Page 3 of The Billionaire's Teacher

“You’re still going to be gone a long time. Are you sure you can’t make separate trips? I worry about your business with you gone.”

“Mom.” I bit back a sigh. She wasn’t worried about the business. She was worried about me. “I appreciate it. I’ll be fine. It really does make more sense to hit it all in one fell swoop. Think of it as me saving some fossil fuels by only using the jet on one round trip.”

“Well. That’s something, I guess.” I could hear Mom’s frown. “You’ll text me some photos, right? Something so I know you’re okay?”

“Of course.” I hadn’t planned to, but it wouldn’t be hard to send her proof of life every day or so. No matter how much I tried to remind her, Mom struggled with remembering that I was an adult in my early thirties. Maybe it was because it had been just her and me for so long after she and Dad split up? Even now that she had The General, she worried. “You could come.”

“Don’t tempt me, boy. Although I’d insist on changing that yacht over to a sailboat. Your mother could use a few weeks of relaxing out on the water.”

“No. No way. If I’m relaxing on the water it’s going to be on a cruise ship where I barely have to realize I want a new drink before someone is bringing it to me.” Mom’s refusal made me smile.

The General laughed, deep and throaty. “I guess I know what I need to set up. You want to join us, Wes? We could do a Christmas cruise. I know it’d take you away from your usual beach trip with friends, but we’d sure love to have you.”

Guilt tugged at me. I tried to avoid anything that hinted at favoritism when it came to holidays. And yet, the cruise sounded like a good way to spend time with them without having to be around them twenty-four seven. “What if…”

I bit my lip.

“What if?” Mom never had been patient with me when I started talking before I thought things all the way through.

“What if we invited Dad, too? I can pay for everyone. Even put him on a different deck of the ship, if that makes it better. But then—”

“That’s a great idea.” The General interrupted. “Keeps him from badgering you and your mother about unfair treatment. But we can handle our own cabin.”

“Will you let me?” Mom never let me spend anything on her. She seemed to think all the billions were going to disappear as quickly as they’d appeared. “I’d like to do something nice. For everyone.”

“I don’t—” The General’s words cut off with a quiet “oof.”

“That would be sweet. Thank you, honey. You just let us know when and we’ll get it on the calendar. Do you think your father will have a plus-one?”

I cringed at Mom’s words. Knowing Dad, he would absolutely be dating someone. If he wasn’t already. With Dad, the possibility was high that he’d been dating someone and that was why he and his wife were no longer together. “If they’re not married, she can have her own cabin.”

Mom snickered. “Good luck with that.”

It was my money. I was prepared to put my foot down. On the other hand, maybe Dad wouldn’t even want to come. “I guess we’ll see. I’ll let you know.”

“Thank you. Be safe. And I’m serious about you sending me some pictures. Words to go with them are a bonus.”

I laughed. “Got it. Love you, Mom.”

“Love you too, honey. Bye.” Mom ended the call before I had to go through the awkwardness of goodbyes with The General. It wasn’t that I didn’t love him. But he wasn’t the kind of man who said those sorts of things. At least not to his adult stepson. I assumed he said it to Mom. I’d given up on anything demonstrative with him beyond a cheerful backslap when we were in the same room. He seemed okay with that.

I opened my to-do list app and made a note to look into cruises for Christmas. Now that I was responsible for that, it wouldn’t do to forget. There was a lot of time between now and Christmas—it was barely June—but I was bound to forget during the trip if I didn’t write it down.

I opened my texts, but there was nothing new from anyone. Figured as much. Tristan had probably been just as glad for a night off as the couples with significant others. Of course, in Tristan’s case, I knew he’d spend the time working. Because somehow he figured that was better than getting a life.

Not like I was one to talk.

Except I still did the dating thing. Maybe it had been tapering off some in the last few months. That wasn’t all because of the business. Some was simply because part of me wanted more…substance? That was as good a word as any. And dating apps might bring people together forever in some cases, but it didn’t look like it was working out for me.

With a sigh, I hauled myself off the couch. Might as well get a start on packing. Then Sunday wouldn’t be any kind of rush.

2

SUNSHINE

Isteered the boat carefully into the slip that I’d been given at one of the more elite yacht clubs on Puerto Rico. I would have been happy meeting up at the public docks, but this client had ideas of his own. And he wasn’t afraid to insist on them.

Which was fine. It was. He wasn’t the first picky rich guy I’d taken around, although usually we just rented the boats. Still, it wasn’t unheard of to be asked about a pilot, and in this case, given the boat the guy asked for, I was the natural choice. I knew it. My boss knew it. And even though two of the college guys who’d been hired on for the summer worked pretty hard to get the gig, the boss had come through.

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