A Billionaire BWWM Romance 2: Jealousy and Trust (3 page)

“You
are scared that if you admit to what is going on, it all becomes
real,” Meg exclaimed. Julie let out a cynical laugh.

“Really,
Meg. All this has been real and I know it has been because, like you
said, he met dad. And you and I both know that I never introduce dad
to just anyone,” she admitted.

“Exactly,”
Meg agreed.

“Exactly
what?” Julie asked.

“Exactly
my point. You never introduce your father to anyone. And now that you
have admitted that Steven is somewhat special enough to meet your
dad, I know you Julie Parker have been heart fucked,” Meg
smiled.

“What?”
Julie asked, looking at Meg. “What the hell is being heart
fucked?”

“Well
missy, it is that state where you know you are in love with someone,
that state you are in when you feel an ache in your heart when you
don’t hear from him or the way your heart skips a beat when you
see that he is calling,” Meg explained matter-of-factly. “That
my dear friend, is when you know you’ve been heart fucked,”
she added before she took a bite of her food. Julie looked at her and
laughed.

“I
may love him but being in love with him, that’s a whole other
thing,” she divulged.

“Really?”
Meg asked.

“Yes
really. Why? Is there something you want to say?” Julie
questioned.

“As
a matter of fact there is a question I have for you,” Meg
stated.

“What?”
Julie asked.

“Well,
it is real simple really. Yesterday was the last time you saw him,
right?” Meg asked. Julie smiled and nodded.

“Actually,
I was with him this morning. Why?” she asked, not knowing where
Meg was heading with her probing questions.

“Because
I was just wondering how many times you’ve called him today,”
she said. Julie shrugged.

“What
does that have to do with anything?” Julie replied puzzled.

“Just
answer me,” Meg ordered. Julie shrugged and took a bite of her
food.

“Four
times,” she finally said.

“My
point exactly,” Meg said as she leaned back in her chair. Julie
felt her cheeks flush.

“We
are not talking about this,” Julie warned Meg with an
uncomfortable smile on her face.

“What
would Dana do if she found out that you are with Steven anyway? Fire
you?” Meg asked.

“No…not
really…but then again…” Julie started to say
before Meg put up her free hand.

“Then
you have no reason not to disclose the information. At this point you
are one of her best employees. She would be at a great loss if she
got rid of you,” she said. Julie took a long, deep breath. She
knew that Meg was right. And there was no law that forbade her being
with Steven anyway.

“I’ll
see what I can do. I mean I can’t just bombard her with the
information now, can I?” Julie asked. Meg smiled and shrugged.

“Is
there any other way to do it?” she asked. “I’m not
suggesting sky writing or anything, but at some point, hopefully
sooner rather than later, you are going to have to mention it. I mean
the last thing you want to do is to make people think that there is
some kind of special treatment going on,” she added. Julie
looked up at her and raised an eyebrow.

“But
there is no special treatment going on,” she insisted.

“I
know that, but when the entire office hears about you and Steven,
they are going to think that there was some kind of conspiracy to get
you all of Steven’s business. And that maybe you slept your way
to the…how much was it again?” Meg asked.

“Around
thirty million dollars…but that’s a combined effort
between me and someone else,” Julie replied modestly.

“Yes,
but in the eyes of the rest of the office, you would have been way
below a hundred thousand if it were not for Steven Davenport,”
Meg said. Julie took a long, deep breath and took another sip of her
water. This was turning out to be one hell of a day. She took another
sip and then looked at Meg. “You need to have a talk with Dana,
ASAP,” Meg demanded.

“I
know,” Julie said, rolling her eyes. She was still lost in her
own world when she heard her phone ringing. She looked at it and
smiled. “It’s about time he called back,” she
thought as she picked the phone up. “Hey there,” she said
with a smile.

“It’s
him, isn’t it?” Meg asked in a whisper. Julie gave her a
dismissing wave.

“I’m
sorry. My battery died so I sent you an email. Guess you haven’t
had time to check your email yet,” Steven said.

“Yeah,
your friends kept me real busy,” Julie informed him.

“Oh
yeah, how did that go?” he asked.

“Good.
We closed a deal,” she told him with a smile.

“Really?
On which property?” he asked.

“The
penthouse suite,” Julie replied as she watched Meg taking her
share of chicken chunks.

“Really?
I really thought they would go with the mansionette,” he said
sounding surprised.

“Yeah,
as it turns out, they liked the other one better,” Julie said.

“Alright.
I am almost done here. I’ll call you before I leave,” he
promised.

“Ok,
cool. And Steven,” she said looking at Meg.

“I’m
telling Dana about us,” she blurted out. There was a long
silence before Steven finally spoke up.

“Really?
Why the sudden change of heart?” he asked. Julie took a long
deep breath.

“It’s
just right,” she responded. “There is no point keeping
all this secret,” she added.

“I
miss you,” Steven sighed. Julie smiled.

“I
miss you too,” she said in a whisper. Meg looked at her and
smiled as Julie hang up.

“I
told you, heart fucked,” Meg winked.

“Shut
up,” she beamed as she put her phone back on the desk. “I
saw you take my chicken chunks,” she added as she took one last
bite of her food.

“Your
food’s getting cold anyway. And I know you hate cold food,”
she said. Julie shrugged and pushed her chair away from the desk.
“Where are you going?” Meg asked as she watched her
walking towards the door.

“I’m
going to talk to Dana,” she said.

“Now?”
Meg gasped surprised.

“Yes
now. There is no time like the present,” Julie said as she
walked out. As she made her way down the hall to Dana’s office,
she could feel her heart pounding loud and hard in her ears. She had
no idea how she was supposed to tell her boss that she was seeing one
of her clients. When she got to Dana’s door, she knocked softly
and poked her head through the doorway. “Hey Dana, can I talk
to you?” she asked nervously. Dana looked up and smiled.

“Sure
Julie,” Dana replied looking at her. “Everything okay?”
she asked.

“Yeah,
I just wanted to talk to you if that’s okay,” Julie said
as she walked towards her desk.

“Okay,
you are worrying me now,” Dana said looking at her. Julie
smiled nervously and sat down.

“It’s
nothing to worry about, really. I just wanted to know….is
there like a rule…you know…about getting friendly with
the clients?” Julie asked. Dana gave her one of those ‘what
the hell are you getting at’ looks.

“Is
there something that I should know?” Dana questioned.

“Well,
I really need to know if there is any rule like that,” Julie
replied.

“Well,
there is no such rule really,” Dana said. “But I’m
just wondering where all this is going,” she said looking at
Julie.

“Well,
I thought you might want to know that me and Steven…”
she started saying before Dana shook her head.

“You
are sleeping with Steven Davenport?” Dana asked in a whisper.
Julie smiled and shook her head.

“It’s
a bit more than just sleeping with him. We are in a relationship,”
Julie confessed. Dana smiled and leaned back.

“Really?
Since when?” she asked.

“It’s
been going on for a while now and I just thought that you may want to
know, and if you want to assign him to someone else, it’s
okay,” Julie said smiling. Dana looked up at her and smiled.

“It’s
fine, thanks for letting me know,” she said. Julie looked at
her surprised.

“That’s
it?” she asked shocked.

“Frankly,
I’m just happy to know you do more than work. I was beginning
to get worried about you,” Dana remarked smiling. Julie just
sat there looking at her, both surprised and confused.

A few
days after Steven’s trip to Vegas, Julie planned to have her
father over to her place for dinner. Initially, she had thought of
making something for him, but Michael insisted on them cooking
together, just like they were used to. After Terrence dropped her
over at her place from the grocery store, she took a shower and
changed out of her work clothes and into a pair of jeans and a
t-shirt. She had just walked into the kitchen when she heard the
doorbell. She walked to the front door and opened it smiling.

“You
found the place. I was just about to get started,” she greeted
her father as he gave her a hug.

“Hey
sweetie. Nice to see you,” he said as he pulled away. “Are
you gaining weight?” he asked with a smile.

“Daddy,
that is not nice,” she scolded him as she took the bag he had
in his hand. He smiled as they walked towards the kitchen.

“I
know honey, but it’s just nice to know that my girl is feeding
right,” he said. He then looked around the big kitchen and
smiled. “Is it too late to offer an exchange of houses?”
he asked. Julie looked at him briefly before she went to unpack the
grocery bags.

“It
most definitely is. I have already fallen in love with this place,”
she said with a smile. Michael looked at her.

“So,
what about a tour of the house?” he asked.

“Okay,”
she said before she walked out of the kitchen. “It’s
pretty simple, really. Kitchen, dining area, living room…master
bedroom, guest bedroom….” she said as she walked with
her father.

“Nice
place you got here,” Michael said smiling.

“Thanks
dad,” Julie said smiling.

“So,
what’s on the menu?” Michael asked as they walked back to
the kitchen.

“Grandma’s
chicken chardon,” Julie said as she washed her hands at the
sink.

“It’s
been a while since I had some of mama’s chardon,” he
admitted with a smile.

“And
that is why I…we are making it,” she corrected herself
as Michael walked over to the counter. The two had a great time
cooking together. It had been a long time since she had spent that
much time with her father and she loved every minute of it. But even
as she talked to her father, she needed to know how he was, how he
had been faring on since she moved out. It had not been that long
since she had moved out, but it had always been just her and Michael,
for as long as she could remember, and she was concerned that maybe
he wasn’t handling the move too well. After dinner, she felt
she needed to know how he was doing. “Hey, daddy. Can I ask you
a question?” she asked as they cleaned up.

“Sure.
What is it?” Michael replied.

“How
are you?” she asked. Michael looked at her surprised.

“What
do you mean?” he asked.

“I
mean exactly that. How are you doing?” she asked again. “I
don’t see you as much nowadays and I would love to know how you
are faring on,” she said. Michael looked at her and smiled.

“You
realize that I am the parent and you are the child in this situation,
right? I should be checking up on you and not the other way round,”
he said. She smiled and shrugged.

“Maybe
it’s time someone checked up on you,” she said. Michael
smiled as he put the last dish away.

“Everything
is just fine, baby,” he reassured her. “Matter of fact,
things couldn’t be better,” he added with a smile. Julie
looked at him as she poured them some coffee.

“Daddy,
are you seeing someone?” she asked. He laughed and nodded. “And
you had to wait this long to tell me?” she asked.

“This
is not something you just blubber out. It has to be carefully
planned,” he said as they walked out to the living room. She
looked at him as they sat down.

“Carefully
planned?” she asked.

“Yes,
you have been the number one lady in my life for twenty six years and
anyone who comes into my life affects your life too. There is no easy
way of breaking such news to your daughter,” Michael said. She
smiled and nodded.

“Well,
I am not six years old anymore. I will not pour hot sauce in her tea
or anything,” she said, referring to an incident back when she
was a child. Michael looked at her and laughed.

“You
sure were a terrible child when it came to your insecurities,”
he said.

“You
can’t blame me. I had no idea what divorce meant and every
woman who came into your life, to me, was like a replacement for mum.
Now I couldn’t take that lying down could I?” Julie asked
laughing.

“I
guess not,” Michael said as she took a sip of his coffee.

“So,
what is this lady like? Where is she from and when do I get to meet
her?” she asked. Michael smiled and took another sip.

“Well,
her name is Lauren. I met her at the museum of natural history,”
he started.

“You
still go to that?” Julie asked squinting.

“That
is a great place, not forgetting timeless,” he said smiling.
Julie smiled and put her hand up.

“Never
mind me, just tell me more about Lauren,” she said.

“Lauren
is a banker, cute…kind of polite. She doesn’t really say
much,” he described before he looked at her. “I think you
two will hit it off just fine,” he added with a smile. Julie
smiled when he saw his father’s face. She had not seen him that
happy in a long time.

“You
are really happy, aren’t you?” she asked. Michael looked
at her and nodded.

“Yeah,”
he admitted with a smile.

“Good
for you. I’m really happy for you,” she said as she
looked at him. Michael looked at her and shrugged.