Undercover Billionaire Boss: A BWWM Contemporary Romance (11 page)

S
omething had happened
to Raina and she felt it from the moment she woke up. She knew that she was falling in love with Christopher, and all day, he was never far from her mind. She had even been so imprudent as to embrace him at work—something she would never have dared before.

She didn’t know if love was making her stupidly giddy, or if she had just decided to throw caution to the wind, knowing that at any moment Roger would probably fire her. Who gave a damn anymore in that case about rules like getting caught kissing in the hallway?

After the staff meeting, she and Kelly had lingered in the conference room to catch up.

“Something’s up with you, Raina, I haven’t seen you this happy in ages. Spit it out!” Kelly said, perching herself on the edge of the table. Raina bubbled with the excitement of wanting to share her news with somebody.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, knowing that her happiness was making her glow with joy.

“It’s Christopher,” she finally said, reveling in speaking out his name as if in doing so it made what they had more real.

“What about him? Something’s happened between the two of you? I knew it!” Kelly gushed. “Go on, tell all.”

“Well, I don’t know what to say—I can’t even put a name to what we have.” Raina said and proceeded to tell Kelly all that had transpired since she invited him to sleep in the basement.

“You did what?” Kelly was astonished. Never had she known Raina to be so reckless.

“I felt sorry for him, he had nowhere to live.” Raina said her tone defensive.

“Look, I’m happy for you Raina but inviting him to live in your basement is a huge risk.”

“He’s a good person, I feel it in my bones,” Raina said.

“OK, just be careful alright?”

Raina saw the concern in her friend’s eyes and nodded. They left the conference room together and headed to Raina’s office, laughing as Raina shared in hushed tones all that had transpired between her and Christopher.

But upon entering her office Raina’s face fell when she saw Roger seated on her chair, looking at her with a lascivious sneer. The elation she had felt moments ago drained from her body.

That traitor, Kelly fled, leaving her alone to face Pervy Rog. She held on to the image of Christopher as Roger went on about wanting to take her for his own.

The very thought made her want to throw up.

After he left, she leaned on her desk, dry heaving, unwilling to sit on the chair that Roger had occupied seconds earlier. He was a sick man; of that much she was sure.

She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering, feeling dirty even from just the way his eyes had undressed her.

Christopher had gone back to her house earlier in the day, his shift ending before hers had. She couldn’t wait to hurry home to him, and when she arrived back at her house she parked her car and jumped out, her body and mind aching to seeing him.

She couldn’t believe that a day apart fill her with so much longing, but that’s how Raina felt as she pushed the door open.

Christopher was in the dining room and the greetings on her lips froze when she saw what he was reading, bent over the table.

Damn it!

Her bills.

She had left the open folder of past due notices on the dining table that morning in her rush to leave that morning. He must have seen them sitting out.

“Hi,” she said softly.

“Hey you,” Christopher said.

He stood up, walked to her and drew her into his arms. His expression was somber, and she did not blame him. Would he want to get away from her as fast as possible? He had financial problems himself, but after seeing hers he certainly wouldn’t want to add to his own struggles by getting involved with someone as deeply in debt as she was.

“Cup of coffee?” he asked, surprising Raina.

She nodded, pleased that he had not launched into questions about her situation.

He went to the kitchen and she sank into an armchair.

Raina needed a little time to herself to gather her thoughts. She had taken the documents and bills and flicked through them. She could only imagine what was on Christopher’s mind.

Still, she would be honest with him. If there was anything she believed in, it was honesty. Without that she knew their relationship didn’t stand a chance.

She would make it clear that she expected nothing from him and that she could take care of her own problems. He returned minutes later, bearing two cups of coffee.

“How was your day?” he said with that gorgeous smile that turned her legs to jelly.

“It was fine, and yours?” Raina said tightly, thinking of Roger. No point in telling Christopher any of that at this point. When Pervy Rog eventually fired her, she could tell him then.…

“Good, I got a lot done after I came back here. Your door handles are all fixed as well, and I figured out what was shorting the outside lights.”

Raina smiled, feeling awash with gratitude.

“Thank you so much,” she said. She felt the tension about what was unsaid between them as she sipped on her coffee.

She hesitated, then sighed.
No time like the present.
“I see you now know my deepest secrets?” Raina tried to sound light and carefree, but her voice was a bit too strangled for that. She waved the papers in her hand.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to pry. They were just lying there,” Christian explained though he did not look remorseful in the slightest. “Raina, how did you get yourself in such a mess? Medical bills over two hundred thousand dollars? Missed mortgage payments? What happened?”

Raina closed her eyes for a moment. This would be the moment that decided whether he stayed with her or not. This was the moment of truth.

Hesitantly, she began her story …

“It started when my sister, Mira and her husband Byron were killed in a car accident on the highway. It was a semi-truck and the investigators think he must have passed out after drinking too much. The truck swerved out of its lane and hit Mira and Bryce’s car head on. It veered into a wall and they were crushed against it by the truck. The driver died on the spot and so did Byron. Mira was rushed to hospital.” Raina said, her voice breaking.

She looked up at him, her wide brown eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “The kids don’t know the whole story—not about how awful it was. I saw the pictures of the wreck. They didn’t stand a chance against that truck.” She bit her lip, and then resumed speaking.

She was not aware of Christopher moving from his chair to hers. She only felt his hands on her cold ones.

“The police called me that morning with the news. They had tried just about every number. I drove to Arizona immediately to be with my sister and to pick the kids up from school,” Raina said in a wavering voice. She had never told anyone else the details of the accident.

“When I saw her in hospital, my heart broke into pieces. She was not the big sister I knew. She was covered in bandages, so that only her eyes were visible. She never opened them for the seven days that she was there and she didn’t say a word. The doctors said that she was brain dead and only the machines were keeping her alive.”

Raina could not explain the helplessness that she had felt during that time. The feeling of losing control. She could see Mira’s life ebbing away and even before the doctors told her about the life support machine, she knew it in her heart that Mira had left them. They had explained that as the next of kin, it was up to her to decide whether or not to have the machines switched off.

She had agonized over the decision day and night. Even if by some miracle, Mira regained consciousness, she would be a vegetable. Raina remembered her sister’s zest for life, her sense of adventure. She and Byron had been off on one of their impromptu excursions on the day of the accident.

That was just like Mira to drop everything to take a few hours to enjoy life. She could hear her laughter ringing loud as she convinced Byron to go along with her plan. Byron was the serious one but he had been perfect for Mira. They brought out the best in each one of them. It had been the hardest decision of her life, but after much prayer and agonizing heartache, Raina had decided to have the life machine switched off. It had been the right thing to do.

She had missed her sister every day since.

The children had kept her sane, but they had lost a mother and a father and their own grief was overwhelming. They had needed her to be strong for them.

“Mira and I had been so close, we spoke every day.” Raina said, and then her control left and she cried deep, bitter sobs.

Mira and Byron had been buried together in Arizona, where they had spent all their married life. Raina did not recall much of the funeral, only the girls hanging on to her waist and Jeremiah in her arms. The next few months had been spent trying to help the children move, adapt to a new home, a new school and a new life.

“Mira and Bryce’s insurance did not cover all the hospital bills, and because I inherited their ‘estate,’ such as it was, to care for the children, it meant that I had to inherit their debts too. What they had wasn’t close to being enough to cover their bills, but I couldn’t just let the house in Arizona that the kids had grown up in go. It was too painful for them—the only memories they had of their parents were there. So I kept it, and I’ve been renting it out for the time being—but with the recession a few years ago, the mortgage was so much more than what I could get for rent. And for my own mortgage, well—I’ve missed a few payments, which I intend to pay soon. I hope to have some money coming in shortly. It should be a nice little chunk of change.” Raina sniffed.

She had decided it was time to sell the Arizona house. It was too much for her to hold on to, and now the children had another home. It would be hard on them, but they were in a better position to handle it now. Selling the house wouldn’t pay off all the debts, but it would certainly make a good dent in them.

Christopher cradled her in his arms.

“I have no words to tell you how sorry I am. You’ve had to be an amazingly strong woman,” he said with feeling. “I’m here for you. No matter what you need.”

“Thank you,” Raina said, amazed at how easily she said it. It had never been easy for her to accept help from anyone, but she felt at ease with him.

“I promise you that things will get better,” Christopher said with a conviction that gave Raina hope.

“I thought you’d run off when I finally told you everything,” Raina said in a shaky voice.

“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” Christopher teased and Raina held on to him tighter. “Not now that I’ve found you. I gave up on finding someone like you years ago.” he whispered fiercely. She was leaning against him, her head on his shoulder, and he brushed her forehead with his lips.

She heard something in his voice that she couldn’t quite place.

“Why?” Raina said her interest piqued.

Christopher was silent for a moment and she sat up to look at his face. He appeared to be wrestling with his next words and she waited patiently.

“Well, people are rarely honest, aren’t they. There’s always something they want from you and you realize that the relationship is not genuine. I love honesty between two people who care for each other, that’s all. I’ve never met a more real person such as you Raina and I’m glad you’re in my life.”

* * *

O
ver dinner that evening
, Raina’s mind was on Christopher’s words about honesty. She hadn’t been completely honest with him, and it ate away at her. She didn’t want him to think she was asking for anything from him.

She hadn’t told him how close she was to losing her job. With the loss of her job, there was no chance that she could keep the Arizona house or the one she and the kids were living in. And as to where she and the kids would live, she had no idea.

Roger meant every word, Raina knew. He would do everything in his power to get her fired from her job if she did not sleep with him. She shivered at the thought.

It was too high a price for Raina to pay. She had to live with herself and if she gave in to his demands, she would never hold her head high. Besides, she was in falling for Christopher. They had—well, they had something, even if she wasn’t sure what to call it yet.

She would never betray him and the trust he had in her. Raina shook her head miserably. She felt trapped.

She played around with the food on her plate until she felt Christopher’s eyes on her. She forced the peas into her mouth and shot him a fake smile. The peas tasted like stone, but so did everything she ate these days. What was she going to do?

Her mind drifted to a frequent daydream she had. If only she had some capital, she could start a small bed and breakfast. She could picture it now—cooking muffins and scones in the kitchen bright and early. Being home to send the kids off to school and there to pick them up from the bus in the afternoon. Cleaning and tidying up, which were things she loved doing.

That had always been her dream.

To own her own business.

All she wanted,
she thought fiercely,
was for her future to be in her own hands. She never wanted to have to depend on people like Roger again.