A Kiss To Remember..1(A Billionaire Romance)
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Authors: P.A. Jones,Tracy
A Kiss to Remember..1
(A billionaire Romance)
Tracy and P.A. Jones
Copyright © 2013-14 PA Jones
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, place and events are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously.
Table of Contents
"Coffee, this fucking coffee is going to give me a stroke. And if I’m still alive after the attack by any chance, she is going to kill me right away." I looked at my wrist watch in horror—the second hand wasn't running backward. I was fucking late and I was going to pay for it today.
This was the third time this week I was late because of the stupid coffee house that had just opened near my apartment. Coffee from that shop was actually so tasty that I couldn’t resist stopping on the way to office.
But why in the hell I’d to drink it when I’m already getting late to the office
.
I slapped my forehead. “Stupid, Stupid, stupid.” I quickly crossed the road, heading in the direction of my office, hoping to reach it before anyone noticed my absence.
My eyes darted to the girl opening the office door—Melissa. She was about to enter the office. She’d been my best friend in Carmel since I’d gotten here.
“Melissa.” I called her and waved my hand, but she entered the office without noticing me. Maybe she was in a hurry.
What the fuck!
If I could have gone with her, Elizabeth, my boss, might have spared me. Melissa had a very good relationship with her. Melissa was the reason I’d gotten a job in an event management company, because she had a very good relationship with everyone there. But that my friend didn’t hear me. “Today, no cookies for you Melissa.” I muttered as I opened the office door.
I was too deep into my thoughts to notice the door opening in my direction. I reached for the door handle and at the same time somebody pushed it toward me from inside. Bang—the next thing I saw was a dark blue tie and a faint blue jacket over a white shirt.
“Who…” I looked up and bit my tongue. It was Tim, the boss of all bosses in my company. He was the founder of the event management firm I was working for.
“Watch out, lady.” His brows furrowed.
“Sorry, sir. I…”
“Save it for someone else. Just get out of my way.” His gaze lowered to look at my name tag, but thank God I’d kept it in my bag. “Where is your tag?”
“It’s in my bag, sir.” My voice cracked. It was bad—I was going to be on the shit list of Tim. That would mean instant death in the agency. He was known for his strength and discipline.
Please not today, Tim, not today. Please don’t ask me my name.
“Keep it pinned to your dress, Ms… blonde” He waited for me to tell him my name. But I wasn’t going to.
“Nobody, sir. I’ll take be more careful next time.” I quickly passed him. I didn’t want that encounter to last one second longer. It would have been worse than that, but I think he was in a hurry so he didn’t even look back at me.
I walked to my desk. It wasn’t a desk, actually, only a small table used for the juniors starting in the company. But I wasn’t junior, either. I was a senior associate to Elizabeth, who was handling the meetings and business deals for the various clients. She was a firm and disciplined lady, and sometimes quite scary, too. Scary because she loved to scold all her subordinates.
“Trisha Summers,” she shrilled and it was literally scary.
“Yes, Ma'am.” I looked at her office. She was standing in front of her office door, resting one hand on the edge of the wooden door frame. She wore a knee length skirt and a white blouse—typical office clothes. Her eyes were fixed on my face. I knew that look—she was going to kill me for being late. My hourglass body shivered in reaction. Her gaze moved away from my face and then darted back to her watch. “You’re ten minutes late.”
I adjusted my glasses. I felt them slipping down. “I’m Sorry, I was……”
“You're stupid coffee house, isn’t it?” She smirked.
It was true, and I had told her the truth a couple of times before. I knew even a few lies would pile up and I wouldn’t be able to save myself one day, so it was better to be straight-up honest.
“Bring Mr. Anderson’s business meeting minutes of meeting.” Her eyes fixed on my glasses. She was going to say something, but then turned around without another word.
“Okay,” I whispered. Other than the getting to work late thing, I’d never had her complain about anything. And my work was good. I knew about the business meetings and arrangements required from my last job at with an MMA fighter, Tristan Scott. That experience helped me to reach a senior position in just six months.
I picked up the file and walked to her office.
I knocked a couple of times and entered.
Her eyes darted to my face in an instant. “Did you do something wrong?”
My shoulders tensed. Did she know something from the past? She knew I worked with someone, but nobody knew that I’d worked for an illegal entity. The whole MMA league Tristan had been in was illegal.
“You did, didn’t you?” Her face twisted. “Don’t you dare to hide it from me, Trisha Summers.” She had a habit of calling her subordinates with their full name.
“I…” I couldn’t tell her the truth. She would kick me out of the job and I didn’t want that. I couldn’t just lose my job like this. Telling her normal truths was fine, but in this case, I had no other choice than to lie.
“There should be some reason that Tim wants to see you in his office.”
“What? Tim?”
“Yes, what do you think then?” Her eyes looked me over, surprise on my face, trying to see if I was hiding something from her.
“Why did he call me to his office? Shall I go now?” My whole body was tense.
“I don’t know, he just sent me an email. You have to report to him, at ten sharp.”
“That’s half an hour. Oh, my God. I’d stumbled into him earlier in the morning. Could that be?” Fear ran through my body.
“Maybe—maybe he will fire you. But I wouldn’t like that. After all, you’ve been my best performer in the last six months.” She closed her eyes, thinking about something. “Apologize to him. I don’t care if you have to drop to your knees to get his approval, but I want you back with your job in place. Now go and be nice to him.”
I handed the file to her and walked back to my desk. My heart was flipping up and down. What could it really be? “Is he going to fire me for hitting him?” I muttered. I couldn’t know that until I met him. But he’d set the time for ten. My eyes searched for my desk watch. It was thirty minutes past nine.
Half an hour more.
I was sure I would be having at least a mini heart attack in that half-hour period.
My mind drifted to one year ago when I’d left NYC to get away from Tristan. I liked that MMA fighter, but he loved someone else. As I was hoping to have a relationship with him, I couldn’t bear that. I’d had to walk away to settle my life. I had some savings of mine and a big chunk that Tristan transferred to my account after I left NYC. For the first six months, I wandered around the states, trying to decide where should I settle. Then one day my mother called me. She’d been living with her unmarried sister, my aunt, in Indiana for the past year-and-a-half. She needed to get back into rehab—she was hitting the bottle again. I’d had no choice but to go to Indiana. Then I met Melissa in one of the career expos while I was looking for a job and voila—I’d gotten this job.
My mind drifted over the last six months quickly. Had I done anything wrong in those last six months? No, I couldn’t find anything. Instead, I did good—I got promoted to the senior associate level in five months and I was helping Elizabeth from day one. She was quirky by mood, but for the business decisions, she trusted me completely. She even sent me on couple of meetings alone. She had trust in me, though she hated me for getting in late sometimes.
I liked my job very much. I was just settling in this new city and to start over again would not be good now.
It’s all because of that stupid coffee
. If I hadn’t stopped to get that hazelnut coffee, I would not have been running late and I might not have banged my head on Tim.
And now he is going to fire me
. I sighed.
My eyes quickly filled with tears. Getting fired wasn’t an option for me. I couldn’t let that happen. I loved working here—I had a real job and good salary. Moreover, I got to meet people, attend meetings, study leaders.
Now I would have to go back and live with my aunt.
“No, this can’t be happening. I’ll stop drinking coffee if I sail through this.” I prayed to God for the safety of my job.
“Trisha Summers?”Somebody called my name.
I quickly wiped my tears and looked up. An office boy was standing in front of my desk. He didn’t look like an office boy—he was dressed in proper clothes—but I could recognize his job by the nametag on his chest. I had never seen him in the office. He must be working on the ground floor, the floor for board members, where Tim’s office is. I’d never been there before; even Elizabeth goes there very rarely. She was head of the meeting organizations, but she had less contact with the board members.
“Yes,” My eyes rolled, holding the fear in them. Maybe the office boy had come to fire me instead of Tim. Maybe Tim was busy and he sent his favorite office assistant to do the job.
Is he gay? Why would an assistant be his favorite.
A quick laugh flew out of my mouth and I felt guilty again. I was getting fired by an office boy and here I was, laughing.
“Tim wants to see you right now. Please come with your bag—he specially asked that.” His words took a couple of seconds to sink into my mind.
The prediction is true; he is firing me after all. No, I’ll beg him, or I will tell him how important I am for Elizabeth. He has to listen to her.
“Are you coming?” He was giving me a stupid look.
“Yes, I’ll be there in couple of minutes.”
“Okay, ground floor, suite number four. Don’t forget, he doesn’t like people to be late.”
My stomach tangled in a big knot. My hand reached to the edge of the table before I could stand. I needed all the strength I could gather. My eyes darted to Melissa’s desk, but it was empty.
Where the hell is that girl?
My heart almost stopped as I reached the door to Tim’s office. It was a lavish office, and consisted of two rooms. Everything was glass; I could see Tim standing in his kitchenette.
Yes, the second room was nothing but a special kitchenette. I could see a mini-bar, a coffee machine, a few boxes of cookies.
What is it? A kitchen?
And what was he doing there? Literally, one of the owners of the company and he was pouring coffee into the three cups.
Does he give coffee before he fires someone?
My nostrils flared, hands clenched in fist, sweat beads appeared around my forehead. It was all weird. Why did I bump into him this morning? Why couldn’t I be more careful? Goddamn that coffee house.
I might need to get a waitress job there. Yeah, that’s exactly what I deserve.
“He is waiting for you inside.” The assistant came out of nowhere.
I almost jumped to my feet. I was shocked to see him there so suddenly, so unexpected.
“Okay, I'm going…I’m going,” I whispered through my clenched lips.
I walked in, the knot in my stomach was getting bigger and bigger. I could easily tumble over that knot. The office was quite differently decorated; a large, wooden table occupied most of the free space. I think it was oak or mahogany, or something more precious that I was not aware of. It was in contrast to the other decor. A transparent rack of books covered a full wall. One wall was decorated with some paintings. I could see those were expensive ones. I didn’t know much about modern art, but those paintings looked dreadful to me, like they were laughing at me because I was getting fired.
My eyes darted to the chair I was supposed to sit on and I almost jumped to my feet again. Melissa was there, sitting in the other chair, looking ahead, lost in her own reality. She was so quiet that even I didn’t notice her for a few moments. Her face was dark, with eyes closed—she was drowned in her thoughts. What was she doing there? Is he going to fire her as well?
No, it can’t be.
She had a small kid to look after. This can’t be happening with her, too. I was alone, single—I could live on a minimal income, or the coffee house job, but she…no way could she manage with a minimum wage salary. Now the situation was giving me chills.
I was about to call out for her name,
“Miss Summers.” The controlled voice took me by storm—it was him again. He was already angry at me and now he would just say two words, ‘Get it,’ and I would be going to pack my stuff.
“I’m extremely sorry, Sir.” I turned to face him.
He looked at me in surprise, his pupils widening. “It’s you.” His eyes darted back to my nametag, “Trisha Summers, isn’t it. Why did you run off from me this morning?”
I stared at his face, trying to study it, but no anger was there.
Is he really angry at me?
But I didn’t have time for that. I had to save my job, and Melissa’s as well.
“Please don’t fire me for running into you this morning. I swear it was an accident. And please don’t fire her either. She is innocent and she has a kid.”
Shock, then a grin covered his face. Coffee cups clinked with each other as he put the tray down.
Someone grabbed my hand; a soft touch. My eyes reached Melissa. She was trying to say something, and her eyes were widened.
“I’m sorry if I gave any wrong impression here. I’m not firing you, either,” he said, smiling.
What? If he wasn’t going to fire us, why did he call me and Melissa here?
I turned back to him.
“I don’t mind either if you take that seat.” His eyes moved to the seat near Melissa.
I gulped. I wasn’t sure where it was heading, really. He wasn’t going to fire me, but I’d already shown him what a stupid girl I was.
I reached for the chair. My hands reached to my forehead and wiped the sweat off. And then I realized I should have used a handkerchief; I was acting more and more ridiculous.
God, what am I doing here? Why am I so nervous and so afraid?
I held the chair handles and sat down. The chair was way comfy than I had imagined. I’d never been on a comfy chair like this; I think it was made up of some special material.
“Now, tell me why on earth you think I’m going to fire you?” he asked, staring in my eyes. “Oh, pardon me. Before that, please enjoy a cup of coffee. I made it myself.” He reached for the tray and handed us the cups. The aroma of coffee was sweeter than I thought it would be. “Tell me now.” He took a cookie off of the tray and chewed it slowly.
“Umm…I stumbled into you this morning…and I’m really sorry for that. I was late and I was in a hurry.” The words came out as if they were on a bullet train.
“Well, I wasn’t going to fire you for a little hiccup. Is that the way people think about me on the upper floor?” His brows cocked, a question visible on his face.
“No, sir, I didn’t mean that.” I bit my lower lip. I was acting stupid again.
Stupid., stupid, stupid.
“
Call me Tim, Trisha.” He sipped his coffee.
“
And I better prep you on the team event I’m planning this summer. If I have such a bad impression with you guys, then that’s bad, really bad.” His eyes moved to Melissa. “Are you sure, Melissa, she’s the right one?”
“Yes, Tim, definitely she is the correct person here. She is young, enthusiastic, and she has previous experience in arranging a couple of weddings. I think we should give her a chance.” Melissa's face was still dark and mysterious. She’d spoken for the first time since I walked in. What were they talking about? Why I was the right person? And what about the weddings? When did I arrange a wedding?
“B...” I opened my mouth to correct her, but she clenched my palm in her so hard that I almost screamed.
“Is there anything wrong with you, Trisha.”
I was holding my breath so I wouldn’t let the scream out of my freakin’ mouth. I shook my head.
Melissa cut him off. “Tim, I’m extremely sorry for this last minute hiccup. I was so pissed myself, but it’s medical and I wouldn’t be the right one to attend anything in this situation,” Melissa said, looking at her full coffee mug. I was getting some context now.
“Are you all right?” I asked worriedly. I was not a hundred percent sure what they were talking about.
Somebody please tell me what is going on here. They were doing nothing but increasing my heartbeats
.
“Melissa's daughter is not doing very well,” Tim answered. Compassion was visible in his eyes.
“What? How? Is she okay? Melissa, you didn’t tell me.”
“No, not—well, not in the sense she is very ill. You know about her condition, it’s just a work thing I need to explain you…” She struggled with her words; maybe she wasn’t clear what she wanted to say to me.
“Let me clear this up. You know that Melissa handles Wedding functions and parties. And her duty involves her to go out into the field and arrange these events. But as her daughter is not doing very well, she wouldn’t be able to go and manage this event.” Tim’s hand darted to back of his head and he relaxed on his odd chair.
Why is he using that chair?
“Then?” Where did I come in between all this? It was still a mystery for me.
“She recommended your name for this job of hers.”
“My name?” I was quite surprised.
“Yes. I think you are perfect for this job, Trisha. You told me how much you loved to arrange meetings and all that stuff. And when we discuss new ideas for any events, you always come up with something innovative. Now I think you can take one step further and assist in arranging this one wedding for me. And hey, I’ll be in office doing the paperwork, bookings. You just need to go and help the French agency guy and bride, or travel with her to these shops and things like that.” Melissa exhaled. Her face was tight; I could see the tension brushing through her eyes.
I was delighted at the new opportunity. But I’d never done this before. “But I’m…what about my current job? I’m helping Elizabeth and she wouldn’t like to leave me.” Elizabeth needed me, I knew, because I did most of her work. In the last month she’d asked me to attend sixty percent of her meetings with her. I couldn’t let her down like that without me.
“You don’t worry about that. This is a very important account and we want the best person out there,” Tim interrupted.
“But, if you don’t want to take this opportunity, I will not force you. As this is a very important client for us, I can't take the risk if you are not comfortable. It will be hard to find someone to replace Melissa at the last moment, but I will try out someone else. Maybe Tana would do it.” His voice was firm.
“You can do it, Trisha, I know you have arranged meetings for high profile businessmen before, even a couple of weddings in your last job.” She paused for a moment. “Though the task is different than regular meetings, you have good experience to meet their expectations, their taste. So this wouldn’t be difficult,” Melissa said.
“Hmm,” I whispered. This was really a good chance to shine, as Tim was a member of the board, and if I could meet his expectations I may get a promotions in the future.
“If my best person tells me that you will be the best, then go for this, young lady,” Tim spoke, finishing his coffee.
“It would be a great opportunity for you,” Melissa added.
“Maybe I can take care of Melissa’s daughter and she can go out there,” I offered. I wasn’t comfortable with the wedding arrangement thing. Not without the preparation.
“No, Trisha, you are not understanding. It’s a very important family. Melissa can’t work there while half of her attention remains with her daughter. And that’s not fair for a single mother,” Tim said. He looked quite annoyed by my negative response.
I took a sip. I had to think quick and I needed a break from talking, and coffee was the only available option. The job was a lucrative offer, it was offered by Tim and I might get extra benefits because of this.
I’ll also get break from my usual meetings. But it would be tough; I would have to venture into unknown territory for this one to work. What shall I choose?
And if I didn’t choose the job, my and Melissa’s friendship would be in danger. I had a gut feeling that Melissa expected me to take the job.
I looked at her; she was looking at me with pleading eyes.
No, I can’t do this to her; I can’t turn my back on her. I have to take this job now.
“Okay, I’ll do it.” The words sputtered out of my mouth. The new challenge came with a new excitement. The kind of excitement I enjoyed a lot.
“Thanks, thanks a lot.” Melissa wrapped me in her embrace and brushed her lips over my cheek. She was always like this, always motherly to me.
“That settles it, then. It was good to take you on board, Trisha. I’ll talk with Lizzy about this.” Tim stood and shook hands with me.
“Can I ask you one thing, Tim?” I asked.
“Yes please, and I won’t fire you for that.” He chuckled. He looked very smart when he smiled. He didn’t look in his late fifties.
“Why the normal chair, when you have so many comfy chairs here?” My eyes turned to his chair again.
“You are the first one who’s ever asked me this, so I’ll answer you.” He smiled confidently. “This chair reminds me from where I have come. And it reminds the clients as well, where I sit and what I do.”
“Great.” I could see the thought process behind that man was built on principles and not on money.
