Billionaire Makeover, page 1
“You said...keep it business, and now you’re touching me?”
So she did like him. He wanted to see how far this attraction could go. Maybe exact a little revenge for the humiliation she’d put him through when he was in college.
“I just didn’t want to come on too strong. I wasn’t sure if it was just the idea of the makeover drawing you to me. I wanted to see what happened while I was still me. Before I was your version.”
She nodded. “My version?”
“This look seems like it might have been your idea,” he said.
She flushed, a pretty blush spreading up her neck and onto her cheeks. “It was. We want to showcase you, Dante.”
The way his name sounded on her lips sent a chill down his spine. He wanted her. So any kind of payback was going to be dangerous. He had to remember that.
* * *
Billionaire Makeover by Katherine Garbera
is part of The Image Project series.
Dear Reader,
I love a makeover story. What about you? I just like how changing a few things can make me feel like a totally different person. Sometimes the makeover is physical (Dante!) but there is also the more subtle personality makeover (Olive). I drew on a lot of personal experience for both of these characters. This series revolves around makeovers of all types.
Dante, like most of us, really went through it in his twenties finding who he is, and he’s happy with what he likes to call his “lumberjack chic” persona. His sexy, deep-timbre voice has listeners clamoring to see the man behind the voice, and no one—not even Dante—thinks he should show up in a flannel shirt and untrimmed beard. So he needs a makeover.
But when a mean girl from his past shows up, Dante is ready to pump the brakes and stick with his flannel. Except Olive has changed since college, or at least gives the impression she has. She knows her stuff too. The only problem is the sparks between the two of them. Dante has the urge to use that attraction to pay her back for humiliating him back in the day.
The more they get to know each other, the harder that plan is to enact, and lots of juicy drama, sex and fun ensue!
I hope you enjoy the launch of The Image Project series.
Happy reading,
Katherine Garbera
Katherine Garbera
Billionaire Makeover
Katherine Garbera is the USA TODAY bestselling author of more than 120 books. She started her career twenty-five years ago at Harlequin Desire writing about strong alpha heroes and feisty heroines and crafting stories that resonate with emotional impact and strong sensuality. She’s a Florida girl who has traveled the US, calling different states her home before crossing the pond to settle in the Midlands of the UK, where she lives with her husband and a spoiled miniature dachshund. Find her on the web at www.katherinegarbera.com.
Books by Katherine Garbera
Harlequin Desire
One Night
One Night with His Ex
One Night, Two Secrets
One Night to Risk It All
Her One Night Proposal
Destination Wedding
The Wedding Dare
The One from the Wedding
Secrets of a Wedding Crasher
The Image Project
Billionaire Makeover
Visit her Author Profile page at Harlequin.com, or katherinegarbera.com, for more titles.
You can also find Katherine Garbera on Facebook, along with other Harlequin Desire authors, at Facebook.com/harlequindesireauthors!
To Josh and Darcey Elser, united in love
and life and one of my favorite couples.
I hope your life together is filled with love,
laughter and happiness.
It’s impossible for me to write any book
without the support of my family and friends,
but especially Rob Elser, who made
lockdown a lot of fun. Love you!
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Excerpt from One Christmas Night by Jules Bennett
One
Olive Hayes grabbed an iced coffee from Hestia’s Hearth bakery and coffee shop in the lobby of her building before meeting her Uber and heading across town to the Inferno Brewing headquarters on North Lake Shore Drive. The company had purchased the old establishment near the Navy Pier and had completely revamped it to house their brewing and bottling facility as well as an office space and a storefront shop. She, like everyone else, had been listening to radio advertisements from the company’s CEO, Dante Russo, all winter and spring long, talking about the change of seasons and being authentic.
His message had been received loud and clear by the public. But Olive thought it was more his dreamy voice, deep and rich in those low, modulated tones, that had somehow reached past advertising and tempted commuters and office workers to stop and fantasize about summer. So she had been pretty excited when the call had come in from Inferno Brewing’s marketing manager, Kiki Marin.
The woman had been pretty blunt, saying that Dante needed a full head-to-toe media makeover, and that she’d enlisted their help because of their reputation for being organic with the changes. After the phone call, Olive had immediately taken a look at his social media, which had been quick and easy to do because he had none. Nothing. Not a Facebook or Twitter account. Not even an Instagram or TikTok following. He pretty much, other than showing up on a Reddit board about brewing, had no online presence.
That made her job easier. She was starting with a blank slate as far as everyone was concerned. Though Kiki had mentioned that Dante was a diamond in the rough, she thought the marketing manager must be exaggerating. After all, any man with that voice had to have some game with women—Hang on! Stop making assumptions, she scolded herself. Sighing, she sipped her iced coffee and watched the sights of Chicago drift by her window.
Olive had dressed with care for this meeting today. She wore a light purple gingham-print sundress with wide straps, and a pair of wedged heels. And she’d accessorized with a matching purse that her close friend Paisley had made for her last year when she’d been home and had become fixated on sewing. All three of the business partners now had matching bags from her.
She had started her business with Paisley and Delaney right after college. The three of them had been pretty, popular and rich. Also spoiled beyond all good sense, their social media imprint had reflected it. They’d had no choice but to make some changes. At first, they’d started out small. And it had turned out that they’d had a lot of friends who needed the same types of makeovers. Including Delaney’s college boyfriend, who got recruited to play professional baseball and needed to make his professional image more “star athlete” and less “drunk frat boy.”
That was just one of many transformations they’d made over the last eight years. Her parents didn’t understand her business but were proud and supportive of her nonetheless. Her mom had briefly tried to press the fact that she thought Olive should find a husband, but she wasn’t ready for that. She had been blunt with her parents and told them she needed to figure out who she was before she attempted to be a part of a couple.
She was still growing and only now starting to really like the woman she was. For many years, she had gone to bed high or drunk and woken up with regrets of her behavior the night before.
She tucked a strand of her reddish-brown hair that had come free from her ponytail behind her ear as the Uber driver pulled to a stop in front of the Inferno Brewing building. Then, pushing her sunglasses up on the top of her head, she smiled at her driver and wished him a nice day before stepping out of the car. Remembering to toss her iced coffee cup in the recycling bin outside the door of the building, she used the selfie camera on her phone to check her lipstick before continuing inside.
Nerves fluttered through her, but she put on her most professional smile as she walked to the security and reception desk to introduce herself.
“I’m Olive Hayes. I have an appointment at ten thirty with Kiki Marin,” she said.
“Thank you,” the receptionist said as her fingers moved over the keyboard. She nodded and then reached for a guest badge, which she handed to Olive. “Please have a seat. Ms. Marin will be down in a few minutes.”
She moved over to the long benches across from the reception desk and took a seat. She opened her bag, pulled out her notebook and made a few notes. Then took a moment to once more review the information that Kiki had sent. They needed Dante made over before the Taste of Chicago festival, which was happening on the Fourth of July weekend. So she had about six weeks to get him in shape. Kiki had mentioned he might need media training and Olive made some notes on that as well. She always asked questions during the first meeting with a client to establish how they handled off-the-cuff answers and how succinct they could be.
After all, no one was interested in listening to anyone ramble on about their product.
“Hi there, Olive. I’m Kiki Marin. So nice to meet you,” the young woman said, holding her hand out.
Olive smiled and shook it while standing. “The pleasure is all mine. I have to admit I’m intrigued to meet the man behind the Inferno Brewing ads. Like everyone else who has heard him on the radio, I’m excited to see what he looks like.”
Kiki snorted. “Once you do, promise you won’t run for the hills.”
“I’m sure that won’t be an issue,” she said. All the while wondering what exactly she was going to encounter when they walked into Dante Russo’s office.
Kiki led the way down a traditional workplace hallway. And stepped into the open doorway.
“Ready for us, Dante?”
“I am,” he said in that deep timbre that Olive had already come to love. She peaked past the corner but stopped short as she took in a massive amount of curly hair around a face that was hard to discern behind the thick, unruly beard. And when he stood up, she noticed he had on a gray loose-fitting T-shirt, a denim long-sleeved shirt over it, and a pair of khaki cargo pants.
She finally got what Kiki meant. This was going to be a big challenge.
* * *
Olive Hayes was here.
It was almost hard to believe that the girl he’d had a massive crush on in college, the girl who’d rejected him with a mean cut-down and forced him to make some tough life decisions, was here. In the flesh.
Standing in his doorway...looking more breathtaking than ever.
He glanced at Kiki, who raised both eyebrows at him in that warning way of hers. Telling him to be cool and play nice.
“Hello. I’m Dante Russo,” he said, walking over to her. But his civility was just a pretense. In fact, he was now more determined than ever to not change his image because she was the woman Kiki had hired. He didn’t think he could work with her, but he would give her a chance because Kiki thought she was the best person for the job.
“It’s so wonderful to meet you,” she gushed. “Of course, I recognize your voice and already half love you. It’s fabulous!”
He realized that she didn’t recognize him from college. But why would she? He’d been slightly tubby, thanks to years of eating his mom’s home cooking and not really exercising. And he’d been Danny back then. No facial hair, just his out-of-control curly hair. Good. He could deal with her not remembering him.
“Thanks.”
“You can totally see why we need you,” Kiki added. “I mean, that voice is great but...”
He shot his marketing manager a sharp look. Kiki was pushing it this morning.
“But what?” Olive said. “What I see is everything I expected from the voice behind Inferno Brewing. A man who is authentic and not about artifice. I can see that you might want a little polish if you’re going to do print and video ads, but the truth is, I think you’re going to want to stay true to who you are. If we send in some Hollywood-looking hunk, your followers will see through it.”
He looked over at Olive again, seeing past the college girl to the professional woman standing in his office. Her shoulder-length red hair was smooth and pulled back in a low ponytail. She had an easy smile on her lovely heart-shaped face, but he had a hard time getting past her mouth. He’d spent hours in college watching her mouth while she’d been talking, and fantasizing about it. Mean girl she might have been, but she had the kind of smile that made a man feel like he was a giant, and her mouth with the cute cupid’s bow on the top and full bottom lip always made him want to kiss her.
She got it. He wasn’t sure if she was saying he’d never be a Hollywood hunk, which he didn’t fault her with, but he was pretty sure she was saying she’d work with him and not try to make him into something he wasn’t.
“I agree,” Kiki said. “I’m sorry if I was coming on too strong, Dante. I just want this new launch and your reveal to be flawless.”
“I get it. I do. No offense taken,” he said. And there wasn’t. He had no delusions about the man he was. In part, thanks to Olive, who made him take stock in who he was and stop trying to be something and someone he wasn’t. “So where do we start? Also, can I offer you a drink?”
“I’d love a water,” she murmured. “Let’s set up your parameters. Once I know what you want to do, we can get to work creating the man who will match the fantasy that your voice has conjured.”
She took a seat at the small round table he had in the corner of his office; Kiki joined her while he grabbed drinks for them.
The next hour was just chatting about the launch Kiki had planned for the company, including a big VIP red-carpet event they were hosting during Taste of Chicago. He had a few smaller shindigs leading up to the July event, but before all that took place, Kiki wanted to relaunch their social media platforms with him as the face of Inferno Brewing. Not just the voice.
A short while later, his employee left for an appointment and he and Olive were alone. She looked up from her notes.
“That’s what Kiki needs from you, but you’re the person who has to make all these changes. What are your no-goes?”
“No-goes?”
“Things you absolutely won’t do,” she said. “Like hair, beard, clothing... I think we are going to have to try to find some new outfits that fit your outdoorsy, laid-back vibe but aren’t...”
“Lumberjack chic?”
She laughed and nodded at him. When she did, her hair moved and the scent of strawberries drifted toward him. He smiled back.
“Yeah. So...”
“I don’t mind a haircut or beard trim. Someone once said I had a weak chin, so I think I’ll keep the beard if you don’t mind,” he said.
“Who said that?” she asked. “People can be so thoughtless with their comments. I’m sure you have a great chin, but we can work with the beard.”
She’d said it. It had been one of many things that she’d listed as a reason why she’d never go out with him, much less dance with him at a frat party. “A woman I once knew.”
“She was probably just full of herself and trying to be all that... I’ve got a guy who I use for hair and beards, so I’ll make you an appointment with him. Do you have time today? I think the sooner we get moving, the better. We have six weeks until the last event, but your first one is...” She looked down at her notes.
He tuned out, thinking about what she had said about the girl... Had she been full of herself back then? He knew he had, and after the public rejection, had realized that he hadn’t really known Olive at all, had just seen a pretty girl and started crushing on her like he’d done so many times in the past, but as they’d worked together on a group project, it had changed from passing fancy into something more for him.
But he’d never made that mistake again.
“Does that work?” she asked, breaking into his thoughts.
“I’m sorry, I missed that,” he said gruffly.
She put her hand over his and an electric tingle went through him. She immediately pulled her hand back and licked her lips. “I asked if you could do a hair appointment this afternoon?”
He agreed and she gathered her things and left a few minutes later. Dante walked to the window in his office, watching the plaza until she’d exited, before realizing what he was doing. He couldn’t deny how gorgeous and sexy she was. But no matter what, he wasn’t going to fall for Olive Hayes again. He was too smart, successful and self-assured for that.
Two
Olive used the Slack chat to update Paisley and Delaney about their new client. Mainly as a distraction from Dante. She hadn’t expected the “lumberjack chic” guy to be so...hot. There was an understated sexiness about him that she couldn’t deny. And she wasn’t about to allow herself to have the hots for a client. So she allowed herself a brief thought of the keen intelligence in his green eyes and how she’d caught him looking at her in a distinctly unprofessional but man-woman-I-like-you way, and then got busy.
She had already arranged for Pietro, her hair guy, to be at the Inferno Brewing offices that afternoon to try to tame that crazy mane and beard Dante had going on. She also needed to do some shopping for a new wardrobe for him, but truly, she had no idea where to start.
