Resisting the Billionaire

by C. C. Snow

  Chapter 5

  “Cora, I don’t want to go to school today. Can I stay home?” Marcus stood at the kitchen counter, his gaze fixed on the half-empty plate in front of him. His hair flopped over his eyes and I reminded myself to take him for a haircut soon.

  “What’s wrong? Are you sick?” Of its own volition, the back of my hand went to his forehead. It was something my mom did whenever we said we felt unwell. I wasn’t even sure I would know if he had a fever from feel alone.

  He pushed away my hand. “I’m not sick.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “I don’t want to go to that stupid school. I’m not learning anything anyway.” He looked mutinous. Most of the time Marcus acted like a grown adult, but when he was in a temper, I was reminded of how young he really was.

  I stifled a sigh. The weekend had been wonderful. The trip to the steakhouse was a treat for both of us and we enjoyed our meal enormously. He was excited about the two pairs of new jeans we bought for him. I felt optimistic about our relationship for the first time in a while, but it looked like Marcus’s moodiness had returned.

  “I know you’re not being challenged, Marcus, but you have to be in school. It’s the law.” I tried to be patient.

  “Then it’s a stupid law. Just call the school and say I’m sick.”

  He said the last sentence almost pleadingly and I felt another zing of guilt. Even though I made more money as Jake’s EA, I was still far from being able to put him into a private school. I had been hoping to hold off for another year; I would have some money saved by then.

  “But you’re not sick. I’m sure once you’re there with your friends, you’ll be glad you went.” I studied his unhappy face with concern. “Did something happen at school?” Maybe I needed to call his school counselor.

  My little brother’s face got alarmingly red before he exploded. “I hate school! Mom would have let me stay home!”

  “I’m sorry, Marcus. I’m sure if Mom were here, she’d want you to go to school too.”

  “That’s not true! Mom would have understood. You never listen to me. You always treat me like a little kid. I hate you!” He picked up his backpack and barreled his way to the door.

  “Marcus!” I knew he was lashing out, but each word was a direct strike to my soul.

  The front door slammed behind him.

  Feeling like an utter failure, I dropped my head into my hands. I didn’t normally indulge in tears, but grief and self-doubt mixed toxically and powerfully, bursting through my control. Tears streamed onto my palms, seeping through the cracks in my fingers. My shoulders shook as raw, ugly sounds emerged from my throat.

  I missed my mom so damn much. Marcus was right. She would have understood him so much better. In so many ways, I was finding my way like a blind person. I was barely able to get my own life together; how was I supposed to take care of a teenager?

  I curled up on the sofa and sobbed, indulging myself in a cathartic cry.

  My eyes were puffy and tender when I showed up for work. Alana looked triumphant when she saw me, but my misery insulated me from caring about her pettiness.

  As soon as Jake saw me, he honed in on my red eyes and demanded, “Cora, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, Jake. Just a rough morning.” I winced at the sound of my hoarse voice.

  “Is there anything I can do?” he asked gently, his look almost affectionate.

  I shook off the ridiculous thought. I had given myself a stern lecture over the weekend about my inappropriate feelings for my boss, but apparently I hadn’t absorbed any of it.

  “No, it’s fine. Really. I won’t let it affect my work. Let’s go over your day!”

  His lips pressed together in annoyance, but he didn’t say anything. I was relieved when he launched into his usual string of instructions related to meetings and projects. I found solace in the busyness of the morning. Every now and then, I felt his eyes on me as he came and went from his office, but my posture didn’t invite him to stop.

  “Who are you?” A heavily accented voice demanded.

  My head snapped up and I met the contemptuous gaze of Carolina Oliveira. She was even more gorgeous in person than on the cover of a magazine. Her café-au-lait skin was flawless. Her cheekbones could have been cut from glass. The skin-tight black dress she wore hugged her figure to dramatic effect.

  “Oh!” I said stupidly.

  Her eyes narrowed. “Who are you?” she repeated with impatience.

  “I’m Cora Branton, Jake’s new assistant,” I said briskly, trying to not let her rattle me.

  “You call him Jake?” Her eyes were slits now and I wanted to tell her it was not a good look for her, but I swallowed the catty comment.

  “Mr. Weston insisted. Why don’t you have a seat and I’ll check if he’s ready to see you?”

  She drew herself up in exaggerated affront. “I do not need you to call. Jake is always happy to see me.”

  Jamie was right. This woman was a piece of work. “I’m sure he will be ecstatic to see you.” That seemed to soothe her ruffled feathers. “But, I still need to check to make sure he’s not in the middle of something important.”

  Instantly, she was all prickles and thorns again. “I am important! I am his amor.”

  Don’t roll your eyes, Cora. “Ms. Oliveira, if you’ll just wait–”

  But she was already at Jake’s door. Without even knocking, she barged in.

  I stood up from my chair, but when there was no angry shout from Jake, I planted my butt back in my seat. The supermodel threw me a triumphant look over her shoulders before she shut the door.

  I stared at the door for a long moment, battling the bizarre rush of emotions. If Jake was shallow enough to overlook her character flaws because she was beautiful, then maybe they deserved each other.

  I shook my head at that thought. A few weeks ago, I would have said that the arrogant woman was a perfect match for His Exaltedness, but that had all changed. I hadn’t call Jake that nickname in weeks. He was still infuriating, but he didn’t deserve someone like Carolina Oliveira.

  I refused to acknowledge the other emotion scratching at the edges of my consciousness. I rubbed my forehead. This morning was just all around shitty. My thoughts veered toward my fight with Marcus and I almost gave in to another bout of tears.

  “So when are you going to let me take you out to lunch?”

  I groaned at the sound of Troy’s voice. I so didn’t want to deal with him today and raised my head to tell him so.

  “Hey, what’s wrong, Cora?” The look of surprise and compassion on his face drove away my irritation. Apparently, my face still showed the ravages of my crying jag.

  I flapped my hand in dismissal. “It’s nothing.”

  His lips thinned in determination. Marching behind my desk, he clasped my arm. “That’s it. You’re going to come to lunch with me and tell me all about it.”

  “Troy! I can’t. I’ve got work to do!”

  “It will be waiting for you in an hour.”

  He snagged my purse and stuffed it into my arms and tugged me behind him. Unless I was willing to cause a scene and kick and scream, I felt helpless. I had to lengthen my stride or risk being dragged.

  “What about Jake?” I gasped, desperate for an excuse to stop him.

  “Jake, I’m taking Cora to lunch!” Troy bellowed and hustled me out of the office. I heard the faint sound of Jake stomping through the office, but we were already at the elevator, the doors sliding closed. The last thing I saw was Jake’s scowling face glaring at us.

  “Oh God! He’s going to be so mad.”

  “Fuck it! Why would he be mad? You obviously need a break and he can’t deny you a lunch hour.”

  I wasn’t about to tell him his brother warned me to stay away from him. Jake was probably going to fire me for this.

  Troy took me to a quiet Italian restaurant and got us a table in the back. Against my protests, he ordered us both glasses of wine and the house special.
/>
  “Railroading people is a Weston trait, I see,” I said dryly. Somewhere along the way, I had given in. I had no fight left in me today.

  Not offended one whit by my comment, Troy responded mildly, “We Weston men have many wonderful and unique traits. And yes railroading is one of our more renowned talents.” His eyes widened as if he were sharing something worthy of awe.

  To my surprise, a giggle escaped. Then I was full on laughing. It was a nice release after this morning’s build-up of negativity.

  He grinned, his blue-green eyes dancing. “See, I knew I could cheer you up. So tell me all about it.”

  I shook my head, a smile still on my lips. “Nothing to tell. Just a fight with my brother.” And an encounter with your brother’s lover.

  “Yup, I know all about those. What was it about?”

  I considered his offer for a moment, but I finally shook my head. “No, let’s not talk about it. It’ll blow over.”

  “I may not look like it, but I’m a good listener.”

  “I’m sure you are.” There was something very open and warm about the younger Weston brother that put me at ease. I touched his arm and smiled. “I appreciate the offer, but really, it’s just sibling stuff.”

  He must have decided I wasn’t going to budge and nodded in understanding. “When Jake and I were kids, we fought over everything. I’m surprised my mom isn’t in an asylum. We drove her crazy with our antics.”

  Jake was always so self-contained, it was hard to imagine him as a disobedient child. “Oh?” I raised my eyebrow in curiosity.

  That was all the prompting Troy needed to tell me stories that had me in stitches. It made it hard to eat the scrumptious linguine, but somehow I managed to finish everything on my plate.

  “Holy cow! Your parents are saints,” I gasped, holding onto my sore stomach.

  “So they tell us every chance they get.” He ran his fingers through his golden hair, sending the strands in all directions. His full lips curved up mischievously and his blue-green eyes glinted with mirth.

  I sighed softly. “You Weston men sure are pretty.”

  I didn’t realize I said it out loud until Troy purred, “Oh, that’s good to know. I’ll make sure to pass on the compliment to Jake.”

  My mouth flapped open and closed and my eyes rounded in horror. “No! Please don’t! I didn’t mean to say it out loud!” My fingers were claws digging into his arms.

  Troy must have seen I was in a full-blown panic mode because he said soothingly, “Hey, calm down. I was just kidding.” He patted my hand. “Why are you so freaked out about a little harmless comment?”

  “Jake would flip out if I’m not completely professional,” I confessed. “He fired his previous EAs because they were personally interested in him. Not that I am interested,” I hurriedly added, “but I don’t want my comment to be misconstrued.”

  Disgust crossed his face. “Oh, Jake’s just wary because of that bitch, Sophia.”

  “Who’s Sophia?”

  He assessed my face for a moment before he lowered his voice. “She was Jake’s assistant a couple of years back. She was a barracuda. Despite Jake’s cool exterior, underneath he is a big softie. He never could resist a damsel in distress and Sophia Chandler played an Oscar-worthy role of a woman down on her luck.

  First she claimed she didn’t have an apartment because her roommate’s boyfriend was moving in and they wanted their privacy. Since she wasn’t on the lease, she was essentially homeless. Jake fell for her lies and offered to put her up in a company condo. Then a supposed ex-boyfriend started stalking her so she clung to Jake like Velcro. Long story short, Jake spent a lot of time with her and he fell into a relationship with her. It was very short-lived because he realized she liked being a billionaire’s girlfriend more than she liked him. She tried to get him back, but he rebuffed her.

  Then little things started to go awry with our business deals. Rivals had our proprietary information. We started to look into a possible leak when Sophia sued Jake for sexual harassment. He was furious, but he didn’t want any bad publicity for the company so the lawyers settled with her. Then we uncovered evidence that the bitch had been selling confidential information to our competitors. Apparently, she was willing to do whatever was needed to get her grubby hands on money, whether that was as Jake’s girlfriend or as a spy. But by the time we found out, she had already left the country. Jake blamed himself and even tendered his resignation to the board. Of course they refused.”

  The story threw a whole new light on Jake’s distaste for assistants who were trying to snare him. I grimaced in sympathy. “What a horrible woman. He must have felt so betrayed.”

  “Yeah. He felt so guilty about the failed deals that he worked even harder to make up for the lost revenue. He worked longer and longer hours, determined to prove to everyone that he could be trusted with the company.”

  That would explain why Jake was so merciless when it came to the interests of the company. He felt like he had to atone for his previous lapse in judgment. My heart ached for him.

  Troy’s lips flattened in anger. “After the episode with Sophia, he became more cynical and distrustful about the people around him. Family is the one exception. You seem to be softening him up, though.”

  I shook my head at his misguided impression. “No, I don’t think so. Please, Troy. Promise me you won’t mention my comment to Jake. At best, it’ll make things awkward between us. And I like working for Jake, so…” I trailed off uncertainly.

  Troy stared at me for what felt like a long time before he smiled slyly. “I promise I won’t tell.”

  I had the uneasy feeling he was mentally rubbing his hands together in glee.

  We talked about inconsequential things and I relaxed. I was glad I came out to lunch after all.

  When we returned to the office, Troy insisted on walking me back to my desk. As if he were listening for our return, Jake appeared in his doorway, his face thunderous. I was surprised a visit with his girlfriend hadn’t cheered him up.

  When Troy witnessed Jake’s dark mood, his good humor seemed to grow. His eyes glinted with amusement as he turned to me. “Thanks for your lovely companionship, darling. We must do this again soon.”

  I watched Jake’s face twist in fury and a knot formed at the pit of my stomach.

  Troy shocked me with a peck on my cheek before he spun on his heel jauntily and walked out of the room, humming an upbeat tune under his breath.

  “Did you have a nice lunch?” There was a distinct growl in Jake’s voice. He looked like a volcano ready to erupt with the slightest provocation.

  “Um… yes?” As soon as my squeaky voice came out, I chided myself. He had no right to tell me to not go out with Troy. I raised my chin and said defiantly, “Your brother is very charming. Speaking of charming, where’s your girlfriend?”

  It came out sarcastic and scornful. I mentally slapped a hand over my mouth.

  His eyes narrowed at my tone, but then inexplicably his lips curved in amusement. “She gave me exactly what I needed.” With that suggestive remark hanging between us, he walked back into his office.

  I collapsed into my chair. The stress I had before my lunch with Troy had now returned tenfold.

  Something squeezed in my chest and I brought my hand up to massage the achy spot. I made a note to buy some antacids on my break. It looked like heartburn was becoming a regular part of my life with this job.

  Chapter 6

  I stretched my neck and shoulders and returned to the two memos I had to draft for Jake.

  My mind kept getting distracted by the angry scene that played out with Marcus this morning. He’d begged me to let him stay home again. When I tried to probe on why he didn’t want to go to school, he had clammed up and left the house, his eyes full of dread. I called the school counselor, but he said Marcus had not come to see him about any issues.

  At moments like these, I felt so damn unfit to be his guardian.

  Forcing my mind to th
e task at hand, I trudged through the first memo. My cell phone rang just as I opened the second file.

  Shit! It could only have something to do with Marcus. It was a sad statement on my life, but I didn’t have a lot of friends who would call me.

  Fumbling in my purse, I found my phone and answered.

  “Is this Cora Branton?” The female voice sounded official and my stomach sank.

  “Um…yes, this is she.”

  “Ms. Branton, this is Laura Woodsen, the principal at Westmore High School. I’m calling in regards to your brother, Marcus Branton.”

  “Is he okay? Is he hurt?” I gripped my phone hard.

  “Ms. Branton, your brother is fine, but there’s been an incident at the school and I need you to come in immediately.”

  “What kind of incident? Can I talk to Marcus?” I got to my feet in alarm, my heart thumping with fear.

  “There’s been a physical altercation between your brother and another student and he’s with the nurse right now.”

  “Oh God! I thought you said he was fine. Shouldn’t you take him to the hospital?” I braced my hand on the desk and took short breaths. The whole situation was unbelievable. My brother was a nerd. He had never hit anybody in his life. Did someone beat him up? Was he being bullied?

  “Ms. Branton, please calm down. Your brother was not seriously injured, I assure you. But I do need to discuss the situation with you in person. When will you be able to get to the school?” The principal’s voice was stern.

  I looked at my watch. “I’ll catch a cab. I should be there within half an hour.”

  “I’ll see you then, Ms. Branton.”

  “Okay.” But she had already hung up.

  I started to walk to Jake’s office and realized my whole body was shaking. Taking a few breaths to steady myself, I knocked on his door. My eyes closed in defeat. First I pissed him off by having lunch with his brother yesterday and now I had to leave early. I was asking to be fired.

  “Come in.”

  I stuck my head through the door. “Um…Jake, I’m sorry, but I have to leave for the day for a family emergency.”