Page 17 of Maid for My Billionaire Boss
“I don’t know if you’d say we’re close now.”
I gave him my best you-can’t-kid-me face. “She comes over every day and is usually there longer than I am, and I’m a full-time employee.”
“Right.” He tilted his head to the side, then said in a softer voice, “It’s difficult with her because she was a single mom. Like Josiah’s, my dad also passed when I was young and so after that, it was always just the two of us. She made a lot of sacrifices for me. I always promised to be there to take care of her and I intend to.”
Racking my brain, I tried to remember telling Trey my husband had passed, but there was no way I would have let that detail slip out. I hated talking about my personal life and there was only one way for him to know that detail. His mom. It didn’t surprise me she had shared that with him, but it made my throat tight when I squeaked out, “Your mom knows a lot about your business.”
“I suppose it could look weird to some people, but I had bad luck finding business partners I can trust. I’m careful with who I talk to about things, and I figure if I can’t trust my mom, who can I trust?” He was silent for a while before adding, “However, it can be a little much when she comes over every day. She never even asks if I’m busy.”
I was completely joking when I offered a solution, “Hmm, if you don’t want her there, you could always offer to take her out to lunch and then just drive her home, so she gets the message.”
The corner of his lips bent up, teasing a smile. “Just drive her home. Problem solved.”
“That should be easy, right?” I tilted my head, bringing my point home.
“In other words, I should take her to lunch every day?”“Or better yet, make it breakfast,” I joked.
He removed one hand off the steering wheel and thoughtfully added, “I’ll have to try that.” When he looked at me, his face bore a mischievous grin I had never seen before. “Maybe I’ll drop her off at your house and Josiah can keep her busy building blanket forts.”
He was joking, but it made me smile because Josiah would love that. “I might actually keep her because if she did that, I could get so much done.”
“It’s settled then.” He tapped the steering wheel like he was confirming a deal. “We are officially sharing custody. I’ll take her for an hour for breakfast and you get everything else.”
“That’s like ninety-ten custody. I’m going to need some parental support at that ratio.”
“Take whatever you need.” He pretended to give me an imaginary wallet. “As long as everyone can be happy. That’s all I want.”
Even though we were joking, it felt as if there was a lot of truth in his last words, like he had a kind heart, and he really was trying to make everyone happy. We had arrived at the restaurant, and Trey had once again swapped out his joking expression to his serious look when he looked over at me. “Are you ready for this?”
I forced an all-in smile to put him at ease when I pulled on the door handle and echoed, “Ready.”
Ten
Atalie
Treycasedtherestaurantas we followed the hostess to our reserved seating in the back corner. I slid into my shoulder-to-shoulder chair with Trey at a table for four. Every few minutes, Trey would crane his neck up to see if he saw them, then his Adam’s apple would bob as he put his chin down to look back at the menu. With only ten items on the menu, it should have taken only a couple of minutes to decide what to order, so the amount of time we spent staring at our menus was super awkward. I stole a peek at him to see what he was doing, and it was the exact moment he had chosen to look at me. We both knew we had fallen into a silent rut. I smiled, a little shyly because I wasn’t sure if he was uncomfortable sitting with me or just nervous about his meeting. “So,” I started, “how did you meet Allen and Jane?”
His eyes fled to the left like he was pulling up a memory. “When I was a freshman in high school, I was hired as an intern on a coding project. They were the lead consultants on it and we just clicked. I didn’t have the formal education to secure a job as a coder, but I have a photographic memory and can learn stuff quickly. They mentored me and brought me into other projects.” He paused for a second, took a sip of his water, then continued, “Those two had all these ideas for projects as it was during the dotcom boom and there was easy money. They didn’t have the time to code all their ideas. So, they put up the money and I would sit up all night and code. We started with a program for hotels, and that sold and made them both wealthy. Then we wrote a program for builders, and we kept it going. Some programs sold and some didn’t. I pretty much spent my twenties in a studio apartment, over juiced on energy drinks and lost in code.”
“So, your business now is mostly software?” I tried not to sound too nosey because I knew from my previous life that a lot of rich people didn’t like to disclose information with people who weren’t business contacts.
“My software company is my biggest asset, but I dabble in investing in other businesses, mostly SPAC. I also consult for startups.” He gestured to me with an opened palm. “I’m sure this is all boring for you.”
I had no idea what SPAC was, but I didn’t want to sound stupid. “No, not at all.”
I was about to ask him something else to keep the conversation rolling, but he abruptly stood, announcing, “Here they are.”
Jane took the seat in front of me, and when she pulled off her high-collar coat, she unveiled layers of pearls and a white sleeveless shell for a shirt. Even with the overdone bedazzlement, she looked radiant. Without wasting a moment, she leaned over the table to greet me. “Nice to see you again . . .” Her Botoxed brows held a pause in my direction like she was waiting for me to complete her thought. My apprehension about beingjust the maidleft me with a serious case of imposter syndrome and I found myself wondering if this is how Cinderella might have felt.
“Atalie,” Trey said softly, finishing her sentence when I was unable to come up with my own reply. My eyes sped to his, and he held my gaze gently, like he was letting me know I had his support.
“Ah.” Jane’s vibrant blue eyes popped wider as she leaned closer to me and proclaimed in a loud voice, “Like Natalie without the N, right?”
Swallowing my nervous tension as best I could, I replied, “Yes, exactly like that.”
“I’d apologize for being late but I’m not really sorry,” she blurted out. I thought she was joking, so I started to laugh but she breezed right into her next sentence, and I could tell she was serious about not being sorry. “I had to rescue a cat stuck underneath my dryer.”
“Oh no,” I empathized. “That doesn’t sound good. Did you get him out?”
