Page 8 of The Billionaire's Heart

I see it happening in slow motion, but I can’t stop it from way over here. Mia is walking backwards, looking and waving at me. She trips over a parking stump and falls back; all her belongings go flying around the parking lot.

I run over to her, “Are you okay? Did you hit your head?” Kneeling down, I find her on her back, staring up at the starry sky.

Mia doesn’t speak for a few seconds and I’m about to call for an ambulance. “Well, if you mean if I’m alright physically. Yes, I’m fine. If you mean am I embarrassed that my new boss just watched me go ass over teakettle, no. I’m not.”

Smirking at her, I take her hand to help pull her up and that fire I was feeling earlier today when I shook her hand is there again. What is that? Is it her or is it me? “Up you go. Take it slow.”

Mia reaches behind her head with her other hand, and it has a bit of blood on it. “Looks like I hit my head. That’s going to hurt in the morning.”

“Let me call an ambulance. You should have that looked at.” I pull out my phone, but she pushes my phone back down.

“No, I’m fine. Really. It’s just a tiny amount. I think I hit my lunch box, not the pavement.” I watch her stand up and I’m right there waiting for her to fall again, but she doesn’t.

“Okay, now that I’m sufficiently embarrassed, I’m going to go home and nurse my ego.” She gives me a small, fake smile and picks up her keys to her car.

“Are you sure I can’t take you to the ER? What about an urgent center? There’s one right up the road.” I point in the direction of the center.

She shakes her head slightly. “Nope. I’m good. Thank you, though.”

For some reason, I don’t want her to go, but I have no other reason to keep her here. What the hell is wrong with me? Time for me to go home, too. “Okay, then. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Mia climbs into her rust bucket of a car and nods. “Yep.”

Retreating to my car, I hear her start her car and it sounds dreadful. There’s a bunch of clanging and sputtering, but it finally starts. I don’t like that she’s driving that hunk of junk, but why do I care? I don’t know. It’s none of my business.

I get into my BMW M8 convertible, and it purrs like a kitten. Putting it in gear, I pull out of my front row covered parking space and up alongside her car where she’s still sitting. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I just need to let my car warm up for a few minutes before I put it in gear. If not, it likes to stall out on me. I’m good. See you tomorrow, Mr. Gallo.” She dismisses me as she rolls up her window with a hand crank, and I take the hint. Time to go.

“Okay. See you tomorrow, Mia. Have a good night.” I pull away and out of the parking lot onto Hibiscus Island Road and then into the plaza next door and park facing the office parking lot. I watch as Mia sits in her car for a few more minutes. “What is she doing?” I say to no one but myself. I’m not comfortablejust leaving her there until I see that she’s headed out. It’s the gentlemanly thing to do, right?

Finally, Mia’s car starts to move forward, but jerks and I can see the headlights dim and then go out. She’s stalled. I can tell she’s trying to get it started again, but then I watch her get out of her car and pop open the hood.

This is ridiculous. I drive back to the parking lot and up alongside her again. “Need some help?”

Mia is looking at her engine, but not really doing anything under the hood. “I thought that if I gave it a good stern talking to, it would decide to spontaneously start, but that doesn’t seem to be working.” She looks at me. “I don’t think it fears me. Maybe if you yell at it?” She gives a quick smirk.

“Lock it up and get in.”

“No, I’m fine. I’ll just call a tow.”

“That’s stupid. Get in and I’ll drive you home.”

Mia looks at me and then looks back at her car and then shakes her head. “No, I’m fine. Really. Besides, I need to get this worked out before work in the morning.”

“Damn it, woman, just get in the car.” I’m exasperated. I’m trying to be a nice guy here. Can’t she see that?

“Mr. Gallo…”

“Ian.”

She shakes her head. “Mr. Gallo, I’m perfectly capable of taking care of this on my own. Will you please just go home or wherever it is you should be? Please. Thank you.” She turns back to her car engine and starts wiggling wires.

“I’ll be right back.” I say as I pull out of the parking lot and aim towards the restaurant across the street. Pushing a button on my console, “Call Trevor.”

“Calling Trevor on mobile.” My car answers back to me.

“Dr. Jacobs.” My lifelong friend answers his phone.

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