Billionaire Unforgettable

  Copyright © 2024 by J. S. Scott

  All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission.

  Proof editing by Virginia Tesi Carey

  Cover photo by Wander Aguiar Photography

  Cover designed by Sarah Kil Creative Studio

  ISBN: 979-8-343588-91-0 (Print)

  ISBN: 978-1-959932-17-8 (E-Book)

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Epilogue

  Hannah

  “Good morning, Silas,” I called out as I entered The Mug And Jug with an armful of cinnamon rolls.

  It was early in the morning, but the door had been unlocked because Silas was always expecting his morning delivery.

  The elderly man stepped up to the counter of the establishment that served as both a coffee shop in the morning and the local bar in the evening with a welcoming smile. “Morning, Hannah,” he said. “Where’s Joy today?”

  I grinned back at him at the mention of my mother’s name as I plopped the trays on the bar. “She said she’s a little tired today,” I answered. “After she finished baking, I told her I’d take the shift at Sweet Mornings.”

  My mom had been operating the local donut shop for decades, a little takeout store right across from The Mug And Jug on Main Street in Crystal Fork, Montana.

  Delivering her cinnamon rolls to Silas to sell with his gourmet coffees in the morning had been a routine she’d followed for as long as I could remember.

  Silas frowned. “Is she okay? Didn’t she finish her cardiac rehab? I thought she was doing good.”

  My heart warmed because he looked so concerned. “She says she’s fine. She told me that she got into a good movie last night and stayed up too late.”

  Personally, I thought that my mother deserved to retire so she could do whatever she wanted, but she said she’d be bored if she didn’t spend her mornings baking and chatting with everyone at Sweet Mornings.

  I worried about her a lot, especially since she’d had a heart attack that had required emergency cardiac surgery several months ago.

  She was doing well, but I’d decided that I never wanted to be in Seattle when my mother was in Montana having emergency surgery ever again.

  The time it had taken for me to get to her here in Montana had been agonizing.

  Relocating back to Crystal Fork after my mom’s heart attack and surgery hadn’t been easy for me, but it was better than me living in Seattle and worrying about her all the time.

  “Got time for a coffee and a little chat?” Silas asked with a grin.

  “Always,” I answered and plopped my ass on a stool at the bar. “I’ll have the usual, and I’d appreciate the chat since you’re about the only person who’s nice to me in this town these days.”

  The older man shot me a questioning glance as he started making me a latte. “That can’t possibly be true. You’re one of the sweetest and prettiest girls in this town.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  I wasn’t a girl. I was thirty-four years old, but maybe I seemed young to a man who had already seen his eightieth birthday in the rearview mirror.

  I adored Silas, but I was also immune to his flirtatious compliments, no matter how well-meaning they were.

  I finally shrugged. “Everyone seems to think that I dumped one of Crystal Fork’s heroes and ran off with another man to Seattle. There aren’t very many people who like me here anymore.”

  “Do you want my advice?” Silas queried.

  I tried not to smile because I knew that however I answered his question, I was going to get that advice, whether I wanted it…or not.

  I’d known Silas all my life, and he was known for giving advice to anyone who would listen.

  “Sure,” I shot back and was rewarded with an approving smile.

  “Ignore them,” he advised. “People in this town think they know the truth about everyone’s business, but they don’t know squat. Honestly, what happened between you and Tanner is old news. It was a long time ago. They’ll get over it when they see that you haven’t changed a bit.”

  Honestly, I had changed. I wasn’t the same woman who had been engaged to Tanner Remington years ago.

  I sighed as Silas slid the coffee across the bar to me. “Nobody really wants to give me that chance of becoming reacquainted, unfortunately.”

  Tanner and I had both grown up here in Crystal Fork. He was almost five years older than me, so we’d never really known each other when we were younger. He’d gone off to college, and I’d moved to New York City to go to cosmetology school right after high school. We’d pretty much been strangers when we’d met up in New York as adults.

  Tanner had finished college, relocated to New York, and had started a new job on Wall Street.

  I’d just started my first job as a cosmetologist at the time.

  Since my mother and his mother were close friends, they suggested that we meet up so I could introduce Tanner to more of New York City.

  That casual coffee meetup between Tanner and me in New York had turned into a seven year relationship for the two of us.

  I’d spent the majority of my twenties with Tanner.

  He and his two brothers had built their own business during our time in New York, and I’d advanced my career in cosmetology by learning as many extra skills as possible.

  We’d gotten engaged before the two of us moved back to Crystal Fork together after Tanner’s older brother, Kaleb, had relocated the KTD Remington headquarters back to Montana.

  Our relationship had ended badly, but I wasn’t exactly a villain because I’d left Tanner, and I definitely hadn’t left him for another man.

  The people in this town assumed what they wanted to assume.

  I’d grown up with a lot of the people in this town, and they were good people, but they lived in a small world. Gossiping and speculating was a ritual in Crystal Fork.

  “Have you talked to Tanner at all since you moved back home?” Silas questioned.

  I curled my hands around the warm mug. “No,” I said flatly. “I think it’s better if we don’t. He goes out of his way to avoid me most of the time, and I really have nothing to say to him. We’ve both moved on. Like you said, it’s been a long time.”

  If Tanner had something to say, he could have contacted me in Seattle, but he hadn’t. He still spoke to my mother when he saw her, but he’d never once asked her about me. She’d known exactly where I was, and knowing my mom, she would have given Tanner any information he’d wanted.

  “It wouldn’t hurt for the two of you to talk about it if it’s really water under the bridge, Hannah. Maybe you can get some kind of closure.”

  My stomach twisted at the thought of actually discussing my heartbreak with Tanner Remington.

  Breaking up with him had nearly destroyed me, and I wanted to leave that pain in the past.

  “Why?” I asked right before I took a sip of the coffee.

  I let the taste of a good coffee roll over my tastebuds, closing my eyes for a moment because Silas’s coffee was that good.

  I’d lived in Seattle for seven years, but I’d never had a cup of coffee as good as The Mug And Jug could brew up, and that was saying something since Seattle was known for their coffee.

  “Why?” Silas repeated. “Maybe I think he owes it to you to set the record straight in this town. If people knew you were on good terms with each other, maybe they’d stop ignoring you like you were at fault.”

  Silas was one of the few people in town who knew my side of the story, and I loved him for defending me, but I didn’t want to renew my acquaintance with Tanner Remington.

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said softly. “I’ll probably move to Billings once I convince myself that Mom is really okay. I’ll still be close enough to her that we can still see each other often.”

  “Wouldn’t you rather be able to see her almost every day?” Silas asked.

  I fiddled with the handle of the mug. “You know I do. Her heart attack scared me to death, and she’s all I have. I guess that really woke me up to the fact that I wasn’t spending enough time with her, and that she was getting older. I think sometimes we get so involved with work and life that we forget what’s really important.”

  My mother and I had always been close, and she’d been so happy when I’d moved back to Cystal Fork the first time with
Tanner.

  However, she’d been the first one to encourage me to take a great opportunity in Seattle when Tanner and I had broken up, even though she’d rather have me closer.

  She’d wanted me to be happy, even if that meant that I’d be moving eight hundred miles away from her.

  My only parent had always wanted what was best for me first.

  Now it was time for me to think about what was best for her.

  I was her only child, a daughter she thought she’d never have until she finally got pregnant in her thirties.

  She’d raised me well, and she’d done it alone because we’d lost my dad when I was an infant.

  Mom had just celebrated her seventieth birthday.

  Granted, she was extremely independent and capable, but after that scare with her heart attack and her cardiac surgery, I wanted to spend as much time with her as I possibly could.

  Even if that meant that I’d have to deal with the life and the heartache I’d left behind in Crystal Fork years ago.

  “The older you get, the faster time seems to pass by,” Silas pondered. “Joy will love having you closer to her, but she doesn’t want to see you miserable in a place where you’re not comfortable.”

  I swallowed more of my coffee before I answered, “That’s just it. I’ve always loved it here. I missed Crystal Fork and the people here. I guess I didn’t expect to be treated like a pariah. Everyone adores the Remingtons, and I’m basically an outsider now.”

  “I’m not defending the way that people are treating you, Hannah, but he was pretty heartbroken. He wasn’t himself after it happened, but he never wanted to talk about it,” Silas mentioned. “I still think you should talk to him. He could set the record straight.”

  “I’m not sure he knows what happened,” I confessed reluctantly.

  “Then maybe you can set him straight on the whole thing,” Silas suggested. “He broke your heart, and he still thinks you left him for someone else.”

  “I got over it,” I informed Silas. “And I’m not the same woman that I was seven years ago, Silas.”

  He shook his head. “I think you’re exactly the same woman you were seven years ago. You just hide that soft heart of yours better than you used to.”

  Ha! I didn’t just hide it. I’d shoved that part of myself that had loved Tanner more than life itself so deep that it would never see the light of day again.

  Our relationship was part of my past, and I’d probably never let myself be that vulnerable to anyone again.

  “I grew up,” I told Silas before I swallowed the last of my coffee.

  I’d left Crystal Fork devastated, but I’d found success in Seattle beyond my wildest dreams.

  I’d gone to Seattle to start a business with two cosmetologists that I’d known in New York, and we’d built that business into something special and lucrative.

  Giving up my partnership in that business had been one of the hardest things I’d ever done, but I’d had to do it to make the move back to Crystal Fork.

  I’d lost that identity and reputation that I’d worked so hard for in Seattle, but the experience and confidence it had given me was still incredibly valuable to me.

  “If it means anything, I think you grew up way quicker than Tanner,” Silas mumbled. “But he seems to have his priorities straight and his head more together now.”

  I took a quick look at the clock over the bar before I leaned forward and gave Silas a quick kiss on the cheek. “I have to go. I need to open the store soon.”

  Sweet Mornings opened early and usually closed by early afternoon because my mother ran out of donuts.

  “You call me if you need anything,” Silas insisted. “I’m right across the street.”

  My heart warmed because of the sincerity in his gaze.

  “Thanks for the advice and the coffee,” I told him with a smile.

  “I’ve got more of the same whenever you want it.”

  I wanted to kiss the older man again for being so kind to me.

  Probably because kindness from the people in Crystal Fork was in very short supply for me right now.

  Tanner

  “Anything else I can get for you boys?” Charlie asked as I pushed my empty plate away from me so she could collect it easier.

  I shook my head, and then looked at my two brothers, Kaleb and Devon.

  I was stuffed full of the best biscuits and gravy in Montana.

  “I’m full,” my older brother Kaleb said as he handed his own empty plate to Charlie. “It was an amazing breakfast as usual, Charlie.”

  “Agreed,” my younger brother Devon said as Charlie took his plate. “Thanks, Charlie.”

  “No need to thank me. Breakfast is the least I can do for you three since you’re headed out to my farm to work on my chicken coop,” she said gratefully.

  My brothers and I had stopped at Charlie’s restaurant for breakfast before we headed out to her farm. It was Saturday, and my brothers and I had stopped going to our offices in Billings on the weekends unless it was an emergency a long time ago.

  The older woman had a very large flock of chickens to keep her restaurant stocked with fresh eggs, and she had a large chicken coop that needed repairs before winter set in.

  One of the things I liked about Crystal Fork was the way everyone stepped up to help each other when something needed to get done. There would be more people out on the farm to help, all of them willing to work until that chicken coop was like new again.

  Granted, living in a small town meant that everyone knew your business, but if work needed to get done, they’d all step up to help.

  Charlie was beloved by everyone in Crystal Fork. She owned the only great place to eat in town, and she treated her customers like family.

  Unfortunately, she’d lost her husband to a stroke years ago, and her son lived out of state, so when Charlie needed something, she never even had to ask.

  I actually enjoyed working outside after spending the week in my office, so I was always up for helping people with outside work on the weekends.

  I grinned at Charlie. “You really didn’t need to bribe us with breakfast to get us to go out and work on your chicken coop.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Devon quipped. “I’m never going to turn down a good breakfast here.”

  Charlie beamed at my younger brother. “Like I already told you, breakfast is on the house.”

  Kaleb looked like he was going to argue, but stopped himself from saying something at the last minute.

  Arguing with Charlie was pointless, and we all knew it. She was sweet, but she could be as stubborn as a mule when she wanted to be. It didn’t matter to her that we were all billionaires and could definitely afford to pay for our own breakfast.

  “We’ll leave a large tip,” I told Kaleb quietly as Charlie wandered away with our empty plates.

  “That’s the plan,” Kaleb agreed before he took a slug of his coffee.

  “What is Anna doing today while you’re working out at Charlie’s farm?” Devon asked Kaleb curiously.

  Kaleb had recently married Annelise Kendrick, one of the most famous pop stars on the planet. It was probably more difficult for him to be away from home on a Saturday than it was for Devon and me because my older brother was the only one of us who was now married.

  Kaleb was living in wedded bliss, and he liked being home with Anna on the weekends.

  “She didn’t seem particularly disappointed that I’d be gone,” Kaleb grumbled unhappily. “She’s going to Billings with Mom later to do some shopping.”

  I smirked because my brother sounded offended that his wife was making the best of her time away from him.

  Truthfully, Anna was as in love with Kaleb as he was with her, but she was an independent, highly successful woman who was used to spending time on her own.

  Anna had lost her own parents, and she had grown exceptionally close to our mother.

  “You’ll survive for one day without her,” Devon said unsympathetically. “You two were together constantly on your honeymoon. The disgustingly sweet pictures of you two are almost nauseating. That much togetherness would drive me crazy.”

  Kaleb and Anna had just returned from that honeymoon. They’d escaped to a secluded villa in Italy to maintain some of their privacy. People here were getting used to having a celebrity like Anna in their town, and they adored Anna as a person.

  However, she was generally mobbed in other places in the US if she was recognized.