Seduction on the Sand (The Billionaires of Barefoot Bay #2)(3)
Undaunted, he took a step closer and lifted his hand, grazing her chin. “Bet I can change your mind.”
“Bet you can’t.” She pivoted and took off so fast, she kicked a clump of sand on his jeans.
Brushing it, he just grinned. “How much are you willing to bet?” he called out. “I put fifteen million on the table!”
She stuck up her middle finger and kept running.
Sweet.
The only thing Becker liked more than a sexy woman with attitude was a sexy woman with attitude and a piece of real estate he wanted. This could be a good time. Maybe not quite as easy as he’d thought, but sometimes hard could be fun, too.
Chapter Two
Don’t look back. Don’t look back. Don’t give him the satisfaction.
Of course, Frankie looked. What red-blooded human female wouldn’t? And the cowboy was already ambling down the beach in the other direction, as fine from the rear as the front.
Under the cowboy hat, long, dark hair brushed the collar of his T-shirt. Faded jeans rested casually on a stare-worthy ass, drawing every woman’s eyes to narrow hips and long, lean thighs that took huge strides as he loped away.
But she was a sucker for shoulders and, son of a bitch, he had those for days. Broad, strong, muscular. Along with a killer smile and bedroom eyes and...a billion freaking dollars. No, no. Two and a half billion freaking dollars.
Hello, deal breaker.
Had he actually said fifteen million dollars?
That blew every other offer out of the water, and from by far the best-looking bloodhound to come sniffing after her prime property. But, like the others, he’d soon learn she was serious about not selling. The land belonged in the Cardinale family, and it would stay in the Cardinale family as long as there was blood in her veins and breath in her lungs. No man—not even one who no doubt got whatever he wanted from 99.9 percent of the female population—could ever make her break that promise to her grandfather.
He’d learn soon enough that Frankie was the exception to whatever rules got him through his charmed life.
With a quick glance behind her, she abandoned the event and any chance of playing more verbal volleyball with the cowboy billionaire. She’d been there long enough to introduce herself to the Casa Blanca spa manager and arrange a meeting, which had been her only goal at the reunion .
Happy she’d left her sandals in her truck, she headed home before the sun disappeared in the water.
Well, not home. Kind of home. Temporary home. Home for the moment, which was supposed to be a week or two and had extended to three months now.
It felt like home a lot more than that high-gloss, high-tech high-rise in DC. How had this tropical island stuck in the middle of nowhere become her home? For the second time in her life, too.
Sure, the place was a lush, undiscovered gem glittering in the Gulf of Mexico. A few years ago, the hills and lakes of central Barefoot Bay had been lost among the more desirable real estate along the coasts. But ever since Casa Blanca Resort & Spa had been built along the shore, money had been dripping into this island. Or dropping in by helicopter, she thought with a mirthless smile.
It was like they’d gotten a newsflash when her grandfather had died without a will. Well, too bad, suckers. Florida’s probate and intestate laws were crystal clear, as was her extremely sparse family tree. She’d inherited the twenty-some acres of glorious tall pines and gently sloping hills...and all that was on it.
Coming around the last corner, she slowed down to brace for the sight of exactly what that entailed: seven goats, two dogs, a milking shelter, and a less-than-luxurious single-wide that Nonno had rolled onto the land after his house was wiped out by a hurricane a few years ago. Yep, oddly, inexplicably, this wretched little goat farm had become her home.
Not so inexplicable, she thought as she rolled up the dirt road. This was the very place where she’d taken refuge thirteen years ago when her world came tumbling down. On those bleak days in the fall of 2001, when the world mourned people they didn’t know and she mourned the parents she’d lost, she’d loved the security and simplicity of the goat farm. It was sunny and easy, with sweet goats and precious Nonno to make her forget the ache of being an orphan. She’d loved it then, and she loved it now.
Only now, without Nonno, it was lonely.
As she rounded the last bend, her gaze froze on a black SUV parked in front of the trailer. Holy hell, would these bloodhounds never give up? It’s not for sale, people!
Sighing, she did a mental count of the days until this could end. Nine. Nine days until the full ninety-day probate period would be over, and she could officially wave a property title in her name in the faces of these relentless developers. All of them. Even the ones with bedroom eyes and ride-’em-cowboy shoulders. Shoot, was this him?
The thought rocked her as she slammed on the brakes next to the SUV. Had Wile E. Coyote somehow beaten her here?
She shoved her bare feet into sandals, trying to stomp away the tendril of heat and anticipation.
Surely she wasn’t going to be that girl...the one who went all breathless and giddy at the sight of a sexy rich guy. Not a chance in hell.
She threw open the door to hear Ozzie and Harriet from inside the mobile home, their high-pitched barks welcoming her home. Not the warning snarl of a Rottweiler that she should have to keep these idiots away.
Stepping out, she scanned the pen first to be sure all the girls were safe. Four of her goat does were visible, all offering their own distinct bleats to alert her that something was wrong. Still, no one was in sight. Was he around the side in the buck’s pen? Maybe Billionaire Becker was stupid enough to let a horny male goat out of his gate? That might actually be amusing.