Could you please greet the guests as they arrive?" She started walking away, then paused and turned back toward him. "And don't go and get yourself hitched to the first pretty girl you see tonight."

He rubbed his palms together briskly. "I'm on a mission now," he said, but thought, it's not gonna happen today, tomorrow, or even in this decade. He wasn't good at the whole relationship thing. He never had been, and he never would be. But Tom wasn't any better at dating than he was.

Hope filled his breast and his spirits lifted. He and Tom could be bachelors forever. A life of bachelorhood didn't sound so bad when he thought of sharing it with his twin brother. At least they had each other. Tom would always be there for him.

"Hey!" Tom shouted as he exited the glass doors.

All John had to do was think about his identical twin and there he was. "What's up?" he asked with a chin lift.

Tom wrung his hands. "You gotta make me look good."

John cocked a wicked smile. "Can't do the impossible. I'm always going to be hotter than you, especially with your goatee. Why did you shave your face like that?"

"Dude." That's all Tom had to say for John to know that his twin brother had become transfixed on some cute chick.

"Alright. Where is she? I'll let her know what a stud you are."

Angst crippled Tom's face. "You have to ask her name," he said hurriedly, as if his future rested on knowing her name. "She introduced herself when we first met but I was staring at her lips, and I guess I didn't catch it. We've been talking for like two hours and if I ask her for her name now, she's going to think I'm a complete idiot."

John pointed to the doors. "Go. I'll come and save your butt in a few minutes. I promised Aunt Char I would welcome the last stragglers before the unveiling."

"Thanks," Tom said, turning and running back inside.

John clicked his tongue. Sucker, he thought. But Tom's interest will only last through tonight. Tomorrow, we'll relax into our comfortable bachelorhood together.

Books in the Grant Brothers Romance series:

  1. Book 1
    Her Reluctant Boss
    Jun. 15, 2019
  2. Book 2
    The Billionaire Patriot
    Oct. 13, 2019
  3. Book 3
    The Billionaire Smokejumper
    Dec. 28, 2020
  4. Book 4
    The Billionaire Champion
    May. 23, 2021
  5. Book 5
    The Billionaire Hockey Star
    Oct. 21, 2021
  6. Book 6
    Once Upon a Midnight Kiss
    Nov. 19, 2021
  7. Book 7
    The Billionaire Fake Fiancé
    Dec. 1, 2021 (this book)
  8. Book 8
    The Last Billionaire
    Jan. 31, 2022
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