Page 37 of The Billionaire and the Runaway

“Yep. She’s working a double shift at the end of the week,” he says and I can hear their dog barking in the background.

“Everything OK over there?”

He laughs. “Yes, the lights just flickered is all. How’s Ariana?” Apparently, word travels fast in our small town because all my staff had already checked in on Ariana throughout the weekend and then again this morning when I made the call to close the farm for the day.

“She’s fine. I’m having her wait out the storm up in the house, but she’s on the mend,” I state as I check the barn door latch for the tenth time.

“Good. Take care of her. Eric?”

“Yeah, bud?”

“It’s OK to move on, you know. Ariana is great. I’d ask her out myself, but I see how she looks at you.” He pauses and I sigh.

“Not gonna happen,” I white lie because it nearly fucking did this morning.

“Why not?” he asks.

“Kingsley, just…let it go,” I say, sounding harsher than I intended. “Listen…I know you mean well. And I appreciate that. Maybe, someday, I’ll feel differently about things. But I’m not there yet. OK?”

“Just know, she’d approve of Ariana, and she’d want you to be happy. I mean come on, it’s not every day a beautiful, smart, talented woman lands in your lap out of seemingly nowhere. And don’t think we all haven’t seen you watching her too. I might be young, Eric, but I’m not blind,” he says with a laugh.

“Smart-ass. Go be useful and make your mom some dinner or something. I’ll see you tomorrow. I just sent a message. We’re going to open around one. Be here at ten. We’ll check the damage then,” I say.

“Aye, aye, captain,” he teases.

With a shake of my head, I disconnect and decide to do one more walk around the property. My phone rings again. This time, it’s an old friend of mine, Adam Wellington. Growing up in Storyview Falls, I was friends with a few kids whose parents were billionaires. Why a handful of billionaire families decided to make this small coastal town their home, I have no idea. It seems completely by happenstance. Or perhaps the town is like a siren to rich families. We’ve had a lot of crazy theories over the years, crazier ones as kids of course.

“Hey,” I answer as I shore up a loose rope on an outside pen that I missed.

“You outside in this weather?” he asks with a laugh.

“Yes, asshat. I have to get animals sorted before it gets worse,” I explain. Adam never lifted a finger aside from working out. He and our other friends weren’t as hands-on with their properties. But then again, my parents were different. They weren’t old money. And my dad specifically moved here to be a farmer, a billionaire farmer, but a farmer nonetheless. I don’t know if it was in my blood because of that or if I just took a natural liking to it growing up here, but either way, I love working on my farm. I’d hate to give it up. But I also know that I need to think with my business brain and not my heart. The last time I thought with my heart, it got shattered into a million pieces and never quite worked the same again.

“Be careful.” He pauses and I know he has more to say.

“What is it?”

“I hear you have a new employee,” he says.

“Yep,” I reply, wondering why everyone seems to be calling about her today. Did word get to Isa about her fall? What the hell? This is like small-town life at its absolute worst. Everyone knows everything about everyone.

“Isa says she’s gorgeous,” Adam states as if this is a normal conversation. He and I haven’t spoken about girls since we were boys. We certainly don’t talk about women, and he sure as fuck hasn’t mentioned a single one to me since Tori died.

“So you’re calling me, in the middle of a fucking storm, to mention that you heard that my new employee is attractive? Did I get that right?” I growl.

“Yep, he totally likes her,” Adam calls out.

“What the fuck?” I snarl.

“Isa says that you should go for it. That…hold on…” He trails off.

“Eric? This is Isa. Elisha and I think that you should ask Ariana out, like out, out. And that you two would make an amazing couple. I mean, seriously we do not just get awesome new women in town like that. Just consider it, OK?” she says and then there’s silence again.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t really have a choice. It was either listen all night to Isa scheming to matchmake you two, or just call you and let her say her piece,” he explains.

I groan and run a hand through my now wet hair. “OK, well, message received,” I state dryly.

“Great. Well, I…uh, should let you go. We should get drinks soon,” he says. I know Isa wrangled him into calling and he feels bad about it.

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