The Heartless Boyfriend Read online

  THE HEARTLESS BOYFRIEND

  Erika Kelly

  Contents

  Praise for THE WORLD’S WORST BOYFRIEND

  Praise for The Rock Star Romance series

  Titles by Erika Kelly

  Acknowledgments

  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

  Also by Erika Kelly

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  About the Author

  Praise for THE WORLD’S WORST BOYFRIEND

  “The World’s Worst Boyfriend is such a fun and sexy second-chance romance that I didn’t want it to end. Their connection is a swoony blend of tender first love and sizzling heat, and Erika Kelly delivers a highly entertaining and sigh-worthy romance that shouldn’t be missed.”—Mary Dube, USA Today

  * * *

  “Fin Bowie utterly and completely stole our hearts with his huge heart and the intensity of his love. If you enjoy second chance love, a lot of angst and passionate heat, you’ll love this romance!”—TotallyBooked Blog

  * * *

  “I adored this book! It is exactly what I love in a second-chance romance. The characters are so vibrant and real, I was rooting for them with every page.” ---USA Today Bestseller Devney Perry

  Praise for The Rock Star Romance series

  YOU REALLY GOT ME

  “Lovable characters and pulse-pounding chemistry make this one of my favorite reads of the year!”—Laura Kaye, New York Times Bestselling Author

  * * *

  “Sexy, lyrical and electric with hot, romantic tension.” - NYT and USA Today Bestselling author Lauren Blakely

  * * *

  I WANT YOU TO WANT ME

  Booklist calls I WANT YOU TO WANT ME “...steamy, hot, and totally engaging. The characters are realistic, and Kelly paints a vivid picture of what happens behind the scenes in the world of rock.”

  * * *

  TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT

  “All these (characters) are so authentically human they nearly walk off the page. If you like books where real people have real problems and find real love (while having really hot sex)? Pick up Take Me Home Tonight and enjoy the ride.”—All About Romance (Desert Isle Keeper)

  * * *

  TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT “is emotional and tremendously sexy, with a large cast of characters that readers will adore -- Kelly's rendering of Calix's grieving parents is particularly well-done -- but it is Mimi's strength that will linger long after the finish.” - Sarah MacLean, Washington Post

  Titles by Erika Kelly

  Rock Star Romance series:

  YOU REALLY GOT ME

  I WANT YOU TO WANT ME

  TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT

  MORE THAN A FEELING

  * * *

  Wild Love series:

  MINE FOR NOW

  MINE FOR THE WEEK

  * * *

  The Bad Boyfriend series:

  THE WORLD’S WORST BOYFRIEND

  THE HEARTLESS BOYFRIEND

  * * *

  Sign up for my newsletter to find out when book 3 in The Bad Boyfriend series—THE CARELESS BOYFRIEND—is releasing, and come hang out with me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, and Pinterest or in my private reader group.

  ISBN-13: 978-0-9985177-0-4

  Copyright 2018 EK Publishing, LLC

  All rights reserved

  This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

  * * *

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are used fictitiously or are a product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  * * *

  Cover designed by Novak Illustration

  Formatting by Serendipity Formatting

  This book is dedicated to the incredibly supportive and generous romance writing community, a finer group of people I’ve never met.

  Acknowledgments

  ⛷ To Superman, the best man I know.

  * * *

  ⛷ To Olivia, for taking that first, awful look every single time—and still coming back for more.

  * * *

  ⛷ To KP, my guiding light.

  * * *

  ⛷ To Sharon, for your friendship and endless support.

  * * *

  ⛷ To Kristy DeBoer: one simple conversation swerved this book in the right direction. Thank you for being there right when I needed you.

  * * *

  ⛷ To Abbi Nyberg and Brock Butterfield: your help on this series is invaluable. Any mistakes are either creative license or my bad.

  * * *

  ⛷ It takes a village, and here’s mine: Jamie Beck, Stephanie Wayman, KP Simmons, Amy DeLuca, Carrie Padgett, and Sharon Pochron. Thank you for making my blurb!

  * * *

  ⛷ To Erica, for your patience and generosity. You were there for me when I needed you on this one.

  * * *

  ⛷ To the romance writing community: I couldn’t do this without the bloggers and reviewers like TotallyBooked Blog, Obsessed with Romance, Krista’s Dust Jacket, Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews, About That Story, Reading in Pajamas, Zoe Forward, Shirin’s Book Blog and Reviews, Reads and Reviews, Rabid Readers, and Isha Coleman—to name just a few; and my friends in writer groups like the Dreamweavers, The DND Authors, and CTRWA.

  Chapter One

  Under the bright blue umbrella on the patio table, the little girl bounced a huge stuffed chicken in her lap. Her tumble of brown curls fluttered in the soft June breeze. Beside her, Marcella, their long-time house manager, read something on the screen of her laptop while talking on her cell phone…

  …ordering a stroller.

  Will Bowie couldn’t wrap his head around it. That kid? That two-year-old? She might be theirs.

  She was theirs. Look at her. A shaft of sunlight gleamed on her hair, revealing bronze and gold strands tangled among the brown—exactly like Will and his brothers. And those blue eyes?

  They’re mine.

  But she wasn’t his. He knew that for sure. So, whose was she?

  In a few minutes, their lawyer would walk in the door with the birth certificate they’d subpoenaed from the hospital. But it wouldn’t matter what name was on that document—all their lives would change.

  Because they’d handle it as a family. The four of them would raise her together.

  “It’s not complicated.” From her throne on the leather club chair, his mom sounded exasperated. “Which one of you slept with Christy Leigh?”

  Their mother had flown out to Calamity for the opening of his brother’s resort. As luck would have it, she’d also gotten hit with the whammy of finding out she was a grandmother. Maybe.

  Probably.

  Had it been a boy, she wouldn’t have cared. She’d only kept popping out babies in the hopes of scoring a girl. She’d washed her hands of the whole mess after the fourth son.

  She wouldn’t stay involved, though. The type of mother who could walk out on her own children—ages six, seven, nine, and eleven—wouldn’t hang around to raise this feisty little girl. He’d give his mom a week before she hightailed it back to Manhattan.

  “Well, it obviously wasn’t me.” His youngest brother, Fin, had on
ly ever been with one woman—his childhood sweetheart.

  “Obviously.” Brodie laughed.

  “But, seriously, man,” Gray said. “You’ve never been the least bit curious what it’d be like with someone else?”

  “No.” Fin’s response was so immediate, so frank, that everyone stared at him.

  Anyway, that left the three of them.

  Two. Will had never slept with Christy Leigh.

  “Well, I don’t even know who she is,” Gray said.

  “You say that like it eliminates you.” Brodie, the brother closest in age to Will, grinned.

  Gray seemed the most likely to have fathered a kid he didn’t know about. He led a nomadic life, chasing the biggest waves and fiercest snow storms. With his easy-going nature, he found fun everywhere he landed.

  “You make an excellent point.” Gray gave him a lazy look. “Nevertheless, the kid’s twenty-seven months, which means she was conceived exactly three years ago. I’m in Bali every June, big brother. I couldn’t have knocked Christy up.”

  The attention turned to the last remaining brother.

  “Don’t look at me.” Brodie raised both hands. “I live in Utah.”

  All three brothers gave him a look that said, So? Brodie spent more time at home in Wyoming than in his office. In fact, he’d spent the past year turning the ghost town on their property into a high-end resort that opened to the public next week. So, yeah, he’d spent a lot of time in Calamity.

  “She doesn’t have to be one of ours.” Fin pointed out the obvious. “The baby book says she’s a Bowie, but there are other Bowies out there.”

  “In Calamity, there’s only us and Uncle Lachlan.” Brodie shook his head. “And there’s no way Ruby’s mom slept with an old man rocking a pompadour.”

  Two days ago, right in the middle of Fin’s twenty-fourth birthday party, a woman had shown up at the house with Ruby Leigh in tow. Apparently, the little girl’s mom had left her with a babysitter for a long weekend in Big Sky and never come home.

  Brutal car accident on the Gallatin Road. Damn.

  Thanks to Wyoming’s Kinship Placement program, they’d allowed Ruby to stay with the only babysitter she’d ever known until they found a forever home for her. But when the sitter had gone to Ruby’s house to pick up some clothes and toys, she’d found a baby book.

  So, they knew everything about her firsts—first smile, first time she’d rolled over, and the first time she’d walked—and they knew a Bowie had fathered her.

  They just didn’t know which one.

  In a rustle of fabric, their mom shot off the chair. “Stop playing around.” She looked like she was waiting for them to feel chastised. When it didn’t happen, she clamped her lips together and tipped her head back. “This stupid sense of loyalty your father drummed into you.” She let out a frustrated breath and said, “You know she’s Will’s.” She flicked a hand in the vicinity of the backyard. “She’s a carbon copy of him.”

  The way she looked at him—with such disdain—sliced the skin of an old scar. But trying to prove himself to her was a waste of time, so he focused on his brothers. “We’re not going to know anything until we get the birth certificate.” Which would happen any minute. “So there’s no point in speculating. The only thing we do know is, if she’s one of ours, we’re going to take care of her. As a family. So the important conversation is how we’re going to do it.”

  “Her father will be responsible for her.” Her gaze bore into him with a message that demanded he meet his responsibilities.

  Jesus, would she ever see him as anything other than the reckless kid she’d left behind? “I know that. My point is, whoever’s her father, we’re all going to help. We’re her family.”

  “Dude.” Gray held out his arm. All four brothers reached in and bumped fists.

  “I think that’s a lovely sentiment, and exactly what your father would expect of you, but someone’s got to be the voice of reason here. And the fact is none of you has any idea what it’s like to raise a child.”

  To his brothers’ credit, no one said the obvious, And you do? Because she wasn’t the point. “We’ll learn.”

  “On the fly,” Brodie said. “Like every other parent.”

  Their mom folded her arms across her stomach. “Most parents don’t have your lifestyles, which in no way suit raising a child.”

  “Our lifestyles will change,” Fin said.

  “Don’t get me wrong,” their mom said. “I think it’s lovely that you want to take care of her, but she’s not even two and a half. She’s young enough that she won’t remember her mother. She can assimilate quite seamlessly into a new family. Maybe the best choice is to give her that. A mother, a father, siblings. She needs the kind of dedication and care that four single men simply can’t give her.”

  His mom had never been good at reading body language, so she probably didn’t notice how all the men’s postures went rigid, their features hard. Will spoke for all of them. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t suggest we give our niece up for adoption.”

  “I’m sorry.” But, of course, she sounded more belligerent than apologetic. She pointed to Gray. “Aren’t you heading off to Bali for a surfing competition that will lead you to God knows what adventure next? You probably won’t even be home until September.” She lifted a chin toward Brodie. “You’re missing the opening of your own resort to spend the summer in Asia.”

  She made it sound like Brodie was screwing off, but he’d finally realized his dream of making the Olympic terrain park design team at his firm, and construction for next Winter Games began this summer. He couldn’t miss that opportunity.

  Her hand flicked toward Fin. “And he’s heading off to Europe for the summer with his girlfriend.”

  “Fiancée,” Fin said.

  “And while you might be home this summer…” Will’s mom looked at him like he was a registered sex offender. “You’ve just come back from six months of competitions all over the world. None of you is in any position to raise that little girl.” Still not reading their body language, she said, “None of you is ready to be a father.”

  It struck him how different this conversation would be going if their dad had been alive.

  Not a day went by—a little more than two years since his death—that something didn’t trigger a memory, giving Will a slam of grief that buckled his knees and knocked the air out of his lungs.

  And the idea that Mack Bowie wouldn’t meet his granddaughter—dammit. He turned away, sorrow crashing over him. That little girl would miss out on getting to know her grandpa, and that was a damn shame. Their dad was the best man Will had ever known. He’d know just how to raise this kid.

  If she’s ours.

  Is she?

  But his dad wasn’t here, so Will had to handle it. He turned back to his mom. “I’m going to say this one more time, and that’ll be the last we ever speak of it. If the paternity test shows she’s our blood, we’re going to raise her. If you can’t handle that, then you’ll need to leave, because there will be no discussion whatsoever of adoption or sending her away.”

  Remembering the ultimatum she’d given his dad, You either send Will to boarding school, or I’m leaving, Will’s determination doubled down. “That little girl will never be exposed to any idea other than the fact that she’s one of us and we love her. You get me?”

  “Oh, don’t make me out to be the cold-blooded mother who left her family. You all could have stayed in the city with me—”

  Except me. You didn’t take me.

  You took my brothers—but left me behind. No, Will didn’t value her opinion much at all. “I’m going to need an answer.”

  She held his gaze with a defiant expression, but she had to know he’d follow through. He wouldn’t let his mom anywhere near this child if she held even a sliver of belief that Ruby belonged with another family.

  “I get you.” Each word had the texture of hard candy stuck in her teeth.

  “The only thing th
at matters is finding out whether she’s a Bowie.” He glanced out the window again. The chicken’s big yellow legs flopped every time Ruby lowered it to the table.

  His mom let out a bitter laugh. “Oh, she’s a Bowie all right.” Her gaze held accusation.

  Will led a simple life. Sure, from an outsider’s perspective he lived on a three-hundred-thousand-acre legacy ranch in the Tetons. He’d won the World Games Freestyle Halfpipe a good number of times. But he lived a clean life. He didn’t lie, steal, cheat. So, the idea that his mom would think he’d deny sleeping with Christy…knowing the paternity results would show up in the next day or so….

  It tells me exactly what kind of man she thinks I am.

  Her opinion doesn’t matter. “The point is—”