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The Black Tie Billionaires #1

Her Billionaire Boss

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A billionaire CEO hires the rebel youngest daughter of his family’s biggest corporate rival to serve as his personal assistant…and sparks an unwanted attraction in this sweet & swoony office romance!

Luca Calcagni isn’t sure why Jacey applied for a job at Genesis & Sons in the first place. However, he can’t tell her no without creating a PR nightmare for his multi-billion-dollar company. Instead, he hands her a punishing schedule, hoping to send her packing pretty quickly.

A man known as a cobra in the boardroom can’t afford for anyone to find out he's secretly crushing on the one woman in the world his family will never forgive.

253 pages, ebook

First published January 30, 2019

1057 people are currently reading
475 people want to read

About the author

Jo Grafford

167 books665 followers
Jo is an Amazon bestselling author of heartwarming cowboy romantic suspense stories, with a few Texas-sized detours into humor.

Join Cuppa Jo Readers at https://www.facebook.com/groups/Cuppa.... Join her newsletter at https://www.JoGrafford.com.

Jo also writes clean western historical romance and cozy mysteries as Jovie Grace.

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5 stars
820 (55%)
4 stars
366 (24%)
3 stars
192 (13%)
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70 (4%)
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28 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 100 reviews
Profile Image for Maureen Bowra.
119 reviews4 followers
April 27, 2024
Hahahaha read this cos it was free on my Kindle. If you like trashy romance that has no sex scenes and an author who gave up on details half way through then dive right in!!
Profile Image for Jhommie Kem-ing.
129 reviews2 followers
February 16, 2020
Her Billionaire Boss

I am so glad I read this novel in February. I can't wait for the next book already! The story was sweet, romantic and full of hopes for second chance in love. Amazing and full of swoony scenes that made me fall in love with the characters.
103 reviews
August 3, 2023
Wow um first off I couldn’t put it down but not for good reasons. It would state something and the next sentence would contradict that statement so it was hard to follow in places. I felt no attachment to any of the characters. I felt they were all surface level. I had fun marking all of the things that I seen as red flags and or cringy. So that was fun.
Profile Image for Vibliophile.
1,594 reviews129 followers
May 21, 2020
Rough start (some spoilers)

I came to this series via book 3 & enjoyed it enough that I wanted to catch up on the series. Turns out book 1 is a little... rougher.

It's got the same amusing soap opera thing going for it, but it has less of the restraint that kept the 3rd book believable enough to roll with it - plus some aspects were a little troubling.

I really don't understand from what we were told in the story, why Jacey & Easton got married. I get that they were good friends, sure, but what led them to point of deciding "till death do us part"?

I could see Jacey applying for a job at G&S in hopes of finding some sort of reconciliation with Easton's family at some level, plus desperately needing a job, & not wanting to go back to her own family for it, but I didn't really get the idea of her being willing to subject herself to their abuse as some kind of atonement.

Knox may not have intended serious harm, his coffee must not have been too hot or she would have been in an ER, but that could have been seriously bad, & keeping quiet about the spilled coffee burn? Nuh uh, that was going too far & a hard solid no. Jacey should have established limits.

And I love alpha males, but Luca's temper bordered on abusive. Trying to get rid of Jacey by making working conditions tough & unpleasant wasn't that bad (crappy but to some extent justifiable from their perspective), but the stuff that went beyond that made it more difficult to think of Luca & his brothers as good guys.

Luca & Jacey's first kiss made me laugh. It was kinda swoony and ridiculous at the same time. The clean romance alternative to hate sex? Lol.

While not explicitly broken down as such, the book is essentially in 2 parts - the 1st part was Jacey trying to keep her job & the 2nd part was the marriage of convenience. The first was entertaining melodrama, but the second was mostly just frustrating melodrama.

Luca had clearly & explicitly stated multiple times that his interest was in Jacey as well as the baby, so Jacey's cluelessness about Luca's love for her was frustrating & not particularly believable

It would have been better to end their story earlier & save the other to use as a story for other characters.

So, to sum up - it's fairly entertaining if you're in the mood for something fluffy, & don't mind putting up with some flaws - and at least I can reassure you that it does improve substantially by book 3

*Clean romance level: passionate kisses, a married couple is implied to have sex, but no graphic details are given

*A few prayerful acknowledgements of God by the protagonists, but also a handful of non-reverent uses, though at least none as curses, fwiw
Profile Image for Stephanie Bolen.
2,155 reviews29 followers
November 4, 2023
Just don't

The miscommunication trope where people just don't talk to each other is leaned on so heavy that there was a whole third act that didn't need to happen. The first half is fine then surprise and it just becomes a completely different book in a bad way. The characters don't resemble themselves anymore. There's no real healing or communication. It's completely focused on a "dream" that she gave up. She hates it. And where she thrived in her previous job, she withers away when she achieves her dream. None of this is addressed, and that combined with everyone's grief over a tragedy makes for a straight up bad read. The timeline was narrowed because of the circumstances of their marriage of convenience. I posit that the timeline between the tragedy and the atonement could have been extended with no real repercussion. They still get married to improve their lifestyle. And the grief could have had time to settle into real resentment on the part of his family and a genuine need for her to mend fences.
Profile Image for Gerda.
775 reviews
April 21, 2024
The author was new to me and I enjoyed reading. The plot is interesting, with funny banter, a tenacious heroine, mean hero, some inner monologue to get to know hero and heroine and a plot twist.
What I didn't like was that most things were OTT:
- not one but TWO think-tanks in Anchorage/Alaska. In my mind think-tanks employ scientists trying to solve world problems (global warming, energy crisis, hunger management...) but not make up advertising campaigns for local businesses ( here shoe-shop and coffee-shop chain). said scientists would prefer stimulating, inspiring social, and international environment.
- the owner families of both companies are billionaires, where did the money come from? Locally?
- Luca owns a Boing 747, nearly the biggest plane there is, a company jet used for what? During the time the novel unfurls, he stays in Anchorage, Jacey only uses it to travel to Nashville. Does this company not care for its profit or the environment?
Nice to read once you overlook the inconsistencies.
Profile Image for Nkechi Ajogwu.
Author 29 books10 followers
March 4, 2025
37 down, 263 to go.

Genre - Romance

Her Billionaire Boss
Jacey Maddox chooses a penance, to work for Genesis & Sons after the tragic death of their youngest son, Easton Calcagni who was her husband.
Luca Calcagni the oldest son, is determined to make her pay but things get more complicated when they discover that Jacey is pregnant for Easton. Jacey can no longer endure the mistreatment and distrust from the Calcagnis so she threatens to leave. To keep the last tie of their brother, Luca decides to marry her.

----My Thoughts----
The book made me sad because how does someone in their conscious mind decide to mistreat a widow? Regardless of the blames, she also lost her husband. The whole Calcagni family were horrible, except Rhys. The second to last son, Knox, spilled scalding hot coffee on Jacey's leg during a meeting. That was straight up wickedness.
Jacey didn't kill their brother Easton. Her crime was that she supported his dreams, which eventually took his life.

The attraction between Luca and Jacey was strange. And after their marriage, communication went on a vacation.

Lessons:
1. Trust can't be bought. It has to be earned.
2. Do not let anyone's disapproval phase you.
3. Silence is a powerful weapon.
4. Do not judge people before you get to know them.
5. You can achieve whatever you put your mind to.
1,767 reviews33 followers
February 24, 2020
WOW, this book is fantastic! I definitely couldn't put it down! I love books about enemies to lovers and this has all the hallmarks of that type of book! Two rival families in the cutthroat business world. Two members that decided to rebel and "go their own way" and ended up eloping but the husband dies and now Jacey is left alone and feels compelled to walk into the corporation of her dead husband's family to atone for "getting him killed" (that's what she thinks) and do whatever it takes to make up for it. However, his family doesn't take kindly to this offer, especially Luca, his brother and CEO of the company. He decides to hire Jacey as his personal assistant and he practically makes her his slave! I couldn't believe the things he makes her do! Jacey feels it's all warranted though so she takes it all. I don't think I could have handled that well! However, there's a spark between them as days go by and eventually (no spoilers!) Luca ask Jacey to marry him....for convenience sake! The life of the wealthy is something to behold! It was super fun to see all that Luca did for Jacey but there is so much miscommunication between them! Once they get their feelings squared away, will they stay together or will they just cut their losses and walk away?
Profile Image for Sharon.
93 reviews
April 20, 2024
The plot had a lot of inconsistencies. Luca went from not trusting her AT ALL to full on infatuated in a nanosecond. It was like the author skipped the chapters where this transition happened and just jumped to the infatuation with no context for the reader.

This made it hard to buy into the relationship for me. It wasn't believable. His brother had been dead two whole months. He didn't seemed fazed by this, nor did she. Just major ICK factor there for me. And why hadn't their family seen Easton in 5 years? Just because he was a Nascar racer?? Whaat? Doesn't compute. It's not like he was a criminal. . . .

I didn't think Jacey was a likable character in many respects. She was all over the place, figuratively and literally (touring the minute after her son is born). Her reasons for wanting work at their company made no sense to me. Also if she had a fledgling singing career why was she FLAT broke? The people in Nashville knew who she was at the audition . . . .she should have been able to pursue her career on her own...
Profile Image for Jane.
1,317 reviews46 followers
February 17, 2020
As I started Her Billionaire Boss I was unsure if I would like the book, I’m not usually interested in books that lean on the wealth of the characters as a plot point. I was pleasantly surprised. While money does play a part in Her Billionaire Boss, the book is more about relationships and winning the love of the one you love. It is also a book about the cost of following your dreams. Jo Grafford has done a great job of creating characters readers will care about and a plot that keeps them guessing as to what will come next.
Her Billionaire Boss is book one in The Black Tie Billionaires series. I look forward to reading more books in this series.
Her Billionaire Boss did not contain any content that would prohibit me from placing this clean romance in my K-12 Christian school library.
I am a member of Cuppa Jo Readers and received a complimentary copy of Her Billionaire Boss. This is my honest review.
Profile Image for Carol.
840 reviews1 follower
January 11, 2022
Her Millionaire Boss

When Jacey was a teen and was teasing Luca she didn't realize how her life would change. Although the Maddox family and the Calcagnis were rivals, Jacey actually eloped with the youngest son and both were disowned by both families. When her husband died in a racing accident seemed that everyone hated her. Trying to make restitution to the Calcagni family she went to work for them as an assistant to the brother Luca who was the CEO of their company. Jacey had to battle the entire family, long hours doing necessary and unnecessary work.
There were changes coming that would impact everyone in the Calcagni family but especially Jacey and Luca. Would they be able to work through the changes to the betterment of the family or is walking away the answer?
Profile Image for Charles Zarza.
20 reviews
March 11, 2025
Loved the characters

First of all -I love the trope where the woman is secretly living hard life the guy doesn’t know about and that was done really well in this book. The first half was really engaging. The marketing things she came up with were legitimately clever.

The second half seemed to have a little too much crammed in there at the same time it skipped weeks and months at a time. The plot made sense but it made the characters choices seem a little confusing (specifically Jacey’s shift from her talents in marketing to her talents as a singer) and it wrapped up very quickly with a few minor things dangling (mostly just conflicts she had with her agent)

I’m excited to read the next book though. The characters were really engaging. It was clean romance but had a lot of passion too.
1,932 reviews5 followers
August 23, 2020
Her Billionaire Boss

Jacey Maddox a young woman who had lost her young husband two months ago was applying at her late husbands family firm. Jacey was also known as JCCarew a singing sensation whose career got shut down too early. Luca Calcagni is the CEO of the family business and the older brother of Lacey's husband. Waverly,Edric,Rys and Knox were all ma bears of Lucas family. The Maddox and Calcagni families had been rivals in business as well as families. This was another great book of Jo's and another start to a great series. This is my review and mine alone. Norma Gorrill
1,038 reviews4 followers
October 5, 2022
The Calcagnis and the Maddoxes had been rivals for years. Jaycee Maddox and Easton Calcagni, the youngest son, get married against both families wishes. He was killed in a wreck while driving a racing car. Jaycee applied for a job at the company owned by the Calcagnis. Luca, the oldest son, gave her a job planning to make it so hard on her that she would quit. Did she give up and quit? Would she and Luca find some kind of attraction for each other? There is a surprise that shocks all of them.

I received a free ARC, and this is my honest opinion.
Profile Image for Lesley Barklay.
Author 9 books17 followers
Read
June 22, 2023
This book was a clean version of the usual billionaire romance trope. I think it would have been more interesting to me in terms of Jacey's development if had actually shown us some of her relationship with her first husband, then the funeral, rather than just telling us.

Also, I would have enjoyed it a little more if the romance had built been built on more than just physical attraction. It seemed to go from, "I am attracted to you" to "I love you and want to marry you" in zero time. I also felt like there wasn't much of a faith component to this book, which I was expecting.
Profile Image for Kimberly.
262 reviews
August 4, 2025
This was a sad attempt at an enemies-to-lovers romance. For that trope to be successful, there needs to be character growth and understanding exercised on both ends. This was more enemies-to-lusters, with all the toxic verbal and psychological abuse you can think of (with some physical abuse thrown in by one of the brothers...). And then, the oh-so-romantic marriage with strings attached (not marriage of convenience - there is a difference). Then, according to other reviewers, it gets worse from there. So I gave up.
11 reviews
November 1, 2025
The book was exceptionally well-written, with great detail and chemistry between the two main characters. However, I personally found the transition of the female lead from being the male lead's widowed sister-in-law to his wife to be a bit uncomfortable. Despite this, the book itself was excellent, and I found myself compelled to finish the remaining 100 pages. It was truly a good read, and my personal hang-up regarding the relationship dynamic is not a reflection of the author's skillful writing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Teresa Bertolio.
638 reviews9 followers
April 12, 2020
Fabulous Billionaire Romance

Fabulous billionaire romance! Really enjoyed this story. Jacey and Luce are wonderful characters. Jacey comes over to her late husband's company. Luce doesn't like Jacey, since she's the daughter of his company's rival. He piles on the work hoping she'll quit. What will happen? Can these two overcome their differences and work together? Come along and enjoy this journey! I highly recommend this book! Happy Reading!
4,549 reviews38 followers
September 27, 2022
Her Billionaire Boss is a clean, heartwarming, intriguing romance. I liked how Jacey stood her ground no matter what Luca threw at her. I really enjoyed the interaction of the main characters and Jacey's interaction with Luca's relatives. This extremely well written book captured my interest from the first page to the very end. In fact, I forgot about doing anything else and just read the whole book that day!
587 reviews
February 21, 2023
LGJ

The storyline was funny and kept me on my toes until the very end. Death of a love one comes with grief and pain but for forgiveness and trust to take place. Love does have a way of finding itself into our lives and making things better. We celebrate the love of those we lost but at the same we look at their legacy and generation to cherish old memories while making new ones. It such a blessing
172 reviews1 follower
January 16, 2024
Her Billionaire Boss is a romantic story with the powerful Calcagni business family and the feuding powerful Maddox family. Luca and Jacey make strong leading characters, per Grafford’s usual style. Grafford’s descriptive writing is her superpower. She fills her stories with descriptions of her scenes, characters and moments, which also brings skilful character development and great romance in her relationships.
Profile Image for Dotty.
769 reviews
May 15, 2024
Nice clean read

Jacey was in a pickle. Her husband died in a race and her money is running out. Her family disowned her when she married Easton so she did the only thing she could think of she applied to her husband's family business for a job.
Luca is known as a cobra and he is going to live up to that name when it comes to Jacey. He knows she's coming to spy on their business since her family is in the same business as his. Can they find a peace and work together?
Profile Image for Melody Tregear.
308 reviews
May 3, 2025
3½ stars
I read book two first, thinking the books were all standalone. This one is. Book two, not really. Very much an ongoing series with loose ends, but this book stands alone. It was an enjoyable read but not as good as book two because their constant jumping to conclusions about each other, usually expecting the worse, got on my nerves. But they both had a lot of guilt to work through, so there was that. So onto book 3...
101 reviews1 follower
January 3, 2026
What a wonderful story!

Great beginning to this series! Through many ups and downs, true love prevails. In the world of the rich and famous where true feelings can get swallowed up by manipulations and power plays, these two wrestled with their doubts until they both realised what was true. This book is an excellent enemies to lovers romance! I am looking forward to reading book two!
4,948 reviews31 followers
February 17, 2020
Jacey's family company is a rival to Luca's family company. She married his brother and after her
husband passed away she decides to work for his family company and she is hired as Luca's assistant.
Luca wants to make it hard for her but it does not take long to realize their attraction for each other.
Could a marriage of convenience and her pregnant with his brothers child really work out?
Profile Image for Sandra Bagwell.
548 reviews3 followers
February 18, 2020
I am hooked into the series

Jo Grafford's skill as an author pulled me into this one from beginning to end. The short preview of the next novel in the series has me impatiently waiting for the release date. The struggle between the two main characters in this novel are fun to watch play out. The novel is great entertainment and one of those"can't put it down" type novels.
Profile Image for Beverly.
1,331 reviews
February 19, 2020
Fun read. The story line did not go in the direction I had anticipated, but was interesting. I did feel some parts were hurried thru near the end. Was surprised to not hear of the total family interest when they decided to
marry. After the brief starter of the next book, would like to read it also.
Profile Image for Shebb.
780 reviews
February 23, 2020
I love, love, LOVED this story!

Wow, what an angsty, emotional, deep and compelling read. Now THIS is what you class as an enemies-to-lovers troupe! I felt every veiled and unbridled emotion, every ounce of bitterness, every beat of love.

Luca and Jacey were like fire and ice, even when there were times they were both fiery, and other times ice cold.

I LOVED THIS NOVEL!! 😍
Profile Image for Nethanja.
845 reviews10 followers
February 25, 2020
Jacey needs to do something for her deceased husband’s family. When Luca’s former sister in law applies for a job at his company he tries to make her life miserable however, soon he will regret this but will it be too late to win her heart?
Entertaining story with interesting characters. First I wanted to knock some sense into him and later on into her, but at the end it has a satisfying HEA.
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