Someone knocked on the door. Sighing, Monica wandered over to it, hoping it was nothing more than someone selling girl scout cookies. When she opened it she found instead it was Jonny, holding onto what looked like a take-away bag. “I didn’t feel like cooking tonight, so I thought I’d pick up an Indian, and then I couldn’t help thinking about you being here alone, which for some inexplicable reason led to me buying enough for two.” He smiled. “Want to share?”
“That sounds wonderful.” She hadn’t realised she was hungry until she could smell the scent of curry. “Come in and make yourself at home. I’ll grab a couple of plates.”
“You don’t mind?”
“Why would I mind when you brought food?” She laughed. “I hope you don’t mind eating on the couch. I don’t have a lot of space here, so I made the decision not to have a table.”
“It’s nice.” He looked around as he stepped into the room. “Cosy.” Their eyes met. “My place isn’t much bigger, to be honest with you. I’ve never felt the need to have that much space, so I bought a studio apartment myself, and it’s been working out well for me.”
“Another way in which you’re not like the average billionaire.”
“I still have trouble thinking of myself in that way. Dad… he’s the billionaire and I was just his son, at least until I took over the business. Now the money’s as much mine as it is his, but I still feel the need to check in with him before I do anything, because it won’t be mine for a while yet.” Their eyes met. “I always wanted to make my own money. That was important to me, so that’s what I did. Dad offered to help out a few times and I only ever took him up on it once. It’s who I am.”
***
Monica didn’t realise she was asleep until she woke up and when she did she had her head on someone. The T.V. was still on, but far quieter than it had been before, and when she sat up she felt his arm slipping off her shoulders. “I didn’t think you’d still be here.”
Jonny smiled. “I wasn’t going to leave you when you were asleep.” He shrugged. “Plus it’s nice to have the company. Normally it would be me alone with the T.V.”
“I’m sure my snoring was great company.”
“You don’t snore.”
“An ex said I do, although we didn’t exactly part on good terms.”
“He was probably trying to make up reasons as to why he didn’t want to be with you.”
“Probably.” She shook her head. “I think it was because I was working too much and he didn’t want to work at all. He was one of those people who preferred, if he had a choice, to sit on his ass playing video games rather than earning a living. At one point he was talking of becoming pro, only that never happened. I wasn’t at all surprised by that. I never once thought he would go pro. It was just a way of trying to get me to stop nagging him.”
“I’ve always worked, in some way. When I was younger it was as a cowboy. I used to travel around the country taking part in competitions of all kinds, and when I wasn’t competing I’d be working normally. The times I was home Dad was teaching me about business, and money management, although the money management was something he taught me when I was young. I used to have this little jar he’d put my allowance in, so I could see it growing. With the little bit I got each week I could buy something small, or I could leave it in the jar for longer and buy something big, and I almost always chose to leave it for as long as possible.”
“We didn’t have an allowance.” Monica looked at the T.V., thinking about how different their childhoods had been. “Mom and Dad didn’t have the money for something like that, so they always did what they could to make our birthdays and Christmas special, even if they didn’t have much at the time. It’s amazing what you can do when you don’t have much. That taught me to be careful with my own money. If I got given money for special occasions it would always go away until I really needed something.”
She looked at Jonny and their eyes met. Then his eyes flicked to her lips, which made it obvious what was coming next. “Does this count as a date?”
“Yeah, I think it does.”
“Good.”
His head slowly moved towards hers and then their lips met. Unlike a lot of kisses in the past it was obvious Jonny actually knew what he was doing, which made it much easier to melt into the sensation than she wanted it to be.
***
“Morning.” Jonny smiled at her. “What do we have on the schedule today?”
“A couple of meetings.” Monica couldn’t stop herself from thinking about what it had been like when he kissed her, and she had to stop herself from staring at his lips far more than she wanted to. “Both your cousins are here to give a progress report on what’s happening with their newly created departments.”
“Great. Do you want to go out tonight, on a proper date?”
“I don’t know.” Disappointment filled his eyes. “I’m not certain anything could top last night.”
Laughing, he shook his head. “An impromptu curry is what you think of as a wonderful date?”
“That might come as a surprise to you, but yeah, it is. It shows how thoughtful you are.”
“There’s this lovely little Italian I know. I’ve been going in there since I was a kid, and it was where I originally wanted to take you for our first date. Obviously I can’t do that, but I still want to take you there, because I think you’ll really like it.”
“Sounds wonderful.” Their eyes met. “I heard from my parents. Greg is slowly getting back the use of his legs, but he has to learn how to walk again.”
“How long will that take?”
“As long as it takes. It’s not something that anyone knows. Greg may learn quickly and become the man he was in not time at all, or it might be much more difficult. The doctor said it was different for everyone who found themselves in that sort of position.”
“Do you need help with the medical bills?”
“We’re going to be fine. I’ve got plenty stashed away.”
“You lived in New York.”
“Living in New York doesn’t always mean spending out all your income and I definitely didn’t. I told you my parents taught me how to be careful with money. The last thing I’m going to do is waste my money on frivolous things I don’t need.”
“Instead you put it away in case of an emergency.”
“Which is the logical thing to do.” She smiled. “I have the progress reports from your cousins in these two files, so you can go over it all before they arrive, and then after that you have a meeting with one of your new developers to talk about building a house on some land you owned.”
“Dad got that for me when I was thirteen.” Jonny shook his head. “We’ve talked a lot about what I’m going to do with it and I wanted you to come with me.”
“Why?”
“If I’m going to be building a home for the two of us I want to make certain it’s perfect.”
She stared at him. “We’ve been on one date, and you’re still planning out future.”
“Honestly, you’re a woman who enjoys curry dates, which means I’m never going to let you leave me. You are perfect.”
***
The developer looked at Jonny. “What, exactly, were you planning for this land?”
“I have no idea. There’s more here than I thought there was.”
“Business or pleasure?”
“Pleasure.”
“So you’re going to be building a home for yourself, and whoever you end up marrying?”
Jonny glanced back at Monica. “Yeah, I am, but this seems like too much space for one home.”
“Only you would say that.” The developer shook his head. “Most people would be planning how to use every inch of this space, but I get to deal with Jonny Houston.” He shrugged. “It would be possible to build more than one house on the land. There is enough space for three normal size houses, and, if you were using it for business, I would suggest the three houses. As it’s pleasure… you know you are allowed to
spend money on yourself. Your dad would be happy with you doing that.”
“Dad’s already said that, but this… it’s too much.”
Monica took a step forward. “Your dad wanted you to have this. He knew that when you were a teenager and I’m certain it’s because he already knew how you were going to turn out.” She surprised herself by taking Jonny’s hand. “You like horses, and there’s plenty of space for stabling here. We could get someone in to look after them if you don’t have the time.” He squeezed her hand. “We could build a little cottage on the opposite side, for when our parents come to stay, because if your parents are anything like mine it would be far safer.”
“Safer?”
“My parents are still madly in love with each other and the PDAs can get a little too much at times. If they have their own space I won’t have to watch them doing things I don’t want to know they do.” She shook her head. “From what you’ve said I don’t doubt your parents are exactly the same.”
He laughed. “They can be, so I think a cottage for the parents is a good idea.” He looked out at the land. “Does that mean we’re planning a future together?”
“I guess we are.”
“Are you planning for children?” The developer studied Monica for a few seconds. “If you are you’re going to want at least three bedrooms in the house, depending on how many you want, and the kitchen always seems to become the most important place in a home then, so you’re going to want to think about how much space you want there. Then, of course, you have the reception rooms.”
“Reception rooms?” She shook her head. “What’s the point in having more than one? It would be better to have one living room, a couple of studies, and at least one playroom. Maybe we could go for an open plan living space, with the kitchen, dining room, and living room all together. I’ve always liked that.”
Nodding, the developer smiled. “I see what your dad meant. You are made for each other.”
***
It was unusual for Jonny to be so quiet as they drove back to the office. “I didn’t know that Dad had been talking about you to other people.” He kept his eyes on the road. “I’m sorry about that.”
“Why?” Monica shook her head. “He’s not being malicious.”
“No, but it’s… I felt uncomfortable. Right now we’re still working out what we both want and I don’t want you to be put off by Dad being so enthusiastic about something that might not work out.”
“How many partners have you had in the past?”
“A couple.”
“Were any of them the sort of person you thought you were going to spend the rest of your life with?”
“No, they weren’t, and I definitely didn’t talk about them to Dad in the same way I talk about you.” He sighed. “I guess I can understand why he’s acting the way he is. This is the first time I’ve ever felt like this and talking to him about it just seemed like the right thing to do. He told me all about what it was like when he met Mom, and he said it was the same sort of thing. He fell in love with her straight away, only he didn’t have the courage to tell her until they’d known each other for a couple of years, and I knew I couldn’t leave it that long.”
“What makes me so different, Jonny?”
“I have no idea. I just knew from the moment I saw you that you were the one. Until then… like I said I didn’t believe in love at first sight. It seemed like something teenagers make up to explain their lust for other people, because lust and love are such different things.”
“You’re certain it wasn’t lust at first sight with me.”
“I am.” He looked at her for the first time since they climbed into the car. “I’ve seen you around before, Monica, at different get togethers when you were working for other people. I was attracted to you, but it wasn’t until we had a conversation I realised it was more than that.” He shook his head. “This is so hard to put in to words, and I never thought I’d have to try, but it was hearing your voice, and learning about who you were, that told me you were the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.”
“My voice?”
“You’re the one who asked. I never once said it made sense. This is just how I feel.”
“Thank you for being honest with me.”
“Honesty is important in any sort of relationship.”
“Yeah, it it.” She nibbled her bottom lip. “I want things to work out with you, Jonny, and I’ve never felt that way before. I never really cared about being in a relationship with anyone. You… I finally understand why people are willing to put everything on the line for the person they care about.”
***
“The physiotherapist I’m working with says she thinks it will take at least a month before I’m walking normally.” Gregory sounded disappointed. “I understand why it’s going to take that long, but I was hoping it wouldn’t. I want my life back, Mon.”
“You will. It’s better that you take the time now to get truly better, so you can live your life again, without having any issues.”
“I know. That’s what Mom said too.” Monica could see her brother shaking his head. “How are things going with Jonny?”
“We have a date tonight. We had a date last night too, although I wasn’t expecting it.” She smiled. “He turned up holding a take-away curry, because he thought I might not want to cook after spending the afternoon driving home, and then I ended up falling asleep on him.”
“Did he stay?”
“He stayed.”
“Then you have my blessing.”
“I thought I already had that.”
“You did, but I’m even more certain than I was before he’s the right guy for you. It’s not every man who’d bring over food when they know you’re tired, especially when you’ve been dithering over whether or not you want to be with him.”
“Dithering?”
“I stand by my word choice. I can understand why you’re worried. There are a lot of reasons this might not work out… and one big reason it should.”
“Really?”
“From what I know of Jonny Houston the two of you are very similar. I’ve read some of the interviews he’s given since he took over the property business from his father and it’s obvious he was brought up with respect for money. A lot of these new millionaires haven’t been, which is why they burn out so quickly. You aren’t going to have to worry about that.”
“Yeah, he was.” Monica shook her head. “I didn’t know you knew anything about this.”
“I do listen when you tell me stories. Do you think we haven’t noticed how hard things have been for you, both personally and professionally?”
“Of course not. I just didn’t know you knew anything more about the people I worked for than I’d told you.”
“Whenever you found yourself with someone new I did the research to find out more about them. I wanted to know who they were, so I read interviews they’d given since they came into their money, and most of them were guys who didn’t seem to know how to treat money. It was simply luck they’d found themselves with millions and in the end they would waste most of it.”
“Then there’s Jonny, who inherited the family business along with the family money, and has managed to increase how much it’s worth by over a million in the time he’s been CEO.”
“Exactly. If there’s a man you want in your life it’s him, not any of the others. He’s going to treat you right and you’re not going to have to worry he might lose everything in a couple of years through sheer stupidity.”
***
Jonny was already at the table when Monica arrived. “Sorry I’m late.” She sat down. “I was having a conversation with Greg and lost track of time.”
“It’s fine.” He smiled at her. “Does Greg know anything more about his rehabilitation time schedule?”
“His physiotherapist said it’s going to take him at least a month, but I think it will probably be longer. He’s lucky they didn’t damage his spine for good.”
>
“When he’s out you’re going to head home?”
“At least for a couple of months. Is that going to be a problem?”
“You’re looking after your family, Monica. Of course it’s not a problem. I like that you’ve made that choice. I like that you’re as family orientated as I am. I don’t think I could be with someone who isn’t and I’m more than willing to give you the time you need to do that. After that we can work out exactly what our next steps are going to be.”
For a few seconds she stared at the menu without seeing it. “How do you want things to be?”
“I want to take the time to build our home, so you can come back to it and we can make it where we want to live. I want to make you a proper part of the company, because it’s a family business, which might mean a bit of a learning curve. I want the two of us to spend more time together just being a couple. Last night was exactly how I hope our life will be.”
“Me falling asleep on your shoulder after having a curry?”
“Yeah.” He laughed. “I want our lives to be normal. I know I have a lot of money, but the whole reason I’ve never made this decision before is because that was all people saw when they looked at me. You don’t. You see a person. You see the man I am, instead of the man you want me to be. I know you’ve been dealing with the most recent woman who thinks she’s going to be Mrs Houston, so you know what they’re like, and that’s not what I want out of life. I’m not a walking wallet. Being able to buy a curry and know you’re going to appreciate it just as much as getting lobster is what I want in my life.”
The Alpha Billionaire's Unexpected Baby: A Billionaire BWWM Pregnancy Romance Page 33
