Her Accidental Hero
A BAD BOY BILLIONAIRE BROTHERS ROMANCE BOX SET
Holly Jaymes
Copyright © 2019 by Holly Jaymes
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Book 1: Hating My Hero
Book 1: Prologue
Book 1: Chapter 1 Samantha—Lightning Strikes Twice
Book 1: Chapter 2 Gabe—It’s Good to Be Home… Sort Of
Book 1: Chapter 3 Samantha—Rehab Day One
Book 1: Chapter 4 Gabe—Near-Misses
Book 1: Chapter 5 Samantha—Wine as a Remedy
Book 1: Chapter 6 Gabe—Bad News
Book 1: Chapter 7 Samantha—In the Library
Book 1: Chapter 8 Gabe—It’s Just Sex
Book 1: Chapter 9 Samantha—The Other Ex
Book 1: Chapter 10 Gabe—Dinner with the Family
Book 1: Chapter 11 Samantha—Don’t Break the Rules
Book 1: Chapter 12 Gabe—Falling
Book 1: Chapter 13 Samantha—The Tides Shift
Book 1: Chapter 14 Gabe—History is Repeating Itself
Book 1: Chapter 15 Samantha—Beginning of the End… Again
Book 1: Chapter 16 Gabe—Time to Move On
Book 1: Chapter 17 Samantha—It’s Really Over
Book 1: Chapter 18 Gabe—Use Your Words
Book 1: Chapter 19 Samantha—The Reveal
Book 1: Chapter 20 Gabe—The Couch Stays
Book 1: Chapter 21 Samantha—Life is Good
Book 1: Chapter 22 Gabe—Mistletoe
Book 1: Epilogue
Book 2: Her Hero Boss
Book 2: Chapter 1—A Bad Reputation
Book 2: Chapter 2—Yes, Sir
Book 2: Chapter 3—Marry Me
Book 2: Chapter 4—One Crazy Scheme
Book2: Chapter 5—The Fakery Begins
Book 2: Chapter 6—The Road Show
Book 2: Chapter 7—Fake Marriage, Real Kiss
Book 2: Chapter 8—Admiration
Book 2: Chapter 9—Complications of Sex
Book 2: Chapter 10—He’s a Lying Cheat
Book 2: Chapter 11—In the Dog House
Book 2: Chapter 12—The Mile High Club
Book 2: Chapter 13—What Is This Feeling?
Book 2: Chapter 14—So Happy and Yet So Sad
Book 2: Chapter 15—The Beginning of the End
Book 2: Chapter 16—Be Careful What You Wish For
Book 2: Chapter 17—Heartbreak’s A Bitch
Book 2: Chapter 18—The Deal is Done
Book 2: Chapter 19—Acting Normal
Book 2: Chapter 20—Moving On
Book 2: Chapter 21—A New Plan
Book 2: Chapter 22—Taking a Chance
Book 2: Chapter 23—Making it Real
Book 2: Epilogue
Book 3: Her Mountain Hero
Book 3: Prologue
Book 3: Chapter 1—Stranded
Book 3: Chapter 2—To the Rescue
Book 3: Chapter 3—I Think I’ll Stay
Book 3: Chapter 4—Setting the Record Straight
Book 3: Chapter 5—Happy Sally and S’mores
Book 3: Chapter 6—The Calm After the Storm
Book 3: Chapter 7—No Strings Attached
Book 3: Chapter 8—Making the Most of a Month
Book 3: Chapter 9—Christmas in December
Book 3: Chapter 10—Guilt
Book 3: Chapter 11—Helplessly Falling
Book 3: Chapter 12—Hope Over Guilt
Book 3: Chapter 13—Doesn’t He Want More?
Book 3: Chapter 14—A Moment to Remember
Book 3: Chapter 15—He Loves Me Not
Book 3: Chapter 16—Fucked Up Again
Book 3: Chapter 17—It’s Positive
Book 3: Chapter 18—She Loves Me Not
Book 3: Chapter 19—Taking Control
Book 3: Chapter 20—Stabbed in the Heart
Book 3: Chapter 21—I Messed Up
Book 3: Chapter 22—The Final Shoe Drops?
Book 3: Chapter 23—Things Get Worse
Book 3: Chapter 24—Coming Clean
Book 3: Chapter 25—I don’t Know Him
Book 3: Chapter 26—Trying to Do Right
Book 3: Chapter 27—Learning to Co-Parent
Book 3: Chapter 28—Perspective
Book 3: Chapter 29—Family
Book 3: Chapter 30—Building a Life
Book 3: Chapter 31—Dreams Come True
Book 3: Chapter 32—Complete Circle
Book 3: Epilogue
Book 4: Accidentally My Hero
Book 4: Prologue—Will - Wednesday
Book 4: Chapter 1—Can I Stay or Will I Go?
Book 4: Chapter 2—Outnumbered
Book 4: Chapter 3—What Happens in Vegas
Book 4: Chapter 4—Saved
Book 4: Chapter 5—Mortified
Book 4: Chapter 6—Time to Live a Little
Book 4: Chapter 7—A Good Time in Vegas
Book 4: Chapter 8—She’s Under My Skin
Book 4: Chapter 9—The Day After
Book 4: Chapter 10—The Marriage Pact
Book 4: Chapter 11—Marriage Day One
Book 4: Chapter 12—The Announcement
Book 4: Chapter 13—The Game is Afoot
Book 4: Chapter 14—Put To the Test
Book 4: Chapter 15—The Other Woman
Book 4: Chapter 16—The Honeymoon is Over
Book 4: Chapter 17—Preparing to Pass the Marriage Test
Book 4: Chapter 18—Introducing My Wife to the Family
Book 4: Chapter 19—Seems Like a Fine Idea
Book 4: Chapter 20—A Brother’s Betrayal
Book 4: Chapter 21—Where All the Moles Are
Book 4: Chapter 22—Going Into Battle
Book 4: Chapter 23—A New Plan
Book 4: Chapter 24—At Risk
Book 4: Chapter 25—In Ashes
Book 4: Chapter 26—Slow is Better
Book 4: Chapter 27—Girls’ Day Out
Book 4: Chapter 28—Investigating the Investigator
Book 4: Chapter 29—Sacrifice
Book 4: Chapter 30—The Fight of My Life
Book 4: Chapter 31—Losing the Fight
Book 4: Chapter 32—Going After Adalyn
Book 4: Chapter 33—Home
Book 4: Chapter 34—Thanksgiving
Book 4: Epilogue—One Year Later
Book 4: Epilogue—Two Years Later
Author’s Note
About Holly James
Also by Holly Jaymes
Book 1: Hating My Hero
Book 1: Hating My Hero
The man who once destroyed my heart is now demolishing my house!
I never wanted to see him again.
But now he's back and to top it all off, he moved in next door!
He's got the same sexy tats over a broad hard chest.
And a cocky smile that promises exquisite sensual delights.
I might let him in my house to renovate my home, but there's no way I’ll let him back in my pants or my heart.
Even if he did save me...more than once.
If only he didn’t look so hot in his tool belt.
If only my body didn’t crave to feel his touch.
If only I could trust that he wouldn’t betray
me again.
If only I could resist him.
Now I’m falling all over again.
Can I trust that this time around it will last forever, or am I building my dream on a house of cards?
Book 1: Prologue
Samantha
“Daisy, get in here!” I yelled at my Yorkie who was running like a madman through my parents’ yard chasing butterflies. She was a hyper dog, but when I was at school and I didn’t have a yard and therefore had her on a leash when I took her out to do her business, it wasn’t a problem. This morning though, I just opened the French door and let her go out since the yard was fenced. The only problem was while the fence kept her from running away, it didn’t contain her enough that I could easily get her back inside. Clearly, she had no interest in returning to the house.
I blew out a breath as I considered my options. I was going to have to go out and grab her, but since I’d just rolled out of bed, I was in my underwear and a t-shirt that didn’t hide the fact that I was in my underwear. I couldn’t go out in the backyard in my underwear, could I?
The other option was to run to my room, throw on some shorts and then catch Daisy, but who knew what sort of trouble she’d get into in those few minutes? If she ate a leaf or a butterfly, chances were I’d end up having to clean up doggy vomit or poo. She was only a little Yorkie, but even a little bodily excretion was nasty.
Looking to the neighbor’s house on the right and then the one on the left, I decided they wouldn’t see anything, so I slipped on my mother’s bright yellow Crocs that she wore when gardening, and trotted out into the yard.
“Daisy!” I chased her into a corner near my father’s fire pit and picked her up. “Why do you have to be so crazy, huh?”
She looked up at me with her big brown eyes, yapped and then licked me.
“Don’t try to suck up.” But I petted her because she was the cutest little dog in the world. I made my way back to the French door, noting that even though it was still early in the morning, the air was warm and sticky with the promise of a hot humid day on the horizon. Typical for June in Northern Virginia.
When I reached the door, it was closed so I turned the handle to get in. The only problem was, the handle wouldn’t turn. I tried again.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I was locked out of my parents’ home in my underwear. “Why do I keep you?” I said to Daisy.
With Daisy tucked under my arm, I walked along the back of the house, careful not to step on my mother’s flowers, and checked each window. Also locked.
“Now what?” I stood in the backyard, considering my options. I could wait until my mother got home. She only worked half-days. But that still would be several hours. I’d call someone except my phone was sitting on my bedside table where I’d put it to charge last night.
I shook my head as I realized my only option was to walk around the house and check the front door. The front of my parents’ home had trees and a large porch, but I knew that wouldn’t completely protect me from being seen by people driving or walking by. After all, my mother spent a lot of time chatting with passers-by while sitting on the porch doing her needlework in the evenings.
So, with little other choice, I carried Daisy as I made my way to the side of the house and through the gate toward the front. I stuck as close as I could to the house, but the only way onto the porch was up the front stairs, which would expose me to anyone passing by.
“No doggy treats for you today,” I muttered to Daisy as I hurried along the front of the porch and then up the stairs toward the front door. Please God, let my parents have left it unlocked.
“Uh, Sam? I think you forgot your pants.”
Embarrassment spread like a wildfire through me. The humiliation was made worse by recognizing the voice of Gabe Sloane. We’d grown up together, and while we’d never dated, we’d flirted a lot through high school. It was always a disappointment to me that neither of us had been single at the same time to see where that flirtation could have gone. Then again, he probably thought I was a clutz. The first time we’d ever really noticed each other in the way boys and girls do was in seventh grade when I tripped over his backpack. I’d have landed face first in a mud puddle if he hadn’t grabbed and saved me.
I inhaled a deep breath, plastered a smile on my face and turned toward him. Seeing Gabe made my body hot for a whole new reason. He was even less dressed than I was, wearing only running shorts and shoes. His chest was bare, sporting a sexy sunburst tattoo on his sculpted left pec that I hadn’t seen before. I never thought I was a person to be attracted to tattoos, but I wanted to trace Gabe’s with my tongue. That thought had me doing a mental facepalm. I must be having a stroke.
Worried I was gawking, I managed a smirk. “Still focused only on girls’ asses?”
He flashed a grin that made him look both sexy and mischievous. Gabe might have been considered a pretty boy except for the slight edge in him. I’d found it extremely attractive ever since I was thirteen and began to look at him more than the annoying boy next door.
His eyes drifted up and I realized my t-shirt was fairly snug over the girls. “Not just on asses.”
I rolled my eyes, even though on the inside all my girlie parts were coming to life. Daisy barked and I was glad for the distraction.
“You locked out?” he asked.
I tried the front door and discovered it didn’t budge either. I turned to him and nodded, holding back a snarky reply about always going out in my underwear. Why else would I be traipsing around my yard almost naked except that I’d been locked out? “Yep.”
“Let me help you get in.” He strode up the front walk to our home and each step he drew near, he looked even more handsome and dangerous; my favorite combination. “Did you just get home from school?”
“Yes. Yesterday.”
He cocked his head. “Did you graduate? It’s been four years, right?”
“I have one more year. I’m doing a five-year program that gives me my BA and Master’s in teaching.”
He grinned. “What are you going to do if you get students like me?”
Gabe was the kid that everyone, even teachers liked, even though he was a pain in the ass. He was smart but struggled in school. He’d opted out of college and instead got a job in construction. It definitely kept him in shape, I thought, as I noted the carve of muscles in his arms and chest.
“Send them to the principal’s office.”
He grinned. “The principal liked me.”
I laughed. “It’s that southern charm.”
He moved to the door and tried the knob.
“I already did that.” Did he think I was an idiot?
“Doesn’t hurt to try again. Come on.” He moved off the porch.
“Where are we going?” I followed him down the steps.
“To the back. If I’m going to break into your house, I’d rather not have the neighbors see.” He stopped. “Does your dad have any tools in the garage?”
“I doubt it.”
“Go to the back. I’ll be right there.”
I shrugged and did as he said, sitting on the patio swing as I waited. He returned a few minutes later still shirtless and in running shorts, but this time he carried a tool belt.
“What are you going to do?”
“Take the knob off.” He knelt down by the handle of the door and began to tinker. Gabe had always been building things including the cool tree house in his backyard. Unfortunately for me, no girls were allowed there. That was until Gabe’s older brother, Will, turned thirteen and discovered girls. Starting with him, I knew each Sloane brother had taken their girlfriends up into the treehouse. Many times, I was envious of the ones Gabe had brought up there.
“Are you still in construction?” I asked in an attempt to make small talk and take my mind off of getting Gabe alone in his treehouse.
“Sort of.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m not with Allsons anymore,” he said of the company
he’d worked for after high school.
“Do you have your own company?”
Gabe was only twenty-two like me, but he loved building, so it wasn’t inconceivable that he’d start his own company.
“Sort of.”
I frowned. “Did you forget how to have a conversation?”