Hiding with the Heartbreaker

By Virginia Nelson

Born to money and rather blasé about it, Aloysius James McCallister Sutton is the third son of an oil baron. He turned to video games at a young age and eventually became a star (much to his family's dismay) because of his hilarious internet videos. When a pal asks him to help out his girlfriend's little sister, his first response is not only no, but hell no. But they are a brotherhood, and their mentor told him that he must protect the innocent...

When Jude Cramer is the only witness to a bungled burglary resulting in murder, the police point the finger at her as the guilty party. Not sure what to do, she runs to the one person she can trust—her sister. But her pregnant sister isn't much help, instead foisting off her protection on a man who takes absolutely nothing seriously.

Can Jude find love while she’s Hiding with the Heartbreaker?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Virginia Nelson
• Release date: Sep 20, 2016
• ISBN: 9781536580143

Virginia Nelson

Virginia Nelson likes knights in rusted and dinged up armor, heroes that snarl instead of croon, and heroines who can't remember to say the right thing even with an author writing their dialogue. Her books are full of snark, sex, and random acts of ineptitude--not always in that order.

Book preview

Hiding with the Heartbreaker

Hiding with the Heartbreaker

Virginia Nelson

Virginia Nelson

Contents

Copyright

Hiding with the Heartbreaker

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter Eleven

About the Author

Excerpt

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

More from this Author

Copyright

Hiding with the Heartbreaker

A republication of the standalone title previously featured in Heartbreakers & Heroes plus bonus content.

Includes free excerpt from Rumors © 2015 Virginia Nelson

By: Virginia Nelson

Published by Virginia Nelson

© 2016 Virginia Nelson

Edited by Heather Long

Formatted by Heather Long

Cover Art by Virginia Nelson

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. I’m surprised you’re reading my copyright info. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person or use proper retail channels to lend a copy. If you want a pony, ask your father. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please contact the publisher at [e-mail]

Hiding with the Heartbreaker

Born to money and rather blasé about it, Aloysius James McCallister Sutton is the third son of an oil baron. He turned to video games at a young age and eventually became a star (much to his family's dismay) because of his hilarious internet videos. When a pal asks him to help out his girlfriend's little sister, his first response is not only no, but hell no. But they are a brotherhood, and their mentor told him that he must protect the innocent...

When Jude Cramer is the only witness to a bungled burglary resulting in murder, the police point the finger at her as the guilty party. Not sure what to do, she runs to the one person she can trust—her sister. But her pregnant sister isn't much help, instead foisting off her protection on a man who takes absolutely nothing seriously.

Can Jude find love while she’s Hiding with the Heartbreaker?

To Mardi – Thanks for being such a wonderful friend and neighbor. Seriously, love ya, lady.

Chapter One

The entire video was basically one long penis joke, set to song, but as Aloysius James McCallister Sutton watched the playback of his edited piece, he couldn’t stop his own grin. It pleased him to see his grandfather’s arrogant brow, his father’s somewhat regal nose, and his mother’s playful smile, all shuffled around under his own tumble of too-long brown hair.

Somehow, knowing he resembled his father and that dear old Dad would watch the wildly offensive video—likely cringing the whole time—amused Al more than all of the millions of viewers subscribed to his channel on the internet.

I think you have another winner, Jimme Money, Carpenter crowed.

His partner in crime, so to speak, always supported and sometimes costarred in the videos. He never wrote them, leaving the hard part to Al, but he remained ever-willing to do whatever stupid thing Al came up with for the video. Carpenter, though, became excited about the money, not the laughs.

Regardless of the number of hits they might get, Al hadn’t ever been in it for the money. None of it mattered to him, after all—his family already had more money than he’d ever manage to spend in one lifetime. Money didn’t change lives, his mentor used to say, it only changed where you lived them.

No, for him the important part was the laughter. The connection to his viewers. That mattered.

Clicking upload, he leaned back in his chair and considered the studio around him. It wasn’t anything his father would approve of, which added another layer of pleasure for Al. But Stone would appreciate the life he’d built for himself. Throughout his lifetime, the one man who understood—and managed to tame, even temporarily—his nature had been John Stone. Then again, Stone would likely never see the studio or any other part of Al’s current life. The man was too dedicated to his ranch and whatever new batch of unwieldy hellions had been shipped into his care to visit his former boys.

Understanding Stone’s commitment and the importance of his work, Al tried to make it out to the Saddle Creek Ranch once a year. The boys usually were excited to meet him—it wasn’t every day that most of them got to meet a famous internet sensation, after all—but Al didn’t go for the kids. Not if he was really honest with himself, anyway.

He went for Stone.

As if his mentor knew Al thought of him, a text came in from his number. Thumbing his phone awake, Al scanned the words with a growing sense of dread.

John is in a coma. They’ve put him on life support. It looks bad.

Tapping his fingertips on his desk, Al tried to hide his upset. Carpenter got worked up easily, so if he knew Al worried, he’d immediately think it was a money thing and freak out.

I’m going out of town for a while, Carpenter. You can edit and post a video of extras cut from other videos this year if I’m not back by next week, right? There, his modulated tone would hopefully delay any panic in his partner.

Carpenter sputtered, jamming his pale, freckled fingers into his mop of curling red hair. What? Summertime is when we get the most hits! You know this, Jimme, which is why we do the extra videos over the holidays. The viewers—

Will be fine with it, Al said. And my name isn’t Jimme. You always seem to forget; Jimme Money is a character. I’m Al, and I’m going out of town for a while. Look, you can either upload it, or we’ll miss a week. You pick.

Snagging his laptop off the desk, he slid it into a travel backpack and didn’t look up. Even without seeing him, he heard Carpenter spazzing out in the background. He tried to tune it out, instead wondering about Stone, but some of his partner’s words soaked through the worry.

"We cannot simply miss a week. It doesn’t work that way. We’ve uploaded a video a week for more than five years. Five years, Jimme, builds up an expectation in the audience. They depend—"

Cutting Carpenter off with a wave of his hand, Al pointed out what seemed to him to be obvious. They don’t depend on a video, Carpenter. They might want a laugh, but they’ll be fine for a week if you don’t want to upload extras.

Bullshit, man. Bullshit. They’ll look for your video and, if it isn’t there, they’ll go on to the next thing. We’ll lose subscribers and hits, which means we’ll lose money. Bottom line, man, bottom line.

The only line Al was concerned with right then likely beeping away in a hospital bed. Maybe alone. After all the lives he’d touched, Stone might be alone.

The thought sent ice and dread to Al’s heart.

So upload the extras. Money isn’t the most important thing in life, nor is uploading videos. With a few clicks on his phone, he had a plane ticket on the next commercial flight aimed toward