Billionaire Wedding: Brooklyn's Baby (Interracial Billionaire Wedding Romance) ( Contemporary Taboo Alpha Male Wedding Romance) (5 page)

              “Ludicrous,” Mercedes said, still feeling a bit uncomfortable about this strange man.

              “Yes! Ludicrous- that’s a word for it! Too afraid to tell the boss that he is wrong; hell, that’s what I hired him for! To make sure things get done right. You, though, you have a good eye, good judgement, and a lot of courage. It takes a certain kind of person to walk up to a complete stranger and tell him that he’s wrong in the interest of others. You could have just walked away and let me find out for myself, you know, after spending a considerable amount of time and money. You saved me a pretty penny, you know? Someone could have gotten hurt, too. I care about the people I employ. I would have hated to have been responsible for someone getting hurt,” Kerry grinned.

              “Really, it was nothing,” Mercedes said. She was starting to feel somewhat skeptical about this man. He was far too giddy for a CEO, like a giant child playing dress-up in his father’s office.
He probably inherited his position from Daddy
, she thought and once again scorned herself for pre-judging. She had been so furious with Miss Lawrence for being judgmental that it made little sense for Mercedes to sit there and assume the worst about Kerry just because he wore a suit.

              “Brian O’Brian Enterprises is still a growing company. I can’t have a bunch of mindless drones working for me if this company is going to grow,” Kerry said.

              “Mr. O’Brian…um…Kerry, why exactly have you called me here today?” Mercedes was tired of him beating around the bush, not that she didn’t enjoy listening to a man admit he was wrong and praise her.

              Now his smile grew wider than it had yet to have been; he seemed almost childish in his excitement, yet he somehow managed to keep a certain air of professionalism about him. “I have a job that I think you might be interested in,” he began, and Mercedes instantly felt herself backing away into her seat. He continued, “You see, I need a foreman to replace one that I had to fire at another build site. Drinking of the job, can you believe that?  And the fool couldn’t handle his own crew. Honestly. Anyways, I need someone who can overlook the construction of the building to make sure that the work is done and that it is done smoothly.  I want you to be my new foreman at this site.”

              “Are you serious?” Mercedes tried not to let out a loud cackle at the thought of it. “Kerry, I’m just a mechanic. And honestly, I’m pretty happy where I’m at. I’m far too underqualified for something like that.”

              “Just a mechanic?” he shook his head. “So modest.” He opened up one of his desk drawers and pulled out a small file. “I always do my homework, Mercedes. I can call you Mercedes, yes?”

              “Well if I’m calling you Kerry,” she mumbled.

              He grinned again, showing off his perfectly white teeth. “Mercedes, I always do my homework. I know you spent three years at MIT. While you were there you were on the gifted track for mechanical engineering. I can’t imagine why you left, but this is a very impressive resume. I called a few of your old professors, and they gave you some raving reviews.” He handed her the folded that head her transcripts inside, “Top of your class, every time. No matter what you were involved in, you were at the top. This impresses me. Underqualified? No, not at all. You didn’t finish your degree, but you have a large amount of knowledge and experience built up in that head of yours.”

              Mercedes frowned to see her college transcripts. This was something she had not thought about in a long time. She missed MIT, but it had been a bad time for her. She could remember leaving class one day, receiving a phone call from her uncle Tito to come to some hospital that her father had suddenly passed out while working on a car. It was the day they had found out about the cancer. The transcripts did not bring back very fond memories. “I’m not a construction person,” she said.

              “You see now? You’re just lying to me.” He smiled, “I found some more records on city planning. You were the foreman for a few small projects out in Brooklyn in your own neighborhood. You’ve done this before.”

              She laid the folder down on his desk. “On a small house and a little apartment building, Kerry.”

              “And now I’m offering to give you a chance to play in the big leagues,” he said with a wink, “And I think you can do it.”

              “I think you have highly overestimated my abilities,” she said and crossed her arms.

              “You’ve done this before. Just on a smaller scale,” he said. “Did I mention the job pays $200,000?”

              Mercedes raised an eyebrow. “For one job?”

              “For one job,” he said and then further explained himself. “Normally, I would offer this position to a company. That’s why the price is so high, but I’m willing to pay for quality not for a name brand. If the price gets you on board, I’m willing to pay it. So long as you can get the job done and get the job done well, you will walk home with $200,000 from this deal. No strings attached.”

              Mercedes could not even comprehend that much money. She stared at him, almost angry for dangling this carrot out in front of her.
What about the garage,
she thought, quite unwilling to turn her back on it. She then grimaced a bit,
I could buy the garage back from the city with that much money - and refurbish it.  Hell, I could expand it!
She was not sure if she could put the garage at risk by walking away during the time the project would take. She tapped her fingers on her knee. “Do you expect an answer from me now?” she asked.

              “I was hoping,” he said and for the first time since they had gotten into his office he frowned.

              “Would you allow me to sleep on this and get back to you as soon as I can?” she asked nervously. “It’s a great offer, but it’s a big decision you know? Especially for someone like me.”

              His smile returned. He stood up and came around to her side of the desk. He leaned against the large piece of furniture and looked down at her. He held out his hand to help her stand. “By all means. Take your time. If you need to sleep on it, sleep on it. I certainly hope you come to the conclusion to work for me, though.” His smile became so wide for a moment that his eyes squinted. “Just know that your rent has been paid in full for the next three months. A gift, whether you decide to work for me or not.”

              “Thank you for that.” Mercedes embarrassingly broke eye contact. “I appreciate you doing that for me, I really do.” She stared down at her shoes. “Life has thrown a few curveballs my way in the past couple of months. I will be sure to seriously consider your offer.”

              “We break ground on the new building next Monday. That means you have nine days to make up your mind and decide whether or not you are going to accept.” He nodded his head politely. He handed her a card. “This is my personal cell. Call me when you make up your mind.”

“I’ll be in touch,” Mercedes said as she headed out the door, staring down at the card with the Brian O’Brian emblem. She walked down the hall and through the large office setting before exited into the small lobby where Miss Lawrence was still seated at her desk.

              Miss Lawrence saw her and rolled her eyes, “How did it go?” she forced herself to say.

              “He offered me a job,” Mercedes said.

              “I didn’t know there were any janitorial positions available,” Miss Lawrence said.

              Just to make the woman squirm, Mercedes told a bold-faced lie. She put on a bright smile and said, “Janitorial. That’s funny. No, Miss Lawrence. I’ll be a part of the new review board here. I’ll be looking into all employee records next week. We’re going to be doing an assessment of all current and potential future employees.”

              The woman’s face turned pale. “Oh?”

              “Yes,” Mercedes said, “I think I will take the position. Clearly, previous board members have not done an adequate job at assessment. Honestly, I’ve only been here an hour, and I am very disappointed in what I’ve seen. Poor workmanship here.”

              Miss Lawrence looked like she would faint. “Really? I haven’t noticed. Everyone here seems like valuable employees to me.” Miss Lawrence said.

              Mercedes leaned in, placing her elbow on Miss Lawrence’s desk and whispered, “Between you and me, there’s more than a few people up here who should be worried next time they see me.” Mercedes then backed away from the desk. “Well, I really should be going.”

              “Can I get you a coffee or anything, Miss Mercado, before you go?” Miss Lawrence asked.

              Mercedes shook her head. “Oh, no thank you.” She started towards the elevators. “Have a good day, Miss Lawrence.”

              The elevator doors closed and instantly Mercedes began to chuckle. There was a man on the elevator coming from a higher floor. The man gave her the same sort of look that Miss Lawrence had, as though to say with his eyes
you don’t look like he belong here.
He continued to look at Mercedes awkwardly while her laugh subsided. “Are you all right?” he asked at last.

              Mercedes nodded, “Yes, sorry. Life is just funny sometimes.” She straightened herself up and impatiently awaited the elevator to reach the ground floor. She had a lot to consider.

              Mercedes made her way outside. She started to wave for a cab, but instead took out the business card the Russian driver had given her earlier. She called the number and the man on the other line assured her he would be there shortly. Much to her surprise, the familiar cab came pulling up in only a few minutes. “Hello Miss Mercado!” Yury’s voice sang as he jumped out of the cab to open the back door for her. He really was a kind soul and nodded his head happily as she climbed into the back of her cab.

              “Thank you, Yury,” she said. The drive home was anything but quiet. Yury was so excited that she had thought of him that he talked to her the entire way back to Brooklyn. She could hardly get a word in edgewise between his happy jabbering and the foreign music he was playing on the radio. She paid him after arriving at her apartment, and he thanked her profusely. “I’m going to keep your card, Yury,” she said with a smile, “that was honestly a fun cab ride.”

              “Thank you, Miss Mercado!” he said while opening the door for her.

              She headed inside, hauling herself up the two flights of stairs. Once inside her apartment, she immediately threw off her high heels. Her feet were killing her. She made herself some lunch, and afterwards she plopped herself down on her futon. Kerry’s offer was the only thing she could think about. Desperately, she tried to reason with herself as to why she should not take him up on his deal.

              It would be selling out. That was one reason she had left MIT. She had wanted to be a part of the garage, especially in her family’s time of need. The money was very tempting, though, especially if she could buy back the garage. Her mind went back and forth. She felt incredibly torn. It was starting to make her sick to her stomach. At last she decided to call her Uncle Tito to tell him all about the offer.

              He was at the garage when she called. She could tell in his voice that he was very eager to hear all about this mysterious Mr. O’Brian, whom she now referred to as Kerry. Tito was absolutely exuberant when she told him about the offer. “What do you mean you’re not sure? Mercedes, this is amazing!” his voice rang out over the phone.

              Mercedes had lied down on the futon; she held the phone to her ear and propped up her feet on a worn-out pillow. “I don’t want to sell out.”

              “Sell out? You’re not a sell out! Mercedes, please, consider this. It’s $200,000! And if you do well he might even hire you for future projects. Can you imagine? Your father would be so proud of you, Mercedes,” he said. She hated it when Tito used her father to persuade her, but she wondered if in this moment he was right.

              “What about you?” she asked.

              “What about me?” He laughed, “Mercedes, baby girl, don’t throw something like this away because of me. I’ll be fine.”

              “Maybe I could use the money to buy back the garage,” Mercedes said, catching herself daydreaming about bringing the garage back to its former glory, “We could get it up and running again. Get it fixed up too.” She smiled, imagining working in a garage that’s bathroom did not overflow once a month. There might would even be enough money left over to give the place a new paint job; it certainly needed it. The question was whether or not it was worth working for people, for suits, like Kerry O’Brian.

              “Maybe,” Tito said. “I think you should take the offer regardless. It’s good money, and it’s a good opportunity.”

              Mercedes sighed, “All right, I’ll call him. I’ll take the offer.” Mercedes hung up with her uncle. She remained lying down on the futon, staring up at her ceiling. The ceiling was full of cracks and dings; she could pay to get that fixed to. Hell, she would be able to afford a better apartment all together. She had not even thought about what would happen if Kerry hired her for additional jobs. She debated for only a moment longer, but finally decided to take her uncle’s advice.

She decided to call the number Kerry had slipped her before she had left his office. She sighed as she typed each of the numbers written on the card. The phone rang three times before she got nervous and hung up. Mercedes shook her head. She couldn’t bring herself to call him. Suddenly her cell phone went off. She frowned; he was calling her back. After taking a deep breath and allowing the phone to ring at least three times, she answered, “Hello?”