Utterly Yours (Book Three) (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) by Alexa Brookes

Chapter 1
     
                  Nathaniel cringed when he saw the sun coming up; he had walked through Frear Park all night.  “This is getting ridiculous,” he muttered.  This was the second time he had spent an entire night trudging through this park searching for Lillian.  This time was different, though.  This time he knew who she was, and he was desperate.
                  He had to work at the shelter again –if only to convince his business partner that he was being productive.  Adam had been understanding when Nathaniel had told him that he needed to spend a couple of extra weeks in Troy at the shelter, but Nathaniel had not told him it was really because he was hunting for a woman he had scared away.  Lillian was special –although Nathaniel could not quite figure out why.  He had really made her angry, and now he was regretting it.  His worry for her grew with each passing day as he entered into his fifth extra day spent in Troy.  Two weeks and five days he had been in his hometown, and he was missing his new home in California less and less.  Before coming here, he thought that he would hate going back to Troy, but seeing Lillian had changed all of that.
                  Nathaniel headed back to his car, and he slammed his foot down on the gas –peeling out of the parking lot and onto the main road.  He still had time to make it back to the hotel and shower before his assistant would be knocking on his door for his wakeup call.  In the past five days, Nathaniel had walked through Frear Park at least a dozen times, and he had explored much of the surrounding area in Troy as well.
                  He pulled into the parking lot of the hotel, and he tossed his keys so rapidly and angrily at the valet that they slapped the kid in the chest and fell to the ground; he had to bend over, stumbling slightly, to pick them up.  “Sorry,” Nathaniel grumbled as he marched inside the hotel and up to the presidential suite on the top floor where he had been staying for the past few weeks.
                  Nathaniel took a quick shower, scrubbing his scalp with a righteous fury as though he thought he could physically scrub the frustration away.  He had been convinced that that night was going to be the night that he found Lillian, and now he felt like he had wasted a lot of time and was going to be sleep deprived for the rest of the day for nothing.  Once again, he had come up empty handed.
                  He exited the shower, toweling himself off before wrapping the towel around his waist.  He hadn’t ordered room service, so he checked the fridge.  Tony, his assistant, always stocked his fridge for him whenever they were on trips just in case.  There wasn’t much, but there was jelly in the fridge and bread on the counter.  After locating a toaster, Nathaniel decided to make himself some toast with jelly.  He may have been used to being waited on hand and foot, but even he could make himself some toast.
                  There was a knock on the door; he was still just wearing a towel around his waist when he flung the door open, startling Tony slightly.  “Damn it, man, put on some pants!” Tony said and looked away.
                  Nathaniel rolled his eyes and walked back into the hotel room as Tony awkwardly made his way inside.  “Hold on, give me a minute,” Nathaniel said and disappeared to the bedroom, returning shortly wearing a pair of jeans and the volunteer t-shirt for the shelter.  He plopped himself down at the bar, slapped some jelly onto his toast, and began eating.
                  Tony poured him some orange juice without being asked; he knew Nathaniel well enough by now to know he would ask for it eventually.  “You look like shit, man,” Tony said.
                  “Fuck off,” Nathaniel warned.  He normally had a good relationship with his assistant that