Page 5 of The Billionaire's Fortunate Accident
“No.” He shook his head as he opened the bag of chips. “There is no way you can just not have time for a date. That’s inhumane. There has to be a few hours in your week where you just sit there by yourself, not doing anything at all. We can go out during that time. Night or day — I don’t care which or what time. I just want to take you out somewhere and spend some time with you. I like you. I like how nice you are. And you’re really, really pretty too, even with that boring tan uniform that doesn’t fit anyone well. I mean, look at that girl up there at the counter. She’s as shapeless as a sack of potatoes.”
Tammy held up her middle finger. I put my face in my hands, thoroughly embarrassed at the lack of control I had over my employees. “Sorry about her.”
“No offense,” he slurred as he called out to her. “Everyone looks like a sack of potatoes in those things.” Then he looked back at me. “Well, except you. Somehow, you’re managing to pull it off.”
“Management can order their uniforms to fit them. I guess they want us to stand out a bit from the employees who work under us.”
“Clever.” He sat back, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “Come on, Jessa. One date. If you hate it, then I’ll never bother you again.”
I was sure that I’d love going out with a man like Stone Michael Nash. But I hadn’t been lying — I really didn’t have any time for such a thing. “Stone, it’s not that I want to tell you no. It’s not that I want to turn you down. But I’ve got a full plate. I’m really sorry — I truly am. Even if we went out on one date and we really hit it off, then what?”
“I don’t know.” He smiled, making my heart melt.
“What if we hit it off, and then you end up hating me because I don’t have enough time for you?”
“What if we’re really lucky and hit it off, end up getting married, have kids, and even get a dog? Just say yes, Jessa. Don’t make me come back here every night until you finally say yes.”
No matter how tempting it sounded to be able to look at this cutie every night, I couldn’t let him derail my plans. No matter how hot he was.
Chapter Three
Stone
I dreamed of her that night, and it had been beautiful. Still, I woke with a headache. A couple of aspirins helped with that problem before I walked into the meeting with our cousins, the Gentry brothers.
The Gentry brothers had given us the startup money to get Whispers Resort and Spa going. Since opening and prospering from the venture, we’d grown in size. Warner had added two sister destinations to our family of resorts in Ireland, where he, his wife, and children lived.
Each of us was supposed to do something to further the group’s accomplishments as a whole. Everyone else had done their part. I was the only one who hadn’t added a single thing to the list of milestones that seemed to be growing each year.
Tyrell, Jasper, and Cash — the Gentry brothers — had come from Carthage, Texas, to hold the meeting. All my brothers were there too. Even Warner had flown in from Ireland for the yearly meeting.
Baldwyn took charge as we all sat at a large round table. “This meeting will come to order now that we’re all here.”
Patton took the minutes as he sat to the right of Baldwyn. “I’ve got the attendance written down. Tyrell, will you begin?”
“I’d love to, Patton.” Tyrell opened the folder in front of him. “We’ve expanded the ranch to include the sale of only organic fruits and vegetables, using heirloom seeds that are non-GMO certified. My wife, Ella, has helped on this project as well. Thus far, our reach is only as far as our own lone star state of Texas. But we’ve projected inventory and sales that are expected to increase with each passing year. We hope to sell nationally within five years and globally within ten.”
I clapped along with everyone else at our cousin’s major accomplishment. The men in my group seemed to have ideas exploding in their heads at all times. While it seemed that I couldn’t come up with a single one, no matter how hard I tried.
I wrote down that my cousins’ ranch would now be producing organic, heirloom, non-GMO fruits and vegetables — as a chef, I thought that information might come in handy to me someday.
Patton congratulated Tyrell, “Great job, man. Now we’ll hear from Jasper.”
“Yeah, I’ve got some big news.” He wore a grin that revealed more than he’d said so far. “My wife, Tiffany, and I have overseen the production of bull sperm, and we’re now selling it on the Australian market. They’ve been wary of bringing in American genetics to their Australian herds. But I talked one rancher into it, and the stout calves born from our bulls’ sperm and their cows have proven profitable. We’re selling to over a hundred Australian ranchers now, and that number is growing all the time.”
Clapping along with everyone else, I wondered how he’d come up with that idea. But I didn’t ask.
“Another great job by the Gentry brothers,” Patton exclaimed. “How about you, Cash?”
“Well, mine’s a little different. See, I’ve gone in another direction. My wife, Bobbi Jo, and I have gone into the whisky-making business. Whisper Distillery is just in the beginning stages, but we’ve already gotten a lot of press attention out of the Dallas area. And a few bars have already reached out, wanting exclusive rights to the spirits we’ll be producing. By next year’s meeting, I should have some amazing numbers for y’all.”
Jotting that down, I figured that’d be helpful if I ever opened a restaurant. “So, would I be able to get you to make something exclusive for my place too?”
“You’ve got a restaurant now?” Cash asked with a wide grin on his face. “That’s awesome, Stone. I can’t wait to check that out. And of course, we can come up with anything you want, cousin. We can work together on the fine spirits you’d like to serve at your place. What’s it called?”
Baldwyn cleared his throat, drawing the attention off me. “He hasn’t opened anything yet, Cash. My guess is he’s justaskingabout that for right now.”
My face was hot with embarrassment as I looked down at my notebook without saying a word. There was a valid reason why I didn’t often speak up during our meetings. I had nothing to offer, and everyone knew that.
