A Billionaire BWWM Romance 4: The Proposal (4 page)

“
Um…Little
Rock? “ Julie asked. Sonya batted her eyelids and flipped her
hair over her shoulder.

“
Yes,
Little Rock. I am on the big screen now and I hear all the stars are
relocating to Little Rock. It’s only perfect if I follow my
kind to their newest habitat, right?” she remarked.

“
Of
course, she also thinks like the animal she is,”
Julie
thought as she smiled. “Right,” she grimaced as she
looked at Sonya. “So you are on the big screen?” Julie
asked. Sonya smiled and nodded.

“
It’s
the most exciting thing. This producer just got me right out of
Broadway where I was playing the lead in Funny Girl…”
Sonya started. Julie frowned.

“
Funny
Girl?” she asked.

“
Yeah,
it’s one of the biggest acts in Broadway and can you believe
it? I landed the lead role. “Watch out Barbra Streisand, there
is a new star in town,” Sonya said. Julie smiled. “So
anyway, this producer sees me and tells me that I am perfect for a
role he has. I thought he may put me in some high school musical like
Glee but it turns out that we may be working on something almost as
big as The Sound of Music and he wanted me as the lead character. So
exciting,” she babbled. All Julie was hearing was white noise.

“
So
this…film you are working on, when is it coming out?”
she asked when Sonya finally shut up.

“
Next
November,” she said excitedly.

“
Nice,”
Julie replied. She didn’t know what else to say.

“
I
just know it’s going to be a box office success. So I thought I
could live in the same area as the rest of the so called stars. I
mean some of the people living in Little Rock haven’t had any
acting jobs in years. I guess I’ll be a breath of fresh air
there,” Sonya said. There was a long silence before she finally
talked. “So, are you going to help me with this?” Sonya
asked. Julie pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled.

“
You
see, Miss Clarke, Little Rock is not really my turf. There isn’t
much I can do for you,” she explained.

“
But
I heard that you were the go-to person when I want any kind of
property. Was the report I got wrong?” Sonya frowned. Julie
wanted to punch her.

“
I
would love to know who it was that sold me ever so highly,” she
said.

“
Well,
I can’t say anything but a little birdie told me that you are a
realtor to the stars,” Sonya answered winking at her. Julie
laughed. This time her laugh was more real than it had been for the
last two hours.

“
Actually,
someone I am associated with is the realtor to the stars. I am just
your good old girl next door realtor,” she confessed.

“
So
you are not associated with Steven Davenport? And by associated I
mean dating?” Sonya asked. Julie shook her head. This woman was
seriously getting on her nerves.

“
Miss
Clarke…” she started before Sonya flipped her hair over
her shoulder and smiled at her.

“
Please,
call me Sonya,” she insisted with a smile.

“
Sonya.
We are not here to discuss my personal life,” Julie commented.
“But what I can do, is do what I can to get the Little Rock
listing.” She looked at Sonya. “How about I give you a
call in a day or two?” she asked. Sonya shrugged and nodded.

“
The
Europe trip….” She started.

“
I
will pull every string possible to get you the listing before your
trip. How’s that?” Julie asked, hoping to God she
wouldn’t start yapping.

“
Sounds
good,” Sonya replied.

“
Good.
I’ll get started right away,” Julie promised as she
started walking out. “Do you need a ride or something?”
she asked as she looked at Sonya.

“
No,
I have my car upfront,” Sonya explained as she followed Julie
out. “So are you seriously not going to tell me if you and that
gorgeous Brit are an item?” Sonya asked looking at Julie. They
were now walking to the parking lot.

“
Does
it matter?” Julie asked before she got into her car. Sonya
smiled and climbed into her convertible. Julie shrugged and drove
away silently thanking God she had been finally able to get rid of
Sonya. If ever there was an annoying client, it had to be Sonya
Clarke. She was the definition of annoying. When she got to the
office, she walked into her office and raised an eyebrow when she saw
a man seated at her assistant’s desk. “Hi,” she
said as she approached the desk.

“
Hi…good
morning, Miss Parker. I got you a latte and a cronuts. They’re
on your desk and the morning paper is there as well,” the man
informed her. Julie looked at him and smiled.

“
I’m
sorry, but I don’t read the newspaper. I get the online
copy…remember the twenty first century?” The man looked
a bit embarrassed. “But good call on the cronut,” she
finished.

“
Oh,
thank you Miss Parker,” the man grinned.

“
Yeah,
I’m sorry, but I have to ask. Who are you, exactly? Where’s
Caroline?” she asked, looking around.

“
I’m
Anderson Cooper from the temp agency. Caroline had to rush to Los
Angeles…family emergency,” he explained. Julie smiled.

“
I’m
sorry. Did you just say your name was Anderson Cooper?” He
smiled and nodded. “Like the journalist?” she asked,
smiling broadly.

“
Yes,
like the journalist. And it is purely coincidental that I have a
Copper 360 mug. I just happen to love the show,” he described.
Julie smiled and shook her head.

“
I
would love to meet your folks, Mr. Copper,” she gushed.

“
Please,
Andy. Mr. Cooper is my father,” he replied, smiling. Julie
shrugged.

“
Okay,
then. Andy. I need you to do some research for me on Little Rock.
Which agency handles the houses there, who’s moving, who’s
selling and who’s getting divorced,” she explained.

“
Little
Rock? Isn’t that out of our turf?” he asked.

“
Well,
yes but I have this client who is like a bad smell. You cannot get
away from her,” she complained as she walked into her office.
“That’s your one and only priority, Anderson Cooper,”
she called out as she sat down. She put her bag down and then picked
up the cronuts. She closed
her
eyes and bit into it. There was no greater feeling than having the
taste of what croissant and donut sweet lovemaking produced. She
smiled to herself.
“I
can’t believe I just thought that,” she
thought.
She took another bite and leaned back in her chair. She didn’t
even hear the door open.

“
Miss.
Parker, there is a Meg here to see you,” she heard Andy’s
voice. She opened her eyes and looked at Andy and Meg standing at the
doorway. She smiled and waved her in.

“
Who’s
the hunk?” Meg asked as she walked into the office. Julie
smiled.

“
A
temp,” she said. “Apparently Caroline had a family
emergency and had to rush to LA,” she added.

“
Wow,
Caroline has family in LA?” Meg asked. Julie shrugged.

“
Well,
if she does, she never told me about it. She’s always been so
secretive,” she said. Meg smiled and sat down in front of her
desk. “Cronut?” Julie offered. Meg smiled and nodded.
“We’ll have to split mine. I only have the one,”
she added as she cut the confectionery in half.

“
Thanks,”
Meg said. “How’s your day coming along?” she asked.
Julie shook her head.

“
Don’t
get me started. I just dealt with the worst, most difficult client I
have ever come across. We went to six houses,” Julie grumbled.
“Six,”
she
repeated. Meg smiled.

“
And
she didn’t like them at all?” she asked.

“
Well,
apparently, she wasn’t really 'feeling the space',” Julie
mimicked. “I swear she was arousing my inner serial killer. I
was homicidal for the entire two hours I was with her,” she
added. Meg smiled. “And here is the worst thing. She wanted to
know if I was ‘associated’ with the Brit hunk Steven
Davenport,” Julie told Meg before she took a long sip of her
latte.

“
Really?
How did she even know about that?” Meg asked.

“
I
don’t know. It’s like my private life is now grapevine
news,” Julie complained as she looked at her. Meg smiled and
leaned back in her seat. “Anyway, enough about me. How are
you?” Julie asked, looking at Meg.

“
I’ve
had better days to be honest,” Meg confessed, taking a long,
deep breath.

“
What
are you talking about? What’s going on?” Julie asked.

“
It’s
Sadler,” Meg sighed. Julie shrugged and shook her head. Byron
Sadler was Meg’s ex-husband and the only man who Julie knew
that she really ever loved. Julie leaned forward and raised an
eyebrow.

“
Byron?
What has he got to do with anything?” she asked. Meg leaned
forward and ran her fingers through her hair. “Is it the baby?
Where is he?”

“
He’s
at my mom’s. He’s fine,” Meg assured her.

“
Then
what is it?” Julie pressed.

“
Sadler
wants custody of him. Full custody,” Meg said. Julie raised an
eyebrow and shook her head.

“
But
the court already awarded you full custody, right?” she asked.
Meg nodded. “So what’s the big deal?” Julie asked,
trying hard to understand what was going on.

“
He
got this new job with the World Bank. And the money is actually
good….I think he is buying off a judge or something. There is
no way a judgment would get overturned just like that, right?”

“
I
don’t know much about law, but I know that much. Who is this
judge?” Julie asked.

“
Dillinger,”
Meg said. Julie looked at her and picked up her phone. “What
are you doing?” Meg asked.

“
Getting
you legal representation,” Julie said as she dialed a number.
“Ashley, hi…I know, right. Really long time…coffee
sounds great, but listen, right now I need a favor,” she
started. Meg watched her best friend as she made plans to get her a
lawyer. By the way they spoke, Meg could guess that this Ashley was a
big deal. But as they talked, she couldn’t help but wonder how
she was going to pay her. When Julie hung up, she looked at Meg and
smiled. “Don’t worry. Ashley Keen is the best civil
lawyer you could ever get.”

“
The
best? Does it mean she works for some Fortune 500 legal firm?”
Meg asked.

“
Actually,
yes. She is a partner at Lovell, Porter and Smith,” Julie said
as she scribbled something on a piece of paper in her writing pad.
“This is her number. Call her. Today,” she added.

“
Juelz,
what these guys ask for retainer is probably what I make in a year,”
Meg sighed.

“
No,
don’t worry about that. She is doing this as a favor to me,”
Julie promised. “Now I need you to tell me exactly what
happened,” she added. Meg ran her fingers through her hair
again.

“
It
happened again,” she admitted. Julie looked at her and shook
her head.

“
You
slept with Byron, really? And when was this? When he decided to take
your son from you or after?” she asked.

“
That
was not what we were supposed to talk about. The whole meeting was
about…he called me and said he wants to patch things up,”
Meg said. Julie felt sorry for her. She had heard this story so many
times, she practically knew it by heart. Byron knew that Meg had a
soft spot for him and he loved manipulating it. She looked at her and
sighed.

“
Why
do you keep on believing him, sweeties?” Julie asked.

“
I
don’t know…I just keep on hoping that he’s
changed,” Meg admitted.

“
So,
what did he say?” Julie asked. Meg went through her bag and
fished out her phone before handing it to Julie. “What’s
this?” Julie asked as she looked at the phone.

“
The
email he sent me last night,” Meg said. Julie took a long deep
breath and began reading.

Babe,
I know it’s been a while, but I really need to see you. I know
you think that every time we meet something awful happens, but I need
my family back. When we made our vows to each other, it was supposed
to be for life and maybe we made a wrong turn somewhere, but I know
you are not seeing anyone and I am also not seeing anyone. So that
should be a sign enough, right? I need you and you need me. Our son
needs us, Meg. If you feel the same, I’ll be in town for a few
days. Meet me at Reddington Creek at ten tomorrow. I’m in cabin
no. 14. I can’t wait to see you.