Endeared (The Accidental Billionaires #5) - J. S. Scott Page 0,10
struggling medical resident to a billionaire literally overnight. He’d come into a large inheritance he definitely hadn’t expected, and it was dollar signs those females saw when they looked at him.
The sad part was . . . those women didn’t even know him. The only thing they knew about Owen was his staggering net worth.
They didn’t know that he could be incredibly protective of the people he cared about.
They didn’t know that he was a little shy about speaking to a big audience, even though his IQ was off the charts and he had a lot of knowledge to share.
They didn’t know that Owen was like a walking, talking encyclopedia, and that he retained a lot more information than most people did about things he’d read or heard.
They didn’t know that he had a habit of saying outrageous things at what seemed like the worst possible times, or that the tendency came from his desire to ease other people’s pain.
They didn’t know about the guilt he carried because he was the youngest and he thought his older brothers had needed to sacrifice way too much for him.
Nobody had a clue that he could be the sweetest guy on the planet without even knowing his actions were pretty exceptional.
Stop! That’s what I thought before he screwed me over. I don’t think about him that way anymore. I haven’t for a long time.
I put on a pair of shades to shield my eyes from the sun as I strolled to my vehicle, unwilling to admit, even to myself, that I hated the fact that all those women just wanted Owen for his money.
Even sadder, he had to know their attention was motivated by the billions of dollars at his disposal. It wasn’t that he wouldn’t have been pursued at all now because he was scorching hot, and he had a good career as a physician. Owen would be very good boyfriend or marriage material at this point in his life. But I highly doubted those things alone would have produced the frenzy of women hot on his trail right now.
It’s all about the money.
No woman had really seen Owen’s value before he’d come into a fortune.
Well, no female had . . . except me.
CHAPTER 3
OWEN
“Is Layla there yet? I’m stuck in traffic. I’m going to be late. I should have just let them deliver the damn cake.” Andie sounded uncharacteristically frustrated. She hadn’t even said hello when I’d answered my cell phone.
“Well, hello to you, too,” I said with a smirk as I plopped my ass into a recliner in my living room. “Calm down, Andie. This is supposed to be a casual, fun party. And no, Layla isn’t here yet, but I did manage to get through medical school and my residency all by myself. I think I can handle this reception if she doesn’t show up early.”
“Easy for you to say,” she grumbled. “Most of the people attending are already your family.”
“Your family, too, now,” I reminded her. “And it’s not like I really know my half brothers and cousins from the East Coast, either.”
Although most of my siblings were well acquainted with the Maine Sinclairs now, I’d never been around to see them on their frequent visits to Citrus Beach. I’d spoken to Evan quite a bit on the phone, since he’d been the one dispersing the funds that had changed all of our lives. But other than that, I’d only connected with my newfound family from Maine a couple of times in person. We might share DNA, but they were pretty much still strangers to me.
“But they’re still your blood. What if they don’t like me, Owen?”
I frowned. Andie wasn’t a woman with huge insecurities, so it was a little disconcerting to hear how worked up she was over this whole wedding-reception thing. “Absolutely nothing will happen, Andie. Noah will still love you, and he won’t give a damn what anybody else thinks, family or not.”
Jesus! Didn’t she know that Noah would happily throttle any person who said a bad word about his new wife?
She released a large breath. “You’re right. I’m being ridiculous. I guess I’ve gotten myself all worked up from sitting in traffic. God, I hate San Diego traffic. Where in the hell are all these people going on a Saturday?”
I hesitated to remind her that it was still summer, and most people were out and about in nice weather. “Why didn’t you just do something local?”