Page 11 of Flirting with My Billionaire Enemy

I’m itching to press Ariana for more information about her manuscript, but it’s obvious that it’s the last thing she wants to talk about.

What she doesn’t know is that I’m a writer too. No one—not even my closest friends or my family members—knows about it. I’ve kept it that way on purpose. My family gets really proud of their own, and they don’t exactly keep things quiet. You’d think with us being in the spotlight so much that they’d value their privacy, but my mom discovered Twitter a few years ago and it’s never been the same since. She has a huge following now, and it’s worse than the media. Just wait until she tries one of those video platforms. She’ll be making videos in her jammies, telling the world all our family secrets. Knowing her, it’s only a matter of time before she sets up an account. My brothers and I have been holding our breath, hoping that day never comes.

So because of that, I have a secret life. I started it in Dubai when I first got there and hadn’t figured out the culture yet. After a while, I figured out that social media and dating apps were the way to find women over there, and I had plenty to keep myself busy outside of working hours. But I still continued to write. It had grabbed me, body and soul, and never let go.

I don’t tell any of this to Ariana, but it’s on my mind as we’re going over the financials for the company. We work until the sun begins to set, and Atlanta lights up like a Christmas tree.

My phone rings, and it’s Dad. “I need to take this.”

“No problem. I’ll keep looking over these reports. Take your time.”

I swipe the screen of my phone and step out of Ariana’s office, heading back to my own. “Hey, Dad.”

“Kaison, I have some news.”

“What’s going on?”

“Your mom was coming home from lunch with her group of friends today, and she was in a car accident.”

“Oh, no. Is she okay?” I ask.

“We flew her to the hospital in Atlanta. She’s headed into surgery.”

“Do you know who hit her?” I ask.

“It was old Billy Grover. He’s had one vodka too many this time. Officer Lemmings took him in for drunk driving.”

Billy must have felt awful. He really is the nicest guy. He just spends too much time at The Tipsy Cow. He’s had a rough life and likes to drown out his sorrows with the hard stuff. “How is Mom doing?” I ask. “Is she in a lot of pain?”

“It’s not looking good. She feels pretty awful.”

“What hospital is she going to be in? I’m coming to visit her.”

He gives me the information. “I’d like to be there when she wakes up. Where is she staying while she recovers?” I ask.

“I suggested she stay at the penthouse, but she wants to recover in Blue Mountain.”

“I’d like to be there to help her recover,” I say.

“What about the project?” Dad asks.

“I’ll make sure it still gets done.”

“And what about Ariana? You can’t just leave her in the middle of the project.”

“What if I just brought her with me?”

“That could work.”

“I’ll talk to her and see how she feels about going with me to Blue Mountain.” It might be weird, but we can’t afford to be in different towns while we’re working on this project.

I hang up with Dad and head back to Ariana’s office. Her head is bent over her computer, and she’s typing away with a look of concentration on her pretty face. She’s even more attractive when she’s in the zone. There’s something about her drive that appeals to me. This is a woman who knows what she wants and is fighting to get it. I have a lot of respect for that. And she somehow finds time to write as well. The more I get to know this woman, the better it gets.

“I just heard something awful.”

She looks up and pushes her glasses up on her nose in this adorable, bookish way. “What was it?”

I tell her about my mom’s car accident. “I’m going out there to Blue Mountain to help her out while she recovers. We have staff who could help her, but she’s going to need some moral support.”

---