Billionaire Mountain Man

She tapped on the keyboard, and my phone buzzed. “Done. Her contact details are in your inbox.”

“Thanks, Liv. You’re the best.” I shot her another trademark smirk. “You won’t tell him I was here, will you?”

She flushed and shook her head. “Of course not, I’ve planned surprises before, you know. I’m looking forward to seeing what you have planned. I’m sure Richard is just going to love it. It really is so thoughtful of you to be planning something for him so far in advance.”

If I was being honest, I didn’t even know when Richard’s birthday was. “It’s no big deal. Really, it’s nothing more than a half-assed idea at the moment.”

If she knew that it was so half-assed that it didn’t quite exist, she might not have been singing my praises. It was more likely she would chase me from the building with her stiletto in hand and outing my sorry ass to the man himself at the same time.

“You’re so modest, James. Everyone loves that about you.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder and started the mental process of removing my clothes with her eyes again. My skin crawled. It was time to get out of there.

“Thanks again, Olivia.” Feeling like I’d robbed a bank, I hauled ass out of there.

Chapter Ten

Gabrielle

I wasn’t used to having nothing to do. It frustrated me. I’d been scouring the internet, trying to figure out my next step, but so far, nothing caught my interest for more than a perfunctory examination.

For a couple of minutes the night before, I’d considered photography, but I was bored to death once I started reading about composition and placement and other words that didn’t ring my bell.

I’d moved from photography to social work. I knew it was quite the leap, but I honestly had no idea what I really wanted to do.

Social work seemed interesting for longer than photography had, and I could use some of the credits that I already had towards the degree. Then I realized I had no desire to return to school full-time and gave up on that idea.

I was going out of my mind. I needed a goal. I needed something to focus on. I played around with the idea of applying for a position as a secretary earlier that morning. At least until I figured out what my next step would be, but all the listed positions required experience. Which I didn’t have.

The only upside was that Heather had called. She wanted to go to the mall later. She’d thrown out some stuff that she’d deemed “beyond saving” when she’d finally gotten around to clearing up her disaster zone of an apartment. She claimed that retail therapy was exactly what she needed.

My phone buzzed. I snaked an arm out and grabbed it quickly. As it had been since Friday night, every time my phone buzzed, my heart flipped, and the butterflies in my stomach went mad.

James had awoken a sexual need in me that I’d never felt before. Then he dropped off the face of the planet. I almost regretted not giving him my phone number, but then if he didn’t call, I’d know it was because he wasn’t interested in me, which would be disappointing. This way, I still had some hope that he just hadn’t been able to track down my number.

My heart sank, and the butterflies in my stomach turned to stone when I flipped the phone and saw my dad’s smiling face staring at me from my screen. I had the phone on vibrate, so I hadn’t had the advance warning of his ringtone.

I really didn’t want to talk to him, but things had calmed down between us a little, and I knew I would have to speak to him eventually.

I stared at the display for a long moment before my resigning myself to the inevitable and swiping on the green button. “Hey, Dad.”

“Gabrielle, honey. How are you?” His voice was brisk, and I could hear horns blaring in the background. From some corner of my mind, I remembered some of his meetings this week were out of town. If the information from the dusty corner was correct, he was in New York today.

I toyed with my hair. Then, I flat out lied. “I’m good, Dad. Just really busy, I guess.”

“I wanted to talk to you about that.” Big surprise. “I want you to come see me when I get back.”

“I don’t know, Dad. I don’t know if I’m ready for—” He cut me off.

“If you agree to come and discuss this with me sometime at the end of the week, I’ll open your line of credit back up.” His voice held an edge of finality. I had been expecting something like that, so I’d already opened up my own bank account.

“I don’t know, Dad. I just, I think I need some time.” Both of us already knew that I’d be in his office as soon as he scheduled an appointment for me, but I had to put up a fight, at least.

He sighed as if he was tired of dealing with his petulant child. “I’m not asking you, Gabrielle. I’m telling you to agree to come and see me, and I’ll reopen up your line of credit.”

I breathed a frustrated sigh of my own. “Fine, Dad. I’ll come see you. It doesn’t change the fact that I’m not taking the bar.”

“We’ll see, Gabbi. I’ll see you Thursday or Friday. I’ll have Olivia call you.” The line went dead.

Fabulous.