Page 9 of The Billionaire's Fortunate Accident
“How do you know so much about babies?” My guess was that he had a few of his own — by a few different baby-mommas, too.
“I’ve got lots of nieces and nephews. They all love me.” Polishing his fingernails on his shirt, he grinned. “I guess I’ve got a lovable vibe that says I make time for people.”
“I’m sureyoucan make time for people.Ican’t.I’vegot a degree to obtain. And you haven’t let me finish telling you about my daily schedule, because it doesn’t stop there. I work from six a.m. until six p.m., five days a week. When I get off at six, I go straight home and change into this lovely uniform. I have to be here at seven p.m. where I stay until three in the morning. I live five minutes from here, so I go straight home, take a shower — this time I wash my hair and body — before I fall into bed at about three-thirty. I sleep like a dead person for an entire two and a half hours before it’s time to get back up again.”
“You said that you work five days a week. So that means you have two whole days off, Jessa. You could go out with me then.” He looked like a man who’d just found a diamond in a pile of coal.
“You would think so, right?” But he wasn’t right at all. “On my days off, I have to catch up on my classes. Not only do I have the intern work that I must do to graduate, but I also have actual classes. I do try to catch up on my sleep as well. On my off days, I allow myself to sleep in until eight in the morning. But from eight until midnight, I’m on the computer, doing my class assignments. So, yeah, I go to sleep a little bit earlier on my days off and sleep in a little bit later. Would you have me give up sleep for this date?”
“Damn.” My schedule finally seemed daunting to him. I could tell that by his expression. “I don’t suppose it would be called a date if we just cuddled and slept together on your nights off, huh?”
That actually doesn’t sound half bad.
“While that sounds sort of wonderful, what if sleeping — you know, the actual sleeping — wouldn’t be enough for either of us?”
Chapter Five
Stone
The next day, I found myself sitting with my brother Patton at an Asian Fusion restaurant, my mind wandering back to the previous night and Jessa. “So, she’s like full of what-ifs. You know what I’m talking about?”
“Who is?” He tapped his finger on the shiny menu in front of him. “And you’re supposed to be checking out the food, Stone, not thinking about some girl.”
Waving the menu in one hand, I felt slightly offended that he thought I couldn’t do more than one thing at a time. “For your information, I’ve already decided to start off with the pineapple chipotle chili. And the girl’s name is Jessa. I told you how I went to see her last night. Can’t you remember that?”
He raised one dark brow as if he was a little confused. “You’re talking about the night manager of that fast food place?” He shook his head as he looked down at the menu. “And why the chili? I mean, this is Texas, and Texans are pretty devoted to the normal chili style. Putting pineapple into something that sacred just isn’t a good idea. This outing is about introducing you to foods you might want to put on the menu of your own restaurant — a restaurant that we all are hoping you’ll be opening in the near future, Stone.”
“I know you’re trying to help, but I’m not about to steal any recipes from somewhere else, bro.” Sometimes, I felt as if my brothers didn’t know me at all. “I’d like to see how it tastes. I might not go with chili. I might pair the flavors in other ways. You have to think outside the box. Anyway, Jessa’s always wondering about what if this happens or what if that happens. I just wish she would stop thinking that way and put her mind to something more important. Like when she can fit me into her insanely hectic schedule.”
“How hectic can the schedule of a night manager of a fast food dive be?” He held up one finger to signal to the waiter that we were ready to order.
In no time at all, the waiter was standing at the side of our table, hands clasped behind his back. “What may I get you, gentlemen?”
Patton led. “I’ll have the shrimp fajita stir fry, and he’ll have the chili.”
“They will be right out.” With a slight bow, the waiter then turned and left us.
I hadn’t realized that in the short amount of time I’d been talking to my brother about Jessa, I’d left out some pretty important facts about her. “She’s an intern at some hospital. She’s going to be a doctor.”
“Sounds pretty respectable. Can’t see why you’re hot for her, though. That’s not usually your type. From what I’ve seen, you like loose, brainless, and perpetually horny.”
He wasn’t wrong, so getting offended would’ve done me no good at all. “And available. But she’s none of those things. And yet, I still can’t stop thinking about her.”
“How’d you meet her?” He looked at the menu. “We should order some more things, Stone. I want you to really immerse yourself in each cuisine. You know, take it all in.”
Looking at my menu, I’d been eyeing this one item. “I think I’ll order this avocado salsa egg roll. It should go with the chili anyway.” I caught our waiter’s eyes. “We’ve found more things we’d like.”
Coming right over, he was quick to ask, “What more can I get you?”
“I’d like an avocado salsa egg roll.”
“I’d like to try this crab Rangoon southwest wrap. Is that like a flour tortilla?” Patton looked at the waiter.
“It is a flour tortilla.”
“Yeah, I want that.”
Spinning on his heels, the waiter left us again.
