My Dream Job: A Billionaire Boss Romance

by Marcella Swann

  Walter had finished and stood up to collect the dishes. “He really did what he thought was best, Callie. His heart is broken, too.”

  “I wish I could believe that, Walter. It would have been so much easier if he’d talked to me about it in advance. I still wouldn’t have been happy about it, but it wouldn’t have hurt this badly.”

  "It's like ripping off a band-aid, my dear."

  “I suppose so.”

  So began the next phase of my life. Walter and I fell into a routine. I began fielding ideas, and Walter would play devil’s advocate. He did not pretend to be a mentor, just a sounding board for my vocal musings.

  One afternoon, Walter appeared in the doorway to announce that I had a visitor. My heart leaped as I hoped it was Alec, but it wasn’t. It was Maximo, of all people.

  “Am I disturbing you?” he asked, his winter scarf lying on his woolen shoulders as if prepared to leave in an eye’s blink if I asked him to.

  “No, come in, Maximo. How did you find me?”

  “Word travels. In fact, let me say that there’s quite a buzz going around about you.”

  “Oh?”

  “Alec is a fool. That’s the presiding opinion.”

  “And you? What do you think?”

  “I think he couldn’t handle what you needed. He has always shut down at the first sign of emotion. I don’t pretend to understand why, but that’s his character. It keeps him distant. Some prefer to believe he’s such a genius that he keeps his secrets that way. I think he just lacks the emotional fortitude to keep emotion and business in separate parts of his brain.”

  I made no comment, but remembered Walter’s story about their meeting and what Alec, himself, had shared about his childhood. It could be that Maximo was right, albeit he didn’t understand what had prompted Alec to feel that way.

  “So, Maximo, what can I do for you?”

  He’d taken a seat across from me and crossed his legs, relaxing against the cushion. “I’ve come to see what I could do for you.”

  “In what sense?”

  I was wearing a pink jogging outfit, fuzzy pink socks, and my hair was tied into a ponytail at the crown of my head. I looked as far from being an executive as possible. Maximo didn’t seem to mind.

  “If you say the word, a dozen offers will be yours by the end of the day.”

  “Oh?”

  “Is that what you’d like?” His brown eyes were filled with compassion, but there was something more.

  “I’m not ready to make permanent decisions yet. As a matter of fact, Alec made the first offer of partnership and until I decide otherwise, I’ll continue on that path.”

  “What sort of partnership?”

  I tipped my head and narrowed my eyes, indicating that he’d crossed a line. I said nothing. I was keeping my emotions inside, just as Alec had taught me.

  “I see. Well, I’ve shared my import/export ideas with you, and since Alec is your partner, I thought perhaps you’d like to consider working with me directly. We’d still have access to Alec’s contacts.”

  “I see.”

  “Are you interested?”

  “Not at the moment, Maximo,” I responded. They’ve already begun to pick at my bones, I thought to myself.

  “Anything I can do to change your mind?” His words were low and suggestive; something that turned me cold inside.

  “No, I’m quite content at the moment, thank you for checking in on me.” I used that voice people use when trying to wrap up things. He picked up the hint.

  “Well, I’ll be going. It was just a quick check-in, anyway. I’m sure you’re busy,” he concluded, looking me over in my pink jogging clothes as though he’d just noticed. He’s so full of himself. He had to research his speech and now that he’s had a door slammed in his face, he can’t think of what to say. Alec was right about him.

  “Thank you, Maximo.”

  “Yes, well… happy holidays.”

  “To you as well, Maximo.”

  After he’d left, my own words echoed in my head. Alec was right about him. Alec had been right, about so many things. Is it possible he was right about letting me go?

  I didn't want to believe it true, but he was right when he said that he'd stuck to our original agreement. He'd mentored me in a way I couldn't have found anywhere else. He'd given me the strength of self-confidence. He'd given me my shine.

  That realization lit a fire beneath me. Of course! Everyone could see it besides me. I’d had everything I needed all along. Alec had brought out my shine!

  “Walter?”

  “Yes, Callie,” he answered, coming around the corner.

  “Walter, do you have family to visit over the holidays?”

  “No, Miss. I’m alone.”

  “Good. Pack a bag. We’re going to Ohio.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Alec

  “Well, you’ve done it this time,” Mrs. Griggs called over her shoulder as she polished the wooden stairway leading to the second floor.

  I was pre-occupied. “Beg your pardon?”

  “Here it is, the holidays, and you are all alone. Not even fit company for Walter,” she muttered.

  I looked up from my desk. I couldn’t see her, but I heard her. Boy, could I hear her. “Careful, Mrs. Griggs. You’ll overstay your welcome.”

  “Oh, you go on ahead and fire me. I’ll be fine. I’ve got family. I’ve got people who look forward to me coming. Even if they are all living at the nursing home, to them, I’m the most important company they could have.”

  “I’m sure you’re right, Mrs. Griggs. Now, if you don’t mind?”

  “No, not done with you yet. What’s wrong with you? She was the best thing to cross your path, and you put her out into the cold night and walked away?”

  “Hardly. I drove her in a limo to a luxurious condominium in her name, with a fat bank account, and a seventy-percent ownership in any company she chooses to launch. I’d hardly call that dropping her on a corner.”

  “Oh, you can say that now, since it seems to make you feel better. But mark my words, you’ll regret it. You’ll not find another one good as her. Those only come once in your lifetime. I know. I had one. He’s gone now. I’ll never have another. Instead, I have myself a family of others just like me; people who have no one. You, now… you still have a choice. You’re not as over-the-hill as you’d like to think. You hide behind that. You can still get it up, I’m thinking, and can have a passel of children.”

  “Mrs. Griggs! Now that’s enough!”

  “What? Are you blushing? Well, I hope you ache between the legs, I do.”

  It was a good thing she’d finished the stairs and was in the bedrooms, vacuuming. She’d found a weak spot and was knifing me until I was ready to scream. Didn’t anyone understand?

  The doorbell rang, and Mrs. Griggs was deaf over the sound of the vacuum. I went to the door and opened it. There stood Walter.

  “Walter! Come in! Is something wrong? Is Callie okay?”

  “She’s fine. Get your coat.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “I’ve been told to fetch you. Please get your coat, Alex. Roman is waiting outside.”

  “Wait a minute. What’s this all about? Are you kidnapping me?”

  “Call it what you like. Please get your coat, or I shall have to summon Roman to help you.”

  I couldn’t believe my ears. How dare he?

  Walter went to the bottom of the stairs. “Mrs. Griggs?” he shouted. “Mrs. Griggs?”

  The vacuum went silent and she came to the head of the stairs. “Yeah? Who’s there? Oh, Walter, it’s you.”

  “Alec is going with me and he’ll be gone for a bit. You’re on your own.”

  Mrs. Griggs saluted him. “About time,” she muttered and went back to her vacuuming.

  “Sir?” Walter waited, picking up my coat. Intrigued and with nothing better to do but wait for my heart to mend, I put my arms into the sleeves and he opened the front door. I walked outside
and there, as promised, sat Roman, the limo door standing open.

  Walter gave me a small push in the small of my back. “Hurry, sir, we’ll be late.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “You’ll see.” My own words came back to haunt me.

  I slid into the limo and Walter took the seat next to me, slamming the door as soon as he was inside. Roman put the car into gear and off we glided down the drive.

  “Walter, you can’t just kidnap me.”

  “No, I can’t. You have to want to go.”

  “Where?”

  “You’ll see.”

  “Now, wait, this isn’t making any sense.” I protested.

  “It will.”

  Roman drove roughly the mile to my airstrip and there sat my jet, sparkling and dry, idling as it waited. “What the hell? I’m not going anywhere,” I said.

  Walter waited until we pulled alongside the jet before he opened the door. “Alec?”

  I knew it was useless to argue, so I slid out of the limo and climbed the short steps into the jet. Walter followed me closely behind and as soon as he was inside, the steps pulled up and the door closed.

  My pilot’s voice came over the speakers. “Please take your seats and fasten your safety belt.”

  My mouth opened to protest but that’s when I noticed a movement to my right. I took a step forward and there, in the seat next to the window, sat Callie.

  “Merry Christmas, Alec,” she said and patted the seat next to herself. “Hurry up and sit down. We want to get started.”

  I was speechless. How had she pulled this off? That’s when I understood the limitless power of Callie and Walter combined. And I, unwittingly, had given it to them.

  “What’s going on?” I strapped myself in and felt the jet begin to taxi immediately. Before I knew it, we were airborne. “Where are we going?”

  She turned her head very slowly and mouthed the words, “You’ll see.”

  Everything I said was coming back to haunt me.

  The pilot quickly gained altitude, taking us above the clouds; the storm that was suffocating Minneapolis in snow. At that altitude the sun was shining and looking down, the earth looked as though gift-wrapped in sparkling tissue paper. It was breathtaking. We flew over Lake Michigan and I could see by the shore that we were headed in a south-easterly direction. I didn't bother to ask. Everyone was answering according to a pre-arranged script and ignoring me entirely.

  Eventually, we began losing altitude and I could see a large airport below. “Where is that?”

  “Cleveland.” Callie’s voice was triumphant.

  “Cleveland? What’s in Cleveland?”

  “My home.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Callie

  Mom? Dad? We’re here!” The steps had been shoveled, and I could smell pies baking as soon as I opened the door.

  “Callie! Oh, my little girl, I’ve missed you!” Mom was wiping her hands on her holiday apron as she came from the kitchen. Dad came out from his study, his pipe hanging from the corner of his mouth.

  “Callie! Good to see you, honey,” he welcomed me, arms opened.

  “Mom, Dad, this is Alec and Walter. Alec is the one I work with. Walter is the one who takes care of me.” I saw Alec flinch and knew I’d chosen my words well.

  “Welcome, welcome, Walter, Alec.” Dad had unwittingly reversed the order of recognition Alec was accustomed to. It was as if he’d been given a script. “Come into my study, fellows. Either of you smoke?”

  Alec finally found his voice. Clearing his throat, he said, “I enjoy a good cigar,” he mentioned, and Dad’s face lit.

  “Great! I’ve got a fresh box of Swisher Sweets I’ve been waiting to break open. Callie’s mom doesn’t like their smell, but since it’s Christmas, I think she’ll let it pass. Come on in,” he repeated, swinging his arm overhead to welcome them in.

  I saw Alec’s brows rise and Walter winked at me. Everything was going according to plan. I followed Mom into the kitchen, taking off my coat and rolling up my sleeves.

  “You have Christmas cookies to cut out,” Mom informed me, and I expected nothing less. We busily set to our work and I caught her up on all the Mom-able things that had happened to me while I was gone. She listened, eyes widening from time to time. I picked up that she liked my description of Mrs. Griggs.

  “Poor soul,” she murmured. “All alone, except for a handicapped sister. You should have brought them with you,” she said.

  “Next Christmas I’ll bring them, Mom. Thanks for thinking of them.”

  We went on about our work as Mom caught me up on all the gossip from town. I heard names again for the first time in months. They sounded foreign and I was surprised how much of my life I’d driven from my memory.

  “Uh, Callie?” I looked up and Alec was straddling the kitchen doorway as if afraid to enter our women’s domain.

  “Yes?”

  “Can I speak with you a minute?”

  “Is it really important? This batch is almost ready for the oven and the batch inside will be ready in two minutes.”

  “I can wait two minutes. I’ll meet you in the living room?”

  “Okay. Be there as soon as I can.” I knew it was coming. There was only so far that Walter and I could push him before he put on the brakes and took over control again.

  I was wiping my hands on a dish towel, having just put the next batch in the oven. I walked into the living room and found him sitting in Dad’s recliner. “Be careful, that’s Dad’s chair, you know,” I warned him.

  Alec leaped up as if burned, and his arms went out for balance. “Oh, sorry. Where should I sit?”

  “It’s okay. He’s in his study right now. Sit down and tell me what you need. We have six and a half minutes until the next timer goes off.”

  “Can’t your mother pull them out?”

  “You want to tell me what you need, or argue about who’s going to pull the cookies out of the oven?”

  “Okay, okay, geez.” He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. I knew the scent of that hair and imagined myself sitting on his lap.

  “So, what did you need? You hungry?”

  “No, nothing like that. I want to know what’s going on?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Don’t play games with me. What are we doing in Cleveland?”

  “I told you, this is my home. We’re here for Christmas. I thought that much was obvious?”

  “Yes, of course, but I never agreed to this.”

  “You didn’t?”

  “You know I didn’t.”

  “Huh. Well, now you do know. My parents opened their home to you and since you have nothing to do but sit in that big empty estate and feel superior to everyone, I think you should be grateful to them.”

  “Feel superior to whom?”

  “Everyone.”

  “What on earth are you talking about?”

  “It’s simple. Walter and I have been discussing it. We’ve finally hit on the realization that you are trying to become an island, untouched by anyone who might care for you. You’re afraid to love because you’re afraid they’ll leave.”

  “Callie…”

  “Timer’s going off!” Mom called from the kitchen.

  I held out my finger. “Wait right there. I’ll be back in three minutes.”

  I scooted off the sofa and was out of the room before he could argue. I knew he’d be steaming by the time I returned. It’s good for him, I thought. About time someone else was in control.

  Sure enough, when I returned, he was already standing. “Callie, I’m going to get a hotel room.”

  “Oh, no, you’re not. You’re staying right here.”

  “I don’t want to impose, and anyway I’m more comfortable on my own.”

  “Yes, I know. That’s the whole problem, and most of the reason we’re here. Your days of being alone are over. It’s your turn to learn a lesson, Alec, and I’m the teacher. You’re going to learn what
if feels like to have family—people who aren’t perfect, but don’t care about your bank balance. You don’t have to lecture them, and, in fact, they’ll even let you win at dominoes if you behave yourself. I’ll let you eat some of my cookies and tomorrow, we’ll open gifts and there will be something there for you, simply because that’s what family is all about.”

  His face flushed. “Gifts? I haven’t brought any.”

  “You don’t have to. This isn’t a tit for tat situation, Alec. It’s okay to receive without giving. That’s because this is family. Now, sit down.”

  “No, really, I’ll just find a hotel.”

  “You can’t. The taxi dropped us off and the driver went home to his family. The hotels are booked. You’ll be staying here, on the sofa, and you’ll like it. Got that?”

  His body actually moved backward with the force of my challenge. I loved it. He nodded without further argument.

  “Good, now get back in there and help Dad smoke up those horrible-smelling cigars. By the way, I lied. I hate the smell of cigars.” With that I was out of the room and left him to stew in his own, controlling juices.

  Two batches of cookies later I heard the T.V. come on in Dad’s study and all three male voices were debating the most recent football play. I smiled. It was good to be home for Christmas.

  On Christmas morning I crept down the stairs to find Alec sound asleep on the sofa, his long legs hanging off the edge. I pattered quietly over to him and bent to kiss him on the cheek. He stirred, and I lifted the blankets to cover him from where he’d kicked them on the floor. “What time is it?” he muttered sleepily.

  “It’s early, just after five.”

  “Five? In the morning? What are you doing up?”

  “Came down to check on you.”

  Alec rolled to his back and his arms encircled my waist before I had a chance to react. “Come here, you.” He lifted me and sat me on his chest. I wore a sleepshirt with nothing beneath. His hands discovered that fact and slid beneath the silky fabric. “God, you feel good,” he said, running his fingertips over my breasts. My nipples responded, standing to attention. “Just beautiful,” he whispered.