Alpha Billionaire Series
Coming Home Chapter 3

MAKENZIE

Seven years earlier...

"Mom, I'm headed out to the beach!" My brother had no manners.

Two years away at college and he'd turn feral. Mom had raised us to not yell like that. I was in my room getting ready and I could hear him. Then again, the summer house on Nantucket was a lot older with thinner walls than the home in Upstate New York was. When he slammed the door the walls in my bedroom shook. That explained why I heard him so well, my bedroom was directly above the back door. I didn't hear mom as she walked with her perfectly clipped steps, and I didn't hear her open the door, but I certainly heard her yell.

"Travis Underwood, where do you think you are that you can yell into the house like that and then slam a door? Get back here and speak to me properly." "Mom!"

I threw open my window and leaned out. This was going to be entertaining. I didn't care if Travis saw me or not. Mom cleared her throat.

Travis made an elaborate shrug, dropping the cooler he was carrying, and rolling his eyes before walking back. It didn't matter how old he was, Mom wasn't going to put up with him for not behaving. Maybe she should have sent him to Europe for one summer instead of me.

My parents actually sent me to finish school. Mom had wanted me to go before I embarked on my collegiate life, not that freshman year at Mary Brooks had been terribly different from my senior year and Lady Mont Academy. The same type of girl, different classes, not uniform, but the rest hadn't seemed like a change at all.

I attended what was essentially a hostess training boot camp for rich girls at what felt like a Swiss monastery. I could put on a mean cocktail party, making sure I curated my guest list for the most interesting of conversations.

My brother got to hang out in New York City and act like a bro-dude, and bum around at the beach. I wanted to go to the beach. And after a year of missing it, I really wanted to lay out in the sun and not think about napkin placement. "Mother," he grumbled. "I am going to be late. I'm picking Holden up and we're headed to the beach."

"Why aren't you taking your sister?"

"She isn't invited." He was twenty-one and he still hated to have me tag along.

Not that I wanted to hang out with him and his stupid friend. Sure, I chased after them plenty over the years to get them to play with me. But I learned, chasing after friends to play with you meant they weren't your friends. At about the same time I realized boys were, for lack of a better word, icky. I had to have been eleven or twelve when I stopped wanting my brother to be my friend. That's probably the summer I started sewing. Fabric and patterns became my friends.

They still were. But that didn't mean I wouldn't bug Travis to at least give me a ride down to the beach with him. I closed my window and finished pulling on a cover-up. I shoved my feet into flip-flops and grabbed my bag.

I was downstairs and hovering behind Mom before she was done giving him a piece of her mind.

"Oh, look, Makenzie is all ready," she said.

He glared at me.

"I won't talk to you, I won't bother you for a drink, I won't even be near you, and I'll walk home. Please?" I begged.

"Sit in the back. Don't even say hi to Holden."

"Why would I?" Holden was as big of an obnoxious bro-dude as my brother, more so. Holden was boring, and not particularly attractive. It was a good thing he came from a very rich family, otherwise why would any of the girls be interested in him?

I kissed Mom on the cheek and ran to the car before Travis could change his mind. I climbed in the back and hoped he didn't decide to be a total asshole and go to Madaket beach. It was the farthest one from the house.

Not even a couple of minutes later he pulled the car into a driveway and honked the horn. Seriously, my brother clearly had lost all semblance of manners living with his friends in a small New York City apartment while they all attended NYU.

A tall good looking guy sort of jogged toward us from the back of the house.

"Who's that?" I asked. We were at the Wells house. I didn't realize Travis was picking up more than Holden. Maybe I wouldn't have wormed my way into getting a ride if I was going to have to put up with more of them.

"Are you blind? That's Holden."

I had a hard time believing Travis. Holden was tall and gangly with stooped shoulders and hair that looked like he never washed it. The guy about to climb in the car was tall, maybe taller, and had wide football player shoulders, thick with muscles. The biceps on his arms strained the sleeves of his tee. He smiled and, wowza. He had perfect cheekbones, perfect teeth, a healthy tan, and handfuls of messy dark hair.

I had to blink a few times to get my eyes to stay in my head. I hadn't seen Holden for a few summers, boy had he changed.

I chewed on my lip and tried not to blush when he got in the car. He paused as he climbed in and looked at me. His gaze went from my head to my knees and back up. With a wink, he grinned and said, "How you doin'?"

I gulped hard as he slid into his seat and buckled in.

"Bruh, don't be gross, that's my sister," Travis complained.

Holden turned around and looked at me and then at Travis. "Bullshit, that's not Makenzie. Makenzie doesn't have curves. What's your name? When did you start dating this loser?"

"Um, Holden, yeah," I couldn't help but giggle. "I'm Makenzie and dating Travis would be gross. You know, he's, my brother."

"Bullshit!" He kept twisting to look at me and then Travis.

Travis just shook his head and rolled his eyes at us.

"Really, Makenzie? You grew up."

"Why is it such a shock that I grew up? You grew up too, and you don't see me acting all shocked."

I was stunned. I just wasn't going to let him, or my brother see me react like a love-struck fool.

Travis pulled the car over and cut the engine. Holden climbed out and held the door open for me.

"She can get out of a car on her own, come on," Travis said.

"Are you staying all summer, or are you jetting off to Europe?" Holden asked.

"Holden, drop it. Mak, you know the deal."

"Yes, I will leave you alone. You go that way"- I pointed in one direction, and then hitched my thumb over my shoulder, pointing behind me- "and I'll go in the opposite direction. I'm not seven anymore, Travis. I don't need you to play with me." I spun on my heel and started a few steps down the beach. A second later Holden was tugging on the towel I had around my neck.

"What?" I asked as I spun to face him. In the distance behind him, Travis was already walking in the other direction.

Holden held out a chair to me. "You might want this."

"You aren't giving me your chair, are you?"

"No, there were four in the trunk. Hey, Makenzie, you know, I'll play with you if you want."

It was physically impossible to hide the blush that flared across my cheeks. Never in a hundred years would I have thought that Holden Wells would be someone I would want to play with. And by play, I meant touch, and possibly kiss, and more. "I don't think my brother would like it very much."

"I don't want to take your brother out." His grin made my knees go weak.

"Holden Wells, are you asking me out?"

"Dude, come on. Leave her alone, or she'll get ideas and come hang with us!" Travis yelled up the beach.

"I sure as hell am not asking him out. Yes Mak, Makenzie"- he corrected, and my mouth went dry- "I'm asking you out. Travis doesn't have to know, not until we decide."

That night I told my parents I met a girl on the beach, and I was going to go meet Heidi for dinner at the Country Club. They never questioned a thing. They were just glad I had a friend on the island to hang out with. They never suspected there was no girl named Heidi, and that I was sneaking off to see Holden.