31 Ways to Catch a Billionaire Read online

  Copyright © 2012 Ann King

  All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  To my heavenly Father, thank you for all you have done for me.

  He needs a temporary wife…

  The most sought after bachelor, Carlos Kincade is young, rich and devilishly handsome. He has everything he thought he could possibly want until his grandfather’s will stipulates he must be married by his 30th birthday to keep his inheritance. He’s suddenly in need of a wife who can fulfill his every hot desire.

  She needs a job…

  Struggling psychology student Elsie Sherwood suddenly finds herself in need of another job after a medical crisis in the family cost her family home. Sexy Carlos Kincade offers her work for a month but there are strings attached…and a diamond ring. She must fulfill his thirty-one needs to play his wife until he fulfills his grandfather’s will—but is the seduction too hot to handle?

  1.

  “You can’t be serious,” Carlos Kincade’s eyes narrowed as he sat opposite Santos Duke of Duke, Ross & Blakes, lawyers for the Kincade family. Santos had summoned Carlos and his six brothers for a reading of the last will and testament of their late grandfather, John Smith Kincade II, the founder of the world-renowned Kincade retail empire. Their inherited stock in the company made them one of the wealthiest families in the world.

  “Yes, I am very serious, Mr. Kincade,” Duke’s eyes were fixed on twenty-nine year old Carlos, the current CEO of Kincade Corporation. “And to all of you, John, Jared, Marcus, Justin, Dane and Tristan, your grandfather left this one condition in his will for a very good reason.”

  “So that we can all get hitched by our next birthday?”

  “Not quite, Jared.”

  “Then what?”

  “Well, basically,” Duke sighed as he took his spectacles off his face and placed them on the table after reading the will, “When your grandfather, John, lost both of his sons, your father and your uncle, he’d made a few changes to his will to ensure the company’s legacy. Of course, your father’s demise in that helicopter crash was a great tragedy but he spoke to us about his concern over your Uncle Jeffrey’s suicide as the turning point.”

  Carlos sprung up to his feet and shoved his hands in his pockets, trying to contain himself. “So this is what it’s all about. Uncle Jeff, the womaniser and gambler who lost all his money so we have to pay?”

  “Well, not exactly, Carlos. Please sit down and relax.”

  “Relax? You just told us that we’re going to lose our inheritance if we don’t fulfill some comical condition of our grandfather’s will. How do you think this makes us feel?”

  “Yes, I can imagine it is hard to come to grasp with. But it is all for a good reason. Your grandfather’s business was built on all the good values that he believed in…trust, loyalty, family values. He just doesn’t want to see you squander your fortune on fast women and fast cars. He feels that having a family will give you more stability. In his days matchmaking was good for the family. You can be paired up with…”

  “Enough, Duke! It’s one thing to insist that we marry by our next birthday but to be told who to marry. That’s another thing.”

  “I agree with Carlos,” John Kincade III said as stood up. “We all know that gramps had a wild sense of humor about life and maybe this is his one last laugh from the grave but I say we find our own wives, if we agree to this…condition.”

  Duke sighed heavily, his hand combing his white strands of hair, what was left on his head. “Very well. But please let me know if you require assistance in this area. And regarding your grandfather’s conditions…I’ve seen worse in wills. You’d be surprised.”

  “Well this is not other people’s wills we’re talking about…this is our family’s estate.”

  “Very well.” Duke seemed too tired to argue further and Carlos could tell he was way past retirement. A good man but really pushing the working years.

  Carlos stood by the window looking out as his brothers talked amongst themselves. He really didn’t get it. Why would his grandfather make such a condition to his will? Okay, he got it that his uncle was nothing but trouble. A disgrace to the family. An irresponsible playboy bachelor who squandered his fortune, gambled with money he no longer had and ultimately disgraced the Kincade family name by his tabloid appearances with run ins with the law. He was later found dead in a hotel bathroom after he overdosed on pain killers. Later it was ruled out as a suicide. It caused a scandal for the Kincade’s public image. The owners of one of the world’s largest upscale retailers listed in the Forbes list of the wealthiest families during the last decade alone. His father, John II, wasn’t any better.

  Carlos was always the outcast in the family. The different one. He was darker in complexion than his fair skinned brothers and his dark grey eyes contrasted to their blue eyes. He was the illegitimate son.

  He couldn’t help but feel this was quite a coincidence. With all the pretense of brotherhood from his siblings he knew how they really felt about him and it didn’t faze him one bit—until now. His father had an affair with the Italian maid, his mother, while married to Mrs. Kincade. He’d always been made to feel different from the rest. He’d grown up trying to be twenty times better just to be considered equal. He’d worked hard in the company just to prove his worth and changed the vision and increased the company’s profit line in addition to pleasing customers in an unconventional way. Now on the verge of one of the largest risk ventures to bring the Kincade empire to another level, he could possibly lose it all—with all his hard work. He’d been responsible for pulling Kincade Department store into the twenty-first century and beyond. Macy’s couldn’t compare to it now. Now this ridiculous will stipulation when it was a known fact that he was a sworn bachelor, he couldn’t help but feel this was some sort of set up. He just didn’t believe in marriage. Period.

  Later, his father was killed in a plane crash…with another mistress at his side.

  So much for family values.

  Carlos swore he’d never get married while growing up. He just didn’t believe in happily ever after. Shoot, he didn’t exactly have any role models in that area. Being single and working hard in the corporation meant more to him…until now. He really didn’t want to lose his place in the business or his inheritance. It would undo everything he’d ever worked for.

  Damn it! He was the Kincade Corporation. He had to think fast. Maybe there was a way around this ridiculous little clause in his grandfather’s will.

  His jaw clenched at the thought of what he would do. There was always a way around things and this would be no different.

  “By the way,” Duke said after clearing his throat, “part of the stipulation of the will is that if for any reason you contest the will…you get nothing.”

  “Nothing?” Carlos shot back, stunned. He felt fire course through his veins. His brothers also looked up from their conversations as if they’d seen a ghost. The atmosphere in the lawyer’s office turned frigid, tense.

  “Nothing,” Duke whispered as he looked down, regret in his eyes, as if he, too, thought that particular condition of John Kincade’s will was harsh.

  Carlos’s jaw clenched, every muscle in his body tensed up. He felt his blood run cold.

  Nothing? We’ll see about that.

  2.

  The next day, Elsie
Sherwood stood outside of the rotating doors of the glass building of Kincade Corporation with her Starbucks coffee in hand. She held the cup to her lips taking the last sip. Just what she needed to calm her nerves and bring some alertness to her day.

  Inside she shivered with anxiety. She really needed this new position at Kincade. Failure was not an option.

  “All set, kiddo?” her cousin Dee called out to her after dropping her off.

  “Almost,” she lied.

  “You know I never thought I’d see you working in a sex toy shop.”

  “It’s not a sex toy shop,” Elsie snapped back. “It’s part of the Kincade Department store. It’s just another department within the store.”

  “Ah, right,” Dee mocked, “the Home Pleasures department.” Dee broke out into a laugh after trying to contain herself.

  Elsie rolled her eyes. Dee was always mocking her growing up. Elsie had always been the shy quiet one in the family. Dee was the wild child, done it all cousin. But she was sure glad to be sharing her one-bedroom apartment after the bailiff changed the lock on the door. Since her mother’s death and losing the home from escalating medical bills prior to her death, it had all been one crazy ride.

  The gentle September breeze kissed her skin with its coolness as Elsie held her hair down with her free hand, ever so conscious of her scar on the side of her hairline. She’d always managed to style her hair in a certain way so that it wasn’t clearly visible.

  “Besides, if I get this job it’ll be research for my class in Human Sexuality.”

  “Since when are you taking a class on Human Sexuality?” Dee looked surprised.

  “Come on Dee. Remember? I told you it was the only elective available to finish my psych degree.”

  “Oh, right. How convenient,” Dee smirked as she saluted her playfully before rolling up the window to drive away.

  Elsie grinned and turned around to enter the building. She threw the Starbucks cup into the recycle bin just outside the doors after she’d taken her last sip.

  She could not help but thinking, she’d covered her tuition for the fall but come January, she’d be toast if she didn’t come up with another $15,000. What on earth would she do? Once she’d graduated she could work as a Psychometrist in her field while she completed her Masters and PhD program. “Looking forward and leaving the past behind.” That was her new motto now. She’d been through her own share of heartbreak in her life and she wasn’t about to let it mess up her future. She had to move forward for her mother if nothing else.

  The bottom line was she really did need this job. Like yesterday.

  It was a controversial move from her part time job at Kincade’s in the café waiting tables. But it sure would pay a whole lot more while she put herself through college. She was glad for the internal job posting for Kincade’s new department opening up soon. The pay would be phenomenal and would offer her more hours to boot. The store required six full time and four part time staff to rotate weekends, days and evenings. That would fit around her classroom schedule perfectly. The job description specified the candidates must be enthusiastic, approachable, knowledgeable about the products (hmm, she’d thought that part odd) and professional in appearance and courteous.

  The best part was that she would finally get to meet up close the hottest board member of the upscale store chain, CEO Carlos Kincade, also heir to the empire, since he would be personally meeting and interviewing potential candidates who passed through the first round of screening. It would be a long shot but a girl could dream, couldn’t she? It wasn’t so much his status or money or his key position and how he single-handedly managed to turn the empire around and modernize it in unconventional ways. It was his charm, his charisma and yet his elusive nature rolled into one. He was a complex man. A genius, yet different from all the other suits around. Even before she’d started working at the café at Kincade’s she’d seen him once or twice from a distance but she’d always had a star-like crush on him. The man dominated her most intimate fantasies. Again, a long shot.

  Thoughts of Carlos Kincade made her pulse quicken and her inner thighs tingle. She had to divert her thoughts to something else. This was so unprofessional and so never going to happen. He was the head of the corporation she worked for—she a little dot on his avalanche of works all over the world. She’d Googled him a few times and gaped at the slender athletic body of the mogul with several women, sometimes models, A-list actresses and the works. Elsie knew she hadn’t fit into that category. She was just an ordinary girl next door with a little cellulite on her butt. She’d also admired her out of the box thinking when he’d changed the direction of Kincade to separate from its major competitors with stores like Macy’s. He was often met with critical attention from the media and his competitors but at the end, the store’s bottom line increased. Not only that but he’d been the biggest philanthropist—opening more sports centers and donating more computers and services for inner city kids to get ahead. Some had said that he did most things in secret without all the media glitz. He would secretly visit the arenas and coach on the kids or help out in building some of the habitat homes himself in disguise. Still, the man was a mystery for sure. Elsie often fantasized about him noticing her in the pool of women working for him. Yeah, right! Like that was ever going to happen. She’d had way too much insecurity to even think of getting up close to someone like Carlos Kincade.

  “You ready?” Lucy from Women’s Apparel called out to her noticing her march towards the glass main elevators.

  “Ready as can be. Will you be going for the job, too?”

  “Hell, yeah. You kidding me? Miss up a chance to meet Carlos Kincade up close and personal? I heard he’d be interviewing the finalists one on one.” Lucy’s eyes almost rolled back in her head as if she’d just be kissed by a prince. Her dream-like daze shifted when the elevator opened and a few suits walked out.

  “Coming in?”

  “Uh, no,” Elsie said, noticing Lucy’s smart apparel with a low cleavage and her hair and make-up so perfect, you’d think she was doing a shoot for Vogue cover.

  “I’m just going fix up a bit in the ladies room,” Elsie finished before walking off. “See you soon.”

  Lucy shrugged her shoulders then closed the glass doors and pushed the button for the HR floor where the candidates would be meeting.

  She was going to meet Carlos Kincade. How could she possibly look so….meh!

  She was sure that her mouth must have the aroma of her morning coffee. She’d run into the posh washroom on the first floor and said good morning to the cleaner before going over to the plush set of mirrors in the powder section. Talk about upscale. Kincade’s didn’t do anything ordinary. It was upscale all the way. She’d felt as if she were more in a five-star hotel than a washroom. The dim lit calming atmosphere and marble floors was just what she needed. Thankfully it was empty after the cleaner left.

  She went into one of the private booths and adjusted her bra strap underneath her blouse. She straightened her skirt and fixed her G-string underneath which she thought was the most uncomfortable thing to wear but…it sure was better than wearing granny panties. She needed to feel the part. Sexy. Desirable. Knowledgeable about the products that she would be selling. Elsie fished into her Gucci imitation bag and pulled out a carefully wrapped Kincade shopping bag. It had one of the products from the presale from the Home Pleasures department.

  A smooth silicone vibrating Dildo.

  Good Lord! What had she come to? She was supposed to be a well-respected psychologist helping corporations build stronger work environments. Not a…sex expert!

  The smooth Dildo was tanned in complexion and quite a good size. Her mind immediately slid to Carlos Kincade. A tingling erupted between her thighs. She was so ashamed to admit it to herself. She idolized him. Fantasized about him day and night. His hard firm muscles from hours at the gym. His well sculpted body. His sinfully sexy eyes. Ooh, those delicious grey sparkling eyes and the longest lashes she’d ever se
en on a man. God, he was…beautiful. Breathtaking. Her heart pounded and her inner thighs also pulsed at the thought of him inside her. Even if it were just a fantasy. Suddenly she unwrapped the Dildo and before she could contain herself, she’d thought the only thing she could do was calm her adrenaline by relaxing herself. She’d never used a sex toy before to pleasure herself—which was not merely enough times. But something came over her. She eased back on the plush seat in the dress booth and spread her legs. She slid her fingers between her silk panties at the side and drew in a deep breath imagining the silicone penis was Carlos. How hard could this be? Using a toy to please oneself. She would soon find out.

  She paused for a moment as if afraid of getting caught somehow. Could she really do this? Boy, was this so out of character for her. Well, she was supposed to be selling these products to other women.

  She drew in a deep breath not sure of how it would feel as she slowly slid the cool, smooth toy inside her warm pulsing folds, first at the side of her swollen wet folds while she cooed his name.

  “Ooh, Carlos! God, I love you. Carlos.”

  Her other hand pulled down her bra strap and she stroked her taut pink nipple which had reacted to her delicious thoughts of sexy, dark and deadly handsome Carlos Kincade. The CEO of her company. A fantasy that would never happen.

  As she thrust the penis inside her back and thought her thighs moved in motion, “Oh, Carlos,” she cried out until her body convulsed with orgasm. Elsie collapsed in satisfaction.

  This was insane! What had she just done? She’d never done anything like that in her life before. What kind of affect had this man on her? She hungered for this man’s attention. His touch. What was wrong with her? She seriously needed to get a real boyfriend. Not just the fantasy of someone unreachable. It was as if she was making up for lost time, not having a love life all these days while caring for her ailing mother. She definitely needed to get out more. She needed to get a life.