Page 4 of Hello Billionaire

Family friendly? I could do that. “Do you expect a lot of families to stay at your luxury hotel?” I asked.

He nodded. “There are already plenty of options for luxury business travel. This will be the primary destination for families to travel in style in the Dallas area.”

Interesting. This growly bear of a man thinking about the needs of parents and children.

He stood from his desk. “We’ll meet at The Retreat tomorrow so I can give you a tour and you can get a feel for the space you’ll be working with.”

“I have the job?” I stammered, standing across from him. “Just like that?”

For once, a small smile formed on his lips. “Just like that.” But the smile was gone almost as soon as it appeared. “As long as you perform, you will keep it.” He walked toward his office door. “You’ll find our compensation package and benefits to be quite competitive. But as an added bonus, I encourage you to take an extra jar of natural peanut butter from the employee lounge. Wouldn’t want any butter knife stabbings.”

2

Gage

The town car rolled to a stop in front of The Retreat, giving me a view of the restored plaster façade. Gutting and rebuilding this crumbling building had been one of the best parts of my job the last year.

While I got out, Fritz, my driver, walked to the other side, opening the door for Mia and Shantel, Griffen Industries’ Chief of Staff. I waited on the sidewalk for them, and then we walked together to the front entrance, where a security guard stood by the door. This project was far too important to leave unattended.

I walked to the guard and extended my hand. “Gage Griffen, CEO.”

He studied my hand for a moment, seeming surprised by my introduction. “Cliff Wallace. Nice to meet you, sir.”

“Likewise.” I stepped into the building, past him, still getting over the fact that so many people worked for me that I didn’t know. A little under fifteen years ago, I was making my first hire, stressing about providing someone’s livelihood. I still stressed about that—only now it was thousands of people depending on me instead of just one.

We walked to the front conference room and went inside. There was a long white desk and a few folding chairs there for now, but I imagined Ms. Elkins would scrap it for the final design.

Shantel opened her briefcase and began sorting paperwork on the table while Mia passed out coffees and set up a small display of baked goods on the table.

We were a few minutes early, so I reached into my pocket for the scrap of paper left under my windshield wiper the day before. I’d worked into the night and hadn’t wanted to call the person at such a late hour. Since it was nearly nine now, we should be fine.

Smirking slightly at the cartoon drawing on the back of the sheet, I dialed the number and ringing came through the phone. At the same time, I heard a phone chiming out in the hallway.

My eyebrows rose, and the chiming stopped.

“Hi, this is Farrah,” came through the door and then echoed in my phone speaker.

A chuckle nearly escaped my throat, and I could feel Mia and Shantel trying not to stare. “Farrah, this is Gage Griffen.”

“I’m on my way right now. I should be a few minutes early...” The door to the conference room opened, and Farrah lowered her phone to her purse. “I’m sorry. Is my watch off?” She tucked a loose strand of dark curly hair behind her ear, her cheeks pink from the February chill.

“You’re right on time,” I said, taking the paper from the table. “I believe you left this on my car.”

I held up the paper, and her eyes glanced from the paper to my face, all the color draining from her cheeks.

“So, I, um,” she stammered. “I’ll be going then. Sorry to have taken up your time.”

She turned toward the door, and my eyebrows furrowed together. “Where are you going?”

“I’m assuming I’m fired, right?” she said, completely dejected. Her face displayed her every emotion so clearly. “Your car must cost more than my yearly salary.”

“Irrelevant,” I replied.

Her full lips parted, sending a strange feeling straight to my gut.

“What?” she breathed.

“I was just calling to say no worries about the door ding... It’s not really fair to have someone worry about it when...”I’m a billionaire, I didn’t say.

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