Billionaire Swirl Bundle (A Box Set of THREE BWWM Romance Novels)

by Ward, Vivian

  Since I wasn’t able to talk to Natalia like I wanted to, I simply said good morning to both of them before making myself a cup of coffee. While adding my cream and sugar into the cup, I glanced over in their direction at the same time that Natalia was glancing over at me. Neither of us said a word. Instead, she flashed a knowing grin at me and I returned it with a wink. There would be plenty of time to talk to Natalia later. The fact that she flashed that sexy smile in my direction was a good indication that she was thinking the same thing I was.

  Since she was busy doing her job, I decided the best thing for me to do was to get to work as well. I had an important meeting coming up about acquiring a large Japanese technology company, which would bring a lot of new international business my way. The meeting was set up at the last minute so I had a lot of work to do in order to be ready for it. Specifically, that meant I had to do a lot of research on the company to see what their profits and losses have looked like over the past several years. The research was arduous work that I usually relegated to someone else on my staff, but this was too important and time-sensitive. I was going to have to sit down and do the research myself.

  I had only been in my office for a few minutes before the phone started to ring. Much to my surprise, the intercom beeped and Bailey alerted me that my mother was on the phone.

  “Hello?” I answered the phone.

  “Hello Kaiden, what are you doing tonight?”

  “I’m just going over some research for an acquisition I’m making. Why? What’s going on?”

  “Well, me and your father are going to be in town this evening and we were wondering if you’d like to get together for dinner. Maybe we could go to that little French place you’ve been raving about.”

  “I’d love to mom, but tonight isn’t really good for me. I have a ton of work to do and not a whole lot of time to do it.”

  “That’s a shame. Your father and I haven’t seen you in so long. Are you sure you can’t get away for just a little while?”

  “I’m sure mom. Are you and dad only in town for the night?”

  “Yes, we’ll be leaving tomorrow morning.”

  “I’ll tell you what, why I don’t see if my cook wants some overtime? You and dad can come over here and we can have dinner together without me having to take too much time off from work.”

  “That will be wonderful. About six o’clock okay?”

  “That’s fine. I’ll see you guys then.”

  My cook created a four-course meal. For the appetizer he made wild mushroom and Foie gras terrine with toasted hazelnuts, Chioggia beets, and brioche toast. The second course featured seafood risotto with ruby red shrimp, calamari, Jersey tomatoes, pancetta, wilted arugula, and Calabrian chile. For the main course, I requested Maine lobster and beef short ribs with Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, potato leek puree and a white port emulsion. As if we would have any room left after eating all of that food, the cook insisted on making a dessert of raspberry soufflé with vanilla ice cream. My parents wouldn’t get to eat at the French restaurant they wanted to try, but I could almost guarantee the food would be as good if not better than what they would get there.

  Lupita had been in the kitchen while I was planning the menu with my cook and overheard our conversation. She knew that it was a big deal for my parents to be coming by for dinner. She also remembered from previous visits how particular my mother is about things so she offered to stay past her shift to help serve the meal for me and my parents. I accepted her offer and asked if she could ask Natalia to help as well. I didn’t necessarily need her to help serve the meal, but I wanted to be able to talk to her after my parents had left for the evening.

  §

  As the cook prepared the evening meal, the aroma of the food made the entire house smell amazing. I still had so much to do and no time whatsoever to get it done. As usual, I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I still had hours and hours of research to do but with my parents coming in, it would have to wait.

  Still going through mountains of research, I heard the doorbell ring. As was customary, my parents were exactly on time. I’ve always wondered how they had the uncanny ability to always turn up exactly when they’re supposed to. I like to picture them sitting in their car with a stopwatch, waiting for the precise moment to exit their vehicle and make their way to the front door, only ringing the bell the moment the second-hand hits twelve.

  Lupita answered the door and ushered my parents into the house while I saved what I was working on. I met them down in the foyer and accompanied them into the formal dining room where we sat to talk while waiting for dinner to be served. I’ve never been one for idle chit chat, but my mother loves to gossip. I’m pretty sure that if talking about other people was a paying career, it would have been her full-time job a long time ago. As I listened to her rag on her neighbors and gossip about our family doctor’s lawsuit, I continuously nodded my head as I poured us a glass of wine. Hopefully I have enough in the cellar to get us through the evening.

  For my mother, one glass of wine was followed by another, and then another, and so on. The more she drank, the more she talked. Typically, once she’s on a roll, her disrespectfulness begins to kick in. I was starting to think dinner was going to go off without a hitch until my mother had the glass of wine that put her over the edge of being a woman with a conscience to becoming a woman who didn’t give a fuck about anything.

  Up until that point, Lupita had been bringing in all of the food by herself. Since she had been a longtime employee, my mother was very familiar with her. When it was time for the main course, there was too much for her to bring on her own. Lupita carried in the lobster and short ribs while Natalia followed behind her with the butter and lemon. My mom looked up from the table when she walked in.

  “Well, who do we have here?” she asked as she looked over at me.

  “Oh, mom, this is Natalia. Natalia this is my mother.”

  Natalia extended her hand to my mom. “It’s very nice to meet you, Mrs. Melrose.”

  My mother shook her hand but didn’t say anything to her. Instead, she glared at Natalia. Fortunately, Natalia shrugged it off and began helping Lupita serve the rest of the main course. When all the food had been served and the girls were about to leave the room, my mom decided to start running her mouth.

  “I think it’s so sweet that you gave a minority a job. I mean, I know Lupita’s been here a long time, but I believe that this is the first black employee I’ve ever seen here. Good for you Kaiden.”

  Natalia looked at me in confusion.

  “Mom, I think you’ve had a little much to drink. You don’t know what you’re saying.”

  “That’s nonsense! I know exactly what I’m saying. I’m not trying to be offensive or anything. I just think what you’re doing is a good thing, that’s all. Anytime you can get a minority to actually work instead of living on the food stamps that our tax dollars pay for, that’s a win for the working class.”

  “Mother, that’s enough.”

  “Stop being so sensitive Kaiden. It’s not like what I’m saying isn’t the truth. What do you have dear? Three or four welfare babies running around at home?”

  I couldn’t take anymore. I stood up from the table determined to shut my mother up once and for all.

  “Mom that is enough out of you. Natalia was not hired because she was on welfare or anything like that. She was hired because we thought she would be a good candidate for the job. So far, she has been a hard worker and I am thrilled to have her as part of the staff. I would appreciate it if you didn’t talk to my employees like that.”

  “Okay, okay. I don’t know why you always get so testy.”

  I straightened my tie and sat back down at the table. After taking my seat, I looked up to see Natalia glaring at me. She was upset and had every right to be but judging by the way she was staring, it seemed like it was me she was pissed off at. I figured she would be happy that I stood up to my mother when she was talking so
poorly about her. Apparently that wasn’t the case. After everything that just happened, I decided it would be best to talk to her in private after my parents left. I thanked Lupita and Natalia and told them that would be all. Natalia stormed out of the room in anger.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Natalia

  I couldn’t believe the way that Kaiden’s mother spoke to me. She made me feel like the scum of the Earth. I guess that was her point. If she had a goal to point out to her son that, as a black woman, I was the lowest common denominator in society, she had certainly succeeded. I was seething with so much anger that I was having a hard time keeping it under control. Kaiden was no better. He treated me like I was nothing more than a lowly member of the staff. In front of his parents, he was so cold and professional when he talked about me. I had to close my mouth before they saw me standing there like a fool. What I really wanted to do was go off on him—and her, but I knew it was best to keep my mouth shut.

  Regret was starting to take over. I was already regretting the fact that I had slept with Kaiden. After the way he had just treated me, I began to see things in a different way. To him, the sex we had was just that. Nothing more than sex. To me, it was more. There were feelings involved, and I never let people in. I always have my guard up. I’ve built walls around my heart and things like this are exactly the reason why. There was something about him that made me go against my better judgment and let that guard down. At least for one night, he made me feel like I was the only girl in the world when he looked me in the eyes. I should have known better.

  I was shaking with rage. It had been a long time since I’d allowed myself to get so angry. Normally, I can let things slide off my back but not this time. That woman struck a nerve. Fortunately for me, Lupita was there and she’s never had a problem listening to me vent.

  “Can you believe the nerve of that woman?” I vented to Lupita through gritted teeth. “How dare she say those things about me? And for what reason? Just because I’m black? That’s bullshit!”

  “Sweetheart, you need to take a deep breath and try to calm down,” Lupita replied. “The opinions of some bigoted old woman is not worth you getting this upset over.”

  “I know I shouldn’t be this angry, but I can’t help it. I’m fuming right now. I’ve worked hard my whole life. I’ve probably worked harder than she’s ever had to for the few things that I actually have. Do you know how frustrating it is to work your fingers to the bone and at the end of the day, you still barely have enough to scrape by? That’s how my whole life has been.”

  “I know it has, dear. It’s been hard for a lot of us.”

  “Exactly! It’s been hard, but we’ve persevered the best that we know how. I’ve never once gone on welfare or food stamps. Trust me, I would have loved too. There’s been plenty of nights in my life I’ve gone to bed hungry because I was in between paychecks, but I chose not to go on food stamps or welfare because I am blessed enough to have a job. There’s way too many people out there with no job and no way to feed their family. I would feel like I was taking away the help that someone else desperately needed. And don’t even get me started on that welfare baby comment. I had to stop myself from popping her right in the mouth.”

  “She’s from a different time, though. You have to remember that. She comes from a time when segregation was normal and black folks couldn’t even use the same bathroom as she did. With the sheltered life she’s lived, she’s still in the mindset of being able to say whatever she wants and getting confused when someone gets offended by it. To her, she probably thought she was paying you a compliment by saying you weren’t on welfare.”

  “Oh give me a break Lupita. She asked how many welfare babies I had. There’s no possible way that wasn’t meant to be offensive. I don’t care how old she is or how things used to be, you just don’t talk to people like that.”

  Lupita didn’t know what to say. She shrugged her shoulders and made her way into the kitchen. The cook was working on getting dessert together, but we still had quite a bit of time before it would be time to serve it. I hoped that she would be able to handle the final course on her own. If I walked back into that room, I doubted I was going to be able to keep my mouth shut. There were a million things I wanted to say to both Kaiden and his racist mother. I felt like I needed to keep venting or I was going to go crazy.

  “Kaiden pissed me off too. You would think he would have at least attempted to defend me. But nope, he just let it roll off his back like I don’t matter?”

  “Honey, I think we may have been in a different room. I did hear Kaiden stick up for you. He told her you weren’t hired because of the color of your skin nor were you recruited to get you off of welfare.”

  “Yeah, I know he said that but that’s not good enough for me. He defended me in a professional manner but not a personal one. He could have told his mom that he liked me but instead I was treated as just another employee.”

  “What do you mean he could have told her he liked you? What’s going on Natalia?”

  Oh shit, what had I said? Her mouth popped open and she used her hand to cover it, concealing the gasp she’d just let out. I was so upset that I let my big mouth run a little too much. I could have told her that my words had come out wrong, but I didn’t want to lie to her. Besides, she knows me too well and would have seen right through it.

  “If I tell you, you have to promise me that you won’t tell anyone, especially anyone that works here.”

  “That’s fine, I promise. I just wanna know what’s up with you.”

  “Okay, I’m not sure how to put this so I’ll just come out and say it. Me and Kaiden, we kind of went on a date last night.”

  “Are you messing with me? I don’t think I’ve ever seen that man go on a date.”

  “I swear on the Holy Bible that he and I went out last night. He had a limo come to the house to pick us up and everything.”

  “Girl, this is crazy. Where did you guys go? Probably some fancy restaurant where you couldn’t pronounce anything and the portions are the size of a tablespoon.”

  “No, it was nothing like that. He took me to a nightclub so we could dance,” I lied, not wanting to betray his trust by telling her about the sex club, even though I was highly pissed at him. “He’s actually a lot of fun. Not nearly as uptight as he seems when he’s in the house.”

  “That’s crazy. Are you sure you aren’t making all of this up?”

  “I swear Lupita. Have I ever lied to you about anything before?”

  “Well, no.”

  “Okay then. But that’s not all. After our date, I came back here and spent the night with him.”

  “What does that mean? Spend the night?”

  “It means I spent the night. With Kaiden. In his bed.”

  “So you’re saying the two of you…”

  “Had sex? Yes, we had sex and it was unbelievable! Stupid me, I thought it meant something but apparently I was wrong and now I’m so confused I don’t know what to think anymore.”

  “Oh Natalia, you only have to look at that man to know he’s a playboy. I’m not sure what you were thinking.”

  “I’m not sure either. It felt so right and I didn’t want to miss out on it. Now, I’m dealing with tons of regret and it makes me sick to my stomach. I don’t know what I’m gonna do.”

  Just then, Kaiden came around the corner and into the kitchen. Surprised to see him, I jumped.

  “Lupita, would you mind giving Natalia and I a few moments? I need to speak to her in private,” he asked her. Part of me was hoping she wouldn’t go because I wasn’t sure I wanted to be left alone with him. On the other hand, I was dying to know what he had to say for himself. I was sure he’d try to defend his actions somehow. I’ve heard that’s kind of his thing.

  “Sure thing Mr. Melrose. Just yell if you need me,” Lupita said as she left the kitchen and disappeared into another part of the house. I crossed my arms and trained my eyes on the floor. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. I wa
s much too angry.

  “Natalia, I know you’re hurt and pissed,” he began. “I just want you to know that I am truly sorry for what happened in there.”

  That caught me off guard. The last thing I expected him to do was apologize. I was especially surprised that he led off the conversation with an apology. I figured if I got an apology at all, it would be a thinly veiled one where he wouldn’t actually have to say he was sorry.

  “I don’t understand, Kaiden. Why didn’t you do more to defend me? Why didn’t you tell her about us?” I asked.

  “It’s not that simple Natalia. If you couldn’t tell, my mother isn’t exactly the open-minded type. She’s still stuck in the times when black women were relegated to the back of public transportation. It wasn’t the right time.”

  “The right time? When exactly would be the right time? Let me guess. She’s getting up there in age so maybe you can just hold out until she kicks the bucket? Then she’d never have to know that her baby boy slummed it up with the nigger girl.”