The Brave Billionaire (Clean Billionaire Beach Club Romance Book 11)

by Elana Johnson

  If anything, Lawrence was the one who needed to apologize. It wasn’t against the company policy to date a co-worker, and they were two consenting adults. But she’d been hiding out in her office for long enough, and now the branch manager had asked her for a meeting the following morning.

  Maybe she should just quit. She’d thought about it more than once, especially in the past couple of days, but the thought scared her still. She couldn’t believe she was almost forty years old and still didn’t have a life that made sense.

  And she didn’t call Lawrence that night. Or in the morning. She met with Willie McMahon in her best skirt suit, determined to leave Gladstone Financial with her head held high, no matter what.

  “This has nothing to do with Mister Gladstone,” Will said to start the meeting. He put on a pair of reading glasses and picked up a piece of paper. “We’ve had a complaint.”

  Everything in her body turned to ice. “What?” She wanted to see what was on the paper but she could’ve been just as happy tearing it up. “I have done a great job here.” And she would defend that to the death.

  “Not that kind of complaint.” He laid the paper aside, a measure of softness entering his expression.

  Maizee frowned, her heart beating out a cadence in her chest that couldn’t be maintained for much longer. “I’m sorry. What?”

  “One of the employees feels uncomfortable with your relationship with Mister Gladstone. She had, uh.” He cleared his throat. “Put in for the loan officer job, and claims you got it unfairly.”

  “That’s not true. I transferred from the Lanai branch. I didn’t even know Lawrence—” She inhaled sharply. “I did not even know Mister Gladstone before coming here.”

  “Nevertheless, I need—”

  The door opened, interrupting him, and Lawrence stood there. “Will,” he said, taking in the scene before him. “Maizee?”

  “Come in, Lawrence.” Will gestured him in with flapping hands and a big sigh. “I suppose I can get both of your statements at the same time.”

  Lawrence entered the office and took a seat beside Maizee. She hadn’t seen him in days, and she wanted to rage at him. Demand to know why he’d gone silent and left this all on her.

  “Statement?” she squeaked out.

  “About your relationship.” Will slid two papers toward them, one for each of them.

  Maizee stared at it in horror. Things were spiraling rapidly out of control.

  “Relationship?” Lawrence picked up the paper. “I’m not writing any statement.”

  Maizee turned her head and looked at him, everything happening in slow motion. “Why not?”

  Lawrence barely looked at her. “I own the company.”

  “Which is why it could be very bad for you,” Willie said, probably in the gentlest voice he could muster.

  Lawrence made a noise of exasperation, and Maizee made a quick decision. She jumped to her feet. “I’m not making a statement either. At least not a written one. I met Lawrence on the trail up to the Umauma Falls. Of course I knew who he was. I’ve worked for this company for almost two decades, and he sends a newsletter on the fifteenth of every month, even if it’s a weekend or a holiday.”

  Her chest burned for lack of oxygen, and she wondered what she’d say next.

  “I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t use any relationship to get my job. I transferred from the Lanai branch.” She pushed out her breath, wishing Lawrence would leap to his feet and corroborate everything she’d said.

  He sat there. Sat there and did nothing.

  “And you know what?” She glared at him and then Will McMahon. “I quit.” She turned, ignoring Lawrence’s call of “Maizee, come on. You can’t quit,” and left the office. Left the bank.

  Simply walked out and left.

  Fourteen

  Lawrence thought giving Maizee some space was a good thing. It had always worked in the past. But watching her walk out of Will’s office, the bank, and his life, he realized that he was dead wrong.

  He should’ve called her and then gone to her house the very night Winn had showed up and said such horrible things about him. He knew how Maizee’s mind worked, and she probably hadn’t slept more than a few hours each night as she went round and round everything.

  “I really need a statement,” Will said.

  “Why?” Lawrence barked. “We both know Winthrop Porter made that complaint, not anyone here at this branch, and that he’s just looking to get me and this company in trouble.”

  Lawrence had really tried with the man, but he wasn’t any good at his job and the remediation hadn’t gone well. Lawrence supposed he was ruthless when it came to dealing with Winn, but meetings and checks and the probation period were the same things he would’ve done with any employee at Gladstone.

  Winn had not responded well, and Lawrence didn’t want to work today. He stood, left Will sitting in his office with two blank papers, and left the office. He wanted to rush over to Maizee’s house, but he suspected she wouldn’t go there.

  No, she’d go somewhere she loved best, where she could think. Maybe the beach. Maybe a waterfall. Maybe out in the middle of nowhere with a sack lunch and a bottle of sunscreen.

  He pulled out his phone and called her, silently praying that she’d answer. Relief hit him hard in the gut when the phone stopped ringing after only two bleeps!

  “Lawrence,” she said, her voice soft and even and absolutely wonderful in his ears. “I don’t want to talk to you right now. Please.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “Yeah? About what?”

  He wasn’t sure, and he apparently took too long to say, because she said, “Call me back when you figure it out.” The line went dead, and Lawrence stared at the screen as it went back to his homepage.

  “Is that it?” he asked the air around him. “Did she just break up with me?”

  “Do you always talk to yourself?”

  He glanced over at the same woman sitting on the bench where she’d been the last time he was here, telling her about his great email. That seemed like it had happened such a long time ago, not just three days.

  That had been one of the highest moments of his life. And this, standing here on the sidewalk without Maizee and with Winn’s ridiculous claim, felt like one of the lowest.

  “Not always,” he said, adjusting his jacket. He didn’t know where to go next, so he simply walked. He ignored the beach to his right and continued around the bend in the road, Sweet Breeze coming into view up ahead.

  His Nine-0 Club. They’d know what to do. Well, at least about the false claim by his former branch manager in Lanai. At least Will was a decent manager, and he’d agreed to drag his feet on it before escalating it up the chain of command. And there was no way Lawrence’s father could find out.

  His stride lengthened, and he reached Sweet Breeze a few minutes later. “Mister Gladstone,” one of the security guards said as he walked in. “Welcome.”

  “Hey, Maxim,” he said, taking a minute to shake the man’s hand.

  “Your tip about the clothing stock was right on,” Maxim said.

  “Hmm,” he said, not wanting to give away that he knew the owners personally and that they’d discussed their launch during one of their Club meetings. “Is Fisher in?”

  “Owen would know.”

  Lawrence nodded and headed over to the registration desk. He stepped to the right, toward the concierge, who usually knew if Owen was in or out and where he might be if he was gone.

  “Hey, Jean,” Lawrence said with a quick smile. “Have you seen Owen?”

  The woman tucked her dark hair and batted her eyelashes at him. Lawrence had never paid much attention to her, but all of a sudden he realized she’d been flirting with him for months. He felt a twinge of guilt about not noticing and looked away.

  “He’s in his office,” she said. “I think Fisher’s there too.”

  “Great.” He tapped twice on the counter and moved down the hallway toward the
offices of his friends. The door to Owen’s office was open, and voices filtered into the hall. Lawrence stalled. Sure, he was friends with Fisher and Owen, but he wouldn’t call them besties. He’d always related more to Ira, but he was on a cruise with Gabi, probably getting engaged as the sun set into the ocean.

  Lawrence thought of the last time he’d been on a boat, the sun sinking into the ocean. Maizee’s favorite time of the day, she’d said. And how wonderful had it felt to hold her, his heart thumping in his chest, telling him that it was scared but it didn’t want to stop.

  So Lawrence continued on into the office, a little on the scared side but unable to keep holding himself back.

  He knocked on the door and said, “Hey,” to get their attention. Owen sat at his desk, seemingly working, while Fisher relaxed in a chair opposite of him. He jumped to his feet when he saw Lawrence.

  “Hey.” Surprise filled his face and the word, but he shook Lawrence’s hand. “What brings you by?”

  Owen likewise stopped working, his face also full of curiosity. “Water?” he asked.

  “I’m okay,” Lawrence said, immediately thirsty. He sat in another chair, glad when Fisher sat too. “Actually, I will take some water.”

  Owen bent and pulled a bottle of water out from underneath his desk. He obviously had a little fridge down there, because the water was cold as it slid down Lawrence’s throat.

  “I need some advice,” he said, capping his bottle again.

  “Marshall will be here in a few minutes,” Fisher said. “Do you want to wait?”

  “I think he can get caught up.” Lawrence wiped his hand down his face. “My branch manager in Lanai has been on probation for several weeks. His ex-fiancée is now the loan manager at the branch here, having moved after they broke up.” He hesitated and pulled at his collar.

  “Uh, when we met, we sort of hit it off and have been seeing each other since she got here.”

  Fisher’s face broke into a grin. “Lawrence. I didn’t know you dated.”

  “No wonder we haven’t seen him at meetings recently,” Marshall said from his position in the doorway.

  Lawrence whipped his head toward him. “How long have you been standing there?”

  “Long enough to hear you have a girlfriend.”

  “Had,” Lawrence said. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

  “I’m sure he didn’t come here for dating advice.” Marshall accepted the bottle of water Owen handed to him and sat on the black leather couch against the wall.

  Lawrence gave himself a mental shake. “No, I’m not. That branch manager found out that Maizee and I were dating, and he’s filed a complaint with the company. It’s anonymous, but I know it’s him.”

  “What kind of claim?” Owen asked.

  “He made it sound like it came from a female at the branch here, and that Maizee got the promotion because of our relationship.”

  “True or not?” Marshall asked, always wanting the facts before saying much of anything.

  “Completely untrue,” Lawrence said. “She transferred here from the Lanai branch, because Bennie retired. In fact, we hadn’t had a loan officer for about three weeks before her transfer request came in. Of course Will took it.”

  “So there’s a third party,” Fisher said. “Who’s Will?”

  “My Getaway Bay branch manager.”

  “So he would know that you didn’t have anything to do with the job appointment.”

  “Of course. But we have protocols.”

  “Follow them,” Owen said.

  “He wanted a statement.” Lawrence rolled his eyes, realizing how stupid some of the policies at Gladstone Financial were.

  “Better give it then,” Fisher said. “Tell your side of the story. Say what you just told us so it’s put on someone else.”

  He nodded, realizing he should’ve filled out the form. “Maizee quit. I’m worried that will imply she was guilty.”

  Fisher and Owen exchanged a look, but Lawrence couldn’t tell if it was a good one or a bad one. “It could,” Owen said. “But we lose people all the time. It’s best to follow the procedures.”

  “At the very least, it protects you,” Fisher said.

  Lawrence nodded, and the conversation turned to something else. Something light. The men went down the hall to the bistro off the lobby for lunch, and Lawrence joined them. He had missed several of the last Nine-0 Club meetings, preferring to spend his free time with Maizee, and he missed his friends.

  He thought through the happenings of the last few days, through everything that had brought him to be sitting here in the middle of the day. He’d been quiet when he should’ve said something. He’d given her space when she didn’t want or need it.

  He’d laid low, waiting for her to come to him. He should’ve been the one to go to her, and he slid to the end of the bench. “I have to go.”

  “Go where?” Fisher asked.

  “To talk to Maizee.” He reached into back pocket and withdrew his wallet. After tossing some cash on the table for his part of the meal, he said, “I’ve got to be brave.” He wasn’t sure if he was telling his friends or himself. He just knew he’d figured out at least one thing he needed to apologize for, and he wanted to find Maizee as soon as possible to do that.

  He pulled his phone out as soon as he hit the great outdoors, but Maizee’s phone just rang and rang and rang. Frustrated, he walked faster.

  Fifteen

  Maizee dipped the oar into the water over and over, the waves quite calm today. Or maybe the waves coming into Getaway Bay were always like this. The shoreline of Lanai was choppier for sure, requiring more attention. But here, she could stroke and think, think and stroke.

  She wasn’t sure if she liked it or not.

  She wasn’t sure of a lot of things at the moment. Thus, sea kayaking in the middle of the day, after quitting her job.

  Her chest squeezed. She could not believe she’d quit her job. Given up her retirement. Everything she’d worked for nineteen years at Gladstone Financial. One more year and she could’ve qualified for a decent pension, a great severance health insurance package.

  She wanted to cry, but there were no tears. She wanted to yell, but her voice remained silent.

  She put the oar in the water and pulled, over and over and over. Lawrence should be here with her, as she’d promised him several times to teach him how to sea kayak. Not that there was anything hard about it. She sat in a kayak and rowed around the bay. She’d been around the tip of land between the two bays, and she now faced the huge, twenty-eight story building in Getaway Bay.

  Sweet Breeze Resort and Spa. She’d gone to many beach yoga classes on the sand there, and she’d seen Lawrence go inside the hotel once. He was probably friends with the owner of the hotel, both of them being billionaires and all.

  She’d even gotten the instructor’s number, especially once Tawny found out Maizee was dating Lawrence, who of course, she’d said her husband was friends with. So Tawny’s husband was probably a billionaire too.

  A bitterness filled her mouth. She hadn’t exactly broken up with Lawrence, but they certainly weren’t on speaking terms. She wanted to paddle up to shore, leave her kayak, and go see if he was at the hotel. Be brave and face him. Tell him she loved him, but he’d hurt her when he’d basically ignored her for two days and kept his mouth shut about their relationship to a bank full of employees that he managed.

  See what he’d do then.

  Instead, she rowed hard on the right, turning away from the beach and facing the open ocean. The sunlight glinted off the crests of the waves in bright, white sparkles that hurt her eyes, even through her sunglasses.

  The waves pushed and pulled her, as she let the oar rest across the kayak. She felt just as adrift, willing to go in whatever direction the greatest force was taking her.

  But she couldn’t stay out in the kayak forever. So she went back to East Bay where she’d parked and headed home after many hours of sun. Roger greeted her at the door, somehow
knowing she’d gone kayaking without him.

  “Sorry, bud,” she said, all the energy she had to give to the dog. She showered, scooped the pup into her arms, and took him outside to the hammock. She laid in it with Roger, wishing her memories weren’t full of Lawrence in this yard and this hammock.

  She didn’t even have a girlfriend to call and commiserate with. Yes, she’d seen Kara at the coffee shop every single morning, but they hadn’t hung out much. Lawrence came over all the time, and Maizee hadn’t minded.

  She did now, and she wondered if she just needed some time to be herself. She hadn’t been alone in years, and she wasn’t sure she even knew how to be alone.

  “Maizee?”

  She sat straight up, sure she hadn’t heard Lawrence’s voice. She’d started to doze, and maybe she’d dreamt it.

  But no, he definitely seemed to be walking toward her, slowing with every step. “Hey,” he finally said, stopping a healthy distance away.

  Maizee just stared at him.

  “You said I could call when I figured out what I needed to apologize for.”

  “I didn’t mean a house call.” She hadn’t done her hair or put on makeup after her shower. All at once, she didn’t care. This was who she was, and Lawrence had always said he liked her just the way she was.

  “I’ve called you a few times,” he said.

  “I was out on the ocean and haven’t checked my phone.” She wasn’t even sure where it was at the moment.

  He took another step forward and then fell back. “I should’ve defended our relationship,” he said. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything.”

  All at once, Maizee felt like crying.

  “We do need to fill out the statements Will wants us to,” he said next, which made Maizee’s emotions dry right up. “And I don’t think you should quit. It makes you look guilty.”

  So he’d come to take care of business, not to take care of her. But she nodded, because maybe if she didn’t have to quit, she could put in one more year and then take her retirement.