This is Love (High Stakes Billionaires)

by C. J. Thomas

  I’m on my way now, Noah texted.

  But that didn’t stop me from scrolling to my archive of messages with Sophia from this weekend. Reliving those hours made me forget the stress of each impending deadline that waited for me in my office. And when I found the selfie I had taken, I started to laugh.

  Spinning around in my chair I looked through my floor-to-ceiling windows, staring into the mountains and wanting to travel back in time to press pause on life.

  The warm feeling surrounding my heart quickly spread throughout my body and if I wasn’t careful, just thinking about Sophia was going to make me hard.

  It wasn’t fair that our time together was cut short. It should have been longer—and with less drama. But as the old saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun.

  Feeling my mouth curl at the edges, I thought how I should be sending Travis a personal thank you letter for throwing a party at the condo. Because if it wasn’t for one of his friends deciding they needed to wash their underwear in that dishwasher, I doubted I would have ever met the woman I couldn’t stop thinking about. She drove me wild, had my head spinning, and I needed to see her—and soon.

  Flipping the phone over on my thigh, I had the urge to text her now.

  Except I had no offer, nothing to give. I didn’t know when I would be able to step away from the office without feeling like I was letting Dad down. I felt like I had to prove myself to him. Again.

  Blowing out a heavy sigh, I lifted my gaze back to the mountains, dreaming about when I could meet with her again.

  Maybe she was right in thinking that it would be impossible to relive those amazing hours that filled our weekend. It was back to work, back on schedule, waking up early and going to bed late. Even if I never let on how crazy my actual schedule was or the demands this job entailed, she had to have a pretty good assumption after having received a taste of my life at the fundraiser.

  But that got me thinking… What did she do for a living?

  A knock on the door had me turning around to see who it was.

  My brothers, Noah and Trevor, came piling in as if this was some kind of frat house. Noah looked like he had just walked off Wall Street, dressed in an expensive dark colored three-piece suit with his hair neat and proper. Trevor, the bigger of the two, was wearing a plain white tee with blue jeans that had holes in the knees.

  They continued arguing about something unimportant as they fell into the empty seats across my desk, acting as if I wasn’t busy with work. Then, Trevor, without looking, kicked his dirty boots up on my desk and leaned back.

  “Really?” I said, annoyed.

  Trevor turned to me, pointing at Noah. “Noah was telling me how you took this weekend’s renter to the fundraiser.”

  My stare never left his boots.

  Trevor smiled as he shook his head. “You’ve got some balls to do that in front of Audrey’s parents.”

  Slowly, my eyes rolled up to his. “Can’t you shower before coming to the office?”

  Trevor lifted his arm and smelled his pit. “I don’t smell anything. Must be him.” He pointed to Noah.

  Rolling my eyes over to Noah, he shook his head. “Did you still need my help? Or did you manage to get this idiot,” I jutted my head to Trevor, “to help?”

  “That’s why we’re here,” Noah said, tipping his body forward on his chair. Casting his gaze over my already-busy desk, he continued, “I need to catch you up on what you missed while you were away.”

  I leaned back, clasping my fingers on my lap. “Then what are you waiting for?”

  First, there were the oil and gas leases that needed to be renewed in Wyoming and North Dakota. Next, came several proposals for new drilling wells that needed to be reviewed, and Dad also made it clear that he wanted Noah and me to crunch the numbers on the possible purchasing of a local software company whose business was struggling.

  “What do we know about software?” I asked, mostly to Noah. Trevor was still trying to find his place since coming home from fighting in Afghanistan. Since Dad seemed to be fine with giving Trevor time to process what it was he wanted to do with his life, I was fine to let him decide when he wanted to volunteer his services to the family business.

  “I know the advertising dollars could prove to be very lucrative.” His eyes shined.

  “Exactly. We don’t know shit.”

  Trevor laughed.

  Noah reached down to his side and pulled out several manila folders. Rubbing the back of his neck, I could practically feel the tension tightening around his vertebrae.

  “You doing all right?” I asked, concerned about how he was managing the stress.

  He glanced up at me from under his brow. “I need a vacation. This city life is killing me.”

  I slid my elbows across my desk, demanding to see the documents and paperwork he was holding. He didn’t fight me on my request to browse through the files, but he said, “Nolan, I’m sorry. But even you don’t have the credentials to complete it.”

  Trevor snickered.

  “Neither do you,” I said to him. “What were you bribed with to get you out of your shop?”

  “Nothing.” Trevor shrugged. “I just needed some time away.”

  “From working on your Mustang?” I quirked a brow.

  “Yet you’re the one in Dad’s crosshairs.” He dropped his feet and nodded. “Not me.”

  “For once,” I said under my breath, letting my eyes fall back to the paper I had pinched between my fingers. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. This could be big, and a whole lot of fun, too. But just like Dad expressing interest in getting our feet in the software industry, we didn’t have any experience when it came to big city development. “Is this for real?” I asked Noah.

  He smiled. “Cousin Ricky is looking for seed investment and he asked if we’re interested.”

  I laid the paper down on the desk and turned my head toward the window with thoughts drifting to New York. Though we were a western family, through and through, doing business in New York—Manhattan, more specifically—sounded exciting.

  “The east coast,” Noah said excitedly.

  “Not in my wildest dreams,” Trevor added.

  And we all turned to the door when Cooper burst inside looking like the pompous asshole politician we all despised. “Sorry to interrupt your Ugly Housewives of Denver meeting,” he laughed, slapping Noah on his back, “but, Nolan, we need to talk.”

  When our eyes met, I knew what this was about. Ever since he decided to get into politics, he’d lost his ability to have fun. Sucking out the excitement we were just swimming in, I could only hope that we could get back to some kind of normalcy after the campaign was over.

  “Talk,” I said, waving my hand through the air.

  Reaching inside his suit jacket pocket, he pulled out what looked like a check. “The donation you made this weekend, Mr. Rothschild sent it back.” His lips pinched. “To me.”

  “Hey, what’s this I heard about Travis washing his dirty laundry in the dishwasher?” Trevor asked the room.

  Standing, Noah took the check from Cooper. “Why would Mr. Rothschild do that?” His eyes popped out of his head when he saw how much I had given.

  “Any idea, Nolan?” Cooper’s brows raised as he kept his gaze fixed on me.

  “I might have an idea.”

  Coop looked at Noah. “Audrey,” they both said at the same time.

  I leaned back in my chair and rubbed at my temples. My head started to pound and if things weren’t already bad enough, now I had a returned donation to add to my list of growing worries.

  “This girl you took to the fundraiser in Audrey’s place, what’s her name?” Cooper snapped his fingers, pinching his brow as if trying to recall what Charlotte told him.

  “Sophia,” I said.

  “This Sophia girl must be a fine piece of ass,” Trevor chimed as they all looked at me like I was the biggest moron in the world for choosing her over Audrey.

  Noah extended out
his arm and handed me the check. I took it from him and said, “Coop, you really should have been the one to show your face at the fundraiser.”

  Pulling at his jacket, he made sure to let us all know that he’d already committed to attending another event several months before this one was scheduled. “Besides, that’s why I sent Charlotte.”

  I cast my gaze to Trevor, suddenly wishing that I had a shop like his I could escape to during times like this.

  “They’re pulling the plug, Nolan.” Coop’s voice boomed over the rest of us. “The Rothschilds aren’t financing anything that has the Foster name on it until you mend this broken relationship with Audrey.”

  “After all we’ve been through?” My brow furrowed. “They’re like our second family.”

  “Were like our second family.” Coop glanced to Noah before fixing his eyes back on me. “And still would be if you didn’t fuck it up.”

  Standing, I couldn’t take it anymore. This was getting out of hand. Everything was blowing up and becoming something it wasn’t. Audrey and I were over. “Audrey is losing her mind.”

  “Can’t wait to hear this,” Trevor said, twirling a pen between his fingers.

  I told them how she’d fooled me into thinking her father had a heart attack. Shared how Audrey did it to corner Sophia, warning her to stay away because Audrey was convinced we were destined to be together forever.

  “Damn, this Sophia must be something.” Trevor chuckled to himself.

  Cooper tilted his head to the side and sighed. “Nolan, I know you mean well. And I don’t want to see you have to be with anyone you don’t want to be with, but I need you to make this right.”

  Looking him in his eye, I knew this gubernatorial race meant the world to him. Hell, I might have even wanted him to win. But I didn’t sign up to sacrifice my life in order for him to succeed.

  “I can’t win this election without her father’s support.”

  Nodding, we all glanced at each other as if sharing the same thoughts. Then I said, “Don’t worry, Coop. I’ll make this right. Even if I don’t think the Rothschilds deserve it. I’ll make this right.”

  Coop rounded the desk and we threw ourselves into a tight bear hug. “I love you, brother. You know that, right?”

  I nodded. “Now, get out of my office. I have work to do.”

  30

  Sophia

  “Shit.” I glanced at my wristwatch and realized I was running late.

  My breakfast date with Sienna had run longer than I’d expected, and now I was certain that the top-level management was going to think that I had quit on them. I hadn’t planned to come in Monday, giving myself extra time to process Friday’s disaster, but I had changed my mind at the last minute.

  Running down the sidewalk, I brushed past people walking in the opposite direction and, splitting between the groups of men and women that wouldn’t get out of my way, I rushed to the office. I didn’t stop to take a breath until I reached my building.

  I stood outside the front entrance for a long second to catch my breath. Running my hand over my hair, I caught myself in the window’s reflection and moved closer. My hair wasn’t as unruly as I imagined it was, and I was thankful for that. But my gray blazer could use some straightening out.

  Smoothing out the wrinkles, I liked the look I had chosen for today. It was the look that said I was worth the six-figure salary I would have been making if I hadn’t been passed up for the promotion. Suddenly, my mind cleared—pushing out the deep feelings of spite—when my eyes landed on the pearl necklace I was still wearing.

  Fingering each bead, my heart fluttered with thoughts of Nolan.

  I couldn’t believe Sienna hadn’t asked about it. It wasn’t something I normally chose to wear. Especially to work. But she was too into her phone during breakfast to notice, completely phubbing me, and I still didn’t like how it seemed as if she was keeping secrets with me.

  But this—my eyes were glued to the white pearls—I should have given back to Nolan last night. It had slipped my mind with everything else that had happened; and though he insisted I keep the gown, it didn’t feel right to keep the necklace.

  A colleague hurried by, saying a quick hello before disappearing into the building.

  I made a mental note to message Nolan about the necklace before talking myself up to enter the workplace with confidence. “You can do this, Sophia.” I blew out a heavy sigh as I reached for the door handle. “Pretend like nothing happened.”

  Holding my head up high, I entered the front lobby wishing I hadn’t had coffee with breakfast. My blood was shaking and I already had enough jitters to keep me nervous. I headed to the elevator, listening to my heels clack on the marble floor. It was opening just as I arrived and I followed several other people inside, just as I had done hundreds of mornings before this.

  The doors closed and I immediately felt the discomfort of being locked inside a closed space. I was filled with unintended anxiety. I could feel the people standing behind me staring a hole into the back of my head, like they knew. I was certain word about my lack of promotion had already gotten out. Gossip spread like wildfire here, and just thinking about it made me want to flee, find something better and escape the grind that was clearly not taking me anywhere.

  The ride up to my office floor seemed to take forever.

  I closed my eyes and breathed.

  You can do this. Showing up and acting like nothing happened will be more awkward for them than it will be for me.

  The elevator slowed to a stop and dinged when the doors opened. Hurrying out, I sucked back a deep breath of air, relieved to have finally escaped the suffocating feeling of being trapped inside.

  “Hey, Sophia,” a colleague greeted as I headed to my desk.

  I nodded and smiled, telling people “Good morning,” and it helped settle my nerves but this was only the start of what I knew was to come.

  Then everything changed when I stopped in front of the office that was supposed to be mine. A pang of regret twisted my abdomen when I read his name in the place that should have mine. I couldn’t believe that it had already been changed. It was so quick that it made me think they had the name plaque made before they had even interviewed me.

  Slowly, my vision tunneled and soon I was lost inside my head, reliving the interview.

  I could still hear every question I was asked. Knew my responses by heart. And how I walked out feeling as if I was guaranteed the position. No doubt, I proved—in the interview, on the job, after work running with the boys at the bars—that I could keep up and perform with the men. But now I knew. I was only there for their own pleasure. Nothing more.

  The door suddenly opened and Darren slammed on his brakes.

  My heart leapt out of my chest as my jaw dangled on its hinges.

  He looked at me, and I stared at him.

  Awkward didn’t come close to describing the feeling of how I felt. He knew that I’d been competing for the same job. And from the look in his shifty eyes, I was sure he also knew the truth of how it all went down.

  Taking the higher road, I extended my hand and said, “Congratulations.”

  He glanced to my hand, slow to shake it. “I hope this doesn’t ruin our friendship.”

  My grip firmed at hearing his response. Keeping a straight smile on my face, inside my head I was screaming at him for believing we could have ever been friends.

  Not now.

  Not ever.

  And that was the toughest lesson I had to swallow after this whole ordeal. Because friendships could never happen in an office as cutthroat as this one was. “Thank you, Darren,” was all I could say.

  Squaring my shoulders, I marched to my desk completely oblivious of my surroundings. But as soon as I arrived, Courtney peeked her head over the cubicle wall and said, “Sorry.”

  “For what?” I spread out my notes, preparing for today’s work.

  “I heard the news.” Her voice creaked with sadness.

  “Don’t be.
” I quickly glanced up at her.

  “I was really hoping you would be my new boss.”

  “I can still boss you around,” I teased.

  She rolled her eyes. “You should know that Darren only got the job because he had befriended top-level management.”

  My head shot up. I leaned closer to Courtney with a squished brow. “You know that for sure?”

  She nodded. “Can’t tell you how I know, but you were definitely the overqualified candidate.”

  Feeling as if the rug had been pulled out from under me, I stood there speechless. I knew it. Knew that I was the better candidate. But, in the end, Darren was the one they chose because they preferred his company more than mine.

  “Anyway, if anyone asks, you didn’t hear it from me.”

  “Yeah.” I gave her a blank stare. “Of course.”

  Courtney disappeared as I fell into my seat. I felt foolish for thinking that a woman could make it in a man’s world. Apparently not. Even after all I’d done…a woman’s credentials had no chance when competing for a spot next to top-level management at the bar.

  Knowing I should be getting to work and proving myself to the company that they’d made a mistake when passing me up, I couldn’t find the motivation. Instead, I soon let my mind drift to what Sienna told me about Audrey.

  Audrey. I shook my head, feeling my blood pressure rise.

  I knew she was a bitch the moment I saw her. But I couldn’t believe she would go as low as using Nolan’s brother Cooper’s campaign for governor as an excuse to get back with Nolan.

  My stomach flipped.

  It seemed as if I was surrounded by the worst of scum no matter where I went.

  And it made me ill.

  Reaching for my cell, I wanted to text Nolan. Let him know that I understood what he was going through and that he should have told me the complete picture of what was happening. But, then, maybe he didn’t know?

  Rumor has it, Audrey told her daddy to pull his support for Cooper for the stunt Nolan pulled over the weekend when he decided to take you to the fundraiser instead of her.

  I could still hear Sienna’s voice ringing between my ears as Mr. Rick Gibbons stepped into my cubicle. He eyed my phone and I didn’t care that he saw me on it during business hours.