The Billionaire's Longshot: Betting on You Series: Book Three (14 page)

J
ill sat on
the floor of her living room, leaning forward onto her coffee table so her cheek rested on its cool surface. Every few minutes she would check her phone for messages, and when she found none, she’d put it on top of her closed laptop to stare at it absently.

Things hadn’t been the same since their last night on the boat, first the fight, then the storm. She was filled with relief when she received his text message less than twenty-fours after her rescue.
Made it back safe.
It’s what she’d been praying for, but she’d honestly expected more.
A text—so damn impersonal!
But it said a lot about how he felt about her. Out of sight, out of mind.

He may have survived the high winds and waves, but if she saw him again she wasn’t sure he would survive her wrath. Weeks later she was still torn about which part pissed her off more: the text or his final words,
this boat is everything to me
. It was a boat, just a stupid boat, and he was willing to risk his life for it.
And us.
Nothing could have been clearer—there was no future for them.

She wished she felt at peace with that knowledge, but she didn’t. He may have a clear understanding of his feelings for her, but hers were still a mess. One moment she hated him, never wanted to see him again, the next she was crying, wishing to hear his voice, be in his arms, feel loved. Even though he must have stayed in California,
probably with that stupid boat,
he still held a part of her. Would she ever get it back? Was this a hurt that would haunt her for a lifetime? She’d read about women who met
the one
, and never met another.
Is Ross the one for me?
Some moments it felt right. But that text . . . No, it was time to leave this wishful thinking behind and move forward. She didn’t have a clue what that meant for her.

Jill had spent the last few weeks hoping things would go back to normal. She was safe and sound in New York again, so why did her life feel like the rough seas of the Pacific Ocean? Closing her eyes, she knew the truth.
Nothing’s the same. Not even the job.
She loved working with Lizette and Elaine, but it wasn’t the same as when they worked for Another Chance. It was hard work and fun, but it was lacking something.
Fulfillment.

Could that be why she felt miserable? Jill thought she finally got what she was looking for, business success, but she felt no joy in it.
Maybe it will grow on me.
So many different emotions ran through her in the past month; it was going to take some time to sort them all out.

She’d heard repeatedly that she’d done an awesome job with the fundraiser. It was exactly what she had hoped for. Business was taking off faster than they could have predicted.
We want someone who can step out of the box, give us something new.
She did that and more without even trying.
What possessed me to let people bring dogs?
Boy, did I get lucky.
She planned what seemed logical to her, never thinking her choices were not what people expected. Thankfully she hadn’t known that ahead of time, or she may have lost what little confidence she had. People were now reaching out to them daily to plan their events. They even had to turn away customers. Things were going exactly as they’d all hoped. Business was good, no . . . great, but at the end of the day to her it just felt like a job. Better paying than any previous ones but still only a job.

If anyone had told her she would miss the calls in the middle of the night about a family whose home just burned down and who needed housing, she would have said they were crazy. It had been nonstop, hard work twenty-four seven, but she’d never resented a second of it. Each year the needs of the community grew, but at the end of the day, she’d felt like she’d truly made a difference. Maybe that would come in time at E.L.J. Events and More. It had sounded so good when Elaine called and offered her a partnership. She had to admit, they did raise a lot of money in their first fundraiser. It wasn’t hands-on like she’d hoped, but at least she wasn’t stuck behind a desk all the time; she actually got to meet some fantastic people. Surprisingly she enjoyed many parts of the wounded warrior event more than she had expected.
If only they all could be like that.
Besides if she quit now, Elaine would kill her. The business cards were already printed and would be useless if the J of E.L.J. left.
Nope, it’s too late. We can’t be wasting all that paper.
She laughed softly at her lame excuse to stay in New York.

Her phone rang, and hoping it was a friend to pull her out of the funk, she checked caller ID.
Great. This is the last thing I need.

“Hello, Donna.” Jill knew she needed to ask even though the answer was always the same. “How is everything with guys?” If she hadn’t beaten herself up enough yet, she knew Donna could fill in with whatever she may have missed.

“Good. I hear your event went okay. I also heard you had to be rescued from a sinking boat.”

More than three weeks after the fact but at least she called.
“Hope I didn’t worry you too much.”
Or at all.
Donna didn’t appear to catch her sarcasm. She
never
did. She was not one to make a joke or tease. Even laughing seemed foreign to her, and her husband was the exact same way.
Wouldn’t want to trade places.

“That is what you get for not taking work seriously. I thought you were in California for business. How did you end up sailing?”

There was no way she was about to share the details of what transpired. She didn’t even tell her dear friends who would never judge her. “I was there to discuss future events,” she lied. One great thing about Donna was, while her calls weren’t sweet, they were always brief. All Jill needed to do was get the topic off her. “How is everything with you and the family?”

“We are good. We bought a few bonsai trees. The husband is warming to the idea of pruning, slowly.”

Boring.
That wasn’t how she would describe her family if she had one. She would want to say, “The boys are driving me crazy tracking mud in from playing in the yard with their friends.” Or “We are just back from a family vacation at a water slide park.” Something that said they were happy and spending quality time together.

“Jack is doing extremely well in the private school we placed him in. Public school was not providing him the opportunities he was going to need later for success. You know how important it is to think about college, even at a young age.”

Oh yeah, he is seven, better keep him on track now before he ends up like me.
Most people loved to spend time with their nephews, but she didn’t. Jack’s entire day was spent on his iPad and not playing games on it. When she took him to the park all he would do was swing, but only because she forced him. Those kids were going to be just like their parents: highly intelligent, totally predictable, and with no social skills at all.

If she hadn’t seen the pictures of her mother pregnant with both her and her sister, she would have bet they were adopted. The only thing they shared was their looks. Growing up in a household where your older sister is practically a genius was bad enough, but when you struggled to get C’s, it was beyond difficult. She still felt like she was living in Donna’s shadow. She could only hope for something different for her nephews. The youngest one was still little; she could only hope he knew how to have some fun.

“I’m glad everything is going well. Was there anything else you wanted?” She had long stopped pretending she enjoyed their calls.

“Have you signed up for classes yet? You’re already twenty-six. At the rate you are going, you will be lucky if you get your associates degree by the time you’re thirty.”

Ah, the real reason she called.
“Donna, I have another call coming in. It’s business so I have to take it. We’ll talk again soon.” She didn’t even wait for her to say goodbye before she disconnected the call.

Sliding the phone across the coffee table, she sat quietly. Would it ever change?
Probably not.
Why couldn’t her sister be like Elaine? She was very intelligent, but filled with compassion and was always so supportive.
Guess that is where the saying comes from: you can pick your friends, not your family.

She didn’t like to think Donna was right, not even in the slightest, but she was right about one thing. If she didn’t start classes now she would never finish.
Should I move back to Rhode Island and go to the community college?
Start taking basic courses?
How would she ever get a business degree if she didn’t sign up for a class?

Jill spent the next several hours on her laptop, searching college sites but never applying.
How did I lose my passion for this as well?

She felt as empty as when she was rescued off that boat three weeks earlier. The sadness she tried to ignore still filled her.
Why hasn’t he called
? Those days they shared on the boat must have meant nothing to him.
If they had, he would have come with me
. But no matter how much she had begged him to get on that chopper with her, he hadn’t. She had to find a way to accept that her feelings for him were not reciprocated. The problem was she had no idea how to do that.

Why can’t I push past these feelings?
Picking up her cell phone, she was tempted to call him, yell at him, tell him where he could take his boat and shove it. Maybe that would close the door, which remained open, even if only a crack.

Placing the phone down again she knew—jerk or not—she still cared about him, and that upset her. And he could tell her he didn’t care, but she knew he did. He’d kept her safe in the cabin and had made sure she was removed from the boat. That said something, what that was he was going to have to figure out for himself. It was beyond her why he wouldn’t let himself care. There was something deeply rooted in him that wasn’t about to change because of anything she did, no matter how much she wanted it to.

Jill knew if she wanted change
she
was going to have to make it happen. Looking at her computer, she pulled up the last site she had searched. She enrolled in two online courses, hit save, and closed the lid.
A beginning.

“Have you seen
her?” Ross asked Jon.

“Yes, I have. Question is: why haven’t you?”

He wanted to. It took everything within him to stay away. Jill deserved more than he could give her. She’d been right the last night when she’d yelled,
Fix your own issues and stay out of mine
. He was the last person who should give anyone family advice. She knew firsthand just how messed up his was. How she put up with it all was beyond him. First his mother’s bad behavior and then his own.
She probably wishes she’d never met me.
“I’ve been busy and didn’t want to disturb her.” He knew the words were a lame excuse. Jon wasn’t going to buy it.

“Is there something you want to talk about? Lizette is worried; she says Jill hasn’t been the same since she got home. What exactly happened between the two of you?” Jon asked.

He was close to his friends, but unlike what people thought, they didn’t kiss and tell. Actually they tried to stay out of each other’s personal affairs as much as possible. They treated each other how they wanted to be treated. Of course, if they knew he’d bedded Jill, took her innocence,
and
held her captive at sea to satisfy his own needs, it probably wasn’t the time or topic to break that ice. The less people who knew, the less chance it would get back to Lizette and Elaine. Because if it did, whatever chance he had to make amends with Jill would be gone.

For all he knew, Jill had told them everything. Those women were close. Maybe that was why Jon was questioning him. Until he knew for sure he would avoid the answer. “The storm was really bad. I’m sure given time she will forget all about it and move on.”

“Storm, huh? Okay. But, Ross, you need to figure out something quickly before the
storm
leaves a lasting effect on her, one you can’t fix.”

Jon was right. He needed to confront her, explain his behavior. There was one thing to be done first—figure out exactly what made him do the things he did. Only then could he face her with the truth.
Whatever that ugly truth may be.

‡

T
he noise was
driving her crazy. She picked up her cell phone, but that wasn’t it.
Maybe it’s a dream.
Rolling over, she pulled the blankets over her head when she heard it again.

Buzz, buzz
.

Pulling herself up, it dawned on her. The doorbell. The alarm clock read eight a.m.
What the hell?
Dragging herself out of bed, she half stumbled to the door, wearing nothing but an oversized T-shirt.

She was half-asleep, and without checking the peephole, she opened her door. There stood Ross, dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt. He looked good.
Obviously I am dreaming.
She didn’t even bother to say anything and made her way to the couch, eyes half-open.

“Jill, you shouldn’t open your door without checking who it is. You’re lucky I wasn’t someone out to hurt you,” he said firmly as he shut the door and followed her.