Admit You Miss Me (Irresistible Billionaires 1)

“Call in sick,” I said.

“I'm not sick.”

“No, you are exhausted from spending most of your time in the hospital. You are stressed because you have a mother who is fighting a life-threatening illness. You need to rest.”

“What I need to do is keep my job.” She walked out of the closet to the vanity where she sat down to do her hair and makeup. I followed her out.

“You don't need your job, babe.”

“Yes, I do.” She sat and turned on her hair curler. I had watched her do her morning routine before, but I liked to watch her do it. It didn't even make sense. Just the little movements and faces she made as she concentrated on her tasks were so cute.

“No, you don't. You’re pregnant anyway, just take maternity leave.”

She laughed. “My job only offers a month off for maternity leave. Most women wait until they actually have the baby to take it.”

“Well there you go, there’s your reason to quit.”

She laughed. “I am not quitting my job Charles.”

“You’re not most women, Brenna. You don’t have to suffer with an employer that thinks a human newborn is okay with only four weeks of contact with their mother.”

I saw her roll her eyes in the mirror as she ran her fingers through her hair. “I realize you are trying to help Charlie, and that's really sweet, thank you. But, and this might shock you, but I actually like working.”

“Are you telling me you would rather be working than doing anything, literally anything else? Because that's what I'm offering.”

“Isn’t your family like royalty or something? You don't have to work for your money. Frankly, it’s useless trying to explain this to you because you couldn’t possibly understand.”

I enjoyed her ribbing even though she was refusing to listen to me. “We're not talking about me, we're talking about you. We're talking about how you are overworked, stressed, exhausted, and still about to go clock in.”

She got up and walked over to me. “Thank you for looking out for me Charlie, but in this case, you don't need to.” She kissed me on the cheek and walked out of the room. I followed her down the stairs. She had to head to work, but I wasn't going to the office until much later in the day.

“At least have breakfast before you go,” I said to her.

“So this is the reason why you wanted me to live with you.” She walked into the kitchen. She was totally planning on just heading to work. I knew it. She needed to quit. It wasn't that I wasn't comfortable with her having a job. If she really enjoyed working, like she said she did, then I wanted her to do the things that she enjoyed. This particular job, however, seemed like one she could do without. From what she had told me, she had been working for her current employer for years and had barely seen an increase in her pay. She worked way too hard for the amount of money she was making and the role she was employed in. I wanted her to work if that was what she wanted to do but I wanted her to have a kind of job that deserved her labor.

Jerry, as usual, had cooked up a whole spread. I watched the two of them make conversation as she split a bagel and smeared it with cream cheese, then wrapped it in a napkin so she could eat it on the way to work.

“I wish you would sit down and have breakfast like a normal person,” I said to her.

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today,” she said taking a bite out of the bagel.

“Just listen to me sometimes and we won't have this problem anymore.” She thanked Jerry, then came up and kissed me.

“I'll see you when I get home.”

I sat down at the table in the kitchen. The spread looked delicious, and of course, it would be but I wasn't really hungry. I realized that it was just me being selfish, but I hated it when Brenna wouldn't let me help her. All I wanted to do was make her as comfortable as possible, but she wouldn't let me.

Look at that, the woman your mother picked would have let you rearrange the order of her life with no complaints. She’d happily become the kept woman of your dreams. You went and picked a girl who didn't let people walk over her.

I loved that about her, but sometimes, like now, when she was basically running on fumes, I wished that she would let me shoulder some of her responsibilities and rest. I wished she would just take three days to do nothing but take care of herself. If she said she could do it though, then she could do it. She knew that better than I did.

It was my turn to work however and I couldn't do it. From the minute I sat down in my home office, to the time I gave up and decided to go to my other office, I barely got anything done. Working away from home was marginally more successful. I stared at the screen of my computer until it went dark, then I woke it up and started the process all over again.

I couldn't stop thinking about Brenna. I missed her. I wanted to know how she was and I knew that texting her would be useless because she was working. I couldn't hold her diligence and work ethic against her, that was just selfish. I wanted her near me, was that such a crime?

If she didn’t feel the same way, yeah, it was.

Hey babe, how about you quit your job so that you can spend more time with me? I could see myself asking it, and her immediately shooting it down. She liked to work. She didn't say it, but I felt like in addition to enjoying her work, she felt like she needed the money.