Barefoot Bay: The Billionaire's Convenient Secret (Kindle Worlds Novella) (12 page)

Cool and professional, she answered, “There’s no need to apologize. Now that I’ve had some time to think about things, I understand. I’ve always prided myself on my ability to judge a person’s character. It’s one of the things that makes me so good at my job. You lied about who you were, but you couldn’t disguise your personality, your heart. That’s the man I fell in love with.”

“So there’s a chance for us?” Hope sent his pulse jackhammering.

Her smile dimmed. “No.”

“But—” The jackhammer slipped, biting off a piece of his heart as it fell to the ground. At the same moment, the conference door sprang open, cutting short the speech he’d practiced a thousand times during a sleepless night. Belinda, it seemed, wasn’t about to take
no
for an answer. She leaned into the doorway.

“Joshua,” she cooed in a breathy voice. “I brought you some coffee. Black, two sugars. Just the way you like it.”

How the hell does she know how I drink my coffee?

“No, thanks,” he said curtly. He didn’t bother to turn around. Refusing to lose sight of Charlie, he let a hint of aggravation creep into his voice. “I’m fine. If you don’t mind leaving us alone…”

When, despite his request, Belinda’s heels tapped across the floor, he rolled his eyes.

Behind him, a voice purred, “You must be hungry after your trip. I brought fruit and bagels. We can get to know each other before the meeting.”

It was too much, and Josh’s temper snapped. “The only thing I want right now is privacy!”

His words cracked through the room like a rawhide whip. Belinda gave a soft mew of disappointment before the door snicked shut while Josh once more cursed the day he’d agreed to the article in
Forbes.
He’d been fighting off women who saw him as their golden ticket ever since the magazine hit the newsstands.

Eyeing a wall-mounted clock, he took a breath and forced the tension of the last thirty seconds off his shoulders. Time was running out.

“There’s something you need to know,” he began. His focus on Charlie, he rushed to fill her in on the latest. “On the way here, I called a friend of mine at Shell Oil. He’s agreed to reinstate Charity’s franchise with their company.”

Charlie’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Why are you telling me this? Why now?”

“Because it’s not too late to back out. You said W&B rewards independent thinkers, but we both know you’re taking a huge gamble by moving ahead with this presentation.” He gestured toward several empty chairs at the back of the room. “I want you to know, you don’t have to do it. None of the other mini-mart owners showed up. It’s just you and me, and I’ve taken care of Charity’s problems.”

He waited while she weighed the pros and cons.

“No,” she said at last. “It’s the right thing to do. W&B took on the Favor Oil account to make money, but at some point, even companies like ours need to stop and consider what’s best for the community.”

He couldn’t have been prouder of her in that moment and started to tell her so, but their time had run out. One by one, the partners filed into the room. Each stopped to shake hands with him, and while Charlie retreated to the sidelines, he turned down the usual invitations to play golf, catch a game, meet for lunch to discuss a new, exciting business venture. Eventually, the focus turned to the business at hand and the next half hour passed in a blur. Josh told himself later he should have paid better attention to Charlie’s presentation. Should have weighed her arguments on the basis of their own merits. But, honestly, he was so taken in by her poise, by her command of the room that he simply sat back and let himself fall even more deeply in love with her. He wanted to cheer when she gave succinct answers to questions that were undoubtedly designed to trip her up. Unfortunately, the partners showed less enthusiasm for her talk and coolly asked her to wait nearby the minute she finished speaking.

Sensing she’d disappear the first chance she got, he stood and crossed to her side. So far, his attempts at making things right between them had failed miserably. The way he saw it, the delay gave him one more chance to patch things up between them. Without giving her a chance to object, he trailed her down the hall to a small room. Once there, he prepared to plead his case, but Charlie turned to him, confusion filling her green eyes.

“We need to talk…about Belinda,” she said, her voice wavering.

“There’s only one woman I want to talk about, and she’s right in front of me,” Josh breathed, staring at the woman who meant the world to him.

* * *

Charlie let her gaze bounce from the man she was trying very hard not to love to the door and back again. “Is it always like that?” she asked him. “Women fawning all over themselves to get to you?”

“It happens far too often.” Josh gave his lips a wry twist. “Ever since
Forbes
put my face on their cover, I’ve been hounded day in and day out. Once, I caught a strange woman crawling through my window in the middle of the night. I bought a condo that offered tight security after that. It’s not just women. You heard the partners. I can’t walk into a room without listening to someone pitch their new invention or business idea.” He sighed. “It’s tiring.”

“I see.” She tapped one finger against her chin while the dominoes fell into place. “I probably never would’ve understood if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.” She wrapped a strand of hair around one finger. “We have important clients in here, day in and day out. Movie stars. Corporate raiders. Senators and congressmen. I’ve never seen Belinda act like that before. That’s why you didn’t tell me who you really were? You thought I’d treat you differently.”

“Mostly.” Josh stared out a window overlooking a tree-lined lake. “Mimosa Key is one of the few places on earth where I can be myself. To the people born and raised on the island, it doesn’t matter if I have five hundred dollars in the bank or five million. I’m still the boy who grew up working in his aunt Charity’s mini-mart.”

She smiled. “I wish I’d known that boy.”

He turned to her then, and her heart stuttered at the slow smile that spread across his perfect lips. “Oh, but you do know him. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Look beyond the bespoke suit and the custom-fitted shoes”—he brushed a hand down one pant leg—“and you’ll see. It shouldn’t matter whether I’m ringing up a couple of drinks and hot dogs or placing an order for a dozen crates of merlot. I’m the same guy.”

“But you’re a…” Her brow puckered. “A multimillionaire?”

“It’d be easy to let it go at that, but I don’t want there to be any secrets between us. Not anymore.” He took a breath. “My net worth is more in the billion-dollar range.”

She needed a moment to let the enormity of the number soak in and took it. When she looked up again, Josh had closed the gap between them. “I want us to have another chance. Can you forgive me?”

“I can now.” She loved the man behind the ridiculously expensive suit and tie. She’d loved him from the moment she walked into the Super Min. She swallowed past the lump in her throat.

“So we’re good, you and me?”

“More than good. I’d say we’re perfect,” she whispered. Love and desire swirled through her chest. She looked up, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw the same mix reflected in Josh’s eyes.

“What say we blow this taco stand?” he murmured.

It’d be easy, so easy, to slip into Josh’s arms and let him whisk her away, but she couldn’t leave yet. “I want to hear the partners’ decision first,” she said, her voice firm. Realizing she’d just told one of the wealthiest men in the world to wait a minute, she froze.

But Josh only laughed. A tender smile crept across lips she wanted to kiss so badly it made her throat ache.

“Please don’t ever change, Charlie,” he said taking her hand. “The secrets we kept nearly cost us everything. I’ll never do that again. For this to work between us, we need to see each other as equals. If you want to stay—much as I can’t wait to be alone with you—we’ll stay.”

As it turned out, the partners didn’t keep them waiting long. She and Josh had barely made themselves comfortable when David rapped on the door.

“Sorry for the interruption,” he said, his eyes on Josh, “but if I could borrow Charlie for a moment.” His gaze shifted to her as he added, “Alone.”

This was it. The fate of the mini-marts had been decided. Her future with W&B had reached a turning point.

“I’ll be right here.” As if he knew how much she needed it, Josh gave her hand a supportive squeeze.

Stepping into the hallway, she was surprised to realize she wasn’t the least bit nervous. Josh’s love gave her the strength she needed to overcome her fears, even her fear of losing her job. She took a steady breath.

“I’m sorry,” David began once she joined him in the hall. “We’ve decided it’s in our best interest to move forward with the Favor deal as is.”

“I expected as much.” Disappointed that the partners had chosen their own interests over that of the mini-mart owners, she nodded. On some level, she’d known the decision hadn’t gone her way. If it had, David would have delivered it in front of Josh, if only to curry favor with one of the richest men in America.

David cleared his throat, a sure sign he had more bad news to share. “In addition, I’m afraid your actions have raised some serious questions about your loyalty to this company. In order for you to continue working here, we’re going to need your assurance that you’ll never put your own interests, or the interests of others”—David gave the door behind her a pointed look—“ahead of your commitment to W&B.”

She let a slow breath seep across her lips. David’s ultimatum sounded too much like the choice Favor Oil had presented to Charity Grambling. Could she promise blind allegiance to a company that had already chosen their bottom line over doing the right thing? For one split second, she waivered before she reminded herself that she didn’t have to get a job hoeing peanuts just yet. Her savings would tide her over until she found a new position. Preferably with a company that had a heart.

“That’s not a promise I can make, David,” she said. “Besides, you and I both know the partners will never trust me again. My career here is finished.”

David’s eyes widened. “That’s not the decision I expected. Are you sure?”

“Quite. I’ll, uh, I’ll stop back in one day next week to handle the paperwork and clear out my desk. But my decision is final.”

The determination in her voice gave her former boss no choice. After wishing her well, he strode swiftly down the corridor. Charlie exhaled as David turned a corner and moved out of sight.

“Well, that’s over,” she said to herself while she waited for the expected tears. When they didn’t come, she tilted her head to one side. Leaving W&B hadn’t been nearly as traumatic as she’d thought it would be. And with that thought, she returned to the one place she wanted to be, at the side of the man she loved.

“You have options,” Josh said a little while later as they climbed into the backseat of a limo that had apparently been idling at the curb for several hours. He gave the driver instructions to drive, just drive. Then, with a twist of a button, he closed the privacy screen. “That friend of mine at Shell?” he said, settling in beside her. “He has an opening in Houston, if you’re interested.”

Charlie’s lips parted to allow a small gasp. Maybe red clay and long-handled hoes weren’t in her future after all. The fingers she’d folded tightly in her lap relaxed. “You spoke to him about me? When?” she asked.

“On the ride here this morning,” he answered, as if lining up a job for a friend took no more effort than snapping his fingers.

“But we’d broken up.” She squinted up at him.

“We weren’t speaking, but I was still looking out for you. I always will.” He paused for a moment. Then, his voice turning tentative, he asked, “So, do you want to move to Houston?”

What she really wanted was to be wherever Josh was, but she had a lot of decisions to make. Slowing things down, she hedged. “I don’t know. I think I need a little time to process.”

“Take all the time you need,” he agreed. “But as long as you’re thinking things over, I have a little something else I’d like you to consider.”

Beside her, Josh stretched his legs a tad too far. His shoes brushed the minibar, and glassware rattled. She smiled, wondering why he was nervous when she was the one who’d walked away from all she’d worked so hard to achieve. She searched his features. Her breath caught in her throat at the emotion she saw swimming in his dark eyes.

“Oh?” She couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe.

“Yeah.” He wrapped one arm around her and pulled her close. “Charlotte Oak,” he said, “you’ve caught me in your web. I’d be the happiest man alive if you’d agree to spend the rest of your life with me.”

“The rest of my life?” Stunned, she stared up at him while her heart turned cartwheels in her chest. Hardly daring to believe what she was hearing, she whispered, “Are you asking what I think you’re asking?”

“Marriage, the future, children—I want it all. With you, if you’ll have me.”

Horns honked in the distance, but Charlie’s gaze never wavered. “I love you, Josh McLean.”

“I love you, too,” Josh answered, sliding closer. Reaching into his pants pocket, he held out a sparkling diamond. “This ring belonged to my grandmother. I’d be honored if you’d wear it until we can go shopping together.”