Colt, Billionaire Reunion: Sweet, Clean Christian Romance with Suspense (Billionaire Protectors Book 2) Read online

  BILLIONAIRE PROTECTORS

  ~ Book 2 ~

  By

  COLT: BILLIONAIRE REUNION

  Billionaire Protectors

  Book 2

  © 2019 by Olga Grun writing as Alexa Verde, & Autumn Macarthur

  This book is a work of fiction set in a fictional location. Any reference to historical or contemporary figures, places, or events, whether fictional or actual, is a fictional representation. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  eBook editions are licensed for your personal enjoyment only. eBooks may not be re-sold, copied or given away to other people. If you would like to share an eBook edition, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with.

  Contact Information: [email protected] or [email protected]

  Scripture taken from Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

  Cover Art by Autumn Macarthur with assistance from Marion Ueckermann

  Edited by Deidre Lockhart at Brilliant Cut Editing

  Contents

  Contents

  Dedication

  Our Newsletters

  About the book - Colt: Billionaire Reunion

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Preview – David: Billionaire Cowboy

  Thank You for Reading!

  Other books by Alexa

  Other books by Autumn

  About Alexa & Autumn

  Thank you to:

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to all the members of our street teams, who go above and beyond to support us! Thank you so much! You are appreciated!

  It’s impossible to choose just one of our lovely readers for extra thanks, but we do want to give a special mention to Kim, for her wonderful eye for typos and for her consistent support. Thank you!

  Our Newsletters

  Would you like to be among the first to know about our new and upcoming books, receive news about free and discounted books from us and other Christian authors, as well as information about different giveaways? Emails won’t arrive more than weekly, your email address will never be passed to anyone else, and you can unsubscribe at any time. When you confirm your newsletter subscription to Alexa’s newsletter, you’ll also receive a download link for Alexa’s sweet Christian romance ebook, Season of Mercy, as a thank you gift. Autumn also offers a gift ebook, Invitation to the Ball.

  You can sign up for Alexa’s list here, and Autumn’s list here. We’d love for you to join our newsletter readers!

  About the book - Colt: Billionaire Reunion

  Billionaire protectors. They'll risk their lives to protect a woman in danger.

  But will they risk their hearts?

  When the ex-wife scientist Colt Jarvis assumed left him for another man returns, his attraction to her flares. But he can’t trust her. During their brief marriage, she kept way too many secrets. She still does. For the past year, they’ve only seen each other during her visits to their children.

  Fiercely independent security expert Mirabella Jarvis didn’t choose to leave her husband and their twins. An accident followed by years of amnesia weren’t part of her plan. Slowly, she’s picking up the pieces of her old life, including rebuilding the trust of her twins again. Her husband’s trust is far tougher to gain, especially as he never trusted her in the first place.

  When the serial killer who almost murdered her once before threatens her life, Colt will do whatever it takes to keep her safe. Even if it means falling in love with her all over again.

  A Christian contemporary romance with suspense.

  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

  ~ Romans 8:28 (NIV)

  The Lord is my strength and my shield;

  my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.

  My heart leaps for joy,

  and with my song I praise him.

  ~ Psalm 28:7 (NIV)

  Chapter One

  A sign of love or a prelude to murder?

  Heart pounding, Mirabella Jarvis stared at the daisy bouquet she’d found on her office doorstep. Despite the warmth of the Texas July morning, a shiver from unwanted memories racked her.

  Once upon a time, daisies were her favorite flowers, though few people knew about it. Only her former husband Colt, and her best friend, Karli.

  Neither would give her daisies now.

  The flowers always used to make her smile. But that was before a serial killer had chosen to leave a bouquet of daisies on each of his victims. The sunny yellow centers surrounded by long white petals looked up at her with innocence as her fingertips grazed the gentle flowers. It wasn’t their fault one individual had chosen them as a sick play on the well-known expression.

  Great way to mark her first day back in business as a private investigator. This office didn’t have a vase. Didn’t have much at all besides a desk, a couple of chairs, and a computer. So she opened her water bottle and popped the flowers into it, unwilling to let them wither.

  Though, why not? They’d be a good match to her heart.

  She pushed the thought aside and paced the worn-out tile, which might’ve originally been beige. Who left the bouquet—and why? A quick interview of neighboring businesses yielded no results. Nobody saw who’d left it.

  Okay. Think. The man the press dubbed the Daisy Killer died in the accident in Australia she’d barely survived herself.

  Didn’t he?

  She struggled for breath. After spending years at a cattle ranch in Australia, she’d become used to open air and the fresh scents of grass and eucalyptus, not being cooped up in a box of an office. Despite thorough cleaning, the office still smelled a tad musty. The warm, peppery scent of her favorite flowers should’ve been a welcome change.

  It wasn’t. She shivered. After four years of amnesia, now she remembered too much. Far too much.

  Terror flooded every cell of her body. The gleam in the killer’s eyes as he gloated over her, detailing all he intended to do. The scream that stuck in her throat as the car rolled and then exploded.

  Another deep breath. She was fine now. Really, she was.

  The charcoal-gray walls seemed to be closing in on her, for more reasons than the dark paint job. If she wanted a change from working for Brett, her former brother-in-law, she should’ve found employment as a wrangler at a ranch instead of trying to build a private-investigator business on her own again.

  No cases so far. Only the enigmatic flowers.


  Her gaze focused on the daisies. Once sweet reminders of sunshine and love, those nodding heads now mocked her. The sign left on the bodies of murdered women, including Karli. Could Cantorini, the man she’d believed to be the Daisy Killer, somehow have survived the crash? Could this be a copycat? Or was Cantorini the copycat?

  The murders stopped after Cantorini died, sure. But coincidences happened. If the real Daisy Killer had been jailed for some other crime, he could now be free. Ready to kill again. And targeting her.

  And maybe not just her.

  Her family.

  Horror shuddered through her at the thought of evil threatening her precious twins again.

  Stopping her pacing, she forced her mind to a better memory. Colt giving her daisies for the first time. Not just a single bunch, of course. He’d filled her entire apartment with flowers. The sweet recollection brought a small wave of tenderness. His eyes held so much love for her then.

  But love didn’t last. The accusations he’d flung at her the night she’d left still burned. Her own fault, choosing to go to Australia to track down Karli’s murderer instead of staying with Colt and her children. She’d never guessed she’d spend four years away before her memories came back. Or guessed she’d return to find her children didn’t recognize her and her husband had divorced her.

  Colt would argue she shouldn’t have left in the first place, especially without telling him why. Maybe she shouldn’t have, but it seemed wisest at the time. The best way to keep her family safe.

  No use beating herself up now over wrong choices. She’d done enough of that in her childhood and her first marriage. You’d think she would’ve learned to do better in her second.

  Reaching out, she brushed her finger against a pure white petal. Sending daisies before the murder wasn’t part of the Daisy Killer’s M.O. What if something changed and Colt did send her that bouquet?

  A big change, if so. She’d been back a year now, but they’d only met a handful of times, on joint outings with the children. Never been alone together. He’d made it more than obvious he didn’t want any reunion.

  Suited her.

  But could he be softening toward her? Her heart, frozen since the night he proved he didn’t trust her and couldn’t love her, warmed a fraction. Not that she wanted them to reunite, either. It wasn’t possible. No chance of that. But still…some part of her did a happy dance remembering when their love was fresh and new. Imagining he’d give her flowers again.

  Only one way to find out if he had. She grabbed her purse and marched out of the office, locking the door behind her. She wouldn’t be missing much, anyway.

  Colt would most likely be in his lab. He’d often ditched calls, rarely stopped for lunch, and stayed late. One reason for their frequent arguments.

  They’d both made so many mistakes in their short marriage.

  Her heart squeezed painfully as she jumped inside her car and turned the key in the ignition. She breathed in the new-car scent of her air freshener and worked to calm her speeding pulse. Going to the lab gave her another shudder, and her fingers tightened around the steering wheel.

  Labs and her had history.

  This was a different lab. It was safe. It had to be. She nearly snorted. Yeah, sure. That explosion set up in it a year ago as a trap for Colt gave a great indicator of the safety level.

  Still, she had to find out about the daisies.

  Ignoring a little whisper saying a text would be enough to ask him about the flowers, she pulled out onto the busy Austin streets. Thanks to those unexpected years in Australia, she’d missed out on most of her children’s lives. More time with the twins made sense.

  Another reason to talk to Colt alone, no matter how much her gut twisted at the thought he might reject her.

  Frowning in concentration, she pressed on the accelerator and passed a black van, barely fitting her car between a truck and an SUV. Something shifted inside her at the idea of seeing him soon. What if he didn’t reject her, if he had sent the flowers? Just thinking about Colt’s gorgeous blue eyes and slow smile made her heart beat faster.

  No. She stiffened her spine. Her old feelings for him couldn’t come to the surface. There was too much pain between her and her ex-husband. Between her and her children, too. Though less wary now, especially Corbin, they still hadn’t truly forgiven her.

  As she passed another car, then exited to stop at a small restaurant they used to go to, back when they dated, she grimaced. It still twisted a knife in her heart that he could think she’d desert him and the twins for another man. But no matter. Colt could think what he wanted about her. As long as the twins were safe, that’s all that counted.

  That, and putting in her lunch order.

  She left with a takeout of barbecue ribs, baked potatoes, and a garden salad on the side. The scent of barbecued meat spread through the vehicle as she drove to the lab, making her hungry despite her apprehension.

  Colt had several labs in Austin, and it was anybody’s guess which one he’d choose today. But this was his favorite. Most likely, because it was the first lab he’d set up, long before becoming a billionaire.

  A brilliant scientist, he’d become rich off the patents and manufacturing rights on his discoveries.

  Scanning the area before parking, she slowed down. Skills obtained before her trip to Australia and relearned in the past year working as a security consultant for her former boss came in handy. Seeing nothing suspicious, she found a vacant spot in the parking lot.

  The lab. She did not like labs. Falling in love with a scientist had not been a good idea.

  As she turned off the engine, she winced. At times, she could still hear the thunder of the long-ago explosion and the blast wave that threw her to the ground. An explosion with far bigger consequences than she’d realized at the time.

  She wrapped her arms around her middle and rocked back and forth a little, reluctant to leave the safety of her vehicle. When she’d visited this lab a year ago after Colt had been kidnapped, she’d been shot. Thankfully only grazed, the slightest of flesh wounds, but still.

  Another confirmation for her subconscious. Labs weren’t safe places to be.

  No matter. She could be stronger than her emotions.

  After Colt’s kidnapping, she’d let her emotions overwhelm her, make her careless. She’d paid for that with a wound. Never again.

  So far, the place on the outskirts of Austin appeared quiet. She noted the large tree she could use as cover, should the need arise. The row of cars she could duck behind. Of course, an assailant could use them as cover, too. But it all appeared safe enough.

  Before opening the car door, she glanced in the mirror to check her makeup covered the scars well enough. Wide-open gray eyes looked back at her, her red hair cut in a short pixie cut, with bangs falling on her forehead to cover the scars at her hairline. Once upon a time, she’d had long hair, and Colt had loved to run his fingers through it. Once upon a time, she hadn’t worn much makeup, and he’d loved to caress her bare skin.

  But she wasn’t the woman he’d felt such passion for. Not anymore.

  Despite the plastic surgeries to fix her scars from the accident in Australia, so much scarring still remained. She shouldn’t be self-conscious. Wished she didn’t need to wear so much makeup. But she did need to.

  People staring and asking what happened to her didn’t do wonders for her self-esteem. So she wore multiple layers of base, crimson lipstick, mascara, and eyeliner. A tip they’d told her at the hospital, to wear more than usual of all her makeup, so people would just think she wore a lot of makeup, not that she was hiding scars. She paid special attention to the base to cover the unevenness and changes in skin tone the surgeons hadn’t been able to erase.

  Why did it still matter so much what Colt thought of her? Why this desire for him to still find her beautiful, to look at her the way he once had? The strong and instant attraction that swept them into a hasty marriage wasn’t enough anymore.

  It
never had been enough.

  They had no chance of a future together, no matter how much the children might wish for it.

  Still, they needed to have a relationship because of the children, who lived with Colt but saw her several times a week. And she had to find out about the daisies. Pulling her shoulders back, she unclicked her seat belt.

  The new-car scent of the leased and far-from-new sedan smelled as fake as her identity in Australia had been. As fake as the mask of makeup the woman she was now wore. As fake as the lies Mom made her tell Dad to cover Mom’s affairs. And though she’d never lied to Colt, she hadn’t exactly told him the truth, either.

  She’d become the woman she never wanted to be.

  Mirabella tried to pray. She needed a sense of God’s presence badly, especially now. No matter how good she’d become at tracking down clues or target shooting, she’d never been good at communicating.

  With God. With her parents. With either of her husbands. Even with her children.

  Regret weighed heavily on her shoulders.

  As she grabbed the takeout in her left hand and marched to the door, she pushed the memories deep into the recesses of her mind. It didn’t quite work. She’d tried to bury so many unwanted memories, her mental graveyard was out of space.

  No matter. She could lift her chin high and keep her shoulders straight.

  Senses still on alert, she slid her right hand into her purse. The smooth cold surface of her gun reassured her.

  Her pulse quickening, she punched the entry buzzer. When one of Colt’s employees opened, she lifted the takeout bag. “Please tell Mr. Jarvis his ex-wife would like to meet him in his office for lunch, please.”