The Bet (Indecent Intentions Book 1)

by Lily Zante

  “Are you going now?”

  “I’d better go and find out what it is.”

  “Maybe they’ve pampered the kid as much as they can and now need you to take over while they recover from jetlag.”

  “Jacob’s not a spoiled child at all,” Izzy replied, defensively. “And they’re good parents. Jacob’s really humble and really sweet. Even you would like him.”

  “I doubt it.” Cara licked off the cream from her cupcake. “Maybe she wants to pay you?” Her lips were smudged with buttercream.

  “Yay!” Payday was always good. And Savannah’s rates were generous. She got paid for a few hours looking after Jacob what would easily take double the amount of time at the diner.

  ~ ~ ~

  “Mom’s back!” Jacob announced with a beaming face. “She said for you to come through.” He lead her towards Savannah’s bedroom.

  It was only when Izzy stood at the open bedroom door, that she saw a heap of suitcases lying in one corner of the huge bedroom. It was nearly triple the size of her and Cara’s entire apartment.

  “Hi,” said Izzy, knocking on the door.

  “Hey.” Savannah’s smile said a thousand things. “Come in.” Her skin was the color of golden honey and the reddish highlights in her hair glinted even redder.

  Izzy walked in and tried not to stare at Savannah’s stomach discreetly, trying to work out whether Savannah was pregnant or not, but it was hard to tell with the loose t-shirt she wore. She seemed the same as ever, only more tanned, and more glowing. Izzy couldn’t tell if that was from the honeymoon or if she might be pregnant, if Jacob’s words were to be believed.

  “How was the honeymoon?”

  Savannah closed her eyes momentarily, and smiled, as if reliving that moment. “Like a dream. It was everything I could have imagined and more.”

  “I can imagine.” Life as the wife of a billionaire was probably a 360 degree turn from what Savannah’s life had been before.

  “Let’s go into the living room,” Savannah suggested, “this room is a mess. And, thanks for coming over at such short notice.”

  “It’s not a problem,” Izzy replied. “I wasn’t doing anything.” Except vegging on the couch with my friend and a plate of cupcakes.

  Savannah motioned for Izzy to sit down on the couch. Already Izzy was wondering what was going on, because Savannah didn’t seem her usual carefree self. She seemed more business-like, more forced, as if there was something of a serious nature she needed to discuss.

  “I could have come earlier, if you needed me to look after Jacob.”

  “It’s not that. And, the reason I want to see you is because of Jacob.” She lowered her voice, leaving Izzy with a distinctly uneasy feeling. She tried to think if she had done anything wrong, by mistake, that could be the reason for Savannah summoning her.

  “Jacob?”

  “I missed him so much when we were away, and coming back to him now, I think it would be wrong of me to ask you to take him out and about when I can do that, for now at least. It’s nothing you’ve done,” she rushed to reassure her. “It’s me. I finally had the time and quietness to think things through and I believe I need to spend more time with my son.”

  Izzy clasped her hands together. She had an idea of what this was about, and she wondered if Jacob had said anything to his mother.

  “I don’t know how to say this,” said Savannah, clasping her hands together, and looking uneasy.

  “Did I do something wrong?”

  “Oh my goodness,” gasped Savannah. “No. Definitely not. You’ve been amazing, Jacob said, and Xavier said.”

  “Xavier?”

  “Yes. He came here earlier, not knowing we were back. He was ready to go out with you and Jacob. He said you’d had a good few weekends.”

  Izzy forced a smile.

  “This just makes it even more harder for me to say.”

  “Just say it, Savannah.”

  “Okay.” She took in a deep breath. “You know that Jacob is the most precious thing in my life, along with Tobias, obviously. And, I don’t want my son to feel pushed out.”

  “Of course not.” She’d wanted to tell Savannah about the conversation with Jacob in the pool the other day, but hadn’t wanted to do it over the phone.

  “I hate to do this,” said Savannah—and Izzy knew that a ‘but’ was coming—especially when Savannah couldn’t look her in the eye. “But I think it would be better—for the next few months at least—if I spent as much time as possible with Jacob.”

  She could see that Savannah felt bad, even though she completely understood. It seemed that Jacob might have told her or hinted his worries and Savannah had picked up on something.

  “I’m glad he told you,” said Izzy, feeling happy that Jacob had expressed his concerns to his mother. “That’s quite a mature thing for a young child to do.”

  “Jacob didn’t tell me. Xavier did.”

  “Xavier?” Why would he mention something like that to Savannah?

  “He mentioned it, and I’m glad he did, otherwise I would have had no idea.”

  “I was going to tell you,” said Izzy. “But I wanted to do it face to face, because I didn’t want you to worry too much, and I didn’t think it was the kind of thing to tell you over the phone yesterday.”

  “I know you would have, but, now that I know, I have to fix it, and this is how I’m going to go about fixing it.”

  She recounted the conversation back to Savannah. “I tried to tell him it wouldn’t be like that and that you would both continue to love him as much as you love the new baby—whenever it comes, but he seemed to worry most about Tobias not being his real dad, and not loving him as much as he would love the new baby, whenever that comes.” She looked away, and it was hard not to look at Savannah’s stomach, and try to guess.

  “I feel bad I wasn’t there to listen to him, and I’m glad you were. I knew he would open up to you. He trusts you, Izzy, as I do, and that’s why this is so hard for me to do, to ask you to step away.”

  It was going to hit her hard, losing the easy money that came from looking after Jacob, but it wasn’t Savannah’s fault, and it wasn’t hers. She would simply have to find a way around it. She didn’t blame Savannah, and if she was in her shoes, she would have done the exact same thing. Jacob was her priority, not Izzy.

  “I’m sorry, Izzy. I hate to do this to you, especially since I was the one hounding you to come and work for us. I promise you it’s only temporary because I will need help in a few months’ time. Just not right now. Could you give me until after the New Year?”

  “Sure.” She was being let go, and sweetly. While she could understand Savannah’s dilemma, her own dilemma was brewing up inside her. She tried to laugh it off. “Don’t feel sorry, I understand, and I have exams to cram for before Christmas. I’ll be okay.”

  The fate of Shoemoney’s extra cash had been decided. It would go to the Izzy and Cara fund.

  Chapter 20

  “He wants to meet,” said Izzy, closing her cell phone in confusion. He had called her the day after she’d met with Savannah, and she wondered if it was some strange coincidence, or not.

  “Shoemoney?”

  “Xavier.” After yesterday’s shock news from Savannah, the last person she wanted to hear from was Stone.

  Cara rolled over on her bed, propping herself up on her elbows and gave her a Cheshire Cat-worthy smile. “Xav-i-er.” She stretched out his name on her lips as if it were a dirty word ripe with sexual connotations.

  “Don’t ‘Xav-i-er’, me,” whined Izzy, repeating his name the way Cara had said it. “I told him I was busy revising but he said it was business related and it wouldn’t take long.”

  “Business related? I wonder what he means?”

  “I’m intrigued enough to want to find out.”

  Cara’s brow raised slowly. “I can come with you, if you need support, or chaperoning.”

  “It’s not what you think. I can tolerate him. If you met him
you’d see what a total jerk he is.”

  “The offer still stands. I can come with you.”

  “Thanks, but I can handle Xavier Stone.”

  “Are you going to his apartment?”

  “No.”

  “Where’s he taking you then?”

  “Nowhere.”

  An hour later she met him in Central Park, over by the benches near the kiosks.

  “Hey,” he said, getting up as she started to walk towards him. He looked sexy in navy blue. That was her first impression, seeing him the smartest she’d ever seen him, in a thick, short woollen coat and dark jeans.

  “Hi.”

  “I won’t beat around the bush.”

  Good, she thought. Hopefully this wouldn’t take too long. “This is all very secret spy-ish.”

  “I was too scared to turn up at your apartment,” he replied, a mischievous look danced in his eyes.

  “Funny.”

  “You still haven’t told me what happened.”

  “And you still haven’t stopped being nosey.”

  “It’s part of my nature, Laronde.”

  “I noticed, Stone. It’s also very annoying.”

  “Glad that’s out of the way,” he muttered, staring straight ahead.

  “You said you weren’t going to beat around the bush, and it’s exactly what you’re doing.”

  “I’m making small talk. I’m trying to be polite, seeing that we don’t usually have much polite conversation going on between us.”

  “I’m meant to be revising for tests,” she lied.

  “I happened to hear that Savannah doesn’t need you so much, at the moment.”

  She stared at him in disbelief. His choice of wording was interesting. “Why did you tell Savannah?”

  “I honestly thought you might have mentioned it to her.”

  “She only called me late on Friday, and it’s not something I would have discussed on the phone.”

  “Are you mad at me?”

  “I’m mad that you told her something that wasn’t your news to tell.” And she was mad that she had lost the hours, but to be fair, she would probably have lost them anyway. She was mad at him because it was easier to be mad at him than worry about where she was going to make up the shortfall in earnings.

  “She told me she’d been worried about Jacob while she was away, and I tried to allay her fears. I casually mentioned the only thing the kid seemed to be down about—the stuff you told me. I never thought for a moment that she would stop you from working there.”

  She was silent as she tried to find something to say. Something that would be neutral. But she couldn’t, and so the silence stretched uncomfortably.

  It was Xavier who spoke first. “Savannah feels bad that she’s left you without any work, and for taking away your income.”

  “So?” She had no idea what any of this had to do with him. “Did you call me so you could rub my face in it?”

  “Hell, no. What kind of guy do you think I am?”

  “I can never tell.”

  “Savannah was trying to find something for you to do so that she could still keep you on, and then I had a solution.”

  “You?” She flinched at his words.

  “One of my virtual assistants had to take care of some personal stuff, and I have no idea when she’s coming back. In fact, I don’t think I want her back, but, I need someone to carry out a few administrative tasks for me, and to take care of some emails, check some of my spreadsheets, basic things.”

  “If they’re basic things, why don’t you do them yourself?”

  He angled his head, as if weighing up the amount of spite in her words. “Do you want the extra work or not?”

  She didn’t want to say ‘Yes,’ because, for some reason she wasn’t sure of, she didn’t like the idea of letting him think he was right, or that she needed the work. “I could do with a few extra hours.”

  “Okay. Well, I could do with some extra help. I’m busy running the businesses,” he said, “And Savannah mentioned you already did some stuff on the side. If you’re not interested, just say so. There’s plenty of other people I can find to fill my VA’s shoes.”

  She jerked to attention at that, and while the last thing she wanted was to work for Xavier Stone, she didn’t have a better alternative.

  It was waitressing back at the fast food place, or look for some other type of babysitting—but nobody would offer her the weekend only type of work that Savannah had. And Savannah had hinted she would need her after Christmas. If she could go back to her, and look after Jacob, and get paid that much for it, she wanted back in.

  “How many hours?” she asked, testing the waters.

  “As many as you want.”

  She looked at him suspiciously. “You don’t have a fixed number of hours?”

  “I go through a fair number of virtual assistants. This particular one was based in the city, and I trusted her with more than the basics. She kept an eye on my sales figures, and returns for my stores. The rest of the VAs are abroad. Now, you could do her work, which is about 5 to 10 hours’ worth of work a week, or, if you want more, I can give you some work from the other VAs.”

  “I can only work weekends.”

  “You can do the work when you want, and you don’t even have to turn up at my apartment, hence it being a virtual assistant.”

  “At your apartment?”

  “I have an office at home.” He eyed her suspiciously. “What did you think I did?”

  “I have no idea. It never occurred to me that you did any work.” She could see his jaw go hard, and knew he was grinding his teeth together, biting back on what he wanted to say. “Obviously I was wrong.” She couldn’t be mean to him. He wasn’t Shoemoney. He was trying to help her.

  “It’s probably a good thing that you’re not coming to my office, Laronde. You would drive me crazy, and not in a sexy way either.”

  She snorted. “Virtual is good.”

  “I’ll match whatever Savannah was paying you.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Because I can, and because you’re local. It beats having to wait for someone to wake up in the Philippines or elsewhere. A VA in the same time zone as me, and logistically close, is better. Sometimes I need stuff done ASAP.”

  “Don’t think I’m going to be at your beck and call.”

  “Are you interested in working for me or not?” He seemed irritated by her reaction, and she could hardly blame him. She’d been anything but grateful. She didn’t like the idea of him being her boss, even if it was on a temporary, couple-of-hours-a-week type of arrangement, even if it was a virtual role where she didn’t even need to see him. But he’d given an easy and timely solution to her money worries.

  “I—” She didn’t need to think about it for too long. She wouldn’t see any decline in earnings, given that she’d only lost the babysiting job yesterday. What was she waiting for? “Yes. I’m interested.”

  “Good. Text me your email address, and I’ll send you the work piecemeal.”

  “What about instructions?” What was it exactly? He’d been vague about the specifics of the job, and she was none the wiser as to what it would entail.

  “You’re a college student, you’re smart, I’m sure you’ll find your way around it easily. But I’ll be sure to send you idiot-proof instructions, just in case.”

  Chapter 21

  She surprised him.

  It had been easier than he had assumed, setting up work for Izzy.

  Everything was done online. He’d sent her a contract which she’d signed and emailed it right back. Later, he’d sent her instructions of how to handle his documents, and she had completed the work in half the time his previous VA had.

  And two weeks later, she was still surprising him. He hadn’t seen her in that time, but constant contact via email and text meant that he didn’t feel as if he hadn’t seen her at all.

  Luke had told him to woo her another way and it was exactly what he
was doing, even if she didn’t know she was being wooed.

  Besides, he had no complaints. She was quick to pick up on things, quick to turn the work around, and she hadn’t so far, made any mistakes. But there was also a slight problem: her attention to detail sometimes drove him to the edge of a cliff.

  Apart from that, taking her on had been one of the best moves he’d made. She had cleared a lot of the backlog left behind by the VA who had deserted him.

  “Which spreadsheets?” he asked, alarming his car as he walked towards the building that housed The Oasis.

  “The ones you emailed me,” Izzy replied. “I can’t open them, can you resend them?”

  No, he couldn’t resend them. “I’m out, meeting a friend for a drink. It will have to wait.”

  “If you’re okay with not getting the work back by tomorrow. I have a test I have to cram for—”

  “It can wait.”

  “If you saved your spreadsheets in the old format, we wouldn’t have this problem,” she continued.

  Wait. He stopped outside the entrance. “Are you blaming me for something that’s your problem?”

  “It’s not my fault I don’t have a Mac,” she replied. “I’m a Windows girl, and yes, I know my version of Excel is old, but I get by just fine with it.”

  “But it’s not my fault that I don’t have Windows. I’m a Mac guy. And, why don’t you have the latest version of Excel?” he demanded.

  “Because I don’t need it for my college work.”

  “Can’t you ever own up to when it’s your fault?” If she would say the words, say sorry, it would be easier to swallow. Him using a Macbook and her using a PC was causing a slight problem.

  Slight.

  He always forgot to export the files so that she could read them and work in them. It was causing a problem he hadn’t seen coming. Now he was not only paying for work he could have some of his other assistants do for him, but this particular assistant seemed to be causing more problems than not. He was tempted to buy her a Mac just to shut her up.

  “Don’t worry about it for now,” he told her, getting jittery because he wanted to go to the bar, and sit and admire gorgeous women even if he couldn’t take one of them home with him tonight.