Page 2 of The Billionaire's Heart

He looks at my lunchbox and stands up. "Yes. Here, I'll show you to the kitchen. I'm Rick."

"Thank you, Rick. I'm Mia. I'm temping while Lily is on maternity leave."

"I'm in accounting. Boring, I know. But it pays the bills." Rick says as I follow him down two more hallways and into the kitchen. "Voila! Kitchen."

The kitchen is completely stocked with two giant refrigerators and two freezers, every appliance you could think of, and booths like at a restaurant. The booths overlook the floor to ceiling windows out to the ocean. "Wow. It's huge in here."

Rick looks around at the other employees eating lunch. "Yeah. We're kind of spoiled here, aren't we?"

I laugh, "Yeah. Kinda. The last place I temped at, I had to eat in my car behind a tire shop. This is paradise."

"Wow. That would suck. Where was that?" Rick follows me to a booth and sits down across from me.

"No place you'd know. I just moved here from Knoxville." I tell him as I unpack my peanut butter and jelly sandwich and my apple slices.

"Never been. Mind if I join you?" He doesn't wait for an answer and runs to one of the refrigerators and grabs his lunch and a banana from the fruit bowl on the counter. "I was born and raised here in Hibiscus Harbor."

"Never lived anywhere else?" I ask him in between bites of my sandwich.

"Never left. What more could you want? Hibiscus Harbor is great. It's across the bridge from Hibiscus Island where we work, it has a top-notch university, a few great restaurants and bars, a stellar hospital, and me. What else is there?" We both laugh at his joke. "So, how did you find our little slice of heaven from Knoxville?"

I swallow my bite and wipe my face with my napkin. "Well, I was looking for a new start, so I closed my eyes, spun around twice, and pointed to the map. I found Hibiscus Harbor. And here I am."

He looks at me with raised eyebrows. "I think there's more to that story. Don't worry. You don't have to tell me right now. You can tell me when we go to Hooplas this Friday night. What do you say? You seem like a fun gal, and my boyfriend and I plan to go on Friday. Let's go out and I'll show you around paradise."

"Sure. My only plans were to unpack my boxes, but those can wait. Sounds like fun."

Suddenly, the kitchen erupts in a lot of commotion. People are packing up their lunches, cleaning up their messes and scurrying out of the room. Rick looks around and follows suit. "Lunch is over. Let's go!"

I watch him grab everything off our table and throw away our trash. "What's happening?" I ask him as he grabs the last of my sandwich from my hands and throws it in the trash.

"Mr. Gallo's in the building. Back to your desk. I'll call you later. Go down that hallway, turn right and go out the door and you'll bypass him on your way back to your desk. I’ll see you later." He disappears and I can't help but walk as quickly as possible to my desk feeling the urgency but not understanding it.

What's up with everyone being afraid of Mr. Gallo? Is he a tyrant? I hope not. I can't go through that again.

I make it to the front desk without seeing the infamous Mr. Gallo.

“There you are! I’ve been waiting out here for someone to help me. What kind of customer service is that?” A tall, leggy blonde woman asks me as I round my desk. She’s wearing a lot of perfume, but I can tell it’s the expensive kind. Did she bathe in the stuff?

“My apologies. It’s my first day and I was at lunch. How can I help you?” I say as I sit down at my desk.

“You cannot possibly help me. Get Mrs. Wilcox out here. Now!” She demands as she points with her bright red fingernail on the countertop in front of me. “You know what? Never mind. I know Ian’s here. I’ll just go back there myself.”

I start to chase her to the frosted glass doors. “You can’t go in there. How about I just call Mrs. Wilcox?” I try to direct her back to my desk.

She laughs but it comes across as a sneer, “Do you know who I am?” She sounds affronted.

I shake my head, “No, I’m sorry I don’t. Like I said earlier, today is my first day here.”

Still standing by the frosted doors, she shakes her head at me as if I’m nothing but a bug for her to squish. “I’m Ian’s girlfriend, for the record.” She throws the door open and starts down thehallway to what I presume is Mr. Gallo’s office and I’m at a loss of what to do. Do I chase her? Do I call Mrs. Wilcox and warn her? Is she really Mr. Gallo’s girlfriend?

I decide to call Mrs. Wilcox and dial her extension and interrupt her when she answers. “There’s a lady on her way back. I tried to stop her. I’m so sorry.”

“Hello Mackenzie. Mr. Gallo isn’t in right now.” Mrs. Wilcox says to our visitor even though she’s still on the phone with me.

“Mrs. Wilcox. I know he’s here. I saw his car in the parking lot. I’ll just poke my head in.” I can hear Mackenzie say.

With the calmest voice, Mrs. Wilcox says, “No, you won’t, Mackenzie. Like I told you. Mr. Gallo isn’t in right now. I’ll be happy to give him a message.”

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