Page 28 of Falling for the Hot Billionaire

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Monday morning,I had a meeting with the shareholders that I had to get to. Justine had the day off, but she mentioned something about an interview that she had at another hospital a few towns over. I was alarmed by her sudden plans. I knew that she had been talking about finding another hospital where she could work in the ER again, but I didn’t think that she would be on it so quickly. I had hoped to put out that fire before she took matters into her own hands. I should have known that she would go fast forward into the oblivion.

I didn't like the idea of her going to another hospital. She had said several times now that she had nothing holding her here and it shouldn't bother me, but it did. I was chasing after Justine, had been for a long damn time, and even though it hadn't been that long in real perspective, it felt like it had been. It had been a long damn time since I first met her at the hospital when I woke up from a coma. Whether she understood it or not, Justine had put me down a different path, had changed the trajectory of my whole life, and now she was going to leave again? That was a bit more than I could swallow.

While I had Justine and the fire on my mind, I still had to go to the meeting. My mind and heart were certainly not in it, and I think that other people noticed. I could feel their judgment, like I couldn’t hack it anymore, how I was too young to retire. I heard that over and over again, but when I put in 18 hours a day into something, it gets old. I deserved a break at some point. I was there, I deserved a break, and I was going to take it. I didn't know why everyone seemed so upset about my retirement, but it was brought up several times in the meeting.

Usually, when someone was so flagrantly in front of everybody starting in with me, I would come back with a vengeance. I was known to be cutthroat in my business dealings, but it went further than just business. It felt like a personal attack, and I realized at some point that I didn't need it.

I stood up and that got the bickering to stop and put the attention on me. That’s more like it, I thought to myself. “I am only here as a courtesy. I leave you a company worth hundreds of billions of dollars. All you have to do is not fuck it up. I have brought in the best CEO, several more board members with more experience than stocks, and still you are trying to come to me with all your worries, commenting on how I left this place. I am retired; yes, I am not even 40 yet, but when you build something like this, you can take some time off. If I put the wrong people in place, it will come out. I could just as easily replace all of you, every single person in this room. Do your fucking job or get out! I won't be coming to any more of these meetings, handle up! When I do come in, it is just for appearances, because while I may be retired, I still understand that my face is part of the brand.”

I took a breath, and it was so quiet that I bet I could have heard a pin drop. “All this nitpicking worry back and forth, that is your job. Fix it.”

I walked toward the door, not even looking back. I'll be damned if I was going to be browbeaten by my own employees.

Most of the anger didn't come from them. I knew where it came from. It came from the fact that Justine was trying to get a job somewhere else where I wasn't going to see her. What was I going to have to do, coincidentally buy another house next door? Once maybe, twice, there was no way. It was all going bad right in front of my eyes and there was nothing I could do about it. Of course, the hospital would hire Justine. She was the best nurse. I could attest to that.

I thought I would have more time when I got home to figure out what I was going to do about the current problem. I was a problem solver, so I just had to look at it from the right angle and then I would see what needed to happen. I was so sure of it, that I felt the loss when I saw that Justine was already back. I hoped that she was back early because the interview had not gone well, and she wasn't going to get the job. Once again, I was rooting against her, and the guilt was increasingly hard to ignore.

“Justine, you're back early.”

“Well, the interview was at noon, so it just took about an hour to get back. You're back early. I thought you were going to be in meetings all day.”

I shrugged. “I was supposed to be, but then I remembered that I was the boss, so I didn't have to do anything I didn't want to do.”

She giggled, the sound so pleasing to my ears that it brought a smile to my face. How could I give this up, this closeness that I had come to love in just a few days of living together? I didn't want it to go away. It felt right.

“How did it go?”

“It went really well; they are supposed to give me a call later this evening. I don't even think I'm going to have to do the secondary interview, so that's good.”

While I told her that I was happy for her, I certainly wasn't on the inside. If she got the job, she was going to move away, and we were going to lose what was happening between us. I couldn't chase her down again without her thinking that I hadn’t completely lost my mind. That was definitely not the look I was going for, but my nerves immediately went up.

I kissed her and told her that I was sure that she was going to get it and I meant it. Justine really was good at her job, so any hospital that hired her would be happy to do so. I just wasn't willing to give her up. I couldn't lose her, not after we’d gotten so close. I didn't lose when it didn't matter, so I certainly wasn't going to lose when everything was at stake.

I excused myself after a few minutes, telling her that I needed to make a couple phone calls. Again, it was the truth, but she didn't need to know the whole truth. I had sabotage on my mind and Justine couldn’t know about that.

I went to see Jacob and I told him what I wanted him to do, and he looked at me questioningly. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Of course, I am. You keep telling me that you want work. Here’s some work.”

Jacob scoffed. “This isn’t work. I don't know what is going on with you lately but I'm sorry. I think you have lost your mind.”

“What?” I knew what, but I guess I wanted to hear it out of his mouth too. Maybe then I would be able to talk myself out of it. It’s not like this was what I wanted to happen.

“Because what you are trying to do is reprehensible, even for you. I have seen you do a lot to get what you want in business, but you are messing with another person's life. Surely you can see that and see that this is crossing a line.”

“Surely you can see that I don't give damn. If she moves away, everything that I’ve worked for is gone and like you said, I will do anything to get my way.”

I wasn't sure if Jacob was going to agree with me or not. He seemed to be having a bit of a moral dilemma, but there was no dilemma for me. To be fair, there should have been, but I didn't care how I got to be with her, as long as I did. That was all that mattered to me. I asked Jacob again if he was going to do it for me and he agreed, but said that he wanted me to know that he was not happy about it. I told him that it was duly noted, and he gave me a dirty look.

“So, you want me to call and tell them not to hire Justine?”

He knew what it was I wanted, but he wanted me to say it out loud, probably so that I would change my mind and do the right thing. What he didn’t understand though, was this was the right thing. Anything that had me and Justine together at the end was the right thing in my book.

“Yeah, that's what I want. You can give whatever reason you want, just say that we would appreciate it if they would politely decline her job interest.”

“I can understand not giving them a reason, but are you going to give me a reason?”

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