His Hired Mistress: A BWWM Billionaire Romance (5 page)

“I know but that’s what you called me for. Everything is pretty fresh and you haven’t been attracted to anyone in a while. It’s okay to think he’s hot – you’re not blind. Quit playing and make that money.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“What are you about to do anyway?” Camilla asked, “I was thinking that if you have time we could meet for a late lunch.”

“I wish that I could but I’m on my way to LA to see a client.”

“Uh oh, that’s never good. Who did it now?”

“You already know,” Jamie replied.

“Yeah, Geno is fucking up big time. He just can’t seem to keep that pretty mouth of his shut. I have a few uses for it if…”

“Get off my phone,” Jamie said, cutting her friend off before she could finish the thought. “I’m here at the airport, I’ll call you later.”

“Have a safe flight.”

Jamie hung up the phone with a smile on her face. That’s why she called Camilla, she needed to laugh and she didn’t want to be judged. Camilla was right, she needed to keep pushing forward and that’s exactly what she planned to do.

*

Two weeks later, Jamie was beaming with pride as she stood behind the camera in the studio of Wake Up America. She watched Nathan and Stephanie sit on the couch and share the story of who they were and what they planned on doing next.

Nathan was so damned charismatic that even she was mesmerized by him. It was no wonder why the public loved him so much. She scrolled through their mentions on Twitter during the live taping and lit up like a Christmas tree. People were talking about them and it was good! Hannah Bowie, the host, couldn’t stop smiling as she spoke to them. She was genuinely enjoying her time during the interview and it was coming through in a major way. Her clients were a hit!

After everything wrapped up they walked out into the hall so that the show could continue without interruption. “You both were so amazing,” Jamie said to them. “Everyone on the internet is in love with you two.”

“Yay,” Stephanie said quietly as she silently clapped her hands together. “That’s awesome. Everything seems to be working out. Our first interview is done. I can’t wait to do more.”

“Good, there is so much more coming your way,” Jamie told her.

“You did really well,” Jamie said to Nathan who was quiet. The smile that he held in front of the cameras was long gone. “Is everything okay?”

Nathan avoided eye contact with her, “Yeah, I’m fine. I have somewhere to be,” he looked at his watch, “I’ve got to get out of here.”

Stephanie gave Jamie an apologetic smile, “Thank you so much for everything. We have to get going.”

“Okay, Same here. Today is going to be a busy one, but I couldn't miss this. Have a safe trip home.”

Jamie left out of the studio wondering what crawled up Nathan’s ass and died. She’d only seen him once since their meeting in her office and it went well. Had something changed? Did he decide that he didn’t want to laugh and talk with her anymore? Maybe things had gone too far and he wanted to leave her company. The idea of it made a knot in her stomach.

Ugh, why do you care Jamie? If he wants to leave then he can leave. You didn’t do anything wrong and you didn’t cross any lines. If he is having some kind of moral crisis then that’s his problem. You were simply being friendly.
Jamie gave herself a pep talk as she climbed into the back of the SUV.

“Are you okay?” Perry asked.

“Yes, I’m fine, why do you ask?”

“Because you have that look,” Perry replied.

“And what look is that?”

“When the area between your eyes frowns, that usually means that something bad has happened.”

Jamie sighed, “I’m okay. I really need to work out.”

“Did you want me to take you to the gym?” he asked.

“I wish, but the gym will have to wait until later. Take me to the office. I have an appointment.”

“You got it.”

Jamie spend the rest of her day trying to forget about her morning. Every time she had a few free minutes she thought about calling him to see if everything was okay. She’d just dismissed her team from a meeting and now it was time for her to finally get to the gym.

“Mrs. Sparks is here to see you,” her intercom said.

Jamie’s heart raced. Did Stephanie know about the flirting? Maybe he told her and Stephanie was coming to put her in her place. Screw that, she wasn’t going to let that woman intimidate her. She didn’t do anything wrong! She was just being nice to someone that was being nice to her. So if she was coming to cause some trouble, then screw Nathan and screw her.

“Send her in,” Jamie said. She stood up and positioned herself on the edge of her desk.

A few seconds later she was entering with a huge grin on her face and a bottle of champagne, “Hey girl!”

Jamie was ready for war not a party, “Umm, hi.”

“I’m so sorry for stopping in on you like this but I thought that it was in order,” Stephanie said.

She’d changed clothes since Jamie saw her that that morning. During the interview she wore a teal blue asymmetrical dress that stopped at the knee. Now she was wearing a yellow dress that clung to her curvaceous frame with matching pumps. She looked like the damned sun.

“You wanted to bring by champagne?” Jamie asked.

“Yes, it’s Dom Perignon White Gold Jeroboam. I hope you like it,” she said as she extended it out to her.

“Holy shit,” Jamie coughed. “You got me a forty thousand dollar bottle of champagne? What did I do to deserve this?”

Stephanie kept her smile plastered to her face, “It’s the least that I could do really. I’m so sorry for my husband’s behavior earlier. He usually doesn’t act so ugly. I also just wanted to thank you for being so amazing. I’m floored by all of the wonderful work that you’re doing. I can see why people say that you’re the best – it’s because you are.”

Jamie smiled, “I’m just doing my job. A thanks isn’t necessary, but it’s very much appreciated. I’m looking forward to cracking this baby open in about ten years.”

“Nonsense, life is meant to be enjoyed! Open it tonight, while you eat a burger,” Stephanie laughed.

“Oh, a burger sounds so good right now, but I can’t have one. I’ve been eating terribly lately so before I gain any weight, I’m hitting the gym.”

“You are so far from big! You’re a skinny mini! I’m the one that needs to be in the gym; these hips are going to put someone’s eye out,” she winked.

There was so much that Jamie wanted to say. She couldn’t put her finger on why Stephanie rubbed her the wrong way, but she did. Maybe it was because no matter how much Stephanie worked out, she wasn’t going to get rid of her surgically-enhanced body. Only a surgeon could do that, or a person with a really good knife.

Jamie smiled, “Thank you for stopping by.”

“No problem. I’m sure we’ll see each other soon.”

“Of course.”

Jamie stared at the bottle of champagne. She could afford to buy it if she wanted to, but she didn’t have that kind of disposable income. Sure she had millions, but spending frivolously that way would leave her broke in no time. But Stephanie didn’t have to worry about that, she had billions.

“Screw it,” Jamie said as she went to her china cabinet and pulled out a champagne glass. She deserved it dammit.

She popped the bottle and poured. When she took a sip she knew that she made the right decision. The view as she stood in the window of her office was great. She sighed as she looked out on the beautiful scenery. That’s when she saw the limo. Nathan was leaning on it as his wife walked towards him. Everything in his stance was defensive. His arms were crossed and from where she was standing, he looked upset. Stephanie walked towards him and they began to talk. Then, it looked at things became heated. She didn’t have to be an expert to see that.

While a small portion of her enjoyed seeing them argue, the larger person inside of her wished that they would take their argument inside of the limo. Now that they were starting to get more press, they didn’t have the luxury of arguing outside anymore.

Maybe that meant that Nathan was mad at her after all, maybe all of his frustration was with his wife. Just how happily married were they? Was their relationship headed for disaster? If so, she really needed to know before they kept moving forward with their PR plan. Keeping a happy appearance in front of the camera was difficult for couples that actually were happy and it was catastrophic for couples that weren’t. However, even she had to admit that she didn’t just want to know for business reasons. She wanted to know partly because she was attracted to him.

Ugh, she couldn’t go to the gym now, not drunk off champagne. Instead maybe she could meet Camilla for Dinner.

Two hours later Camilla was over Jamie’s house. They sat at the black marble island in the middle of the kitchen. They ate spring rolls and drank cheap champagne. Well, it wasn’t cheap by normal standards, but it was cheap compared to what she’d had earlier.

“Camilla, I know what you said earlier and that truly got me through, but I need more of your intervention. He was acting a little funny today and I was so scared that he didn’t want to be around me anymore. I thought that I was going to lose him and his wife as a client because of the friendship that he and I have been forming,” Jamie said.

“Exactly,” Camilla said with an eye roll, “Friendship, nothing more. You really gotta snap out of this girl. You’re feeling guilty and you haven’t done anything. If I didn’t know any better, you must really like him.”

“He’s nice. I’ll admit that and if he wasn’t married, then I would be interested, but he is, so it doesn’t matter,” Jamie said.

“Who are you trying to convince? Me or yourself?”

“Both.”

“It’s already clear that you like him because I haven’t heard you talk about a man this much in a while. Now during our social time all I hear about is Nathan this and Nathan that. When you invited me over here I thought that you actually wanted to chat about something other than him,” Camilla said.

“Oh, well excuse me then. What do you want to talk about?”

“No, go ahead and get him out of your system,” Camilla said before she polished off a spring roll.

“I don’t have him in my system,” Jamie denied. Even she didn’t believe the lie after it came out of her mouth.

***

The following evening, Jamie sat in solitude in her office. It was nine o’clock and everyone had gone home. She needed to go home too, but she wasn’t in a rush. It wasn’t as if there was anyone waiting on her. The pain of loneliness settled in and she did her best to ignore it. This was the life that she’d chosen for herself and now she had to deal with it. Money over love. Sometimes she wondered if she made the right decision, but then she remembered that love wasn’t guaranteed.

Banking on a relationship with a random person that she didn’t even know existed was scary. Women tended to hold their life back and didn’t go full force in their career because they were too busy trying to leave their schedule open for dating. Instead of working on their business or trying to elevate their craft, they were in the kitchen cooking meals and watching TV with a man that could take them or leave them.

No, that wasn’t going to happen to her. She never had to worry about anything when it came to money. If she was smart enough and made the right decisions, money was guaranteed to fall in her lap. The decision was truly a no-brainer. Money was the winner.

Jamie tried to gather the strength to get out of her comfortable chair and prepare to go home.

“Good evening,” she heard a voice say from her door.

She quickly looked up and saw Nathan. Her heart did a backflip in her chest. “Nathan, what are you doing here? How did you get in?”

“I have my ways,” he grinned. Her brow furrowed and Nathan laughed, “Security let me in.”

“Hmm okay. I guess money talks around here.”

He laughed, “Indeed. See, you’re making me famous already. It wasn’t my money that got me through the door, it was my appearance on TV.”

“So how can I help you Mr. Sparks?” Jamie asked coolly.

“Uh oh, I’m back to Mr. Sparks now. That means that I’ve really messed up. I stopped by to apologize for my behavior yesterday.” Nathan walked over to her couch and carefully took a seat.

Jamie felt like a prick remaining seated behind her desk so she got up and joined him on the couch.

“It’s okay. Your wife came by and explained. It’s no big deal really. You don’t have to be nice all the time. You’re human and you’re entitled to have a bad day.”

“I appreciate you understanding, but I wanted to apologize in person. Treating you poorly was unacceptable, especially since I don’t have an issue with you. You’ve been phenomenal.”

Jamie couldn’t help but pry even though her better judgement told her to remain silent, “Who do you have an issue with?”

“Things with Stephanie haven’t been the greatest and that put me in a particularly terrible mood yesterday.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I hope that things are better between the both of you now.”

Nathan sighed, “I wish that I could say that. Do you know that yesterday Stephanie wanted me to fire you? That morning before we got to the TV station, she and I had a huge argument about it. I convinced her to drop the issue because you’re the best. She changed her mind but things were still so tense between us.” Nathan scooted closer to Jamie, “I’m sorry about dropping all of this in your lap but I think I just needed to vent. I hope you don’t mind.”