Charming Single Dad : Billionaire Romance

By Sandra Cole

She's looking for work—he's looking for love.

Julia

I had the perfect life, the perfect job—everything was on track. I didn't need anyone to help me—or so I thought. When the College board puts me under review, I have to find a way to support myself—and fast!

Being a live-in nanny for James Monroe's daughter seems like the perfect job, but I just can't take my eyes off him.

I can't sleep with my employer, and I definitely can't fall in love!

Or can I?

James

After my wife passed away, it became a real struggle to juggle work and looking after my daughter, Penny. When Julia walks into my life, she seems like the perfect solution.

Smart, funny and great with kids. I need to keep her around, for Penny's sake.

I don't want to scare her off by moving things too quickly.

But she's too damn sexy for her own good, and it's been so long since I've wanted anyone.

I might just have to break my own rules.

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Standalone Romance Stories With No Cliffhanger!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sandra Cole
• Release date: Feb 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386853602

Book preview

Charming Single Dad

Chapter 1

Julia stared out of the window of her small, but luxurious townhouse. It overlooked the neighborhood park—prime real-estate, and Julia was lucky enough to have it all to herself. Lucky. Her heart throbbed in her chest and she stared down again at the letter in her hands. Maybe, just maybe, if she wasn’t living here all alone, then she would have someone else who could help with the living costs—living costs which seemed further and further out of her reach.

Only a few months ago, she had been living what had seemed to be the perfect life. Julia had a job at the local college, teaching as a professor there. She had studied and worked long and hard to get her PHD, and it was finally paying off. She taught education and she absolutely loved it. It was rewarding, enjoyable, and engaging and she loved the campus.

She was fortunate enough to work on a number of different projects with the undergrads, as well as doing her own research. Julia’s record was perfect, not a black mark to her name and she prided herself on this, striving to achieve excellence in everything that she did.

It was long work, tiring work, but deeply satisfying work. Also, it afforded her comfort. She was by no means wealthy and she doubted that she would ever be wealthy in her profession, but she was comfortable. A nice townhouse, a well-working car and extra money to play around with for food and clothes and other luxuries that she, strictly speaking, didn’t need. It was a good life and one that Julia enjoyed immensely. She was content where she was and was hoping to continue along these lines, gaining success in academia, seniority status among the lecturers and a solid pension.

It was a simple life, but one that she enjoyed, and one that she did not want to give up. She had had a slew of bad relationships in the past and she told herself that she did not want that from life. She told herself that she was happy on her own and that there was nothing missing from her world.

And on long, lonely nights, she could almost, but not quite, make herself believe it. But these nights were fleeting and Julia preferred to concentrate on her work, like she always had. It brought her comfort and joy and she was happy to lose herself to it.

It wasn’t until a few months ago that her world had come crashing down spectacularly. She shivered at the thought, feeling sick. It had come out of the blue, blindsiding Julia completely. She had been accused of falsifying results on one of her research projects and the college was taking it very, very seriously.

It rocked her world to the core and suddenly, the future that she had dreamed of no longer seemed so certain. She was suspended, with pay, during the investigation. Julia was innocent, and she didn’t know where these terrible rumors had come from, but she soon learned that someone was out to get her.

The results of the investigation left her under suspicion. Julia appealed, this time without pay, and she was still waiting for the results. Feeling sick to her stomach, Julia waited day in and day out for some news—for her name to finally be cleared.

She was not allowed to work or teach during this period, and she was certainly not allowed to do anything with her research, so she stayed in a terrible sort of limbo, terrified about what this would mean for her career.

A black mark like this would make it almost impossible to be hired again. It would make it even harder to get published, and her career in academia would be finished, would be destroyed with little hope of it ever being restored. It made Julia shaky, as she sat in her little townhouse and read the letter over and over.

So dismissive, so formal. It made her stomach churn as she tried to think who she might have offended. Another member of staff that she had unintentionally snubbed? A student who she had failed on a test? A senior member of staff or admin who had some grief with her?

Julia couldn’t think of anyone. She kept her head down, she was polite, respectful, and friendly, and her students didn’t have any power over the review committee, so she doubted that it would be