Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males (94 page)

“I noticed you reading the paper
earlier,” she said carefully, trying to sound curious instead of suspicious.

“Me?
 
Never.
 
I only read blogs and
only when they’re about me.”
 
He
grinned and sipped his coffee.

He was being coy and she wasn’t sure she
liked it.
 
“Was there something in
The Wall Street Journal that bugged you?”

He frowned briefly and sighed.
 
“Nothing worth thinking about or talking
about.”

“But you are.
 
You are thinking about it.”

He smiled at her.
 
“Aren’t you the clever psychologist all
of a sudden?”

“I just want to make sure you’re
okay.
 
If something’s bothering you,
I want to know what it is.”

Red licked his lips.
 
“I’m going to tell you a secret,
babe.”
 
He leaned forward in his
seat.
 
“When it comes to business,
something’s always bothering me.”

“I’m a good listener.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”
 

“Don’t patronize me, Red.”

“I’m not.”
 
He put his coffee cup down on the
table.
 
“I just want us to enjoy
this beautiful morning together and—“

Suddenly, his phone was buzzing.
 
With a frustrated exhalation, Red
glanced at it, and then his eyes widened.
 
“Shit.
 
It’s my mother.”

Nicole felt a rolling, sickening
sensation in her stomach—like she’d was on an elevator dropping twenty
floors.
 
“Are you going to answer
it?”

He stared at the phone hesitantly.
 
She’d never seen Red look that way
before—nervous and unsure.
 
Finally he answered, standing up and walking a few paces away from the
table, turning his back to her.

“Mother,” he said, a statement.
 
Then he listened for a time.
 
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you myself,” he
said.
 
“I meant to but things have
been busy for me.”
 
Another long
silence while he apparently listened.
 

Nicole wondered if his mother was
haranguing him, insulting him like she’d done when he was a child.
 
She couldn’t imagine Red putting up with
that sort of thing now, though.

“You are?” he said, his voice getting
slightly louder.
 
“When were you
planning to arrive?”
 
His shoulders
tensed and hunched as the conversation went on.
 
“Of course…what about Jeb?
 
Is he coming with you?”

Nicole pushed her plate of eggs
away.
 
She suddenly she’d lost her
appetite.

“I’ll see you soon,” Red said, after
another long pause.
 
And then he
ended the call, staring down at his phone as if had betrayed him.
 
He came back to the table and sat, his
face drawn and no trace of the earlier good humor remaining.
 
“That was interesting,” he said with
sarcasm.

“What’s going on?”

“My mother’s apparently been reading the
tabloids.
 
She was upset that I
hadn’t told her about our engagement, and so now she’s decided to drop in and
meet you in person.”

“Oh, no.”

“Oh, yes.”
 
He wiped a hand across his face.
 
“She’s flying in from Chicago and will
be here first thing in the morning.”

“To meet me.”

“Yes.”
 
He crossed his arms and sat back,
rolling his eyes as if examining the ceiling.
 
“She said she’s looking forward to
becoming fast friends with my wife-to-be.”

“Oh god.”

“Don’t worry, she’s usually very nice…at
first.”

“So all I need to worry about is
when
she’s going to stick the knife in
my back.”

“Don’t be melodramatic, babe.”
 
He rose from his chair and came to stand
behind her.
 
And then his strong
hands were rubbing her shoulders and the back of her neck, spreading that
familiar heat up and down her entire body.

“I’m not trying to be overdramatic,
Red.
 
But those stories you told me
about her—they scared me a little.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t let her hurt you.”

“What about you?” Nicole said.
 
“That’s what I’m really worried about.”

“I can take care of myself.”

But Nicole wasn’t so sure.

***

The rest of the day was spent in
preparation for Red’s mother’s visit. He had his cleaning crew come for an
emergency visit to the house, and they went through everything from top to
bottom.

Nicole tried to help out around the house
as well, and the cleaners seemed to find that rather odd.
 
They watched her curiously as she
cleaned smudges off the windows
 
and
got down on her hands and knees and scrubbed the bathroom tiles.
 

Often she would be in different rooms
from the workers, but when they walked by and saw her sweating and working, a
strange look would cross their faces.
 
Nicole didn’t understand just what the issue was.

One of the housekeepers was a young girl
that had to be around Nicole’s age.
 
Dark haired and dark skinned, she had a beautiful oval face with almond
eyes.
 
She was thin and petite, but
something about her was instantly charming, Nicole thought.

When the dark haired girl was passing by
Nicole with some linen from one of the many guest rooms, Nicole waved.
 
“Hey,” she said.
 
“I’m Nicole.”

“Hello,” the girl said.
 
She didn’t have much of an accent,
although most of her co-workers seemed to be from Brazil.
 
“I’m Juliana.”

“Have you been working here long?”

The girl shook her head.
 
“About a month.
 
My mother and father work here, and they
decided it was time for me to start coming along to help.”

“Are you a student?”

“I just graduated high school.”
 
Juliana smiled shyly and shrugged.
 
“I’m not sure what to do next.”

“Is there anything else you need help
with around the house?” Nicole asked.
 
“I finished with the master bathroom.”

The girl’s hesitant smile turned into a
slight frown.
 
“It’s not my business
to say.”

“No, I’m asking you.
 
Feel free to tell me what you
think.
 
Is there something wrong
with my helping?”

“It’s just—this is my family’s
work.
 
When they see you doing so
much cleaning, they get scared you’re going to take it away from them.
 
They need this job.”

“Me?
 
Take care of this entire house?” she laughed.
 
“I was just trying to chip in.”

Juliana’s eyes were still somber.
 
“I know it seems silly to you.
 
But a job like this, with such good
pay—it’s very, very rare.
 
And
Mister Jameson treats my family well.
 
They’re afraid of change.”

“Of course,” Nicole said, feeling
horrible that she’d offended them while trying to help.
 
“I’m just not used to standing around
while other people work.”

Juliana smiled, but it wasn’t an
altogether pleasant smile.
 
“This is
how it is,” she told her.
 
“You’re
rich.”

Nicole smiled sadly in return and walked
downstairs, where she found Red on the veranda, on his cell phone.
 
He had his back to her and didn’t notice
she’d come out, so he continued talking without interruption.

“How could this happen?
 
How?”
 
Pause.
 
“I don’t fucking believe it.
 
You’re killing me, John.
 
You told me that buying AK was a golden
opportunity.
 
You showed me the due
diligence, so how did this fucking happen?”

Nicole stood at the entrance to the
veranda, her hands twisting against each other as she nervously eavesdropped on
his call.
 
She knew this Germany
thing was a much bigger deal than he’d let on, and this was the proof.
  

Red nodded, listening to whomever he was
speaking to.
 
She assumed it was
John Peterson, the CFO of Jameson International.
 

“Well, now I need to fly to Germany and
clean up your goddamn mess, John.
 
Okay?
 
Is that okay with
you?
 
Is that what you’re asking me
to do?”
 
He listened for just a
moment later before exploding.
 
“You’re fired, John.
 
Fired.
 
Understand?
 
Get on a plane and come back to the
U.S.
 
I’m going to fly out first
thing Monday morning and try and fix the absolute mess you’ve made of my
company.”
 

Red hung up his cell phone and made as if
to throw it across the room, but didn’t.
 
Nicole had a quick, horrifying flashback to her first night at the house,
when Red had gone nuts and started throwing plates and dishes, shattering them
all over the dining room.

He finally turned and saw Nicole standing
there.

His lips came together and tightened, his
eyes narrowed.
 
“Were you just
spying on me?”

“Don’t talk to me like that,” she
replied.
 

“Don’t spy on me.”

“I wasn’t spying on you,” she said.
 
“I came out to talk with you, and when I
heard you so upset, of course I wanted to stay and make sure you were okay.”

He looked down at his phone again, as if
in disbelief.
 
“Well I’m fine.”

“No you’re not.”

“I’m not in the mood to play games with
you, Nicole.
 
I’ve got real problems
to deal with, the last thing I need is to try and manage your feelings about me
raising my voice on a business call.”

Nicole wanted to storm out.
 
The old Nicole would have done just
that.
 
But she’d grown a little over
these last few weeks—at least, she liked to think she’d grown.
 
And now she realized that Red was just
scared.
 
Being vulnerable wasn’t
easy for him, and she needed to remind herself that his reaction at a time like
this wasn’t really personal.
 
He’d
been trained to keep a wall between himself and everyone else.

She sat down on the wooden rocking chair
that faced out to the rolling green hills and the pond in the distance.
 
“Come sit next to me,” she said, patting
the other chair beside her.

“I’m not in the mood,” he replied,
petulantly, like a teenager.

“Humor me.”

“I’ve got some business to attend to.”

She took a deep breath and exhaled.
 
“I’m being reasonable. And I’m your
fiancé, so I have every right to hear what’s going on.”

He nodded, resigned, and sat down in the
chair next to her, but his posture was stiff and closed off.
 

“Hold my hand,” she said.

She could tell he didn’t really want to,
but eventually he took her hand in his, and as he did so, Nicole felt the
tension drain out of him just a little.
 
His shoulders came down slightly and his face became smoother.
 

“There’s been a major glitch in Germany,”
he said, finally.

“What kind of glitch?”

He sighed.
 
“The kind that brings down empires.”

That sent a small chill up her
spine.
 
“Tell me more.
 
What happened?”

Red glanced at her as if trying to figure
out just how much he should reveal.
 
“What happened is, I got greedy.
 
There’s a very large and successful agency in Germany and the founder
was supposedly looking to cash out.
 
I’ve been trying to enlarge Jameson International’s global footprint,
and this seemed the perfect opportunity.
 
But it was a hefty price tag to buy the agency, and with some of our
North American operations struggling—“