Page 26 of The Billionaire's Fortunate Accident
“If she doesn’t love it, then she’s nuts.” Taking her plate with her, she went to wait on the customer. “Welcome to Hamburger Hut, where the customer is number one and so are the burgers.”
I discreetly made my way around the counter, through the kitchen, and into the back hallway. I hadn’t been back there, so I felt slightly confused when I found several doors, all of which were closed. “Jessa?”
The sound of chair legs scraping against the floor told me where I could find her, so I went one door down and opened it slowly. “Stone, what are you doing back here?” she snapped at me.
“Coming to give you something that I told you I would.” I went inside to find an annoyed expression on her usually smiling face. “What’s wrong?” I put the tray on the desk in front of her then removed the lid. “Whatever is wrong, this will fix it.”
“You shouldn’t be back here. I might get fired for this.” She didn’t even look at the food I’d placed in front of her.
“Icookedhere last night. I’m fairly sure if anything could get you fired, that would be it.” She was giving off a terrible vibe that I couldn’t ignore. “Jessa, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. You should go. I’m too busy to talk to you tonight. I’ve got loads of work to do.” Moving the papers around on the desk, she moved the tray out of the way. “I’m not hungry. You should take that with you. No reason to waste it on me.”
There was no denying that her mood was the foulest I’d ever seen. Not that I’d been around long enough to know what sorts of moods she was generally in, but this one took the cake. “I honestly think that you should eat this. You’re not yourself right now. I bet it’s because you haven’t eaten anything. Just try it.”
“I said I’m not hungry.” Her eyes finally came to mine. “And I’m busy. So just take the food and go.”
Generally, if someone was this shitty towards me, I would’ve left. But something felt off. And I wasn’t about to leave without finding out why she was so mean all of a sudden. “Obviously, something happened today after we met for your break that upset you. Tell me about it, and I might be able to help. If it has anything to do with this crappy job, I can fix that. I can hook you up with a job by tomorrow. Even if I couldn’t do that, I could just give you whatever money you need until you could get another job.”
Slamming down the pen she was holding tightly in one hand, she hissed, “That’s the thing with rich guys. They always think they can solve every problem with money.”
“Rich guys?” I got the impression that she was upset with me for some reason, but I still could not figure out what it could be. “Jessa, why would you say something like that?”
“I saw the article about you in Texas Monthly. You and your four brothers. You own a resort. You never told me that.” Her face turned red with anger as she went on, “The thing with you is that you think you can buy whatever you want, including me. Well,Ican’t be bought.”
“I do not…”
She cut me off, “No.Youjust be quiet and listen to whatIhave to say. You only want me because you can’t have me. That’s all this is, Stone. You’re willing to pay me to stop working nights here just so you can have me all to yourself. But I don’t want someone to financially support me. I don’t want to trade sex for money.”
“Jessa, you know it’s not like that,” I tried to explain.
But she wasn’t going to give me any time to explain myself, as she interrupted me again, “It’sexactlylike that. You pay me so I don’t have to work this job. And that would free up my nights. You would expect me to spend that free time with you since you would’ve so generously given me money to pay my bills. Don’t act like you would give me money or even a job and not expect me to spend most of my free time with you.”
I hadn’t even thought about it like that. “Jessa, that's not what I’m doing.”
“You are too!” she shouted as she stood up straight, slamming her hands on the desk. “Maybe you don’t even know you’re doing it because, most of the time, rich people can’t see the manipulative things they are doing. I’ve been honest with you from the beginning, and you haven’t been honest with me.”
“How’s that?” I didn’t think I’d been hiding a thing from her.
“You didn’t tell me that you own a resort, for one.”
“My brothers and I own a resort and spa. There, now I’ve told you. I wasn’t keeping it a secret. We just haven’t been able to talk much, with the small amount of time we’ve spent together.” I didn’t like being accused of lying or hiding things when I hadn’t done that at all.
“The article made you out to be a womanizer. What makes you think that I want to become just another one of Stone Nash's many conquests?” She huffed, pushing her hand through her hair. “And it made you out to be a spoiled brat who’s doing nothing at this resort while your brothers do all the real work. Very typical rich guy, if you ask me. And frankly, I’m not interested in being with anyone like that.”
Have I become spoiled?
Shaking off the thought, I had to defend myself. “I hadn’t found my true calling yet. I knew it was something in the world of food, but I didn’t know what. Not then. But now — well, now I may have found what excites me about food.”
“The bottom line is this,” she said as she looked into my eyes with honesty. “You’re a crapshoot, a gamble. I could fall for you, and I could have sex with you, but in the end, you would probably get tired of me and my lack of free time. You are who you are — a rich man who hasn’t had to work hard at anything or had a problem getting any woman he wanted. What if I fell in love with you, and then you left me brokenhearted because once you get me, you won’t want me anymore?”
Chapter Fourteen
Jessa
“You know, Jessa, life ain’t worth livin’ if you refuse to take chances.” Stone stared right back into my eyes with defiance. “And you’re completely wrong about me. You’re making assumptions, none of which are correct.”
“I don’t think I’m wrong at all.” I wasn’t going to fall for anything else the man had to say. “Can you honestly tell me that you haven’t had the same thoughts as me? What if you fall in love with me, and I don’t reciprocate your love?”
