Tempted in Love (The Maverick Billionaires, Book 11)
A new Preorder! Coming June 18, 2026!
She’s got a no-billionaires rule. He’s dying to break it.
Troy Harrington has Olympic medals, a billion-dollar sports empire, and a reputation for being the most irresistible bad boy in San Francisco. What he doesn’t have? A romantic bone in his body. So when his meddling younger sister Gabby challenges him to a bet over who will fall in love first, Troy turns to the only woman he knows who can manipulate love like a science — billionaire matchmaker Michaela Killian.
Michaela built her matchmaking empire from both hard work and her understanding that dating — and marrying — a billionaire is a dream of possibly every woman on the planet. Every woman but her, that is. Michaela has deep-seated reasons for her vow to never, ever date a billionaire. When Troy Harrington walks into her office asking her to find his sister a soulmate, she smells trouble. And when she learns it’s all part of a bet? Absolutely not. Well…unless Gabby agrees.
Of course, Gabby and Michaela can’t resist having fun by flipping the rules: Michaela will agree to match Gabby with a billionaire client only if Michaela can also find a match for Troy. And in order for her to succeed, he has to agree to go on every single date Michaela sets up. No bailouts. No backing down.
Game on.
The only problem? Troy is a truly impossible client: Infuriatingly cocky, dismissive of love, and wholly uninterested in the idea of soulmates. Except, it seems, when he’s looking at her with his smolderingly sexy gaze.
Worse? Michaela is very, very tempted to look right back.
As their sizzling chemistry threatens to combust, Michaela faces the one risk she swore she’d never take: falling for a billionaire client. But Troy isn’t just any client. He’s the one man who could either make her believe in true love for herself again…or break her completely.
This slow-burn billionaire romance will leave your heart racing with forbidden attraction and one heck of a high-stakes bet!
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Excerpt
Tempted in Love
Maverick Billionaires, Book 11
© 2026 Bella Andre & Jennifer Skully
Chapter One
Michaela Killian was the most beautiful woman Troy Harrington had ever seen. Already a tall woman, her high heels—he’d glanced down long enough when he first entered to take the measure of those sexy, spiked heels—turned her into a statuesque model, though she didn’t have the bone-thin structure. Not with those luscious breasts and delectable curves. Her silky midnight black hair sat in elegant knot on the top of her head, and his whole being ached to pull out the pins to see it fall over her shoulders in a silky wave. The darkness of her hair added depth and intensity to her lush green eyes, giving her a striking look that would turn any man’s head.
She had definitely turned his, almost making him forget his mission to hire a matchmaker. Not that she was like any matchmaker he could have imagined. She looked not just like a million bucks, but a billion bucks. Which was probably how she got the title of “the billionaire matchmaker,” rather than the fact that she was matchmaker for billionaires.
His image of a matchmaker was someone much older, with cats-eye glasses hanging on a chain around her neck and a bouffant hairdo that would have been all the rage when she was young. But Michaela Killian looked to be only a couple of years younger than his thirty-five.
Troy certainly hadn’t expected her to steal the breath right out of his chest.
When he finally found his voice, it came out as a ridiculous croak. And his question had nothing to do with his matchmaking mission. “Do you get coffee at Santa Cruz Nine?” Santa Cruz 9 was his regular haunt on the corner of Santa Cruz Ave and Highway 9 in Los Gatos. A quaint town next door to San Jose, he’d purchased his home in the Los Gatos hills six months ago. The proximity to his San Jose office made sense, along with the fact that the community was nestled against the Santa Cruz Mountains, great for hiking and biking.
He knew her answer, even before she tipped her head slightly and said, “Yes, I do frequent Santa Cruz Nine.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen you there.” He sounded so suave—not.
His head felt foggy with her delicious scent, and his tongue seemed stuck to the roof of his mouth. And he was not a man who couldn’t find his words. Except with her. There was just something about seeing her in this setting, smelling her instead of the scent of brewing coffee, hearing her velvet voice instead of the sound of grinding coffee beans.
She just smiled. “Oh.”
So he hadn’t made any impression on her. None. But then he usually came to the coffee shop straight after his run, sweat plastering his dark hair to his head. And who the hell knew how he smelled?
Then again, every time he’d seen her, she’d always been on her phone, talking, checking emails, maybe even going over her task list for the day.
He heard that for excuse it was; he was just trying to shore himself up after learning she hadn’t noticed him.
Hooking his thumb over his shoulder. “Yeah, I go there a lot. I live up in the hills.” Wow, great conversationalist here.
She didn’t miss a beat, “I have a townhouse nearby. So the coffee shop is convenient on my way her to my office. And the hills are out of my price range.”
He wasn’t sure if that was a smackdown. But even if she couldn’t afford the hills, buying a townhouse in Los Gatos, a rather expensive bedroom community of San Jose, was no mean feat.
Her business must be doing well, her office elegantly furnished with teak furniture, comfortable chairs and sofa, colorful prints of faraway destinations, a minimalist desk beside which she stood, and a state-of-the-art computer ready for her touch. Her third-floor window offered an enchanting view of Los Gatos Creek, its waters glittering in the early June light, exuding serenity and perhaps promising she would make all her clients’ dreams come true.
She was not only doing well for herself, she was smart. Amid the colorful travel posters hung her Stanford diploma, the words with distinction clear to him, which meant she’d graduated at the top of her class.
Beautiful, accomplished, and highly intelligent. What more could a guy ask for in a matchmaker?
“And how may I help you this morning, Mr. Harrington?” she asked in a sweet but sexy voice that made him forget how to speak. Until she tapped a pencil on the desktop with a hint of impatience.
Oh yeah. Now he remembered why he was here. His mission. Finding that his mystery woman from the coffee shop was his matchmaker had thrown him off, but he pulled himself back on track. “My friend Dirk Pendergast,” with whom Troy had done his Olympic training, “gave me your name.” Dirk had been blissfully wed, thanks to her.
Finally, Michaela Killian smiled. It was like the sun, the moon, and the stars—or a good dentist—had all come together to create that exquisite smile. “I’m so glad I was able to help him and his lovely bride.”
Troy snorted. “Help him? You changed his life. They’re still in the honeymoon phase, and it’s been six months. He didn’t get back to me for a couple weeks after I texted him, or I would have called you sooner.” Troy had been off on a round of speaking gigs that held him up. He’d been so busy, in fact, that he hadn’t had a chance to look up Michaela’s track record. Instead he’d taken Dirk’s word for it.
“Wonderful. I’m so glad to have happy clients.” He noticed the pencil tapping had stopped. “So tell me what kind of woman you’re looking for.” She flourished a hand toward the sofa, inviting him to sit, as she rounded her desk.
Before he took a seat, he was quick to say, “It’s not for me. It’s for my sister. I’d love to see her in love as soon as possible. Happily in love.”
He and his youngest sister Gabby had a bet. After their middle brother Clay had fallen hard for Saskia Oliver, and their older siblings, Ava and Dane, had already caught the love bug, he and Gabby made a bet about who would be the next to fall in love.
It was a cinch that he would win, because he wasn’t about to fall in love. Dating wise, he had a carefree life. He wasn’t even close to being ready to give that up. But then Gabby was a hard case, hell-bent on her career, with a slew of cafés all over the country featuring plant-based menus. She managed her own franchise in Carmel-by-the-Sea, and also created most of the recipes, though she encouraged her franchisees to experiment and share their own.
That’s why he needed a matchmaker for Gabby. She’d never find a match on her own and needed a little push, or maybe a big push. He’d love to see his sister happy. And he’d love to win the bet too. The loser had to donate a million dollars to the charity of the winner’s choice. Troy already had his charity of choice picked out.
As he took the sofa, Michaela sat in a chair, too far away for his knee to accidentally brush hers.
“And what does your sister think about that?”
He chuckled. “Oh, it’s a surprise. But believe me, she’ll love it.”
The smile faded from her luscious lips. “I would never be able to do this without her consent. That would be unethical.”
He waved away the concern. “You don’t have to worry about payment. I’ll take care of that.”
She had a very pretty brow line, even if it was furrowed. “I’m not worried about payment. I simply can’t match a woman who doesn’t even know I’m matchmaking for her.” Her voice was stern like an old West schoolmarm taking on a bully.
But he wasn’t a bully. “I’m not asking you to set her up with just anybody. I’m concerned about her happiness.”
She eyed him suspiciously. “Then why isn’t she here with you?”
He didn’t say that he needed to keep this on the down-low because Gabby would never agree. But how was he supposed to plead his case? “Look, Mick, I really need this.”
She stiffened. “My name is Michaela. Please don’t call me Mick.”
Oops. So she was a bit of a stuffed shirt. Or could only men be stuffed shirts? And how did you win over a stuffed shirt? He had no idea. But he suddenly felt a little desperate. “But you see, we made a million-dollar bet,” he said before he really thought about it.
She stared at him, her mouth slightly open, her parted lips a temptation. Until she said, “Excuse me? Did I just hear you right?”
Double oops. Maybe the truth wasn’t such a good idea.
Especially when she mumbled under her breath, “That’s absolutely crazy.” Or was that, He’s absolutely crazy?
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