INDISPENSABLE: Part 1: A Billionaire Romance (7 page)

Brock just stood and stared at her. Then, he flopped down on the sofa. “No, Sarah. That’s the last thing I want. Don’t you get it? I like you. I never
like
anyone. I respect people. I admire people. I hate people. I can even love people, but I just simply do not like them. Ever.”

“That is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. You’re playing God in a world of people you don’t even
like
?”

“I’m not playing God.”

“Wait. You throw me into a job, I don’t think I’m even ready for. You find me a place to live, and include my best friend, and artwork by my dead brother. You’ve likely got the perfect car ready for me…” She waited for his answer.

“I guess it is a little God-like.”

“A little?”

“Okay a lot.

“If all of that is perfectly normal to you, you have serious issues.”

“I’m trying to be organized.”

“You know what? Organize your own life. Not mine.”

Brock threw his arms up. “Alright. Point taken. I stepped over the line. I’ll try not to do that anymore. What do you mean you don’t think you can handle the job?”

Sarah sighed and sat down on the sofa opposite. “Brock, seriously, your company is huge. What if I stuff it up? I could live on one year’s salary for the rest of my life. I know what happens here…where I’ve worked…for the most part. But internationally? No way.”

“Sarah, whatever you think you need to give you faith in your abilities, you got it. Training. Travel. Anything.”

“I’m not sure I can handle the global aspect of it all.”

“I think you can. I admit, we did throw you in at the deep end.”

“I’m human. I’m not a robot. I need some time to digest all of this, and adjust. I can’t just change overnight.”

“I guess I’ve lived this life for so long now, I’ve forgotten how big an adjustment it is.”

Well, that was a start. For now, Sarah was satisfied he’d connected the dots. But she had one burning question left. “How did you get the paintings?” Sarah couldn’t stop from crying. She had to know, and yet she knew it would tear her apart. This part of her life had been in lockdown for five years.

“I went to visit your parents.”

“God.”
Breathe. Don’t shut down. Breathe. They aren’t here; they can’t hurt you.

“They asked me to pass them on to you.”

“This is so
not
okay.”

“Sarah, believe me. I’m trying to make you happy. I want to see you happy. They said the same. Said they were sorry for the pain they’d caused you and your brother.”

“When hell is serving ice cream cones, I’ll believe that.”

“This has backfired in a major way for me.”

“Just for the record, you can’t ever make me happy by violating my privacy. It’s way over the line.”

“You’re right. It is. I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I’m sorry, Sarah. If I’d known how upset you’d be…”

“How much did you pay for them?”

“Nothing.”

“If you are going to invade every facet of my life, at least give me the common courtesy of not lying to me. My parents would not let them go for nothing. That’s not their MO.”

“One million.”

Sarah needed to sit. “My life used to be shit, but right now…it’s mega-shit.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“Really? Stalker boss buys off parents for dead brother’s paintings they’ve hidden for years as punishment for not paying them off to fund their drug habit. Are you hearing how that is smack-bang on the middle of Crazytown?”

“Drug habit?”

“Yes. My childhood was being a parent to my two incapable parents. Trying to sell drugs to my friends so they could afford their next hit. I never had friends. I couldn’t.”

“Well, they are out of your life now.”

Sarah gave a raw laugh laced with disbelief. “No. No, they aren’t. You’ve just given them a golden ticket straight back into my world because now they know you care enough about me to pay for these.” She indicated the beautifully mounted paintings. “They know they can exploit you for more because of me, and believe me they’ll know how much you are worth. It’s been all over the news.”

“I made an agreement with them.”

“Good luck with that. Agreements are for honest people”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’ll sort it out when it happens. The question is, are you going to sign this lease? You can hate me all you want, but this place is perfect and you know it.”

“I’ll give you six months here. By then Bella and I will decide if we want to move on, but you have to promise this is the very last thing you will ever do to interfere with my life without my input.”

“I promise.”

“If you micro-manage me one more time, I’ll walk away from everything, including the job. I make my own decisions.”

“Deal. And to prove I mean it, I’ll let you take me out to lunch. Your choice of restaurant. No pressure.”

Sarah stared at him. “You’re impossible.”

“You know, you can afford not to eat at a fast food restaurant now.”

Sarah smiled across at him, clearly enjoying him being folded into the back of the slim booth. “I haven’t had my first pay yet. How was your burger?”

“I actually quite enjoyed it. I think next time I’ll get Harry to bring the limo through the drive through. He has to take up three parking spaces out there. He’s copping some flak for it.”

“I’ll take him an ice cream cone. He’ll love it. I haven’t had one of these burgers for months.”

“I haven’t had one since I was ten.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Amazingly, it all tastes exactly as I remember.”

“There’s something to be said for product guarantee. You know how it will look, how it will taste, how much it will cost, and it’s available anytime. It isn’t fine dining, but it is the most popular way to eat out in this country. Possibly the western world.”

“Great business model for sure.”

“So where did you grow up?”

Brock hesitated in answering for a moment. Should he tell her the truth or the version he usually came up with? “Here in the city.”

“Ok, cool. Same as me. Although you likely didn’t grow up in the high crime areas like me.”

“If you’re asking if I was born into money…sort of, but I never got the benefit of the fortune my father left. But I did have a substantial trust fund waiting when I turned twenty-five. But I’d already made ten times that by then.”

He watched Sarah calculate the information she’d just received, and her face softened. She wiped her hand and placed it on top of his. “I’m sorry to hear you lost your father as a child.”

“We lived quite splendidly for the five years after he died. My mother then remarried and every penny went on my stepfather’s gambling and booze addiction. He went to rehab. My mother, brothers and I went to a two-bedroom apartment in Averswood.”

“That’s how you know Averswood. I can imagine it being a huge culture shock.”

Brock looked around. Many of the other diners watched him. He must look out of place in his expensive clothing. It wasn’t the first time but back then he’d taken a beating and had his clothes stolen. “I’m ready to go, if you are.”

“I’m sorry if I’ve been too nosey.”

“You haven’t. It’s only fair you should know something about me. But not here.”

Sarah nodded. “Of course. Work tomorrow, so I guess we should call it a night. I have a huge week coming up.”

“Can’t stay up late on a school night.” He grinned at her, and she smiled back.

“Tell you what, a great liqueur coffee would be perfect for dessert. Do you know anywhere?”

“My place?”

Sarah looked at him. Was she suspicious of his motives, or did he detect a little anticipation? “Your place?”

“Why not? Harry can run you home when you’re ready.”

“Let the poor man sleep? I’ll take a cab home.”

“How does an affogato sound?”

“Coffee, booze, and ice cream? That is my kind of heaven. But I must warn you, I do have an ulterior motive.”

He opened the restaurant door for her. “You too?”

He loved it when he made her laugh.

“Oh wait. I’ll go back and grab Harry’s ice cream. Meet you at the car.”

“Sure.” Brock liked how she wanted to look after everyone she cared about. In ten minutes, she was back at the car.

“I want to talk more about what your vision is for Bella. She’s the most important person in my life.”

Brock opened the limousine door for her, and she slipped effortlessly into the seat. “Harry, I brought you ice cream to make up for having to sit out here and get harassed.”

He closed her door and went around to let himself in. Harry was smiling and holding his cone, and Sarah laughed at something he’d said. Harry grinned over at Brock and waved his ice cream around.

“It’s about time I got some real bonuses in this job.”

Brock leaned forward and hit the partition button which slowly began to rise. “We’re going to my place when you’ve finished, Harry. No rush, enjoy it.”

“No problem, sir.”

“You didn’t have to shut him out quite so soon.” Sarah smiled again.

Brock loved her smile, her real smile. He realized this was the first time he’d taken a woman back to his real home, ever. This was his oasis from the daily crap, and he never brought women back here. He had another place he took, or used to take, women.

Another apartment which looked very different from his home. He wasn’t sure he’d ever take Sarah there. Wasn’t sure she could handle the man Brock was in there. At times he wondered if he could handle who he was there, if it didn’t bring him such satisfaction and peace, he’d strip it and sell up.

He hadn’t been there in six months. He couldn’t think about taking anyone there. Since the day he first laid eyes on Sarah Beaumont, he knew he had to have her, and only her in there. But going there might scare her away, or worse have her think of him as some kind of monster. He couldn’t stand her disliking him that way—even if it was true.

“Brock…earth to Brock…are you receiving me?”

“I’m sorry, I was in another world. Did you ask something?” Brock dropped his line of thinking and focused on Sarah again.

“I’d just asked how you think Bella can fit into your company.”

“In a word, millennials.” The car started up and began to move off.

“Millennials? Are you making up words now?”

“No. We are millennials, people born during or after the eighties. Starting with the company here, I want to implement a modern workplace where the business hierarchy is non-existent and problem solving includes everyone. I need to attract the younger talent and keep them there.”

Sarah’s eyes sparked with interest.  “Bella talks about this concept all the time, but we didn’t realize it had a name. Remove social media and device restrictions in the workplace and have a collaborative effort to problem solve. Everybody does their job their way. As long as it gets done well.”

“Exactly.”

“You hardly know Bella. I don’t understand how you even knew she’d be suited to this.”

“I’ve asked around. She’s active and vocal on the subject both in classes and the employment positions she’s held.”

“You mean she’s complained loudly about not being able to use social media during work hours and how being confined to menial tasks is messing with her creative headspace.”

Brock laughed. “That’s right. And she’s right.”

“But she’s never worked for your companies. I still don’t get how you knew about her? You don’t just pick random people off the street to take an interest in.”

Brock took a breath. This might get him in hot water. “But I’ve been watching your performance for six months. When a group came to me about the sexual harassment and discrimination in certain circles, I noticed you were not intimidated by that certain circle. I became interested in you.”

Sarah looked at him. She raised her eyebrows. “So, not only do you stalk me, you stalk my friend.”

“It’s not like that. Part of running a large company is keeping a finger in all departments. I needed a successor for Rick, and no one else has the dedication and passion for their job. Not like you.”

“So this Rick thing has been going a while?”

“Yes. But I had to be careful, so I could make it stick and take down with the inner circle.”

“You really do want change, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“So you haven’t just appointed me head of the team to get me to sleep with you.”

“Exactly.” He watched her brow furrow and smooth out again. She looked down at her hands and back at him. “You are that good at what you do, Sarah. The best I’ve seen in a long time. I blurred the lines by making it physical. But I can assure you, my need for you sexually is a separate issue which I’m not dealing with well.”

“Maybe I’m being too precious about it. I’m not used to being targeted by a man like you, by any man, and I have to say my one relationship ended very badly, and I’m just not keen to get hurt again.”

“I don’t do relationships either. I’m not asking for forever.”

“That’s the problem, Brock. I am.”