Buch lesen: «Single Mom, Billionaire Boss»

One

At twenty-seven, Meagan Quinn was starting her life over. People often said they were going to, especially screwups like herself, but she meant it.

Really, truly meant it.

She’d spent nearly three years in prison for a crime she’d stupidly committed. She’d only been out for a week, and now here she was at the Ocean Cliff Hotel and Resort, preparing to finalize the details of her employment.

She exited her car and smoothed the front of her skirt, anxious about her appearance, hoping that she looked more composed than she felt. As she crossed the parking lot, a Southern California breeze stirred her long, straight dark hair and rustled the scarf attached to her blouse.

One of the terms of her release was that she had to have a job lined up, but this one hadn’t come easily. The parole commission had considered the job carefully before they’d approved it because Garrett Snow, the billionaire who owned the resort and had offered to hire her, was one of Meagan’s victims. She’d embezzled sixty thousand dollars from Garrett and his equally rich foster brothers. Basically, she’d nabbed twenty grand from each man from the accounting firm where she used to work.

A portion of her wages from this job would be used for restitution so she could pay back what she’d stolen. Her victims had arranged for it to go to their foster care charity, instead of it being returned directly to them. Regardless, Meagan wanted to make amends, to prove that she was reformed.

When Garrett had offered her this job, it had been through a written correspondence, simply stating that he was willing to give her a fresh start, if the parole commission agreed that she was ready to be released. But she still wasn’t sure why Garrett had decided to help her to begin with. That part wasn’t quite clear to her.

She just wished that she wasn’t so darned nervous about coming face-to-face with him again. She’d done him wrong, and now she was at his mercy, trying to keep her heart from blasting its way out of her chest and splattering her pretty new blouse.

Meagan entered the hotel, clutching her purse and a manila envelope that contained her paperwork. She would be working here as a stable hand. The resort offered all sorts of luxuries, including horseback riding along the beach.

As she passed through the lobby, her boots sounded on the colorfully tiled floor. The overall decor consisted of painted woods, breezy fabrics and Native American accents. Garrett was a half blood from the Northern Cheyenne Nation. Meagan had the same tribal affiliation.

She headed down the hallway that led to Garrett’s office and came to two big double doors. After taking a deep breath, she opened them and approached the male receptionist seated at a circular desk. He was young and trendy, maybe a college student, with buzz-cut blond hair and a neatly trimmed beard. He greeted her with a smile, and she gave him her name. He checked her appointment on the computer and instructed her to wait.

Meagan glanced around. The waiting area was big and bright, with magazines scattered on glass-topped tables. She sat on the edge of a printed sofa and placed the envelope on her lap, trying not to fidget. She was the only person there.

About ten minutes later, the receptionist escorted her to Garrett’s private office and left her alone with him, closing the door with a soft and scary click.

Garrett gazed across the room at her, but neither of them spoke. He was standing beside his desk, dressed in a sharp gray suit and Western-style boots. His short black hair was combed straight back, making the angles of his handsome face more prominent. He was a well-built man, tall in stature, with wide shoulders. By now, he would be thirty-two years old.

The last time she’d seen him in person had been at her sentencing, and that was almost three years ago. She’d broken down and cried that day, apologizing for what she’d done, but he’d been unmoved by her tears. She remembered how stoic he’d looked then. He looked stoic now, too. She wasn’t even sure why he was helping her now.

Finally he said, “Have a seat.”

She thanked him and took the proffered chair.

He walked behind his desk. After a moment of silence, of squaring his shoulders and straightening his tie, he sat down, too. “Did you bring the forms?”

“Yes.” She handed him the envelope, hating how awkward this was.

While he sifted through the papers, she thought about how they’d become acquainted. On occasion, she’d caught sight of his foster brothers at the firm, slipping in to meet with their accountant. At the time, she hadn’t yet seen Garrett, who was rumored to have a hard-edged nature. But she’d preferred it that way. By then, Meagan had already been stealing from all three men, and the last thing she’d wanted was to grow fond of any of them.

She and Neil, her longtime boyfriend, had plotted every aspect of the embezzlement, with Meagan taking the money so they could live a more glamorous life. But, in actuality, it was Neil who craved fancy things. Meagan, idiot that she was, just wanted Neil to love and adore her in the same blind-faith way that she’d loved and adored him.

Then, one day during her lunch hour at work, she came into contact with Garrett. She was sitting on the curb outside of the building, crying, on the heels of a telephone argument with Neil.

Garrett had approached her and asked if she was okay. She’d insisted that she was, but he’d plopped down beside her anyway, introducing himself and giving her the handkerchief from his pocket. It had seemed like something out of a movie, so gallant, so old-fashioned. The hard-edged billionaire was more human than she could have imagined.

He’d walked her back inside, and while they were saying goodbye in the lobby, he’d pilfered a daisy from one of the flower arrangements and presented it to her. She remembered clutching the fragile bloom and feeling horribly guilty about the money she’d already taken from him. And when she went home that night to Neil, Garrett Snow had been all she could think about.

She’d seen him a number of times after that, and every time he came to the accounting firm’s office, he stopped by her desk to talk to her, treating her like a friend.

But she wasn’t his friend. She’d stolen from him and allowed Neil to burn through the money, telling herself that she’d done it because she loved Neil. Yet, even in the midst of that supposed love, she’d been fighting warm and stirring feelings for Garrett.

He glanced up from the documents in his hands. “I’ll send these over to HR later today, and you can start next Monday.”

“Thank you.” She tried for a smile, wishing that he would smile, too. Then again, maybe it was better that he was being so detached. His smile used to make her knees watery and weak. “I really need this job.”

“I’m aware of your situation.” He returned the paperwork to the envelope. “I heard that you had a baby while you were in prison, and that she’s about two now.”

“Yes, I have a sweet little daughter.” Meagan had discovered that she was pregnant soon after she was incarcerated, throwing her already-damaged world for a loop. “Her name is Ivy.”

“One of your brothers took custody of her, didn’t he?”

Meagan nodded. “Yes. Tanner, and his fiancée, Candy, raised her while I was in prison. There was no one else who was willing or able to take her.” Feeling ashamed, she paused before explaining, “Neil wasn’t an option. He walked out on me before she was born. He’s never even met her.”

Garrett frowned. “Why didn’t you implicate Neil in the crime when the cops suspected that he’d been involved?”

She answered as honestly as she could, hating how naive it was going to make her sound. “When I first got arrested, I thought that he would remain loyal to me if I protected him. I truly believed that he would wait for me.”

Garrett didn’t reply. Did he think she was a fool for trusting Neil? Or did he think she deserved it?

She explained further. “I told the police that Neil was under the impression that I’d come into the money through an inheritance. That was a lie, of course. He knew I’d embezzled it. He was involved from the start. But since there was no evidence against him, he was never charged with anything.” She quickly added, “I’m grateful that Tanner was there. After Ivy was born, he and Candy used to bring her to visit me. It wasn’t the same as seeing her every day, but it was better than not seeing her at all.” Meagan had battled her insecurities, clinging to the future, desperate to form a stronger bond with her child. “I’m trying to make up for lost time and be the best mom I can be. My baby girl is just the most amazing kid.”

Once again, Garrett didn’t say anything.

But she prattled on. “Tanner was nervous about taking her at first because he was single then. He didn’t become engaged until later. Of course now Ivy is really close to him and Candy. I even...” She stopped midsentence.

“You what?” he asked, prodding her to finish.

“Nothing.” She couldn’t bring herself to admit that she’d been so distraught and depressed in prison that she’d tried to talk Tanner and Candy into adopting Ivy. But thankfully they’d encouraged her to hold tight, knowing that she didn’t really want to give up her baby.

Garrett leaned back in his chair, watching her with a taut expression. Whatever he was thinking or feeling didn’t seem favorable.

She gazed across the desk at him. “I’m so sorry for what I did to you. And to your foster brothers.”

His expression didn’t change. “You already apologized at the sentencing.”

“I know. But I wanted to say it again. Here and now.”

She paused, a lump catching in her throat. “I was sorry at the sentencing, too, but I didn’t understand who I was then.” She was a different person today. Meagan had been to hell and back. “I’ve grown up. I’ve learned from my mistakes, and if I could take it back, I would.”

“Yes, but you can’t. What’s done is done.”

She sensed that he wasn’t talking about the money but the callous way he’d been treated as the entire scenario unfolded. As wrong as they were, she couldn’t explain her actions, not without delving into deeper issues, including her mixed-up attachment to him.

“You’re right,” she said. “I can’t change it.”

He nodded, and they both went quiet, the past stirring uncomfortably between them.

Then, after another beat of heart-shredding silence, she asked, “Why did you offer me this job?”

He shifted in his seat. “I stated the reason in the letter I sent to you. The same letter I submitted to the parole commission.”

“Yes, I know. You claimed that you wanted to give me a second chance. But you don’t seem like you really want to.”

“Truthfully, none of this was my idea. My mom suggested it. She’s the one who convinced me to hire you.”

“Your real mom or one of your foster moms?” Meagan knew that he’d once been a foster child. But she didn’t know much more than that.

“My real mom. She’s always been part of my life, even when she wasn’t able to take care of me. But that’s a whole other story.”

And one he seemed reluctant to share. “Why would your mom want to go to bat for me?”

“She saw you at the sentencing and felt bad for you, with the way you were crying and whatnot.”

“Was she the lady who was sitting next to you?” Now that Meagan thought about it, she recalled an older woman who could have been related to him.

“Yes, that was her. So, anyway, later on, when you were coming up for parole, she did a little research on you. I guess you could call it a background check of sorts. She was curious to know more about you, and that’s when she found out that you’d had a baby.”

“So this is because of Ivy?”

“Your child’s welfare is part of it.”

So what was the rest of it? she wondered. Apparently, there were a lot of things he wasn’t inclined to discuss. Regardless, she appreciated his mother’s support. Meagan’s mom had died a while back, and she missed her terribly. “Do you know that my mother is gone? That I lost her before any of this happened?”

“Yes.” He didn’t offer his condolences, but he spoke a little more softly. “It came up in the background check.”

She struggled to blink away her emotions. “Will you tell me how I can contact your mom? I’d like to thank her for convincing you to hire me.” Without this job, Meagan wouldn’t have gotten paroled. “Maybe I can send her a card or something?”

Garrett shook his head. “I’ll relay the message.”

Clearly, he didn’t want her associating with his mom, even if it was just to say thanks. But she could hardly blame him. Meagan was fresh out of prison, trying to prove that she could be trusted. She certainly wasn’t going to press the issue.

“We have a day care center and an after-school program here for the children of our employees,” he said, changing the subject.

“Is that something that will be available to Ivy?”

“Yes, absolutely. It’s free, so it won’t affect your income.” He removed a sheet of paper from his desk drawer and handed it to her. “Here’s more information about it. If you want to bring your daughter to the day care, just call them directly to arrange for her enrollment.”

“Thank you.” She folded the paper and slipped it into her purse. And when she glanced back up at Garrett, she noticed how intently he was gazing at her. Sometimes she used to wonder if he’d been as attracted to her as she’d been to him. If some of those confusing feelings had been mutual.

But none of that mattered now, she reminded herself. Meagan was only here to make a living and pay back the money she owed, not to rekindle her crush on Garrett.

“I’ll be a good employee,” she said, needing to reaffirm her intentions out loud. “I’ll work hard.”

A muscle in his jaw flexed. “I’m counting on it.”

Yes, of course. He was expecting her to toe the line. Her parole officer was expecting the same thing. So was Meagan’s family. She had a lot of people counting on her to make the right choices from now on.

She contemplated the position he’d offered her. “Can I ask you something?”

He nodded warily. Did he think her question was going to be personal?

She closed the latch on her purse, realizing that she’d left it open. Then she asked, “What made you decide on me being a stable hand? Is it because both of my brothers work in the horse industry, and you figured that I had knowledge of it, too?”

“That’s pretty much it.” He squinted at her. “Why? Do you have reservations about the job? Because you told the parole commission that you were qualified for it.”

“My experience with horses was a long time ago, when I was a kid. I can still do the job, though. It won’t be a problem.”

He angled his head. “Are you sure?”

“I’m positive.” She would be feeding, grooming and saddling the animals, as well as cleaning and maintaining the stalls and equipment. “I know what it entails.” And she would bust her hump if she had to. “But I just thought I should tell you that my experience was limited to when I was younger.”

While she waited for him to respond, she tried not to get intimidated. Especially with how drawn to him she’d once been. And still was, she thought.

“All right,” he said. “I can give you a tour of the stables now if you’d like.”

“Thank you. That would be great. I’m looking forward to seeing them.”

He stood and removed his jacket, and her pulse zipped a bit too quickly. She needed to focus on her job and not on how he made her feel. She was going to work here, but she wasn’t going to fall for Garrett again. She’d hurt him—and herself—enough already.

* * *

The stables were located on a grass-topped hill that overlooked the resort, with brush-lined trails leading to the beach. There were public paths that went into the hills, and beyond those trails, even higher up, on a private and gated road, was Garrett’s house. This was his world, his sanctuary, and now he was lending it to a woman who’d played him for a fool.

According to his mother, he needed to forgive Meagan, to give her a chance to prove herself. Mom had all sorts of do-gooder reasons for believing it was the right thing to do.

Garrett had spent months thinking it through, and even now, he wasn’t sure why he’d given in. Maybe it was because somewhere deep down, he wanted to believe that Meagan was capable of being reformed. Or maybe it was because she had a child to care for, and Garrett had a soft spot for kids.

He just wished that his mom had never dragged him into this mess. But she didn’t know that he’d had romantic feelings for Meagan. No one knew, not even his foster brothers. To them, she was just someone who’d worked at their accountant’s office.

But, to Garrett, she was someone he’d wanted to explore on a deeper level. If she’d been single, he would have asked her out. But since she was tied up with Neil, he’d been careful not to overstep his bounds. Of course, he’d been hoping that she was on the verge of leaving her loser boyfriend, the jerk who’d made her cry on the phone that first day, giving Garrett a chance to dash in like the knight he’d imagined himself to be.

A knight who’d gotten his armor crushed.

As they entered the barn, he glanced over at her. She was as beautiful as he remembered, with her almond-shaped eyes and long silky hair. She did seem more mature, though, far less flighty than before. Prison had changed her. Motherhood, too, he supposed. But were those changes he could trust? She might have become more conniving over the years, more charming, more of a seductress. Her sweet little apologies could be an act, and a damned good one at that.

He intended to keep a close eye on her. There was no way he was going to let her screw him over again.

Garrett spotted Tom Lutz, the barn manager, and motioned for him to come over and meet Meagan. Tom was a friendly old cowboy, short and stocky, with a big bushy mustache like the one Wyatt Earp used to wear. Once Meagan started working here, Tom would be her supervisor.

The introduction went well. Tom was his usual pleasant self, and Meagan was as sweet and humble as she’d been with Garrett back in his office. He sure as hell hoped it wasn’t an act.

After a bit of chitchat, the old cowboy returned to work, leaving Garrett and Meagan alone once again.

“Tom seems really nice,” she said.

“Yeah, he’s as loyal as they come. He knows about your criminal history. I discussed it with him ahead of time. But he isn’t going to hold it against you. The only thing that matters to him is that you do your job.”

“Do the other employees at the stables know?”

“I haven’t told them and neither has Tom. Nor do we plan to.” Garrett didn’t want it getting around. “But it’s public record. So they might find out on their own. Or someone in HR might mention it and get tongues wagging. People gossip, even if they’ve been warned not to.”

They stopped in the breezeway of the barn, and Garrett rolled up his shirtsleeves. He’d left his jacket back at his office, but he was still wearing his tie. He had a huge collection of them. He kept them in his closet, organized by color, the same as his suits.

Meagan’s skirt was flowing softly around her ankles. Everything about her looked soft and touchable. Not that he ever intended to touch her.

She turned to pat the neck of a big bay gelding poking his head over his stall.

“That’s Ho-Dad,” Garrett told her.

She smiled. “That’s an interesting name for a horse.”

“It’s an old surf term. It refers to anyone who pesters them when they’re on their boards, and Ho-Dad likes surfers, sometimes a little too much. He would probably go surfing himself, if he could.”

“Oh, that’s cute.” Her smile widened. “Can’t you just see him out there?”

“In a wet suit? That wouldn’t be a pretty sight.” Garrett just wished that Meagan wasn’t so damned pretty. He didn’t need the distraction.

She gave the bay another affectionate pat, and he noticed how gently she handled the animal. Ho-Dad was enthralled with her already.

“Do you like to ride?” Garrett asked.

“Surfboards?” She laughed a little. Ho-Dad was craning his neck to get closer to her. “Oh, you mean horses? I haven’t ridden since I was a kid. Ivy loves being in the saddle, though. Tanner puts her up on his horses with him. It’s been good for me to see her enjoying it so much. It was tough for me when I was little.”

“What was? Being around horses?” He was curious, far more than he should be. But he still wanted to know exactly what she meant.

She turned away from Ho-Dad, giving Garrett her full attention. “Yes, being around horses became difficult, especially after my baby sister died and my parents got divorced.”

“You had a sister?” As far as he knew, his mom hadn’t uncovered that bit of information. If she had, she would’ve mentioned it to him, particularly with how determined she was in this whole forgive-Meagan affair.

She took an audible breath. “It was a terrible time for my family. Mom fell apart, and Dad got even meaner.” She glanced at the gelding. “Dad never appreciated horses the way Mom did. In fact, he hated that she and us kids shared the interest. So after the divorce, I took less of an interest in horses, hoping that Dad would be nicer to me. But it didn’t make a difference. On occasion I still rode with Mom, just so she didn’t feel so neglected. Then, as time went on, I stopped riding altogether because Dad was still trashing us for it.”

Garrett had never really thought about the kind of childhood Meagan might’ve had. But it wasn’t his concern. Still, it bothered him that her dad seemed like such a prick. “Your old man sounds like a piece of work.”

“I never should’ve tried to be a daddy’s girl. Not after how he treated my mother.”

Garrett debated whether to tell her that his mom and her mom had been loosely connected, that they’d actually belonged to the same Native American women’s group when they were younger, even if they’d barely known each other.

No, he thought. He wasn’t going to say anything. His mom was already making too big of a deal out of it, and he didn’t want Meagan blowing it out of proportion, too.

She cleared her throat. “None of us have anything to do with Dad anymore. Not me or my brothers. I’m not even sure if he knows that I went to prison or that I have a daughter. But he probably wouldn’t care, anyway.”

“You should start riding again and stick with it this time.”

“That’s what Tanner said. But he’s biased, especially with how much Ivy loves it.”

“I keep my horses here. They’re on the other side of the barn. I ride nearly every day, so you’ll be seeing me around, sometimes in the mornings, other times in the afternoons, depending on my schedule. You can ride here, too, if you want to take it up again. That’s a perk that comes with working at the stables. You can use any of the horses that belong to the hotel.”

“Thank you. I’ll think about it.” She smiled at Ho-Dad. He was pestering her to pet him again.

After the tour ended, Garrett and Meagan went back outside, with the grass beneath their feet and the sun shining through the trees.

She glanced around. “It’s so pretty here.” She looked higher up the hill. “Oh, wow. There’s a house up there, all by itself.”

Well, hell, Garrett thought. He couldn’t very well leave his home out of this. She would find out sooner or later that he resided on the property. “That’s where I live. I had it custom-built.”

She glanced at him and then back up the hill. “I should have guessed it was yours. It’s like a castle that overlooks your kingdom.”

He downplayed her words. He didn’t like to think of himself that way. “It’s just a beach house.”

“Well, it looks spectacular, even from here.”

Garrett didn’t thank her for the compliment. Someday he hoped to have a wife and kids to live there with him. Only he’d yet to find someone who loved him for himself and not his money.

But that was the last thing he wanted to think about, especially while he was in the presence of the beautiful young woman who’d ripped him off. He wasn’t going to let her sad story sway him, either. So she’d had a troubled childhood. So had he, but he hadn’t become a criminal. Or an ex-con or whatever the hell she was now.

He took her back to the hotel, and they parted ways, with Garrett doing his damnedest to forget about her.

But when he returned to his office, she was still on his mind, burning a fiery hole right through it.