The Billionaire's Heart: The Complete Series (Romance, Contemporary Romance, Billionaire Romance, The Billionaire's Heart Book 7)

by Nancy Adams

  The rest of my day went smoothly. I got my reports from purchasing, bookkeeping, Human Resources, IT and all the other top departments, and by the time I left the office around five, I had a fair grasp of what was going on in the company. I'd made all the notes I could, and would go over them at home that evening, start to formulate some action plans for the next few months.

  Of course, I'd called Katelynn when I broke for lunch, and we spent most of an hour telling each other how wonderful we each are. As I headed for the house, I called her again; it amazed me how much I seemed to need to hear her voice.

  “Hey, Babe,” she answered on the second ring. “How's my guy?”

  “Tired, at the moment. I never realized just how boring my Dad's job could be, but now I know. How's your day going?”

  “Real good. We're gonna have to hire another person, though, Jenny Mickleson is moving to Tucson, Arizona. Her parents are moving out there for her mother's health, and she wants to stay close to them.”

  I nodded into the phone. “Okay. We've got stores in Tucson; call up to personnel and start working on transferring her, so we don't lose her completely, and then you can look through the last batch of applications. There's probably someone there who's still looking for a job.”

  “Sure will, and thank you, Babe. Jenny's a good worker and a single mom, she was fretting about finding a job out there.”

  Like we always did, we chit-chatted about silly things, while still getting in some of the important conversations. It meant a lot to me that we could go from one to the other so seamlessly, almost as if we'd known each other our entire lives. We talked a bit about the future, both ours and the store's, before I got off the phone. By then, I was back to our road, and the Hemi helped me de-stress for the last few miles.

  Mom and Dad were sitting out by the pool when I pulled in, so I went to my room and grabbed trunks, then joined them. One of the maids brought me a tall iced tea, and I sipped it while I soaked up some sun for a few minutes.

  “Well, well, well,” said Dad. “There's the boss, Sweetheart; think I can sneak in a few suggestions?”

  “If you try,” I said with my eyes closed, “I will throw you into the pool. I've been listening to suggestions all day long, and I'm trying to digest them all before they depress me.”

  Mom laughed. “I think you'd better believe him, Dear. He seems pretty serious about it.”

  “Darn right I am. How long has it been since you let the heads come in and talk to you about their ideas and discoveries? I'm pretty sure some of the ones I heard today have been laying around for a few years, waiting for the opportunity to be heard.”

  “And now you know,” Dad said, “exactly why I ditched the job onto your young shoulders. Most of the stuff they come up with is nothing but Greek to me; it's time a younger mind was listening to their ideas.”

  “Fine, fine,” I said. “Seriously, some of them should have been implemented a long time ago, and I gave the go ahead to several today. We'll soon be one of the more technologically advanced retail chains in the country. Some of this stuff is even ahead of the big guys.”

  I filled them in on some of my day, leaving out the part about Donna Bennet. I hadn't decided yet how I wanted to handle that, especially since Katelynn thought the world of the woman, but I couldn't let it go without taking some kind of action, or it would just continue until there was no hope of salvaging the employee. That was the frustrating part of being the boss and knowing so much; you had to decide who needed to know something, and then stick to your guns.

  After a bit, I got up and dived into the pool. The water felt great, just the right temperature for a late afternoon swim, and I made a few laps around it. I let my mind drift, and suddenly found myself thinking of Katelynn, and wondering what she'd look like in a nice bathing suit, swimming along beside me.

  And then I mentally slapped myself. Katelynn and I had discussed being together, and within that conversation it had come out that we were both saving ourselves for marriage. She wanted to remain pure out of her deep Christian beliefs, and while I was also a believer, my motives were more logical; if I never tasted the forbidden fruit, then it was more likely I'd never grow tired of what I was given when I finally met the girl of my dreams. That being the case, I didn't let myself wander too far down that lane of thought, and swam even harder on the next laps.

  It took my mind off of bathing suits, but not off of Katelynn. I was missing her, and I still had one more long day in the office before I would be flying back to Nebraska to see her again on Saturday.

  Part II: Katelynn

  Chapter Five

  The Value Of Friendship

  * * * * *

  I got to work on Monday morning only to find that everyone already knew about Mr. Simmons' heart attack; the District Manager from Omaha had called the store on Sunday night, and somehow no one had bothered to let me know until I was ready to tell all my staff, but I wasn't worried about that. I had heard from Nate the night before that his father would recover, so at least I got to spread some of the good part of the news.

  Everyone told me how sorry they were, and at first I thought it odd. Why were they offering me any condolences? I wasn't the one who was sick, and it wasn't my father who'd had a coronary; but then it hit me that all these people had seen that something was growing between me and Nate, so they were using me as a proxy. By telling me they were sorry about Mr. Simmons, they felt they were passing those condolences to Nate, through me, his—geez, what was I, his girlfriend? Sweetheart?

  Oh, well, the thought was nice. I thanked them all and promised to pass their good wishes along when I talked to Nate, and when he called me that morning on my break, I did so.

  It was great to hear his voice, and I wasn't really surprised when he told me he'd be taking over; a heart attack isn't something to take lightly, and I'd known enough people who had one in the family to realize that it was more of a symptom of a greater problem than just an issue in itself. His father would have to make some life changes, if he wanted to live and not go through this again, and I was glad when Nate said they all knew that.

  Of course, at the same time, I was scared to death on a personal level. What if his taking over the company was going to keep us apart? What if his parents disapproved of his seeing a “common employee,” and forbade him to continue our relationship? These may not have been terribly realistic thoughts, but they were still some of what was going through my mind.

  Nate assured me that I needn't worry, though. He was not only going to come back and finish my training, he was already planning to be back within only a few days. Sure, he'd already said I was ready to take over, but I can admit that I wanted to get some more practice running the store under his watchful eye, just as much as I wanted to see him again.

  After that call, I'd told my best friend, Corie, what was going on, and let my acting assistant manager know, as well. Donna was the first person I'd made friends with when I'd come to work at the store, and she was always ready to help out in any way I needed. Whenever I had to go somewhere for a bit, she would take over and run things for me, and I always scheduled her to work on Sundays, since she didn't go to church and I did. She did a great job of running things while I was off, and Nate and I agreed that she was the ideal candidate for assistant.

  Donna was excited for me, when I told her Nate would be running the company. “Girl,” she said, “one of these days, you’re gonna be married to the big boss! Don't forget your friends down here in the trenches, okay?”

  I laughed, even though I hoped it would be true. “Don't worry, Donna, I wouldn't,” I said. “And we're nowhere near anything like that, anyway.” Even as I said those words, I hoped that they weren't true, that Nate and I were a lot closer to it than I was letting on. The conversations we'd had before he left were the kind that a man and woman have when they both feel that they're being drawn together, and he'd even brought it up on the phone, letting me know that not even these events were going to make him
stop thinking about us. If anything, he said, it made the idea of “us” even more important, since he felt I'd be as good a wife to him as his mother had been to his father. I almost broke into tears when he said that; what a compliment that must be!

  I couldn't wait for him to get back so we could talk more about the future and what it might hold, but in the meantime, I had a store to run. At lunchtime, I called Donna in to my office and told her that she was likely to get the AM spot, and that I'd be scheduling her to work the evening shift from then on. She would come in at two PM, and would be completely in charge after I left each day. The only day she wanted off was Saturday, because she had to come in at six AM on Sunday, and I asked another of the ladies who'd started with me to cover Saturday and Sunday nights. That gave Donna both weekend nights off, which thrilled her because she could spend them with her kids.

  Since Nate had declared me to be the actual Manager, rather than a trainee, I didn't have to put in the super long hours anymore, and I usually got out of the store by five. Corie and I often went out to eat after work, and of course, I was keeping her up to date on “Operation Nate and KK,” as we called my relationship with the man of my dreams. She loved hearing about how well things were going, and I'll confess we did a lot of school-girl fantasizing about how things would go when he got back.

  “He's gonna ask you to marry him as soon as he sees you,” she told me, but I wasn't buying it.

  “Nope. One of the things he said point blank was that he wants to go slow, take it a day at a time and make sure we're both doing the right thing, here. We don't want to rush anything and end up making a big mistake that could have been avoided. When I get married, I want it to be to a man who is going to be the one and only for the rest of my life, and he feels the same way; we only plan to marry once, each of us, so it's got to be absolutely right the first time!”

  “Yeah, you say that now, but are you gonna sit there and tell me you could honestly refuse if he did ask? KK, you're so head over heels in love you'd swoon and say yes on your way to the floor! And I'd come running up to make sure we got you a new wedding gown and everything so you could be married the next day!”

  I gave her the look, the one that says, “You're Nuts!”

  “Corie, my dear Bestie, I don't know what you’re smoking lately, but it must be some pretty good stuff! You're really out there, Kid!”

  Most of our talks were like that while Nate was gone. Even after he'd told me about his Dad giving him controlling interest—good grief, was it truly possible that little Katelynn from North Platte was going to end up married to one of the richest men in America?—I still wouldn't let her get my goat; if Nate were to propose anytime soon, I didn't want to be expecting it, so I brushed off all her attempts to get me thinking her way.

  Days at the store were not the same, without Nate there all the time. Everything went pretty well, and I was actually getting into the swing of doing it all on my own, but there was just something missing. It didn't take me long to figure out that it was just his presence that I was missing. Nate was the kind of man who dominated any room he entered, even when he wasn't at work. Each time we'd gone out to eat, I could see everyone in the place watching him, as if they knew that this man had a power about him that they'd never know for themselves.

  At least, that's what the men were thinking; I'm pretty sure a lot of the women were just wondering how I'd gotten so lucky that he was obviously with me!

  And I was basking in that power, all the time he was around. When it was gone, when I couldn't feel him close to me, I knew that there was something not right with my world, and I wanted it fixed. I wanted him back beside me.

  Donna was a great help that week. She started her afternoon shift schedule by working a double shift on Monday, then coming in at two on Tuesday. We talked a bit when she came in, and I filled her in on some of the events of the morning shift, but then we just took some time to chat. I learned more about her in that hour than I'd learned in the weeks we'd been working together; she told me about her kids, her deadbeat ex-husband, and how hard it had been to make ends meet before she'd gotten on at the store. We talked about how we'd each felt some kind of connection that first day we worked together, when she'd actually held the door open for me without knowing I would soon be her boss, and it hit me that she might well be another good friend.

  I'd only had one true friend my entire life, and that was Corie. We'd been through some things together that might have torn other friendships apart, but she and I got through them by clinging to each other and daring anything to try to separate us. I'd probably never have made it through some of the rough times if it hadn't been for her, and it was me she came to when her stepdad had begun beating her mother senseless and then turning his drunken wrath on her and her little brother. She'd begged me not to tell my parents, so instead, we had enlisted a couple of guys who had been my study partners a couple of times, and owed me favors for doing all the work that got them a passing grade.

  That night, the guys and I waited outside her house, hidden in some bushes along the back fence. When the shouting started, as Corie had been sure it would, we went to the back door that she had left open, and slipped inside just in time to see the old jerk hit Corie's mom and knock her down.

  Jimmy Miller, one of my study partners, was also the star linebacker on the high school football team; he was almost six feet tall and weighed about two fifty, so when he plowed into the man's midsection, it took all the fight out of him instantly. He and Matt Cooper held the guy down while Corie and I stepped into view. I was holding a ball bat.

  “Jerry,” Corie said, calling him by name. “We've had enough of your bullying and drinking. We're sick of you hitting mom, or me or Jackie, and we're not going to put up with it anymore.”

  He let out a stream of cursing that made me blush, daring us to do anything about it. He was the (beep) man of this (beep) house, by (beep), and no buncha kids was gonna tell him what he could or couldn’t do with his own (beep) family...

  I hit his left kneecap with the bat, and I heard the crunch. He screamed for real, then, and so did I, because I'd never done anything violent in my life before that—but you don't mess with my friends, and I was going to be there for Corie no matter what I had to do. I'd worry about the consequences later.

  Fortunately for all of us, there weren't any consequences. Jerry had been too much of a coward to tell anyone what we'd done, and the four of us all swore we'd been at the library that night, anyway, so after Jerry got out of the hospital (with a leg that would never again be able to bend at the knee), he packed up and moved off to where his sister lived, back east someplace.

  The point of this is that I know what having a true friend is all about, and I know how to be one, too. Now, here was Donna, letting me know that if I ever needed her, she'd be there for me. It meant a lot to me, and of course, I would be there for her, too, if she ever needed me to be.

  Everything went along normally for the next couple of days. Nate called me each day, and we talked about business things for a moment, then moved on to talking more about what was going on in each of our lives. He told me when he finally took over the reins of the company, and about the big stock deal; I was glad to find out that he didn't believe his wealth had anything to do with my feelings, because it was true. If he went broke overnight, I'd still want to marry him and have his children, and I knew that without a doubt in my mind or my heart. Nathanael Simmons was most certainly the man I was born to love, and nothing could ever change that.

  On Wednesday, he told me that he'd be flying back out to me on Saturday, and that I would get to pick him up at our local airport. His company's small private jet could land there with no problem, and it would save him hours of driving in from either Denver or Omaha; and besides, I was excited at the thought of picking up my man at the airport. Every time I said it, Corie and Donna would laugh at me, but I didn't care. I was going to see him again, and that was all that mattered.

  Thursday
was a busy day, because we got three trucks in from Omaha. I ended up helping to unload two of them, and then we had to change a bunch of signs because we were putting some new items into stock, and they were going to be on sale for the next month. That meant changing a lot of pricing in the computer, but at least I didn't have time to mope over Nate being gone. When he called on my breaks, he told me how he was going through potential changes in the company with the department heads, and I filled him in on one of our employees who was going to have to move. He told me to get hold of personnel and see if she couldn't go to work at one of our stores in her new home area, and I was delighted; she was a sweet girl, a single mom with a two year old daughter, and was only moving because she wanted to help her own mother through some health issues. When I told her later that day that we'd found her a spot in a store there, she started to cry with relief. Jobs aren't easy to come by anywhere, but it's even harder to find one when you’re brand new in town.

  Friday morning came, and I was literally counting down the hours until it would be time to go and pick Nate up. He was going to fly out very early, so I’d need to be at the airport at about six thirty in the morning, and I couldn't wait. I breezed through the day, happy as could be, until about the middle of the afternoon.

  That was when I started going over the weekly reports, and I found some problems. Somehow, the store had taken in almost a hundred thousand dollars that week, but there was a shortage in the deposits I'd made of nearly eight hundred bucks! I went over and over the figures, but nowhere could I see where the problem was, so I called bookkeeping and told them about it.

  The woman I spoke to there made it worse; they'd been seeing a discrepancy now and then for the whole week, but like me, they weren't seeing where it was going. She said the company would be having their IT department check the computer's programming, to see if there was an error that might make it seem like something was wrong when it wasn't, but she was pretty sure the problem would turn out to be human error.