A Tree for the Billionaire (Southern Billionaire Romance Book 4)

by Michelle Pennington

“I had hoped you would learn to be happier with me.”

  At that moment, the curtains around their table parted and Kate stepped through. She wore a coat, and her hair was windblown. She looked between them, her face expressionless, and quietly set the blue Tiffany box beside his plate. He couldn’t quite look away from her until she left again and the closing curtain blocked her from view.

  “I begin to understand,” Gemma said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know your assistant has got the hots for you, right? And it looks like you’ve finally noticed her too.”

  Chris’s brain sputtered and whirled. Was she right? She couldn’t be. “Sorry, but you’re reading things all wrong.”

  She shrugged. “Is that meant for me?”

  Chris nodded and handed it across to her. “I wanted to give you something to remind you of our time together.”

  She opened it and smiled softly at the earrings. “Wow. Yellow Diamonds. Such an intense color and so perfectly matched. I must say, your assistant has incredible taste.” Gemma looked up. “She did choose these, didn’t she?”

  He nodded. “I wouldn’t have known the first thing about what to would be appropriate.”

  “Thank you, Chris. It’s very generous of you. Now, if you don’t mind, I believe I’ll stay here and have another glass of wine after you leave.” When he didn’t move, she prompted, “You do want to speak with her, don’t you?”

  Realizing that was precisely why he felt so on edge, he nodded and got up. “Stay in touch, Gemma. And be happy.”

  “I will be. I’m not sure you will though.”

  Chris studied her for a moment, trying to decipher her meaning. He was happy. Wasn’t he? “Good night.”

  He stopped a waiter and handed him enough cash to pay for anything Gemma might possibly order and hurried to catch up with Kate. To thank her for making such an effort.

  The elevator was old and elegant and slow, but somehow, when he got down to the ground level and hurried out to the sidewalk, Kate still stood there, waiting for the taxi the doorman was trying to summon for her. His breath caught. Why did he feel so nervous?

  Gemma’s insinuations had just unsettled him, that was all. He hated when people misread a situation. That had to be what was bothering him.

  “Kate.”

  She turned sharply and looked at him with a puzzled expression. Only then did he realize he had called her by her first name. “Let me take you home. It’s the least I can do after all your effort.”

  “That would be nice,” she said.

  The doorman had been listening. “I’ll call your car, Mr. Warren.”

  As they waited together in the light-streaked darkness, Kate said, “I’m sorry it took me so long. Traffic was terrible.”

  “Don’t worry about it. The timing was perfect as it turns out.”

  She nodded and turned her eyes toward the street.

  “Kate, how much were those earrings?”

  She looked over her shoulder at him and bit her lip to keep from smiling. “Sixty-four.”

  “I assume there’s a thousand after that and not a hundred.”

  “You assume correctly.”

  “No wonder Gemma said I was generous.”

  Kate couldn’t hold back her smile any longer. “For someone who makes around a million dollars every hour, I figured it was pocket change. And you had every chance to approve them today.”

  “Remind me to give you a budget next time.”

  Her smile fell. “You’ll have to talk to Mindy about that, remember.”

  The car pulled up then, and Robert jumped out to open the door for them, so Chris let the conversation die and chose a new one as soon as they were settled and Robert had pulled away from the curb.

  “Do you know where you’re going to send me on vacation?” he asked.

  “What?”

  “Didn’t I tell you? I’m leaving all the details up to you.”

  Kate angled toward him, her knees brushing lightly against his, distracting him completely. “You have to give me some kind of direction.”

  “No. Surprise me. I don’t care where I go as long as it’s private and secluded.”

  “Private and secluded. Okay. When do you want to leave?”

  Chris pulled out his phone and looked at his calendar. “Let’s take a week to get everything ready at the office and leave on the eighteenth.” That would only give him five days to convince her to stay, but surely he could do that.

  “I’ll get it done.”

  Roger had taken Kate home before, so there was no need to give him the address, and they arrived in front of a towering apartment building just twenty minutes later.

  “Thanks for the ride,” Kate said, slipping out through the door Roger held open for her.

  “I’ll come up with you,” he said, unbuckling his seatbelt.

  Her eyes widened with alarm. “No, it’s fine. There’s no need for you to do that.”

  “I prefer to,” he said firmly.

  Sighing, she led him inside. The click of her heels echoed around a cavernous lobby area as they walked through. This elevator looked as old as the one at the restaurant, but it was certainly not elegant. As they got inside, Chris wrinkled his nose. There was nothing elegant about the way it smelled either.

  “You were determined to come up,” Kate said, her voice dry.

  “It’s fine. But has someone been making cheese in here?”

  Kate chuckled as the door opened on her floor.

  Chris looked around at the narrow, dingy hallway. At least Kate had an alarm on her door. When she’d entered the code and opened the door, she turned. “There. I’m here safe and sound. Thank you.”

  “I’m coming in,” he said.

  “But why?”

  The corner of his mouth jerked up as he nearly smiled at the whiny tone of her voice. “Because I’m curious now.”

  He turned to the side and squeezed past her, trying not to focus too much on the way his senses reacted to brushing against her in the process.

  The door opened directly into a microscopic living room. The only furniture was a blue armchair, a grey ottoman, and an oak side table with a remote for the TV on it. The television was a smart TV, but very small. There was no artwork or any feminine touches to make the room look lived in. He looked at Kate from under raised eyebrows.

  “I know it looks…bare. But I’m rarely here, and I never have any company.”

  Chris moved on, opening the only door in the apartment. Behind it was a room with one small window that looked out on the brick wall of the next building over and just enough room to fit a twin-sized bed. Kate probably had to walk sideways just to get into it. A rack of clothes stood on the wall opposite the bed, and a small dresser stood beside it with a few drawers. A shoe organizer hung over the dresser with a dozen or so pairs of heels in varying shades and designs. It was all perfectly neat and functional.

  Surprisingly, there was a door to the right, through which he found the smallest bathroom he’d ever seen in his life. There was no possible way he’d even be able to close the shower door if he was to try to use it. Only someone as petite as Kate could have.

  Spinning around, he found Kate standing at a small cabinet in the corner of the living room. He hadn’t even noticed it before. She was making coffee.

  “I don’t have your brand of course, but you’re welcome to have a cup if you’d like.”

  “Where’s your kitchen?” he asked.

  “I don’t have one. Doesn’t matter, really. Since I am never home. I have a microwave and a coffee maker. I eat out for every meal, so I get on just fine.”

  As she spoke, she slipped off her coat and hung it on a hook on her bedroom door. She slipped off her heels, and Chris felt as if the room was warmer than it should be.

  “Since I have a feeling you’re about to give me a lecture, give me a minute to get more comfortable. I can’t tell you what a relief it is to get home and change every day.” She sl
ipped into the bedroom and closed the door.

  He leaned against the wall, and crossed his arms. Even though he was sweltering, he refused to take his coat off. He wasn’t staying long. Because the walls were as thin as cardboard, he could hear every move Kate made in her room, from the shutting of drawers to her footsteps across the floor. The coffee maker sputtered a few times, and then produced a stream of dark, fragrant coffee that made Chris’s mouth water.

  She came out a minute later, wearing black leggings and a sky-blue t-shirt that looked as worn out as her radiator. She bent over and gathered her long blonde hair into a pony tail, then twirled it into a messy bun as she straightened up. Walking over to the coffee maker, she poured herself a cup of coffee and added a generous helping of sugar and creamer.

  “Want some?” she asked, stirring the coffee.

  “No thanks.”

  She looked sideways at him. “You might as well get it over with so you can get home.”

  Her invitation just fueled his frustration. “Why are you living in a place like this? You can afford a better apartment.”

  She shrugged and went back into her room. Since she left the door open, he didn’t hesitate to follow her. He found her in the bathroom, in front of the mirror, taking out her contacts. He didn’t even know she wore contacts.

  As she took put her contacts in solution for the night, she said, “I can. But I’m perfectly happy here, and this way I am able to be close to your apartment, since I have to be there at six every morning, plus I can put a lot of money away in the bank. I have enough money saved up that I can move back to my hometown and not even work for a year if I don’t want to.”

  Chris watched mutely as Kate put on a pair of glasses and turned back to face him. This was not how it was supposed to work. This was the exact and total opposite of how it worked in all the movies. A woman was supposed to get more attractive when she took her hair down and put her glasses on. But here Kate was with her messy bun and nerdy black rims, and he felt the urge to…do what?

  This was ridiculous. And dangerous.

  “I’d better go. I’ll see you in the morning?”

  Kate nodded and followed him out of her bedroom. He turned to look back when he got to the door and saw her walking toward her armchair with her coffee in one hand and a package of cookies in the other.

  “Is that your dinner?”

  She shrugged. “I didn’t have time for anything else. Stop worrying about me, Chris. I’m fine.”

  He held his breath as she said his name. Apparently just as surprised, Kate looked up at him with wide eyes.

  “I mean Mr. Warren.”

  “Good night. Kate.”

  Chapter Five

  Usually the atmosphere at the office this time of year was sour, grumpy, and sluggish. Kate always dreaded it. But ever since Mr. Warren had announced that vacation requests for the week of Christmas would be approved, the morale of the whole team had improved. A sense of cheerful urgency had taken over. Which was fortunate, since so much had to be done before Mr. Warren’s planned vacation.

  Kate didn’t have much to do with the business dealings however. His secretaries took care of that. Gerald seemed especially eager to work through the long list of tasks that needed to be completed by the end of the work day on Friday. He’d been one of the staff members who’d asked off for Christmas, and Kate knew he was looking forward to spending the holiday with his family for the first time in years. Shaun, the other secretary, was a single college graduate and had already blown all his vacation pay on a trip to Mexico over the summer, so he didn’t care nearly as much as his co-worker did.

  Watching all these efforts distantly, Kate was more focused on getting every last detail for the trip finalized. She knew that she was being a bit devious by choosing the location she had, but Chris deserved it. He truly did. As soon as she’d manipulated her during the board meeting, she’d been plotting to revenge—the Christmas overload kind.

  An awkward but heightened awareness seemed to have grown up between them since he’d been in her apartment last week. She’d carried on with her duties just as she always had, but now every look between them, every accidental touch, seemed so full of a meaning she was afraid to acknowledge. It was almost as if he was finally seeing her as a person outside of her position as his assistant. Every time one of these interactions occurred, it made her stomach twist and flutter. Mr. Warren’s face gave nothing away, but his eyes did linger, and the way his brows scrunched together made her think he was as confused as she was.

  Still, she knew better than to read anything into it. More than anything, it cemented her determination to be done with this impossible situation before it got any more painful. And if his “private and secluded” vacation somehow enacted a bit of harmless revenge for all the heartache he’d caused her, well, who could fault her for that?

  Kate heard Mindy gasp behind her. “Is that really where you’re taking him for vacation?”

  “Yes.”

  Mindy laughed. “Well, most people would be thrilled, but I can’t say it seems like Mr. Warren’s style.”

  “It’s not. Now, don’t say a word to him, okay?”

  Mr. Warren came out of his office then, so Kate quickly shut her laptop so there was no chance of him seeing the reservation page for the cabin she’d rented in the mountains.

  “There you are, Mindy. How are plans for the party going?”

  “Everything we discussed is in order,” Mindy said, her voice so chipper it got on Kate’s nerves.

  “What party?” Kate asked.

  “Mr. Warren decided to have a Christmas party for the staff who didn’t have any vacation days left. Isn’t that so sweet?”

  It was, but Kate didn’t like not being in the loop. And she didn’t like the way Mindy was smiling up at their boss. She’d have to get used to it though. It was her choice to step away and give this job to Mindy after all. But maybe she’d just warn her not to fall for Chris. Mr. Warren. Ugh.

  “Never let it be said that I’m not willing to change,” Mr. Warren said. His eyes seemed too focused on Kate, so she stood up. Only when she was on her feet did she realize that she didn’t really have anywhere to go.

  “Excuse me,” she said. She’d retreat to the bathroom for a minute and get herself in order. As she walked away from her desk, however, Mr. Warren fell easily into step beside her.

  “I hope you don’t mind me putting Mindy in charge of the office party.”

  “Not at all.”

  “You looked a little peeved,” he explained.

  She stopped and faced him. “I’m not, whatever you thought my face said.”

  “I thought it would be a good test of whether or not she’s up for the job. I still have my doubts, you know. But she’s been surprising me with her enthusiasm and productivity.”

  Kate rolled her eyes. Was this some new tactic of his? To make her jealous? Well, it was not working. It wasn’t. “I’m happy to hear it.”

  “Why are we walking so fast, Miss Ryan?”

  “I don’t know why you’re walking so fast,” she said, “but I have to go to the bathroom.” And with that, she pushed open the door to the women’s room and breathed a sigh of relief when it closed and blocked out his laughter.

  ***

  At six o’clock, Kate gave in to the fact that it was time to clear her desk off. She’d work her last day while on the trip with Mr. Warren, so she needed to take all her personal belongings home with her today. She’d brought a small, wheeled suitcase with her to work because it would be the most convenient way to carry everything home.

  Standing up, she propped the suitcase up on her computer chair and opened it up, and then began sorting through her drawers. All the files and office supplies would be left for Mindy, as well as all of her tools of the trade: a sewing kit, shoe polish, assorted toiletries, first-aid items, and over-the-counter meds that Mr. Warren might need at any particular time.

  She tossed her own similar items into the su
itcase, along with her phone charger, headphones, earbuds, and picture frames. All the funny little magnets and souvenirs she’d collected around the world as she’d traveled with Mr. Warren went in next. She considered emptying her snack drawer, but decided to leave that for Mindy as well. Most of the snacks were things that Mr. Warren liked, and she often left something on his desk for him when he started to get cranky in the afternoon. It had saved the day many times.

  She only had one thing left to pack. She kept a garment bag with an evening dress in the coat closet next to Mr. Warren’s office for those times when he’d needed a stand-in date for something. She’d only used it twice, but had been glad to have it. As she pulled it down off the rod, she wondered when she’d ever have cause to wear dresses like this again.

  “What are you doing, Ms. Ryan?”

  “Just packing up my personal items before we leave for the day.” Kate turned and went back to her desk, where she carefully folded the garment bag so that it would fit into the suitcase. When she had it zipped up, she looked up and found Mr. Warren watching her with a stern expression.

  “Did you need something?”

  “Yes. I’d like to speak to you in my office for a moment, please.”

  Kate nodded and walked immediately to his office, but paused when she realized he wasn’t coming with her. He was looking over her empty desk. She waited, not saying a word. When he turned back around, it was with a look that she knew all too well. It was the one he wore when he was going to battle in a business deal.

  In his office, she was surprised to see that Shaun was also present. He looked up from his laptop and nodded at her.

  “It turns out,” Mr. Warren said, “that I’m going to have to work some while on the vacation.”

  Kate pressed her lips together. “Why I’m not surprised?”

  He smiled a little, looking just a shade embarrassed. “We’ve worked it out that Shaun is going to come along. Will there be accommodations for him?”

  “There’s no problem there,” Kate said. “I’ll need to make a few other arrangements, but it’s no big deal. Is that all for the evening, Mr. Warren? I have a lot to take care of this evening if we’re going to fly out on time tomorrow morning.”