How To Catch A Billionaire (The Full Series)

by Helen Cooper

  How To Catch A Billionaire (The Full Series)

  Helen Cooper

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Copyright © 2012 by Helen Cooper

  Chapter 1

  “Jane, you will not believe it,” I squealed into the phone. “For once, my name has helped me.”

  “What Sarah?” Jane whispered into the phone. “I can’t talk long. My boss is riding my ass.”

  “So, you know how today was my first day at Zoom Corp. as a receptionist?” I could barely contain my excitement.

  “Uh huh.”

  “Well, I am now a top executive working for Mr. Green himself. And the best part is, he is out of town indefinitely, so I have enough time to become as top executive ready as is possible.”

  “What?” Jane’s voice increased in volume. “How did that happen? No offense but you are not a top executive, Sarah.”

  I laughed into the phone. “Shh. So it turns out that another Sarah Smith was hired for the executive position but when I turned up, they just assumed that I was that Sarah Smith. I mean, I thought they were rather nice to the new receptionist but it turns out that they thought I was the exec.”

  “Sarah,” Jane’s voice was worried. “What are you going to do when the real Sarah Smith shows up? Then you’ll be out of a job period and I do not make enough money to pay the full rent.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Jane.” I looked around before I said my next words. “I called the other Sarah Smith and apologized to her but said the position was filled and we no longer needed her. I felt bad because it turns out she was really sick with the flu. But the girl went to Harvard Business School. She’ll be fine.”

  “Oh my gosh. Sarah!” Jane laughed into the phone. “What did you do?”

  “It’s okay.” I laughed. “No-one knows who the other Sarah is, turns out she only did a phone interview because she was doing some internship in London.”

  “Well, if you think you can get away with it.” Jane sounded unsure.

  “Jane, I didn’t go to school for four years to be an actress for nothing.” I spoke in an English accent. “It’s going to be fine. And get this, I am making $150,000 a year.”

  “Whoa.”

  “Right. We can move out of our dump and actually move into the city.”

  “Can we move to the Upper West Side?”

  “Hello…” I laughed. “I’ve already been looking at newspaper ads and Craigslist.”

  “Sarah, I don’t know.” Jane’s voice still sounded unsure. “Do you really think you can get away with this?”

  “I know so. My new boss, Lewis Walker loves me. I think he has a crush on me. There is no way that he will fire me.” I played with my long blonde hair as I walked to the subway station and smiled to myself. “Something is finally going right, Jane. Maybe you can even quit that shitty job.”

  “Do you really think so?” Jane’s voice now sounded hopeful. She was working as a sales assistant at a cellphone shop and hated it. She had gone to school to be a history teacher but hadn’t been able to find an open position due to budget cuts in schools.

  “Yes Jane.” I stopped outside the subway station so that I could continue talking to her without losing service. “In fact, why don’t you just walk out of there today? I get paid every two weeks and will be able to carry the rent until you find something you like.”

  “Omg Sarah. Are you sure?” Jane’s voice got louder and louder with excitement.

  “Of course. Do it. Leave now.” I started jumping up and down in the street, not caring who was walking by and thinking I was a mental case. “Our tide is changing, Jane.”

  “Okay. I’m going to go and quit now.” Jane sounded excited. “I’ll see you at home later, yeah?”

  “Yup. And then we can go out for drinks to celebrate.” I looked quickly at my watch. “But I have to go now too. My lunch break is almost over. I’ll see you tonight.” I hung up and raced down the stairs so that I wouldn’t miss my train. I was lucky, it pulled up just as I got to the platform. I grinned to myself, my luck had finally changed and I was ready to take on the world.

  The train was pretty empty in my carriage so I was able to sit down and check my makeup. I stared in my compact mirror and reapplied some lipstick and mascara. My big blue eyes stared back at me, shining with delight and happiness. I didn’t have to reapply any blush because the cold was making my cheeks red enough. I smiled wildly to check my teeth for food and sat back with pleasure. Jane and I had moved to New York four and a half years ago from Florida to go to college. We had been best friends since high school and had been ecstatic when we had both gotten into college in the big city. She had gone to Columbia and I had gone to NYU. We had shared a studio apartment in Brooklyn since our junior year. Unfortunately, we both hadn’t studied something that had great job prospects and we were broker now than when we had arrived. I had always dreamed of being a big Hollywood actress (don’t ask why I live in New York) and all Jane had ever wanted to do was to teach 6 grade history. We had graduated jobless but we didn’t want to move back to Florida, so Jane had gotten a job in a cellphone store and I had looked for receptionist positions. We had just received an eviction notice about two weeks ago as well. If we didn’t come up with the last two months’ rent within thirty days we were going to be kicked out. Alvin, the landlord had offered us another deal but neither one of us was willing to have sex with him to stay in that dump.

  I got off the train with new verve in my step. I walked back to the Zoom building with pride and a little twinge of worry. I mean, I’m not stupid. I was sure that I would be in a lot of trouble if they found out I was Sarah Smith, NYU drama graduate and new receptionist as opposed to Sarah Smith, Harvard MBA and new executive. But I figured if someone realized the mistake and approached me with the truth, I would just pretend to be confused. I had already practiced the lines I was going to say if that happened. “Lordy, Lordy, I don’t know what is going on here. I surely thought that God had blessed me on this good day and seen fit to find it in your hearts to give me the job I deserve and can do, even if my qualifications would lead you to believe otherwise.” I was hoping that whoever I spoke to wouldn’t recognize that I was putting on a Southern accent and send me to a mental institute; though that would be preferable to going to jail.

  “Hi Maggie.” I beamed at the receptionist, who looked at me coldly. “I’m just going up to my office, you know the big one on the 30 floor.” I almost skipped to the elevator and giggled as I pressed the button. I couldn’t quite believe my luck. Lewis Walker hadn’t even given me any real work—he’d just handed me some files and told me to familiarize myself with Zoom Corporation.

  “Hold the doors.” A deep voice boomed from outside the elevator and I quickly pushed some buttons. I watched as the doors closed and realized that I had pressed the close door button instead of open. Oops, I thought to myself. I didn’t think it was a super huge deal because the doors opened again before the elevator left but the man who walked into the elevator didn’t look too happy. “Didn’t I tell you to keep the doors open?” he snarled at me.

  I frowned at him. “Sorry, I pressed the wrong button by mistake.” I attempted a smile at him but he continued snarling at me. “I mean it’s not like it’s a huge deal. You’re in here now, aren’t you?”

  “What floor are you going to?” He ignored my comment and pressed the button for the 40 floor.

  “Oh, I’m going to
the 30 floor.” I smiled at him once again, hoping he would get over his bad mood.

  “The 30?” He raised an eyebrow at me.

  “Yes.” I stopped smiling. He was annoying me.

  “Are you visiting someone?” he questioned.

  I thought about ignoring him but decided not to, just in case I had to work with him. “No.”

  “So you are going to the executive’s floor because?”

  “It’s noneya,” I said smarmily to him.

  “Excuse me?” He frowned at looked at me like I was crazy.

  “It’s none of your business.” I looked at him coldly and watched as he burst out laughing. I studied him as he laughed. He was actually quite a handsome man, especially when he laughed. He had perfect white teeth. I always look at the teeth first, I know it’s an odd thing to do but they are what attracts me first. He was tall, a lot taller than I was and I’m 5’8. I figured he was at least 6’2 or so. And he looked like he was quite fit, though I couldn’t be 100% sure, as he was wearing a dark grey suit. His hair was dark brown with sprinkles of grey. I couldn’t tell his age, his face looked like he was in his 30’s but the grey in his hair made me think 40’s. Not that it mattered to me. He was too old for me whatever his age was. At twenty-two years old, there was no way I was going to date an old man.

  “What’s your name?” His voice interrupted my reverie.

  “Why?” I looked at him suspiciously; worried he was going to report me to HR. That would be the worst thing that could happen. What if they looked up my file and realized the mistake they had made. Then I’d be making $25,000 a year as opposed to $150,000.

  “Isn’t it polite to ask someone’s name these days?” He raised an eyebrow at me.

  “Not a stranger’s,” I retorted, my blue eyes flashing at him.

  He laughed a deep hearty chuckle. “I suppose you’re new here, huh?”

  “Maybe.” I was determined to give him as little information as possible.

  “So tell me.” He walked closer to me. “What do you think of Zoom so far?”

  “Oh I love it,” I gushed before biting my lip. “I mean, it seems cool.”

  “Have you met the CEO yet? I heard he can be an ass,” he whispered to me.

  “Oh, you don’t work here?” I looked at him in relief. “Mr. Green is a great employer. One of the best I’ve ever had. It’s almost like he is my good friend, as opposed to my boss.”

  “Oh really?” The man raised his eyebrows at me. “I’m impressed.”

  “Don’t take this the wrong way but I would watch how you talk to people next time. I wouldn’t want to have to tell Mr. Green anything.” I looked at him smugly, the lies flying out of my mouth easily.

  “Oh yeah?” He smiled at me. “I’ll be sure to watch my mouth next time. I don’t want Mr. Green on my ass now, do I?”

  “No, you don’t. He can be really hardcore when it comes to me.” I smiled at him widely. “I’m one of his favorite employees.”

  “Oh?” He paused. “So I guess you call him by his first name then, huh?”

  “Of course.” I nodded.

  “What is it again?”

  Shit, I had no idea what his first name was. “Ben.” I smiled.

  “Ben?” He cleared his throat. “Huh. I could have sworn his name was Harry or something.”

  Shit! “Well, it is Harry but his, uh, middle name is Ben and he lets his closest friends call him that.” I thanked my lucky stars when the elevator finally stopped on the 30 floor. “Well, here’s my stop. Nice meeting you.” I hurried out of the elevator and didn’t look back to see why he was laughing. I was annoyed at myself for the farce I had played on the man. Hopefully, he was only here for something quick and didn’t do a lot of business with Zoom or I could find myself in a complicated situation.

  “There you are, Sarah.” Lewis came into my office just as I sat down. He watched me as I applied some lip-gloss and smiled. I could see him staring at my lips and so I made sure to lick them a few times. I knew that turned men on and I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have him crushing on me. Not that I would want to date him. He was cute enough, he looked like a beach blonde surfer but there was something about him that was just too boyish. I preferred my men to be manly. Like the man in the elevator, I allowed myself to think about him for a second—he was hot. I could still feel a flush on my body from being in his presence. It was a pity that he seemed like an asshole and that he was too old for me. He was someone I could have gone for in other circumstances.

  “Hey, how can I help you, Lewis?” I beamed at him wondering if he was going to ask me on a date.

  “So, I have some files that I’d like you to compare for me.” Oh no, I groaned inside. “I just got word that Mr. Green is going to be back earlier than we thought and he’s going to want the information analyzed and in a report on his desk as soon as he’s back.”

  “Oh ok.” I bit my lip. “Do we know when that’s going to be?” Please let it be in a week or two minimum I prayed, so that I would have enough time to figure out what I was doing.

  “No, I’m not sure.” Lewis sighed. “Harry’s plans change all the time. It could be in a few days, it could be in a few weeks; I’d rather we got it out of the way now, so we don’t have to worry about it.”

  “Sure, sure.” I smiled assuredly at him. “I’ll take care of it ASAP.”

  “Great.” He turned around and then stopped at the door. “And if you could create some spreadsheets with some macros that would be perfect.”

  “Uh sure.” Macros? What was that? I thought to myself. “I’ll get to that on my Mac.”

  “Ok.” He laughed. “So glad to have you aboard, Sarah. We’ll have to go out for drinks one night and exchange Harvard stories.”

  “That sounds good.” I beamed at him, while panicking inside. As he walked out of the door, I quickly went to Google.com and searched, “Everything you need to know about Harvard University.”

  Chapter 2

  The afternoon seemed to drag on. The files that Lewis had handed me to create spreadsheets from looked like a foreign language. I was attempting to create a pie chart from the information but I had no idea what information was meant to be in the chart.

  “Shit,” I grumbled to myself. I wanted to call Jane to moan to her but I was too scared that she had already quit her job. I didn’t know what we were going to do if she had quit and I got fired. “Shit, shit, shit.” I got up and decided to go and get a coffee from the break room. One of the perks of Zoom Corp. was that we got free coffee and snacks all day long. And I was going to take advantage of that perk as long as it existed.

  “Hey Lewis, I’m just going down to the break room to get a coffee. Do you want anything?” I popped my head into Lewis’s room as I walked to the elevator.

  “No, I’m good.” He smiled. “But you should go up to the 40 floor. They have a kitchen there that has much better snacks.”

  “Oh?” I frowned thinking about the man from the elevator. “I thought we were supposed to go the break room on the ground floor?”

  “Don’t worry about it.” He laughed. “I go up all the time. It’s closer.”

  “Oh ok.” I nodded and looked at my watch. Two hours had passed since my ride in the elevator, I’m sure that the man had gone already. I decided to go up. I danced around in the elevator as I rode up hoping that would wake my body up from the coma it had gone into after reading the boring files. I got out on the 40 floor and sang to myself as I got out. I was dancing along to a Chris Brown song. I was singing when someone came out of a room and crashed right into me.

  “Watch where you’re going!” I snapped as I readied myself.

  “You bumped into me.” The someone turned around and faced me and I groaned. It was the man from the elevator.

  “Oh, it’s you,” I snarled at him.

  “Oh please, don’t tell Ben on me.” His voice sounded worried.

  “Who?” I looked at him with impatience.

  “Your friend Ben,
the CEO?” He looked at me with a raised eyebrow again.

  “Oh, yeah yeah,” I hurriedly answered him. “You better watch out. He’ll be back soon and then I’ll have to tell him everything that’s been going on here.”

  “Oh please, have mercy on me.” The man grabbed his heart. “I don’t want to die.”

  I looked at him curiously. “Aren’t you a bit old to be acting like a fool?”

  He looked at me with a cocked face and burst out laughing again. I didn’t know what he found so amusing. “I’m not trying to be rude here…?” I waited for him to supply his name.

  “Bradley.”

  “I’m not trying to be rude, Bradley but I think you are too old to be as rude as you are.” I waited for his reaction, hoping he wouldn’t start shouting at me.