by J. S. Scott
“My offices come first,” Jett insisted. “My employees would revolt if Ruby doesn’t bake for us anymore.”
I smiled because I knew what he said was probably true. I’d had the chance to chat with some of the people who worked for him, and heard the horror stories about what the bakery had been bringing their way. To me, it seemed almost ridiculous to lose the business of one of the biggest corporations in the world, but the bakery itself was growing, so they’d lost their personal touch. Their profit had obviously become more important than customer satisfaction, which I knew could eventually be their downfall.
“Once Stuart and I are married, I’m expanding and opening another store,” Lia explained. “I want to start off with your products at the other store from the day we open.”
“If I take on Jett’s whole company, I’m going to need to get a kitchen and some employees. I’m going to have to have more ovens and space,” I told her.
“Just don’t open a store,” Lia said. “Well, unless you want to open a bakery. That was kind of selfish because I’d love to have customers wanting your pastries so they come to my shop. I kind of like you exclusive.”
I smiled at her. “I’m not looking in that direction right now. And please don’t tell me that you won’t have people pouring through the door for your coffee regardless of whether or not you carry my stuff.”
It was late and the shop was closed, but it had been a madhouse just an hour earlier when it was open.
“When are you opening your other store?” I asked.
“As soon as I get my grandmother’s inheritance,” she explained. “She put in a weird requirement that I have to be married by the age of twenty-eight before I could inherit. I think she was worried about me becoming an old maid because there weren’t any prospects in sight when she passed away.”
“They can actually do that?” I said, astonished that somebody could dictate Lia’s life for money.
She sighed. “Apparently, yes, she could. My attorney says I could contest it, but chances are I could lose since my grandma specified alternate places to put the money should I not meet her terms. But it’s simple, right? I just make sure to get the deed done before my birthday.”
“When is your birthday?”
“Next month,” she answered. “A few days after I get married.”
“Aren’t you cutting it pretty close?”
Lia shrugged. “It doesn’t matter since the wedding is already planned.” She stooped down as she said, “Which reminds me that I have an invite for you and your hot guy over there.”
I took the invitation from her hand. It seemed I was going to have more than one wedding to attend in the near future. “I’d love to come,” I replied.
“Honestly, if I’d known about you sooner, I would have asked you to do the cake, but Stuart is anal. Everything was worked out months ago.”
“That’s okay,” I said hurriedly. “I don’t have a ton of experience doing huge cakes alone.”
Lia nodded. “Honestly, sometimes I just want the wedding to be over. It’s consumed so much of my time, and I’ve been wanting to jump on Indulgent’s popularity by getting another store for a while now. Zeke deserves to get paid back for the enormous risk he took in being my partner, too.”
“He’s not going to be your partner anymore?”
She shook her head, and her eyes grew sad. “We were never meant to be permanent partners. It was a loan for him. Zeke and I have known each other since we were teenagers. He did it just because we’re friends. And he’s pulled his weight, even though he didn’t have to. He helped every step of the way.”
“Does he really need the money back?”
Lia pulled a face. “Oh, God, no. He isn’t as wealthy as Jett by any means, but he’s still filthy rich. But I want to pay him back. We aren’t related or involved in any way, and he stuck his neck out for me. But I guess anybody who is ambitious needs a hand when the money isn’t there.”
I thought about her comment for a moment. “I know what you mean,” I told her a few minutes later. “It was hard for me to take loans and gifts from Jett, especially when I knew I couldn’t pay him back anytime soon.”
“Your honey has more money than God,” Lia replied. “And he’s your guy. Why would you worry about that?”
“The same reason you worry about paying Zeke back.”
“But Zeke and I aren’t involved. And if he really wanted to give me a BMW and I knew he’d never miss the money, I’d probably take it because we’re friends.”
“I barely knew Jett,” I confessed. “I was homeless and the victim of human trafficking. Jett saved my life.”
Lia looked stunned as she answered, “Oh, honey. I’m so sorry. Were you hurt?”
“Long story. I’m okay, but do you have any idea what it’s like to suddenly step into a fairy tale when you’ve lived most of your life as a prisoner of your circumstances?”
“Like Cinderella,” Lia said in an awed tone.
I nodded. “Pretty much. Jett is almost too good to be true. Sometimes I’m afraid that I’ll wake up and discover all of this is a dream.”
“I get that,” Lia said. “But Jett adores you. It’s pretty obvious. And I doubt there’s anyone in the world who deserves a happy ending as much as you do. Take what he’s offering you if you want it, Ruby. I’ve learned not to question some things in life. Good and bad things happen. It’s how we handle those good and bad times that matter.”
“But he buys me extravagant stuff.”
“It’s only a luxury in your world. Think about it, Ruby. Jett has never known a day when he wasn’t incredibly wealthy. It was a way of life for him even before Lawson really became a tech giant. If you think about it, Jett giving you a car is like you giving me a new pair of shoes or something. Those things are inconsequential to him, but it’s a very big deal to you. So you can just give him a kiss, thank him, and move on after he gives you another car or a new mansion.” She hesitated before she added, “Shit, I can’t believe I just said that.”
I laughed because the look on her face was priceless.
“No, you’re right,” I admitted. “His net worth is so enormous that it really is nothing for him. I guess that’s just so hard for me to accept.”
“If you’re going to be with one of the richest men in world, you really will have to accept that a huge gift to you is a little thing for him. He doesn’t know anything else. But I could live with making that kind of adjustment. Stuart is a millionaire, and even that feels uncomfortable sometimes. I didn’t grow up in that world, either.”
“Did he give you a new car?” I questioned curiously.
She rolled her eyes. “I wish.”
Honestly, I was starting to think that Stuart wasn’t the guy for Lia. After watching the way Zeke’s eyes seemed to follow her around a room, I had to wonder if my new friend was marrying the wrong guy.
But no, it had to be my overactive imagination. Lia didn’t seem like the type of woman to choose the wrong man.
“I’ll try to get used to it,” I said unhappily.
Lia shot me a mischievous smile. “There’s a lot worse things you could have to adjust to than enormous wealth.”
“I’m in counseling,” I shared. “But I guess I’m still trying to accept that I’m worthy of a man like Jett.”
“Hey, stop that!” Lia exclaimed. “Don’t base who you are on money. It’s all irrelevant when you’re talking about a relationship. Nobody is worthy of having a fortune. It just happens. What makes Jett a good man is that he cares what’s going on with people who are less fortunate than he is. Has he ever treated you like you’re beneath him because of your circumstances?”
“Never,” I said emphatically.
“And I already know Lawson is incredibly philanthropic when it comes to local and world issues.”
“Jett does thi
ngs that never make the news, too. He doesn’t give to get attention. He does it because he…cares.”
Lia crossed her arms. “I swear, if you don’t snap that man up and just enjoy your life, I’m going to break up with Stuart and marry Jett myself.”
I giggled because her statement was so over-the-top. “I am enjoying him. A lot, actually.”
Jett and I had pretty much had sex on every surface in his condo, and it seemed like every experience was better than the one before.
“I won’t touch that comment,” Lia said with a laugh. “It could go one of several ways if I do, and they’re all a little scary. But don’t let money get in the way of your happiness, Ruby. It’s just something that buys things. And none of those things can truly make you happy.”
“I know. Maybe I’m just nervous because we’re getting ready to take off for Colorado to attend Jett’s sister’s wedding. That’s a whole lot of billionaires to handle at one time,” I told her in a joking tone.
“None of them are any different than you,” Lia assured me.
“Jett’s sister is wonderful,” I said. “I’ve met her. She’s the one who sent Jett to get me out of a bad situation in Miami. She’s one of the reasons I’m not homeless anymore.”
“Don’t be nervous, Ruby,” Lia said sincerely. “You’re a wonderful, intelligent, and strong woman who has some incredible talents. Don’t ever let anybody intimidate you into thinking that you’re anything else.”
A lump formed in my throat. I knew that I needed to internalize my self-worth, and I was working on it. But it helped to start making friends like Lia. “Thank you.”
I saw the guys get up from their table across the room.
“I think everything has been consumed,” Lia said with humor in her voice.
“Knowing Jett, it was gone a long time ago and they’ve just been trading stories.”
“How do two guys look that gorgeous when both of them can easily consume a ton of high-calorie stuff? Don’t get me wrong, I love to eat, but it shows on my hips or my butt almost immediately,” Lia bemoaned.
“Jett works out every day,” I shared.
“Zeke loves sports, and he’s really active, but still, it’s just not right.”
I laughed. Personally, I’d never had a problem with my weight, and when I was homeless, I’d gotten too thin from lack of available food. But sooner or later, I was going to have to watch what I ate or I’d be piling on pounds with all the baking I was going to be doing. Right now, I felt like I was making up for lost time, but my body was filling out pretty quickly.
Lia and I started talking business, and worked out the details of a daily menu with some things left open so I could create whatever seemed appropriate for her store that day and keep new and different things coming in all the time.
“I can have my legal department do the contract so you don’t have to pay to get it done,” Jett offered.
“Thanks,” Lia answered. “I’d appreciate that.”
“Have fun at the wedding,” Lia said to me as Jett and I got ready to leave.
I nodded. “I’m looking forward to your wedding, too.”
Jett looked at Lia, and then at Zeke. “Is that happening soon?” he asked.
“Next month,” I informed him. “We just got an invitation today.”
Because I knew Jett, I could see that he was troubled, but he said, “We’ll definitely be there.”
We had left the building and were waiting to cross the street before he commented. “I think she’s marrying the wrong guy,” he said gruffly. “Zeke is crazy about her.”
“Did he tell you that?” I asked with surprise.
“Hell, no. He didn’t tell me. But it’s pretty damn obvious to me. He looks at Lia like I look at you.”
My heart skipped a beat. Jett just came out and said things sometimes that touched me pretty profoundly.
It was one of so many reasons why I loved him so damn much.
Ruby
“This might sound weird to both of you, but what in the hell happened to our family?” Jett asked his two sisters, Dani and Harper, as all four of us sat together in the living room of the vacation home Jett had rented in Rocky Springs, Colorado.
I’d really wanted to back away so Jett could have a heart-to-heart with his sisters alone, but he’d asked me to stay, so I remained silent, sitting next to him on the couch.
Jett needed to have this conversation with all his family. Unfortunately, neither of his brothers had shown up yet, so he’d decided to talk to his sisters first.
We’d been in Rocky Springs for a couple of days, and I couldn’t ask for nicer people to hang out with than the Colters and Jett’s sisters. Everybody had been so welcoming, and Harper and Dani had included me in everything they were doing.
The more I conversed on a grown-up level with people, the more comfortable I became. I was realizing I wasn’t at all anti-social. In fact, I was just the opposite. I’d just never had much opportunity to learn adult social skills.
“It’s not weird,” Dani told Jett. “Harper and I have been trying to figure it out, too. It’s like our family dissolved because Mom and Dad weren’t there anymore to keep us together. But we were all so close. I don’t know how we drifted apart.”
“It actually makes more sense for you two,” Jett mused. “You and Harper weren’t physically together, and didn’t see us in Seattle very much. But Carter, Mason, and I were in the same city, working the same damn business. And we didn’t stay close. We pretty much only see each other at business meetings. It’s like we were so obsessed with building on our momentum with Lawson Technologies that we forgot to be family. And none of us really had a personal life because we were working all the time.”
“I think all of us handled Mom and Dad’s deaths differently,” Harper said thoughtfully. “Instead of pulling together to deal with it, we all tried to cover up our pain with distractions or obsessions.”
“I want it to be different,” Jett informed them sadly. “But I’m not sure how to fix it.”
“I think we all want our family back again,” Dani told Jett in a gentle tone. “It’s not that we don’t all love each other. I think we just need to move on and learn how to be a family without Mom and Dad. They’ve been gone for a long time.”
“I still miss them,” Harper said with a sigh. “But I know that the last thing both of them would have wanted is for their kids to stop being a family because they’re gone. If anything, they’d want us to pull together.”
Dani nodded, her eyes bright with tears. “I miss them, too. I’m sure I always will. But I miss my brothers, too.”
I tried to fight back my own tears as I watched Jett, Harper, and Dani talk about how they could mend the breach that had happened in their family.
Honestly, I was absolutely no help to them because I didn’t even know what it was like to have a real family, and I was an only child.
But it didn’t keep me from hurting right along with the three of them because they’d all lost something they cared about so much.
Jett needed this, even though I knew it wasn’t easy for him to confront. His accident had brought about a lot of challenges and sadness for him. I sensed that he needed closure on some things to be completely whole again.
Since he’d gone back to his office, I’d watched his self-confidence rise, and he seemed pretty comfortable in his own skin—or maybe I should say his custom power suits.
Jett’s orthopedic doctor had finally given him clearance to return to all normal activities—of course he didn’t know that Jett already had. Jett knew he wasn’t ever going to run any marathons, but he seemed to accept his limitations better every day.
Jett rose to his feet as his sisters came barreling toward him from their chairs.
I brushed back a few tears as I watched his face as he caught each of his sisters w
ith a powerful arm, holding them close with an expression of both relief and joy on his face.
Once they were all seated again, Dani said excitedly, “So catch us up on everything. When did you and Ruby realize that you wanted to be together?”
Jett answered. “Pretty much from the time she put me in the hospital,” he joked.
“What?” Dani said with alarm.
Jett held up a hand. “Long story, and both of us were okay. But it happened pretty quickly.”
I remained silent as he recounted the way we met, and what had happened afterward while we were in Miami.
“Why didn’t you tell Marcus?” Dani asked. “Or me?”
“Because I wasn’t ready,” Jett stated. “However much I wanted us to be together from the moment I saw her, Ruby had a lot of things to work out, and so did I.”
“A lot of it was me,” I informed them in a guilty voice. “I didn’t want to be a charity case to him. And I didn’t want him to assume that I just wanted his money.”
The women nodded their heads like they understood, while Jett grumbled, “I hate it when you say that, Ruby.”
“I know. But it’s true.”
“So how are you doing now?” Harper asked. “I can only imagine what it was like to be all alone on the streets. And you did it for years.”
“I’m doing good,” I answered them with a smile. “I’m in counseling, and I’m taking things one day at a time.”
“She’s doing great,” Jett corrected. “And she’s starting her own pastry business in Seattle that I’m already certain will be a success because I’m her personal taste tester,” he said playfully. “I’ve sampled the goods, and they’re honestly unlike anything I’ve ever had.”
“Oh, my God. Are you really a pastry chef?” Dani asked excitedly. “Mine just backed out on the cake and the desserts for the wedding, and we’re scrambling to find somebody. Marcus’s mom can help, but she can’t make the wedding cake. Can you do it for me?”
“Dani, I’ve never been professionally trained.”
“Does it matter if you’re great at what you do?” she questioned. “If Jett says you’re good, then I know you are. And we don’t exactly have somebody who can handle the job here in Rocky Springs. It’s a resort, not a wedding destination. Most of the businesses cater to tourists.”
