What Matters Most: The Billionaire Bargains, Book 2 (30 page)

She nodded. “I’m sure.”

“Okay, great.” He glanced back at the waiting room. He was still going to buy some beds—nice ones, ones that Connie would feel he’d gotten ripped off on—and he would call whoever the hell he needed to in order to get it done.

Reese gave him one last long look and then turned and went back into the waiting room.

And Tony pulled his phone out to call his lawyer so that finally, at the end of the night, he could give Reese one useful thing—a quick and easy divorce.

Chapter Ten

“Did Tony tell you to bring those?” Reese asked.

She wasn’t sure what she was more shocked at—seeing her brother walk into the waiting area pushing a wheelchair, or that the wheelchair seat was stacked full of supplies.

There was bottled water and juice, a portable DVD player, three children’s DVDs including the girls’ favorite,
Frozen
, and some snacks. There were also four king-sized air mattresses, pillows and blankets.

“Yeah,” Sebastian said, passing
Frozen
to Vincent. “Well, except for the teddy bears,” he said, tossing one to Will and one onto the seat next to Sylvia. “I just thought those were cute. Why, is it a problem?”

Will slid Max over so he was spread out on the couch, tucked the teddy bear under the little guy’s arm and got to his feet. “I will make sure that it’s not a problem,” he said and headed out of the room.

“You’re gonna need an air pump for those,” Vincent said, eyeing the mattresses.

“Got it.” Sebastian held up another sack.

Sebastian handed Reese a jar of maraschino cherries. “And he said to get you something you really like.”

She took the jar and stared at it. “Who?”

“Tony.”

“How did he know I liked these?”

“
I
knew,” Sebastian said. “He told me to get
something
. I picked cherries.”

She stared at her brother. “You know that I like cherries?”

He shrugged. “Yeah.”

It was too much to ponder at the moment. She had too many thoughts and emotions swirling and threatening to drown her.

Tony had left, he was calling his lawyer about a divorce and her brother had just handed her cherries out of the blue. Not to mention that Maggie was on a ventilator—a
ventilator—
and Reese’s best friend was about to have a nervous breakdown.

There was only one thing she could really do. She popped the top to the cherries and dug two out.

But her thoughts wouldn’t stop as she chewed. The sweet treat brought back so many memories—memories of
good
birthday parties and her family having ice cream sundaes at the drive-in and the holiday cookies her grandmother had made.

Reese’s throat got tight and she set the jar aside.

Thirty minutes later, the air mattresses were inflated and Connie lay on one cuddling Max while Sylvia took the other with Molly. Vincent stretched out on a third, his forearm over his eyes.

And Reese was still thinking about how wrong she’d been.

Her cell phone buzzed and she quickly pulled it from her pocket, hoping it was Tony. It was Holly.

“He paid our entire hospital bill.”

Reese frowned. “
What?”

“Tony arranged to cover everything we need. I’m crying.”

Reese felt like crying too. Again. Still. This night had been one emotion after another and many of them meant tears.

Holly had health insurance through her work, but she’d had to opt for the high deductible plan to make the monthly payments affordable. This hospital stay for Maggie would have drained all of her savings and then some.

Reese’s throat was even tighter now as she typed,
“That’s amazing.”

“Please thank him. I don’t know how to tell him how much this means.”

Reese wasn’t so sure she could tell him how much it meant either. If she went to him to thank him, to tell him she thought he was amazing, he would think it was only because of the money.

Everything she’d yelled at him about was exactly what had made him so great tonight. She’d wanted him to handle a tough situation without throwing money at it, but his money—and his willingness to spend it—was what had made this night somewhat tolerable for Connie, Syl and the kids. He’d made them comfortable. He’d made sure they had food. He’d gotten the best doctor in the city to work with Maggie. He’d covered Holly’s hospital bill.

He’d done things no one else could have done. Yes, with his money, but also with his heart. Money like Tony’s could be a problem, bringing out the worst in people…or it could be a huge blessing.

Everything he’d done had made her positive she was in love with him—in just a few hours, he’d fallen in love with the people she considered her family. And he was here with them, taking care of them, comforting them, in spite of all the mean things she’d said to him. Anyone who could appreciate and care about those people so quickly was someone she wanted to be with. Anyone who would buy little kids cookies and get Connie and Syl foot rubs and send someone to get air mattresses so they could all stay at the hospital together was someone she wanted to be with.

The irony was not lost on her—Tony’s money made it possible for him to care for them the way they
deserved
and in a way no one else could. She’d loved being adored and doted upon and spoiled. Well, everyone deserved some of that. And she should be grateful she had found a man who believed that, had the heart to do it, and, yes, had the money to do it.

“You should try to get some rest.”

Reese looked up to find Will standing next to her chair. “You’re still here?”

He smiled and nodded. “Tony’s going to want to know how you all are.”

“He asked you to stay?”

“No. I just know him.”

Reese thought about that. She wanted to know him. She knew things about Tony. She knew that when she’d seen him striding toward her down that hospital corridor with that I’m-in-charge attitude coming off in waves, she’d felt better than she had all night. She knew that the idea of having him just hold her after being beside Maggie’s bed, holding Holly’s hand and hearing that the doctors had done all they could had sounded like bliss.

But he hadn’t held her. She hadn’t even gotten a smile.

And now he was gone and they were getting a divorce. Just like she’d wanted.

“How long have you worked for Tony?”

Will pulled out a second chair at the little table. Reese offered him the jar of cherries. He declined with a little smile. Reese shrugged and dug three more out for herself.

“I’ve been working for Tony for about two years.”

Her eyes widened. “Two years?”

He laughed. “Yes.”

“Give me three adjectives to describe the experience,” Reese said.

“Frustrating.”

She nodded. She totally got that.

“Exciting.”

She nodded again. Exciting definitely applied to Tony.

“Rewarding.”

She was intrigued that one. “Rewarding how?”

Maybe Tony had a secret foundation where he gave millions to the poor but wanted to keep it out of the public eye. Maybe he paid for schools and homes to be built in poor countries of the world but didn’t need any accolades to feel good about it. Maybe he—she didn’t care. Just before Will answered, Reese realized she didn’t care. Tony was Tony. And she was in love with him. Maybe she wasn’t in love with everything he did, but he wasn’t in love with
everything
she did either. And the choice was clear—live with him and his flaws, or live without him.

It wasn’t really much of a choice.

Living without Tony now would be like spending a day in the sun and then going back into a dark cold room for the rest of her life. He was bright and warm and she
needed
him to grow. Sure, there was the potential to get burned there, but without him she would never bloom.

Cheesy. But it was how she felt. Tony Steele, billionaire playboy, could teach her a thing or two about living big and being generous and loving the moment she was in and she would be stronger with him in her life.

And vice versa.

They were polar opposites. But everyone knew that life at either tip of the Earth was harsh and difficult. Together, they could find a balance.

“Tony is a brilliant man with a big heart,” said Will. “He’s generous to a fault and he embraces everything he does with enthusiasm and determination.”

Reese nodded. She agreed with all of those things.

“Being someone that a guy like Tony needs is rewarding. He does a lot of good things. Sometimes with a little nudging. Sometimes by accident.” Will grinned. “And sometimes very intentionally. But for sure he has a lot of…potential.”

Reese studied the other man. He was probably in his mid-twenties, good looking in a college-professor or Clark Kent kind of way. Will had nice eyes behind his glasses—intelligent, full of humor and kindness. His hair looked like he spent a lot of time running his hand through it in agitation—which she was sure he did. He wore a faded cotton T-shirt with blue jeans and tennis shoes that looked like he’d thrown them on in the middle of the night—which he clearly had. But he also had an air about him that seemed completely confident and competent. Like hair and clothes were very secondary concerns when he had so many important things to keep track of.

And he clearly respected Tony and had an exasperated-but-amused affection for him.

Reese liked Will a lot.

Exasperated but amused and affectionate was exactly how she felt about Tony. Well, that and over the moon in love with him.

“Potential,” Reese repeated. “Is that why you keep working for him? You think something great is coming?”

Will nodded. “Absolutely. And I want to be there. Maybe even be a part of it.”

“So you have a plan beyond being Tony’s assistant?”

“Sure. I hope to perfect something my buddy and I are working on—a recycling alternative—and get some backing and support from Tony.”

“You don’t think he’d just give you the money if you asked?” From what she’d seen, Tony had no trouble handing cash out.

“He’s already tried.”

“He’s tried to give you money for your project?” she asked. “But you didn’t take it?”

“I respect him more than that. It has to be something great. We’re not there yet. When we’re ready, we’ll apply to his entrepreneurial foundation. That way an entire board has to make the decision to back us or not. I don’t want favors.”

“So you work for him because you actually like it? Like him?” Reese clarified.

Will nodded. “I do. And watching him live his life is…entertaining and…” Will shrugged, “…it’s fun to live vicariously. Tony makes waves wherever he goes, and honestly, bobbing along in the wake is kind of fun.”

Reese smiled at that. Yeah, it probably was. She, on the other hand, as his wife, would be diving right into the middle of those big killer waves.

But she was ready. Probably.

“You’re a pretty good safety net for him, huh?” Reese asked Will.

He grinned. “I like to think of myself as his parachute.”

Reese peered at him. Did Will know about the skydiving? Probably. It seemed that Will knew about everything having to do with Tony.

Will peered back at her. “I think you’re the target on the ground, Reese.”

She blinked at him. “What?”

“The reason for him to make that really big scary jump. The one that doesn’t have a plan B.”

She swallowed hard. “He thinks there is a plan B.”

Will sat back in his chair, looking completely comfortable and laid back. “Well, Reese, there is one thing I like even more about working for Tony Steele than driving his Lamborghini.”

She raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

“Pointing out when he’s wrong.”

“
Unbelievable
.” Tony hit the refresh on the webpage again. Then again. “Dammit!”

“What’s up?” Sebastian was sitting on the couch across Tony’s office. He looked up from his cell phone.

“The stock that’s supposed to be tanking is going
up
.”

Sebastian chuckled. “Sorry, man.”

Yeah, Tony was too. About a lot of things.

It had been a long two weeks.

He and Reese hadn’t spoken, they hadn’t seen each other, and Tony had forbid everyone he knew from saying her name out loud or asking what had happened.

Of course, any moment he was alone with nothing to do, Tony was thinking of her, wondering what she was doing, how she was doing, what she would say if he called, what she would do if he sent her flowers or something, and wondering why she hadn’t signed the divorce papers.