A Brilliant Arrangement: A Sweet Billionaire Love Story (Falling for the Billionaire Book 1)

by Laila Kelly

  Joleigh: Well I’m glad that you at least got a little sleep. It’s been a while since I went to get ice cream, or since I’ve been out as late as we were last night. I typically come straight home after work and crash, but for some reason I feel like I got the same quality of sleep that I do when I come home as soon as I close the shop. There’s a lot of great places to eat in the city. Where are you staying so, I can tell you somewhere that’ll be close to your hotel.

  Graham looked at the hotel key card, forgetting for a moment the name of the hotel. The hotel that Stephanie had gotten for him wasn’t one that he usually stayed in, because those rooms were flagged to his business partners, and he wasn’t ready for them to know what all he was doing in Atlanta before he figured everything out himself. People in Texas weren’t too fond of you going off and doing your own thing without giving them a heads up first, even if it was your own company.

  Graham: That can sometimes happen when you change up your routine every once in a while. You would think that staying up later would decrease the quality of the sleep that you do get, but I often find that the less sleep I get gives me the most energy. I read somewhere that if you sleep too much it can make you more tired when you get up. And thanks, beautiful, I’m staying at the Verido Hotel in midtown.

  He looked for am emoji that would be appropriate to send with the message, and he rolled his eyes at how unfamiliar he was with them. He settled on a smiley face and hoped that it would do. Putting the key into the ignition, he clicked on Jamie’s text. It would be a lot easier for him to talk to Jamie about it than Sophia. She would for sure put him on trial with the billions of questions that she asked.

  Graham: Hey, it actually went really well. She was just like I had imagined, super sweet and absolutely beautiful.

  Before he could press send, Joleigh had already responded.

  Joleigh: I think that’s a pretty accurate description of what happened to me last night. It’s kind of like when you charge a battery too long and it doesn’t perform as well as when you charge it just enough. I think you would like this restaurant near there called “Thyme for It”. They have a really great brunch and lunch menu that I really like. It’s kind of like a southern charm kind of place, and their biscuits are to die for!

  Graham smiled, imagining the excitement on her face as she typed the text. He loved the way that she got so into everything that she said. The world needed more animated people like Joleigh in it. He pressed the highlight in the message of the restaurant and looked up the directions. It was a five-minute drive from the hotel and a fifteen-minute walk. With a glance at his watch to see the temperature outside, he decided to walk. Getting a light walk in would help get the nervous energy off his mind. He hopped out of his car and locked it while he headed back to the elevator when his phone vibrated.

  Sophia: Graham if you don’t respond soon then I’m going to call you, and you know how much you hate that.

  A quick eyeroll confirmed how much he really didn’t want for Sophia to call. He clicked out of his maps app and onto her message.

  Graham: It went very well.

  He knew that she would flip at how short his response was, but there weren’t too many details that he wanted to share with her yet. He needed to know that she was remotely interested in him before he told Sophia and his mother about Joleigh.

  Sophia: That’s all that you can say? Did you all talk? Do you want to go on another date with her?

  Graham stepped off the elevator and walked to the revolving doors leading out of the hotel. He knew exactly what she was looking to hear, but his stomach continued to growl louder and louder. Sophia would have to wait until he got some food inside of him. Before he walked through the revolving door, he turned around when he heard someone walking quickly towards him. When he saw that it was the same woman from the other night, waving and trying to get him to stop, he sped through the doors and walked towards the other side of the valet. He had to get home soon, or to find another hotel. Katie’s persistence was beginning to wear on him, and not in the way that she was hoping to.

  The sun was bright, and he pulled out his sunglasses while he followed the directions to the restaurant. He didn’t want to look like a tourist, so he put in his wireless headphones so he could hear the directions in his ears. Looking lost in a city always made you a bigger target than usual, and trouble was the last thing that he wanted. He followed the directions and when he arrived at the restaurant, his stomach let out a loud growl. The smell coming from the restaurant was a mixture of sweet and savory and he pulled out his phone.

  Graham: I haven’t even looked at the menu yet, but from the smell of the food I already know that is going to be great. Thanks for the recommendation. *smiley face emoji*

  He pressed send and looked up to see the menu. For a moment, he couldn’t decide what he wanted. He looked through his emoji keyboard trying to find the perfect emoji to pair with the text. A few seconds later he found one and he smiled, feeling accomplished that it didn’t take a long time for him to find it. He took in a big whiff of the food and closed his eyes. It all smelled heavenly, and it didn’t help his insatiable hunger pains in his stomach subside. Whatever it was that he smelled, he knew that he had to have some of it.

  The line moved rather quickly, and Graham still didn’t know what he wanted to eat, and before he knew it, he was at the front of the line. “Good afternoon, and welcome to Thyme for It, your favorite Southern Eatery. What can I get for you today?” The woman looked him up and down and smiled at him. “I’m actually not sure what I want. What do you suggest?” She smiled at him and nodded. “This must be your first time here?” she asked, looking at him as if he didn’t yet know what kind of surprises he had in store for him. “It must be that easy to tell,” he laughed nervously. He didn’t how to respond to being identified as new. It wasn’t something that he was used to. “Kind of,” she smiled back. “Your eyes are as big as saucers, and that usually means that you’re either starving, this is your first time here, or a mixture of both.”

  Graham placed the menu down and smiled. “Alright, I think I’m going to have the fried chicken with collard greens and sweet potato souffle,”

  The girl smiled. “That’s an excellent choice. Would you like a buttered roll or a piece of cornbread?”

  - Graham sees his mother inside of the restaurant and stares at her

  - He rushes back to Houston immediately after but regrets it on the plane ride because he never got the chance to go on his second date with Joleigh.

  Chapter Nine: Joleigh

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  Chapter Ten: Graham

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  “Idiot,” he thought to himself. “You don’t deliver flowers to a florist, she’s not going to be interested in getting the same things that she has to look at all day.” He would’ve had better luck sending her a thesaurus with a dinosaur bookmark in it. He shook his head, embarrassed at the irony. What kind of florist wants flowers delivered to them? He sat back in his chair and looked out the window. What does man buy a florist that he wants to be his? With flowers off the table, every other romantic gesture seemed trivial. Chocolate, maybe? He wrote it down on his pad of paper and searched the internet for the best chocolate he could find. He placed the order and got rush shipping. Graham picked up his phone and sent her a text. He was determined to make it up to her.

  Graham: Sorry about the flowers, I didn’t think that one through all the way. I kind of forgot that you’re a florist and you probably wouldn’t enjoy getting work delivered to your work LOL.

  Joleigh: No, I really liked them *laughing emoji* it was just surprising to see someone delivering me the flowers for once. How did you know I liked lilies so much?

  Graham: It was just a lucky guess. It’s the Queen of the Angel’s flower, and you’re definitely both a queen and an angel in my life.

  Joleigh: *blushing heart eyes* Aww Graham, you’re so sweet. I’ve never had someone take an interest in what different flowers mean before. I just th
ought that was something that me and my parents were just interested in, but I really do appreciate the flowers, especially since you actually know what it is.

  Graham grinned at his phone like a fifteen-year-old girl in her bedroom. At least she liked the flowers, he thought to himself and thank God for the internet. He never knew that almost every flower had some special meaning behind it, and some of them were a lot more complex than he had initially thought. He wrote down on his notepad that he would have to learn what the flowers in season meant so he could impress Joleigh the next time she brought up flowers. He hated to start something and not be able to finish it.

  Graham: Anything in the world for you beautiful. How are things at the shop going for you?

  He heard another text come through on his phone and ran over to it, hoping that it was from Joleigh. With a quick glance he quickly saw that it was from Jamie. Graham sighed, not the text he was looking for, but certainly something that he was looking forward to. Lately, all that him and Jamie ever talked about was his search for his birth mother and Joleigh. For the first time in their friendship, they were both interested different women, and Graham was happy that they were finally getting into the lives that they had imagined for themselves when they were younger.

  Jamie: Hey, I found a little more information on your birth mother.

  Graham thought back to how quickly everything had transpired and how strange it was that Joleigh had met his biological mother even before he decided to look for her. Ever since Joleigh told him that she had indeed delivered flowers to his biological mother, he couldn’t help but feel more and more like she was an angel in disguise, leading him to all the things that he had ever wanted. Not only was he the closest that he had ever been to his biological mother since birth, he had also found the woman of his dreams in the process. The two things that he wanted most in the entire world were happening at the same time. Things couldn’t be better for him. He sat down in his chair and faced towards the window.

  Graham: Good, what is it?

  He waited a few moments for Jamie’s reply and decided to get on Facebook and see if there were any new things going on with his friends. Sophia was right when she mentioned that Graham needed to be more active on social media. It wasn’t a rare occasion that a friend of his would send a wedding invitation and he didn’t even know that they had a significant other to begin with. He scrolled past the thirty posts that Sophia made every day, tagging him and their mother in funny pictures and wedding jokes. He rolled his eyes, praying that the next twelve weeks would speed by so she would stop being so obsessed with weddings. He wasn’t sure how much more he could take of watching wedding videos and group dance routines.

  Jamie: I have an address for her and by tonight I should have a phone number for her. Are you ready for this?

  Graham looked at the message and swiped it away. He never thought that things would move so quickly for him finding out who his biological mother was. From watching how long it took Sophia to find hers, he thought that it would take just as much time, if not longer for him to find his. He had spent so much time trying to find out who she was, he didn’t stop to think what he would do with the information once he had it. He put his phone down on the desk and took a deep breath. It would take him a few days to figure out if he would ever contact his birth mother, or just find solace in knowing where she was and that he was able to get in contact with her if he ever wanted to.

  He heard a knock on his door and turned his chair around to see Sophia standing there. “Hey Graham, are you ready to go out to lunch?” He stood up and looked at his watch. Once again, time had gotten away from him and lunch time had already crept up on him. “Sure, just let me grab my jacket,” he turned around, grabbed his phone and walked over to his coat rack and grabbed his jacket. Sophia walked into the office and circled around like she was about to take over his territory. “What’s wrong?” Graham stood by the door and watched her run her hands along his desk and chair. “Something’s different about this place,” she circled the leather chair and tapped her chin. “You haven’t been here that much lately, have you?” He looked down at his watch, “No I haven’t, but you should come on. We don’t want to be late to our reservations.”

  He watched her circle around his chair and slowly walk towards the door. “I know what’s going on here, Graham, and we’ll most certainly be talking about this in the car,” she pulled out her phone and walked to the front desk. He rubbed his chin and followed her, confused as to what she was talking about “Um, okay,” and closed the office door. When they reached Stephanie’s desk, Sophia looks up from her phone and smiled. “It was so nice to see you again,” she reached out and hugged her. They talked in a hushed tone as Graham walked towards the elevator door, hoping that they would be done with their girl talk by the time that it arrived. He turned around, “Sophia, come on before we miss the elevator,” She looked up at him like a child being dragged away early from a slumber party. “Fine,” she playfully rolled her eyes and walked over to the elevator as soon as the doors opened.

  They got onto the elevator and Graham felt his phone vibrate. He knew it was from Joleigh, and he couldn’t resist pulling it out of his pocket to check it immediately. Sophia attempted to peak at his phone, even though she was a full foot and a half shorter than Graham. “Since when are you so secretive about who you’re texting?” she teased playfully, bumping him with her hip. “Since now,” he replied jokingly.

  Joleigh: Things are going well. Things are getting a little busy because you know it’s around the time that people begin placing their orders for Thanksgiving early and preparing their tables for their autumn décor. How’s your day going so far?

  Graham knew how seriously his mother took her tablescapes, and he was pretty sure that’s how people were in Flowery Branch, too. He typed a quick reply as the elevator doors opened to the first floor. “I’ll be driving today,” Sophia said, and hopped through the revolving doors. Graham nodded and kept typing.

  Graham: That sounds good, I hope that things go well for you for the rest of the day. Things are going smoothly at the office today. I don’t think that I’ll have a chance to go by the construction sites today because I promised Sophia that I would take her to lunch today, but enough about business, I can’t wait until I’ll be able to see your beautiful face again.

  Graham smiled as he added a few emojis to the end of his message. He wasn’t usually one for emojis, but everything that he normally did was different with Joleigh. Even the simplest of things that he used to find trivial, he thought were more interesting when she was involved in them. He even found himself watching HGTV while he did his morning workout just so he would have something to talk about with her the next time they spoke. Sophia honked her horn and waved at him out her window. He looked up and rushed through the revolving doors and out to her car. He waved at James, “You better hurry before she leaves you, Mr. Graham,” James chuckled. Graham opened the door, “I know right, she gets impatient when she’s hungry,” he laughed and closed the door. “Shut up,” Sophia laughed and playfully pushed him.

  Chapter Eleven: Joleigh

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  Chapter Twelve: Graham

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  Chapter Thirteen: Joleigh

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  Chapter Fourteen: Graham

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  Chapter Fifteen: Joleigh

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  Chapter Sixteen: Graham

  Chapter Seventeen: Joleigh

  Epilogue: Joleigh (2.5k words)

  Joleigh woke up to the smell of bacon and toast wafting through the air. She sat up and reached over and grabbed her phone and placing one hand on her growing belly. It was already 10:30 in the morning and she slept through her first two alarms. Graham must’ve turned them off. She put her phone down and threw her legs over the side of the bed to get up. “Oh no you don’t, get right back in the bed, ma’am,” Graham came through the door with a breakfast tray in his hand. “Why didn’t you wake me up? And did you turn off my alarms
this morning?” she crossed her arms over her chest and poked her lip out. She couldn’t be mad at Graham even if she tried to be. It filled her completely to know that there was a man in her life that loved her the way that Graham does: wholeheartedly and unapologetically. Graham looked at her sheepishly and shrugged, placing the tray in front of her. The smell of the food made Joleigh’s stomach growl loudly, cutting through the silence and they both busted into laughter.

  “Yes, sweetheart, I did snooze your alarms because I wanted you to get more rest. Yesterday was a busy day for you and I know how important it is for you to get your beauty rest. I don’t want anything to happen to you or the baby,” she looked down at her stomach and straightened out her nightgown over it. Graham walked towards the windows and opened the curtains to let the beautiful sunlight in. He turned around and sat on the bed next to her. “Eat your breakfast, beautiful,” he whispered softly and tugged gently at one of her curls. She picked up her fork and stabbed at a piece of fruit. “Yeah, yesterday was a little more hectic for me than usual.” Yesterday was the last scheduled wedding that she had on her schedule before the baby was due.

  As much as she didn’t want to admit it, things at the shop were getting increasingly tiring for her since she became pregnant. She was tired all of the time, and she found herself thinking more about what she wanted the nursery to look like than what she wanted her arrangements to look like. There could only be but so much creative juices that were able to flow through a pregnant woman’s head. She had begun to slow down her production and wondered what the future of her shop would hold. Sam was taking on more and more of an interest in running the business, and Joleigh and Graham had discussed selling it to him when he graduated college in the fall.