Page 23 of Stranded with the Billionaire
“Can we have coffee?” she asked. How she longed for a cup.
“Coming right up,” Jake looked through the cans on the shelf to see what was available. “Hey, there’s oatmeal.”
Sterling made a face. Not her favourite but beggars couldn’t afford to be picky.
“What do you think? Peach flavored or Raisin Oatmeal?” Jake held up packets of instant.
“Oh,” Sterling perked up. It had to be better than the plain oatmeal. “Peach please.”
Jake happily melted snow and puttered around the stove.
“What was your childhood like?” Sterling wanted to know.
“What do you mean?” he frowned as he mixed the oatmeal with hot water. “It was a typical childhood. I went to school, had friends, played sports. All the normal stuff.”
She rolled her eyes even though he couldn’t see it since his back was turned to her. “How can it be typical when you were raised in one of the richest families of the country?”
“My mom made sure it was typical. She felt it was important for us to grow up without any sense of entitlement, so we did pretty much everything normal middleclass families did. Hence the camping,” Jake shrugged. “I’ve never really thought about it. I grew up with two younger brothers and mostly we had a lot of fun.”
“Define fun,” Sterling prompted.
“I don’t know. Just fun kid stuff,” Jake shrugged. “We visited our cousins a lot. Went to the beach, skied during the winter seasons, played golf, built a tree house. Typical stuff.”
Sterling had her doubt on that. Even with Beverly Ramesly’s influence, some of the wealth attitude must have kicked in because Jake sure didn’t do things middleclass now. He had a driver, played golf on the best courses, ate at the best restaurants, flew in a private plane. “What are your brothers like?”
“Everett is out in Europe on a fool’s mission trying to expand our business interests in Europe. I think it’s just a waste of money. With the regulations and traditional ways of doing business over there, it’s a real uphill road to try to break into the European market. I think Dad was wrong to try to expand in today’s market,” Jake pulled breakfast off the stove, waiting for it to cool a little before helping Sterling to sit up so that she could eat. “And Dillon just got remarried so he’s probably pretty happy when he isn’t worried over the current mess.”
“Thank you,” Sterling sipped the coffee. It was a little strong without any sugar or cream but she desperately needed the caffeine. Jake’s revelations about the European market wasn’t news unfortunately. None of this was useful for her articles.
Billionaire thinks he had normal childhood.Yeah, that wasn’t going to sell papers.
“What was your childhood like?” Jake turned the chair at the desk so they would be facing each other. “Any brothers or sisters?”
“One brother who is older than me,” Sterling smiled. “I grew up in a tiny farming community. My parents own a farm and a business that employs most of the town’s population. There are only about seven hundred people in Pendle since the economic downturn.
“I had my own horse, was on the girls field hockey team, had a lot of friends. I was even a cheerleader for basketball since we didn’t have enough people to play football,” Sterling shrugged. “It was a pretty good childhood.”
“Why did you leave?” Jake wondered.
“Small community. Everyone knows everyone and there just wasn’t much for job opportunities,” Sterling sighed. “I could work in my parent’s business or leave to pursue my dreams. I left.”
“I know a few people in the press,” Jake offered. “I could give them your number. Maybe you’d get an interview. Or, if you’re interested, we have a press position with the company, I think there is a spot open.”
“Thanks. That’s really nice of you,” she wasn’t about to take him up on the offer. As soon as he saw the pictures in the tabloid and realized she’d taken them, he would come to the conclusion that she was Sterling Denver. Then all the little moments of comradery, like this one, would be suspect in his mind. He’d probably hate Sterling more than he did already.
Sterling felt a pain at the thought. The truth was, she kind of liked Jake Ramesly. He might be autocratic and sometimes a little annoying, but he’d shown a lot of resilience during the hiking they’d had to do. He’d also been nice to her, making her silly pants to keep her warm, giving her the foot massage, cooking for them. He’d even saved her from a bat, which was way out of his comfort zone.
Normally, Sterling didn’t have the opportunity to get to know the people she was writing about. She knew things about them, for sure, but to actually take the time to get to know them and talk to them? That just didn’t happen. People generally didn’t want to talk to the tabloid reporter who was going to portray them in a light that probably wasn’t too positive. If they did want to talk, it was through lawyers to sue or just to fling insults her way. Usually, Sterling didn’t give a second thought to the feelings her writing might give to any of the people she wrote about. In her opinion, they were pampered, rich and famous. A tabloid article was a minor inconvenience for them. Usually, she didn’t really care what they thought about her. Having a negative reputation was part of the job.
She cared what Jake thought about her.
That was a revelation, Sterling thought in surprise. She was very much afraid that she was going to disappoint him and the thought didn’t sit well with her.
“Jake, I’d like you to know that I’ve really enjoyed getting to know you,” Sterling began haltingly. “I should probably tell you something…”
“Wait,” Jake froze, setting down his coffee slowly. “Did you hear that?”
“What?” she frowned as he went to the door and opened it, leaning out. Part of her was relieved that he’d interrupted her. What had she been thinking? Confessing her pen name and having him hate her for the rest of the limited amount of time that they had together? Foolish! What if he asked her to stop writing articles about the Rameslys? She couldn’t afford to give up her income. It not only had to carry her own limited expenses, but she had other responsibilities that her income provided for.
