Diamonds and Dirt Roads Read online

  Diamonds and Dirt Roads

  Billionaires in Blue Jeans

  Erin Nicholas

  Contents

  Diamonds and Dirt Roads

  Prologue

  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

  High Heels and Haystacks

  About the Author

  More from Erin

  Diamonds and Dirt Roads

  Billionaires in Blue Jeans

  Book One

  Prologue

  From the desk of Rudy Carmichael…

  1

  Ava Carmichael was worth twelve and a half billion dollars. Billion. With a B.

  She could afford a Rembrandt. Or a Van Gogh. But instead, she had a framed inspirational poster hanging on the wall behind the desk where her receptionist sat. Cori wasn’t sure why that annoyed her. But it did.

  Cori studied the poster and thought about her sister. Maybe the poster annoyed her because it read INSPIRATION and was a photo of a guy hang-gliding and she knew for a fact that Ava had never gone hang-gliding.

  Or maybe it was because Cori was 99 percent sure that her sister had no idea what poster was hanging behind the front desk at Carmichael Enterprises. The stupid thing had probably been hanging there when Ava had taken over as CEO five years ago.

  And yes, that was what irritated Cori about it. Ava had been so determined to follow in their father’s footsteps that she hadn’t even replaced the wall art in his office when he’d moved to Bumfuck, Kansas and put her in charge.

  “Oh, Ms. Carmichael!”

  Cori straightened from where she was leaning on the tall front desk as the receptionist, Sarah, came rushing around the corner with an armful of file folders. She dropped the stack in the middle of the desk, folders sliding precariously.

  “I’m so sorry! I didn’t know you were here! I didn’t mean to keep you waiting.”

  “No worries. I just got here,” Cori said with a smile. “Just didn’t know which conference room we were meeting in.” That was a bald-faced lie. Ava had texted her an hour ago that it was Conference Room A.

  But there was no way Cori was showing up for that meeting on time. Being on time—or God forbid early—for this meeting would make it seem important. And she did not want it to seem, or to be, important. For her or for her sisters.

  She was going to stroll into the enormous conference room with the table that could seat fourteen and the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked Manhattan, as if it was just one more thing she had to do in her day and was hardly worth a second thought. She’d even worn black jeans and her black T-shirt that said Sorry I’m late, but I didn’t want to come under her red leather jacket. All of which would completely exasperate Ava.

  But better Ava be exasperated with her than anxious about the documents the lawyer was going over with them today. Exasperated with Cori was a normal state for Ava. And Cori was determined to give her sisters—both of them—as much normalcy as she could as they listened to the lawyers go over the paperwork.

  Yeah, the paperwork. Also known as their father’s will.

  “They’re in Conference Room A,” Sarah said. “Do you need some help getting everything down there?”

  Cori grinned as she picked up the two cardboard trays of coffee cups, balancing one on top of the other, along with the whipped cream dispenser she’d set on the front counter. “Nope, I’ve got it.”

  “Okay, fourth door on the right,” Sarah said.

  “Thanks.” Cori started down the long stretch of gray carpet. Gray. Of course it was gray. She hadn’t visited the offices of her father’s company in years, but she definitely had memories of lots of gray and white and black. Clean, professional, sterile colors for the décor that screamed money and intimidation and perfection.

  She reached the conference room far too quickly, so she paused for a moment before stepping in front of the glass wall that separated the conference room from the hallway. She took a deep breath, dug for her this-is-no-big-deal-I-can-make-anything-fun side, and pasted on a huge smile. Then she tucked the stainless-steel canister full of whipped cream under her arm, balanced the trays in one hand, and reached for the door.

  “Good morning!” she said brightly, as she stepped into the room.

  Ava was standing near the windows looking every bit the CEO she was, in her black pencil skirt, white silk blouse, gold jewelry and Louis Vuitton sling-back pumps—the only part of her outfit Cori would have ever borrowed. Her other sister, Brynn, was at the table, a notebook and pen laid out in front of her. She wore blue capri pants that clashed with the salmon-colored cashmere sweater she wore. The white T-shirt underneath was wrinkled, her hair was pulled back in a haphazard bun, and she had glasses perched on her nose. No doubt she’d been immersed in something in her lab when she’d remembered, at the last second, that she had to be across the city and in her sister’s office by nine a.m.

  Cori felt the tension from Ava and the worry from Brynn immediately, as if she was feeling it herself. She had no idea if all sisters felt each other’s emotions that way or if it was because she, Ava, and Brynn were triplets, but she struggled to hold on to her smile as she set everything down on the gleaming mahogany tabletop and began pulling bottles from her pockets.

  “You stopped for coffee?” Ava asked.

  Dammit. It was only Brynn, Ava, and some guy sitting at the end of the table. A very good-looking guy. There was no way for Cori not to notice that. Despite her nerves jumping with the need to get this meeting over with, the urge to bolt coursing through her veins, and the determination it was taking to act nonchalant about it all.

  He wore a white button-down shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, no tie, no jacket. He had a folder in front of him and a notebook next to it, but there was nothing written on the page. Maybe because the damned meeting had clearly not started yet. He sat back in the leather chair, one forearm resting on the tabletop, one ankle propped on his opposite knee. And he wore blue jeans. Cori was shocked by that. Surely he wasn’t an intern. No way would Ava let an intern wear jeans to the office. Maybe he worked for the legal team that was coming in. He could be a notetaker—what were those people called again?—or something, she supposed. He had dark hair, light eyes that could have been gray or blue behind dark-rimmed glasses, and a tanned, muscular forearm.

  Cori tore her attention away from him. It was so typical that she’d be distracted by some cute guy while she was trying to help her sisters through this meeting. She always had good intentions, but her predisposition for frivolousness was often stronger.

  Where were all the freaking lawyers? If they got the meeting started, she would be able to concentrate. She’d really thought being twenty minutes late would ensure everyone else would be present and that they would have covered at least some of the information by the time she got here. She didn’t want to sit through the whole thing about Ava inheriting the business, and Brynn getting her research funding, and Cori not getting anything. This was all just some formality, and she hadn’t been shocked to find out that she was required to be there, but she did resent it a little. She didn’t really need to be told in a formal, legal document that her father had given up on her. That had been pretty clear for a long time.

  “Of course I stopped for coffee,” Cori said with a big smile.

  She’d intentionally been late so she could make an entrance. She’d hoped the interruption would break up the tension that would have already built in the room
. And she’d intentionally shown up with treats. Because that’s what she did. She made things sweeter, sillier, and more fun for her sisters. That was her role in their triad and really the only thing she could offer here today.

  She’d behaved every day since finding out their father had died. She’d bit her tongue when people talked about how great he was. She’d refrained from scoffing when people said how proud he’d been of her. She’d pretended that she knew his favorite church hymn when the funeral director had asked—hey, everyone liked “Amazing Grace”, right?

  But she’d be damned if she’d sit in this office and act sad listening to lawyers milk their hourly rates while doling out her father’s possessions.

  It was no coincidence that there was not a single World’s Best Dad mug among those possessions.

  So what if a few of the tears she’d shed had felt real? There was plenty to mourn when it came to her and her father. His death was not even number one on the list.

  “The meeting was supposed to start at nine,” Ava told her.

  Cori nodded as she pulled one of the cups from the tray, grabbed the whipped cream gun and one of the plastic bottles, and rounded the table. “I got your texts.”

  “And it’s now nine thirty-five,” Ava said, accepting the cup with a frown.

  Okay, she was thirty-five minutes late. She’d still beat the stupid lawyers. She took the lid off of the cup Ava held, tipped the silver can, and added a swirl of whipped cream to the top of Ava’s chai latte, then shook a few tiny cinnamon cookie crumbs from the plastic bottle onto the top of the cream. “Well, I felt bad leaving the people in line behind me without whipped cream, so I let everyone else go first. And it was a long line.” Thankfully.

  “Then you stole the whipped cream gun?” Ava asked.

  “Of course not. I bought it from the guy.” She was aware that the man at the end of the table was watching her with a bemused expression, but he hadn’t moved or said a word.

  “Why?” Brynn asked.

  “Because if I’d added the whipped cream to our drinks there, it would have melted by the time I got up here,” Cori said. She removed the lid from the mocha latte she’d gotten Brynn and added a tall swirl of whipped cream. Then she chose another of the plastic bottles she’d brought and shook chocolate sprinkles over the top. She handed it to her sister. “I hate that.”

  Brynn took it, almost as if she was at a loss for words. She dipped her finger into the whipped cream, catching a few sprinkles with it, and stuck her fingertip in her mouth. And smiled. And that was all Cori needed to see. She took a deep, satisfied breath.

  “You brought a lot of coffee,” Ava commented.

  She was already sipping her chai and Cori hid her smile. She might frustrate her sister, but Ava needed her. In the midst of a very not-fun meeting like this, Ava needed a latte with little cookie crumbs on top. She just didn’t know it until Cori showed up.

  “Sure. For the lawyers. It’s all just black though,” she said with a shrug. “Figured boring was probably the way to go with lawyers, right?”

  “Actually, I love a good caramel macchiato.”

  Cori’s gaze went to the only guy in the room again. “Do you?”

  “Definitely.”

  “Cori, this is Evan Stone. He’s the attorney from Kansas,” Ava said. “Mr. Stone, our sister, Cori. And now that we’re all here, let’s continue. I’m sure we all have other places to be.”

  Well, that wasn’t untrue. Cori didn’t have anywhere else specific to be, but she could think of at least twenty places she’d rather be.

  “Please call me Evan,” the lawyer said.

  The lawyer. Of course he was. But he liked caramel. And his eyes were definitely blue.

  The only thing that matters is the lawyer part. Knock it off.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Cori,” Evan said. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

  Yeah, she couldn’t deal with that right now. Cori looked at Ava. “The attorney. As in, just one?”

  “Just one,” Evan confirmed. “But don’t worry, I did have my assistant spell-check everything.”

  She’d pictured a room full of lawyers, some for her father, some for Ava, talking through multiple points regarding the transition of power of Carmichael Enterprises. Ad nauseum. She’d downloaded a new romance novel onto her phone just for the occasion. She wasn’t going to get to start that today either.

  Cori resisted sighing. Why was it when she prepared for something, actually spent time thinking it through and making a plan, it never turned out the way she’d imagined it anyway? Oh yeah, because plans sucked. She was much better at spontaneity and going with the flow.

  Fine. There was one lawyer. Maybe that would mean the meeting would be shorter. And hey, he was wearing blue jeans. For some reason that made her like him a little bit. Sure, maybe in small-town Kansas that was typical dress code for lawyers, but she doubted very much that Ava had ever met with an attorney wearing denim before.

  Feeling a little happier at the thought that even Ava couldn’t have been fully prepared for this meeting, Cori took another of the cups from the tray and removed the lid. She swirled whipped cream on the top, picked up another bottle, squeezed a drizzle of caramel over the top, and took it to the end of the table.

  “Caramel macchiato,” she said, handing it to Evan.

  He took it, one eyebrow arched. “You had a caramel macchiato?”

  “My favorite,” she said with a nod.

  She headed back to her collection of cups that held only straight-up black coffee now. She took one and began doctoring it with sugar packets and creamer tubs that she also pulled from her jacket pockets. Then she squirted a copious amount of caramel syrup into the cup, stirred, added whipped cream, and drank.

  It was only as that first swallow passed her tongue that she realized the room was quiet and that her sisters and Evan were all watching her.

  She swallowed and asked, “What?”

  “If you’re finished?” Ava asked. “We can continue.”

  Cori dropped into the chair next to where she’d been standing. “Yes. Oh my God, please continue. Does that mean you’ve already started?”

  “We did,” Ava said.

  Yes! Maybe not every one of her plans was going to crap.

  “When you didn’t answer my texts asking where you were,” Ava added.

  “My hands were full,” Cori said. She’d felt her phone vibrating in her pocket, but she’d known it was Ava and exactly what Ava was asking. “But you can just fill me in on whatever pertains to me later.”

  She swiveled the chair, which was more comfortable and cost more than many beds she’d slept in over the past few years, so that she could prop her feet on the chair next to her. She cradled her cup in both hands and rested it on her stomach, settling in to pretend to listen, but to actually just enjoy watching Evan Stone. She could happily ogle his firm jawline and his broad shoulders and the long, thick fingers that wrapped around the coffee cup while he went over…whatever he was going to go over.

  “Well, there are several things that pertain to you,” Ava said.

  There were? “Like what?” Maybe they just needed her to sign something that said she understood she didn’t get anything. That was cool. She was all over that.

  “Like going to Bliss,” Ava said.

  That little crease between Ava’s eyebrows is getting deeper, Cori thought distractedly. Good thing for Botox. Then Ava’s words sank in. That wasn’t legalese. And it wasn’t “sign here and move on with your life.”

  “What?”

  Ava sighed. “You missed a lot, Cori. There are some…stipulations in the trust. Things we have to do to inherit.”

  Oh, well, that was no big deal. “I don’t want to inherit,” Cori said, waving that away with one hand. “None of that matters to me.”

  Ava crossed her arms, that forehead crease deepening again. “We all have to meet all of the conditions.”

  Cori frowned and shook her head.


  “The company is being divided into three equal shares,” Brynn said from across the table. “And we each have to follow the stipulations to inherit our third or none of us inherit anything.”

  The sip of coffee in her mouth turned bitter and Cori struggled to swallow it. “But I don’t want a third of the company,” she finally managed. She looked at Evan. “Can’t I just give my part to Ava and Brynn?”

  “You can do what you want with your third,” he said. “After you inherit it. Which won’t happen until the conditions of the trust are met.”

  Cori opened her mouth, but had no idea what to say. She was going to be forced to inherit part of her father’s company? There was no way that was right. It was totally unfair to Ava and Brynn, for one thing. Ava had worked her ass off for the company since she’d been sixteen. Brynn had no interest in the business beyond the research and development branch where she worked as the lead scientist for their pharmaceutical companies, but she could at least fund her research with her third. But Cori…well, Cori not only had no interest in Carmichael Enterprises, but she had no talent, skill, or knowledge to bring to the company, and she didn’t have any world-changing projects that she’d earmarked a few billion for.

  Ava took a deep breath. “This is all or nothing, Cori. We all have to do it or it doesn’t matter.”

  Cori focused on Evan instead, hoping he could make some sense out of this. Surely Ava was misunderstanding. Or overreacting. Or something. Because if that was true, then Cori was stuck. She’d do anything for her sisters. Which Rudy had, of course, known. And would have used if needed. She narrowed her eyes. “Can Dad actually make us do a bunch of stuff we don’t want to do?”