The Gift, Book 2 (The Billionaire's Love Story) (3 page)

Feeling as though a heavy burden had been lifted from her shoulders, she walked back to Briony’s office, hoping that these next few days would be quiet and easy. She wasn’t sure if she was expected to work a full day on New Year’s Eve but hoped so. The extra hours would help.

But when she opened the door she jumped back in fright. The sight of Briony’s spiky, auburn hair confronted her. Her mouth fell open. “Briony?”

Her friend turned around. “Hey,” she nodded cheerfully. “How are you?”

“I thought you were on vacation?”

“I am supposed to be but I remembered a few things I was supposed to do.”

“So you’ve come in on your day off?” Savannah set down her handbag on the desk and stared at her.

“I had some things I had to sort out.”

“And they couldn’t wait?” asked Savannah.

“Not if Tobias Stone has asked for them.” Briony ran her slender fingers through her short hair and got up from her chair.

“Like what?”

“The files to be scanned and filed, I remembered that there were some more boxes in the basement.”

“Is it urgent?”

“Urgent as in I should have authorized maintenance to get them from the basement before I went away. It’s a pain in the ass to find anyone to do anything during the holiday period. The place is like a morgue. Do you think you can continue with what you did last time, scanning and saving the files?”

“Sure,” replied Savannah, feeling happier that she would have some proper work to do instead of waiting for the phone to ring, or checking email.

“You’ll be doing exactly the same thing. You remember don’t you, or shall I show you again?”

“I remember,” replied Savannah. It was so simple, that it was difficult to forget. She started to remove her scarf and hat. “He called you in to do that?”

“Who? Tobias?” Briony collected her sheets of paper and lined up her pens neatly. “He didn’t have to call me in. I should have gotten this done a few weeks ago. When Tobias tells you to do something, you’d better do it.”

Savannah blushed, then held on to her scarf and hat. “Shall I go back to my old room?”

“Your old room,” Briony grinned. “Yes, please. You’re in there for the rest of this week. I’m guessing it will take you up until New Year’s Eve to work through the extra boxes, even with you working at your crazy speed.”

Savannah grabbed her handbag. “By the way, thanks for extending my contract.”

“See, that’s another thing I should have spoken to you about before I left but what with the Christmas party and Max having last minute problems at work and everything else…I don’t know where my head was last week but I forgot so many things.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Savannah reassured her. “Tobias told me.” She was reminded to ask Briony about her wages being paid into her account early.

“At least with you being here, I can enjoy my few days off without having to worry too much about what goes on here,” said Briony, tidying away her things.

“Are you leaving already?” asked Savannah, disappointed. She’d been looking forward to having more conversation and finding out how the Christmas party had gone.

“Max is waiting for me downstairs.”

“Hey, you did well to come in. What are you up to,” asked Savannah, “anything nice?”

“We’re going skiing in Lake Tahoe.”

“That sounds exciting.” Savannah had never skied before. It seemed like one of those experiences that she would never have, like eating oysters, or deep-sea diving, or lying in one of those so-called cabanas on the beach, getting a massage. She’d seen it in holiday magazines.

“Getting away from work is always exciting,” said Briony. “I can’t wait to get out on the slopes.” She paused, “Did you have a good Christmas?”

“It was wonderful,” said Savannah, sighing at the memory of the lazy few days she had had. “How about you?”

Briony crinkled her nose. “My parents for Christmas Day, then Max’s parents the day after, and now we’re all parented-out and we just want to go away and be by ourselves.” Her face radiated excitement. It made Savannah think for one miniscule second what that might feel like; to go away somewhere exciting with someone worth going away with.

“Have a great time,” she said, sensing that Briony was anxious to leave. “And thanks for arranging to have my wages paid in advance before Christmas.”

“He managed to sort that out, did he?” asked Briony, zipping up her handbag. Savannah stared at her in silence.

“He?”

“Tobias mentioned it at the party.”

“He mentioned it to you?” asked Savannah breathlessly.

Briony nodded, hovering at the door. “I’m glad he sorted it out.”

“Was that your idea?”

“No, we don’t usually get involved. The agency handles all of that. It would have come in handy, I hope.”

So it had been his doing.

“It did,” Savannah murmured.

“That man must finally be growing a conscience,” Briony remarked as she walked out of the door.

“Imagine that,” replied Savannah, slowly.

“I’ve rerouted all the calls from this office to 218 but I don’t expect you to be too busy on that front,” said Briony. Savannah followed her, but was lost in deep thought. “He’s grown a conscience,” she repeated, hoping to prompt Briony.

“He doesn’t care what happens at the lower level,” said Briony as they stood in the corridor. “Tobias doesn’t concern himself with these things.”

“He also apologized,” said Savannah, hoping to elicit more information that might help her to put together the complex jigsaw puzzle that was Tobias Stone.

“He apologized?” Briony stared at her. “To you?”

Savannah nodded. “Is that unheard of?”

“Tobias Stone wouldn’t apologize to his mother. What for?”

“The Dalton file saga.”

Briony blew out a whistle. “There’s hope for that man yet.”

Briony’s obvious shock at the news convinced Savannah to keep the information about her Christmas day deliveries all to herself, for now.

“I’m outta here!” Briony seemed suddenly energized. “Don’t work too long on New Year’s Eve. Most people leave early and you should too. There aren’t many people in between now and New Year’s Eve and I don’t expect that you’ll see the likes of Tobias, Candace or Matthias around.”

“Nobody from management will be in?” Savannah felt a little disappointed.

“Tobias for sure won’t be coming in,” announced Briony. “Even though he’s here this year. I don’t know why he’s not going away because he usually does. I bet she’s pissed.”

“Who?”

“Naomi,” replied Briony, matter-of-factly as she wrapped her scarf around her neck.

“Have you met her?”

“A couple of times.”

“Take it easy and try to chill. I’m sorry to give you the extra work otherwise you could have had a lazy week.”

“Was that your idea or Tobias’s?” she asked quickly, hoping she wouldn’t blush because she felt her cheeks heating up.

“I must go. Max is waiting,” said Briony, frowning at her cell phone which had just beeped. “It was my idea. I know how much you like keeping busy but don’t rush to get it all done, okay?”

“Okay,” said Savannah, feeling somewhat relieved.

“Be good!”

No chance of me being anything but
, thought Savannah, feeling sorry for herself.

Chapter 4

She worked uninterrupted the entire day and the phone had only rung once. No emails had come in and she was doubly grateful that Briony had given her proper work to do otherwise she would have sat around twiddling her thumbs all day long with time passin
g by at a slug’s pace.

The next day when she came in, Savannah peeked by Tobias’s door and sure enough Jacob’s gift still lay on the floor outside. If he didn’t come in during the next few days then she would have to take it home with her before she left.
She didn
’t want the likes of Candace to see it and ask too many questions. Savannah had a feeling that Tobias wouldn’t want that either.

She and Jacob were still working their way through the gift basket, even though she had shared it with Rosalee and given her some of the savory biscuits, cheese and chutneys to take home with her. There was still plenty left over for them.

With New Year’s Day approaching and the promise of another public holiday she wondered if she could afford the small luxury of taking Jacob ice-skating. It was all very well going out to work and earning money, and she was thankful that Rosalee was able to look after Jacob, but he would be back at school next week, and she now felt the double-pronged sword of guilt, wondering and worrying that she hadn’t spent enough time with him.

But at least she was at a place now where she was starting to feel happy with her life. Things hadn’t always been easy for her but lately they were starting to look up. She walked back into room 218 and wondered what it would be like if this was her permanent work place. Sometimes she routinely indulged herself with these notions in order to make herself feel better, but in fact, the future
was
starting to look a heck of a lot brighter than it had in earlier years. Having been at Stone Enterprises for almost a month now, this room felt familiar and comfortable and even though it was smaller than Briony’s office, she liked the snugness of it. It felt more ‘hers’, and this, coupled with the fact that she was the only one on the 21
st
floor during this time, made for a pleasant, albeit solitary, working environment.

Hard-working as ever, she continued with her work happily; she’d never been the type to ease off and take things easy. It wasn’t in her blood. Secretly, she was pleased that Briony had found something for her to do but she had been hoping that Briony might have mentioned there being more work for her in the New Year.

She was aiming to work through the boxes fast enough so that by New Year’s Eve she would be able to go home early. As the day neared to an end she was halfway through the boxes and she still hadn’t seen a soul on the 21
st
floor. She didn’t mind the solitude and as she left for the day she walked past the elevator bank and peered at Tobias’s door, expecting to see the toy gift still there.

But it was gone.

“Looking for something?” Goosebumps sprang up along the base of her neck at the sound of his voice behind her. Tobias Stone walked past, giving her a cursory glance as he stood outside his door, ready to enter. He looked disheveled, dressed down in casual clothes, a pair of jeans and a white shirt, with stubble dusting his jawline. He stared at her, and she remained frozen, rooted to the spot like an iceberg.

“Hi,” she said, startled by the way he had appeared out of nowhere. “I didn’t know you were in,” she managed to say.

“I can see that.”

Time seemed to expand and silence hovered between them as she waited for him to say something. It seemed that he was waiting for the same thing from her.

“I wanted to thank you for –”

“Come in,” he ordered brusquely, opening his door. He hadn’t given her a chance to finish and his interruption surprised her. She braced herself for another Tobias-type encounter.

He took a few steps towards her so that they stood in the middle of his office facing one another. She didn’t dare to sit down and instead folded her arms, trying to steel herself and stand firm. He seemed at ease, with his thumbs hooked into his jeans, yet when he spoke his voice said otherwise. “You returned Jacob’s present,” he asked, tightly. “Why?”

She felt waves of displeasure spreading outwards from him, like shockwaves as he stared at her coldly.

“I—,” she began, and promptly forgot the exact reason for her return. She’d had it all prepared—her words, her defense, her reason, but she had forgotten it all now that he’d sprung upon her and left her feeling edgy once more.

“It was for Jacob,” he said smoothly, clearly not at all interested in hearing her reasons. “I made him a promise that day he came into the toy store.”

“You shouldn’t have. We crashed your charity night and walked in by accident.”

“Nevertheless, I bought presents for all the children there and I told Jacob to pick one for himself.”

“But we weren’t meant to be there.”

“But since you were…”

“Can I ask why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you send the gifts?”

“All of my employees get a gift. The Christmas party is an end of year ‘thank you’ and some—those who deserve it—get a bonus.”

“Is that what it is? A bonus?”

“You can call it what you want. Briony seemed pleased with your performance.”
Then why had Briony not mentioned anything to her?
She looked down at her hands. “I still don’t feel right about accepting—”

“The toy was a gift for Jacob, not you. As for the gift basket, consider it a Christmas bonus, if you really feel the need to justify it to yourself.” She flinched at his words, delivered in a cold voice, devoid of any warmth, and looked at him sharply. “We don’t need your charity, Mr. Stone.”

His mouth hardened into a straight line. “Who said anything about charity, Ms. Page?”

She wasn’t going to allow him to feel sorry for her. “The Christmas gift basket was…” She swallowed, realizing that between her, Jacob and Rosalee, they had worked their way quite happily, and easily, through that particular gift of charity. “It was a kind gesture.”

“Kindness had nothing to do with it.” His words cut into her skin more sharply than a knife would have and she dared to stare up at him, unsure as to why he seemed so tense. She hadn’t intended for their conversation to be so tightly wrought and yet all of her interactions with this man seemed like hard work. Surely her refusal to accept the gift couldn’t solely be responsible for his surly mood now?

Did she look like a walking train wreck that he seemed to think she had ‘welfare’ written all over her? She had wanted to ask him about the reason for having her wages paid ahead of time but she reconsidered the idea in view of the thunderous look on his face. She was in no mood to take on further discussion with this man and as she looked into his eyes she saw that they were no longer as blue but the color of granite, and as hard and cold.