Undercover Billionaire Boss: A BWWM Contemporary Romance (20 page)

* * *

K
elly helped
with cleaning up dinner and even stacking the dishes into the dish washer. At eleven, she and Raina said goodnight to the other staff members and made their way up the elevator. They were just in time to see that the kids had been sneaking out of their beds.

“Hi! Aunt Raina, Aunt Kelly,” Jeremiah said, feigning a yawn. “Are you just getting home? I just woke up.…” he said.

“Stinker,” Susan said with a mock frown. “Back to bed!” She pointed a finger and Raina echoed her statement.

The three of them laughed and Susan left for her own home. Raina went with Jeremiah to his room, while Kelly collapsed on the couch next to the girls.

God she was exhausted!
How did Raina do it day after day? Still, it had been worth it just to convince Raina to go with her to Paramount.

“Do you mind sleeping on the couch?”

“I don’t care, I just want to lie down,” Kelly said. “I feel as if I haven’t slept for a week.”

Raina laughed. “I felt the same way the first two days. After a while you get used to all the running around and it becomes second nature.”

Kelly took her toiletries with her to the bathroom and brushed her teeth before jumping into the shower. No matter how tired she was, the shower was a must. She was used to showering every night before bed.

When she poked her head into Raina’s bedroom to say goodnight, Raina was fast asleep.

Kelly laughed softly to herself. So much for it becoming second nature. The way she saw it, Raina needed an extra person downstairs. It was too much work for her to be waitressing while being a hostess and then cleaning up afterwards and being a maid and receptionist at the same time.

The road trip would give them a lot of time to talk.

The more time she spent watching Raina that evening, the more she had seen just how much of a toll the B&B took on Raina. She had lost a lot of weight and her face was a little gaunt. She knew the exhaustion was probably coupled with worry about the kids … and thoughts of Christopher.

Kelly just hoped that everything would go as she had planned. She bit her lip, uncertain if she was doing the right thing.

It would be a shame for two such wonderful people to lose each other forever over a misunderstanding.

“
B
e good for Susan
, I’ll be back by evening. And Jeremiah make sure you eat up your lunch!” Raina said, her feet stuck to the floor.

Her earlier excitement about the road trip with Kelly had faded to the ball of anxiety in her body.

“We’ll be fine Raina, go on, Kelly is waiting downstairs,” Susan urged, giving Raina a gentle push.

“Alright, one last hug, come on girls.”

It took three more minutes for Raina to finally leave. Downstairs, Kelly waited in her car and when she saw Raina, she gave her a wide grin.

“This will be a life changing trip!” she said.

“Yeah, why?” Raina said, sliding into the passenger seat.

Raina threw her bag in the bag seat and belted up. She was a little nervous at Kelly driving. She was known for her enthusiasm for stepping on the gas.

“I hope we can beat the weekend rush,” Kelly said, guiding the car towards the road.

“Oh we will, eight is early enough,” Raina replied, feeling remarkably relaxed now that she was out of the house.

“You look well rested,” Kelly said.

“Thanks. I slept better last night. I guess I needed this trip more than I thought. If only you’d give me a hint of the surprise!”

Kelly just laughed in reply and trained her eyes ahead. Raina pushed her chair further back as they entered the highway and relaxed.

“By my calculations, we’ll be in Paramount by noon, time enough to have a light lunch and then my surprise follows,” Kelly said.

“How exciting!” Raina exclaimed, feeling giddy at the day ahead.

She felt like a little kid out on an adventure and she laughed aloud at herself. The scenery outside had changed from cityscape to coastline.

Once on the highway, she felt a little anxious at the cars zooming past but worse were the trucks. She pushed her chair to an upright position and grabbed the seat to curb her nervousness.

She hadn’t thought about the accident in a long time and now the memories of Mira and Byron hit her full force.

They had been on a trip just like this one, when their lives had been cut short. For all Raina knew, there was a drunk man out there, behind the wheel of a truck and driving over the speed limit. She inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself.

“Slow down will you?” she said to Kelly.

“What are you talking about? I’m doing the speed limit,” Kelly said, her tone indignant.

Raina glanced at the speed gauge and saw that her friend was right.
Relax, Raina
. She tried to recall the statistics for highway accidents and comforted herself that the percentage was actually quite small. She didn’t want to think further than that, like what would happen to the children if something happened to her. She really needed to plan for their future as soon as she could.

“I don’t know how you do it, Raina,” Kelly said, making Raina realize that she had missed part of her sentence.

“Do what?”

“You weren’t listening, I’m talking about the B&B. It’s damn hard work.”

“It is,” Raina admitted, and then she sighed. “I’ll be honest, there are some days when I miss the Del Mar terribly. I miss knowing what my job is, and having it be predictable day to day. With the B&B I’m needed everywhere. Sometimes I feel as though am being pulled in ten different directions.”

“How about employing someone else, like a kitchen manager or an assistant?” Kelly said.

Raina had thought of that and had dismissed it just as fast. “I don’t see why I should. Martha managed alone for God knows how many years, I should too.”

“There you go being superwoman when its completely unnecessary. Can you afford to employ someone?”

“Yes, business is good. I’ll give myself another month or two, if it’s still feels like too much, I’ll do it.”

“Good girl. We all need you to be healthy you know. You’re losing too much weight.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Raina teased.

“Nope, not when you weren’t fat to begin with. You have curves in all the right places, girl. You need to keep ‘em!”

They fell into companionable silence after that and Raina let her mind wander. Kelly resolutely drove on, not even glancing outside which aroused Raina’s curiosity even more.

“What kind of road trip is this, where we don’t even get to stop and see the sights?”

“Not to worry, this road trip has a mission. Next time we’ll take a longer one, perhaps with the kids,” Kelly said.

Raina shuddered. “Really, Kelly? Try a ten-minute journey with them and tell me if you still want to go with them.”

She imagined the countless times they would need to stop to pee and the complaints from Crystal that she was bored. Chantal would be the only one composed, her hands folded neatly on her lap, patiently waiting for the journey to come to an end.

“You just need to be prepared, have stuff to keep them busy.”

“Yeah, like what, cable TV?” Raina said in a dry tone.

Kelly laughed. “You know, books and stuff.”

Raina dropped the argument and pushed her chair back once more. Her anxiety had faded and now she just felt an urge to close her eyes.

* * *

“
W
ake up
, sleepy head, we’re here!”

“What?” Raina said, rubbing her eyes in confusion. “I slept for three hours? Crap!”

“Yeah you did, and you probably needed it,” Kelly said.

Raina looked at her surroundings and realized that they were parked outside an old fashioned English pub. It was kind of a ridiculous sight in the midst of all the other seafood restaurants, but she wasn’t going to complain about Kelly’s choice. Her stomach growled and she realized that she was starving.

“Let’s go grab something to eat and stretch our legs,” Kelly suggested.

They walked into the pub, and it was dark after the light from the sun outside. Raina’s eyes took a moment to adjust to the dimness of the room, and she searched for the washroom. When she found it, she excused herself and left Kelly to find a table. She checked her reflection in the mirror above the sink.

Kelly was right; she had lost too much weight. Her face appeared almost gaunt and she looked kind of sickly. Raina made a face and splashed water on her face to wake herself up.

She rejoined Kelly and they placed their orders. When the food arrived she threw herself on it like she hadn’t eaten in a month.

“Gosh, I haven’t eaten like this since I was a teenager,” Raina said, patting her stomach.

“I eat like this all the time. With my metabolism I never gain weight,” Kelly boasted.

“Your arteries are probably clogged with cholesterol.”

“Don’t even mention that word to me,” Kelly said and then burped loudly, making them both look around to see if anyone had noticed, and then erupt into giggles. “So, are you ready for my surprise?”

“Oh, yes, I’ve been ready since this morning.”

“Let’s go pretty ourselves up,” Kelly said and stood up.

“Why? We look fine,” Raina protested but proceeded to follow Kelly into the washroom.

Kelly pulled out a small bag filled with makeup and got to work, doing a little bit of magic to make Raina’s wide brown eyes look fresh and alert, her skin dewy and soft, her lips a deep coral pink that matched the flowers on her skirt.

Raina eyed herself in the mirror and smoothed her black curls, tucking a stray strand behind her ear. “I almost look human again.”

“You look like
yourself
again. You look beautiful.”

Raina shot Kelly a grateful look. She
had
needed this outing. “Thank you.”

They left the pub minutes later, their faces freshly done up and skirts smoothed down as best as they could. This time, Raina kept an eye on her surroundings and was surprised when they pulled through the gates of a college.

“What are we doing here?”

“You’ll see.” Kelly’s smile was enigmatic.

“We’re here for the talk, here are our tickets,” Kelly said to the guard at the gate. He waved them through and Raina’s excitement faded. A talk? That was her surprise?

Still, she was here and she might as well try to enjoy. After all, Kelly had gone to a lot of trouble to arrange the trip.

“Ready?” Kelly said, after navigating the car into a slim parking space between two large cars.

“Yeah, sure.” Raina said without much enthusiasm.

Kelly was quiet as they followed directions displayed from the entrance of the large building. They took two flights of stairs that led to a hallway where two young women, students from the college, manned a table at the entrance. Again, Kelly displayed their tickets and they walked into a large lecture theatre and Raina made her way to the back seats against Kelly’s protest.

“Why can’t we sit at the front?” Kelly said.

“Because this talk might turn out to be a bore and we may need to sneak out,” Raina explained patiently.

“In that case, let’s take the seats nearer to the door, at the front.” Kelly tugged on her arm, leaving her little room to protest.

Raina reluctantly agreed and they made their way to the front, a position that did not entirely please her. The hall filled up quickly and she entertained herself by people watching. She looked sideways at Kelly and saw her engrossed in the program that had been handed to them at the entrance. Kelly was hoarding the program, and hadn’t shared it with her.

“Why did you bring me here, Kelly?” Raina finally asked.

“Well, the talk is on entrepreneurship and I thought it’s something you’d enjoy.”

“That goes to show how little you know me,” Raina mumbled.

“Did you say something?” Kelly said, grinning from ear to ear.

She had obviously heard Raina’s comment. She was about to say something when the lights dimmed. Kelly shushed her and pointed to the podium.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this year’s …”

Raina tuned out. She paid attention again when the main speaker was being introduced. He caught her attention for the familiar way in which he walked, as though he was in no rush. Something about him captivated her and Raina sat up straighter in her seat. When he turned, his blue eyes seemed to glow against the lighting of the podium.

“Hi everyone, thanks for having me. My name is Christian Del Mar …”

Del Mar? Like the Del Mar Hotel?
Raina felt her panic growing. Did Kelly not know her
at all
? This is the
last
place she would want to be. A tightness was gripping her chest, making it hard to breath. She had to get out of there.

She shot Kelly an angry look. “I’m leaving.” she hissed.

“Wait!” Kelly whispered urgently. “Wait—don’t you see? Don’t you see who it is?”

Raina turned her attention to the stage in confusion. What did she care about the Del Mar Group’s owner? She had been fired after all? He was probably some old, pompous geezer. Some ancient, rich, white, asshole, who spent his days counting his money and looking down on all the little people he’d trampled on to get where he was.….

She raised her eyes to the podium, and her angry gaze slowly turned curious, and then … astonished.

Raina’s heart stopped beating. She stared at the man in disbelief.

It couldn’t be, could it? It was Christopher up on that stage! But no … it was … Christian Del Mar… but it was also Christopher.

She gripped the chair in front of her and kept her gaze on the man. She listened to his voice, watched his body movement. And she knew.

Christian Del Mar was Christopher Smith, without a doubt.

A swelling of anger started in her stomach, growing bigger and bigger, so that when she turned to glare at Kelly, she felt as though she would burst. Kelly nodded in reply, her expression solemn.

“How could you?” Raina hissed. “How could you not tell me?”

“I only learned last week, Raina. I’m sorry, I thought you’d be happy!” Kelly said.

“Happy? Are you crazy? How can I be happy at such deceit? He lied to me!
You
lied to me!” She didn’t know which betrayal hurt the worst.

“Hush!” voices around them called out.

Raina gave Kelly one last glare before turning her attention back on stage. Her heart did a somersault despite her anger and feelings of betrayal.

Christopher—no, Christian looked so handsome standing there. She watched the movements of his lips and her mouth ached at the memory of them kissing. The happy memories they had shared flooded over her, making her momentarily forget how angry she was. Then he said something about Del Mar and the reality hit her like cold icy water.

Christopher, Christian, or whatever his name was, was the owner of Del Mar Group of companies! Why the hell had he deceived her? Why pretend to be some lowly maintenance guy, pretending that he cared for her and the kids, when his world was obviously so removed from theirs?

He must have laughed at their small lives and petty problems. The more she sat there watching him, the more her anger grew. She felt humiliated, knowing that while she had given him her heart, she had surely never been anything but a momentary distraction to him. All the dreams she’d shared with him—he’d never intended on being a part of them.

Lying Bastard.