Billionaire's Intern-Amazon Final-proofreded Read online

  “Yeah, so if you don't mind, I think I'm going to go finish that conversation. I will catch up with you in a little while, alright?”

  All I could do was agree. Of course, she should go finish that conversation. I was all about finishing the deal, getting it signed and drying the ink, before walking away. As many times as I knew Sarah had listened to my speeches, I knew that she was following the rules more than I was. Here I was, getting emotional and I shouldn't have. Maybe the idea of chasing the little green-eyed girl was a bad one. It was certainly starting to affect the way I did business. That was something that I could never let happen.

  ***

  I made it a point to stay away from Sarah, until the award ceremony began. I knew that I would be up on stage with her twice tonight, so I didn't want to make things more complicated between us. I was always so good at reading the situation, but I had read the one with Sarah all wrong. I didn't like the uncomfortable feeling that arose when I did something out of turn. That's why I spent an agonizing amount of my energy, reading of situations around me. It was tiring, but it usually worked quite well. This time around, it certainly hadn't.

  The awards started like they always do. The announcer came out and brown-nosed the recipients of the evening. I heard things about myself that I had never heard before. That was so remarkable, because half the time, my life was in black and white on the front of the newspaper. Those were usually pictures of me with models, or an expensive location, or even a business deal. It was always the luxurious side of things, but tonight they were buttering me up a different way. They were talking about what a patron for Detroit I was and what my family had done for Detroit.

  The lifetime achievement award was not a surprise. It was actually something that I had tried to get out of. I didn't like public speaking, it seemed too impersonal to me, but most importantly, I didn't want all the press. I got too much of it as it was, not to mention that I had a couple of million followers on social media. Enough of my life was on center stage, that some parts of me just had to stay off of it.

  This philanthropy that my family did, was not done for the spotlight, so I avoided it as much as possible. This speech was not about business, but of my family legacy, which meant so much more to me.

  While I could easily admit that I had put Sarah on the top place to get an internship, it was a happy surprise that she was the one that was going to give me the award tonight. It was an even happier surprise when she kind of jumped a little bit when our hands touched when I accepted it. I don't know another reaction that would have been any more perfect. She really did have a way about her that I found almost impossible to deny myself.

  “Thank you, Sarah.”

  She looked down and smiled, turning to the side and backing up a little bit, so that I could take the spotlight. She was so unassuming, that she just blended into the background. I would have been able to ignore her even being there, if it hadn’t been Sarah. Our eyes had met for the third time tonight and this time, it spoken volumes. Whatever had transpired between us when we were dancing, was only a small part of what was to come. That much I was sure of.

  I gave my speech, the whole time with her beside me. I wasn't able to focus as well as I usually could, but I knew the reason. It was because Sarah was next to me. I wasn't going to let her get away again. As soon as I was done saying my speech, I followed her off the stage.

  She would be back on it in a moment. I wanted to make it look like I didn't know what was going to happen next. It was all just supposed to be happenstance. But one thing for sure I knew, I wanted to be there, when she heard her name called. I wanted to see her face.

  Chapter 5

  Sarah

  The part of the evening that I was secretly waiting for, was the part where they gave the ten names for the people who had won the internship for the coming year. While I knew that the chances of me getting one of the spots was slim, there was still that sliver of hope that I was holding onto. Stranger things had happened, like Richard Grant feeling me up and getting fresh with me during a dance. That would have been something that I would have never saw coming.

  I waited around by the bar. Amber, Sophie, and Della were all away from the bar, so it seemed like a smart place to be. No matter what, I was going to need a drink. As the names were read off, I was becoming less and less convinced that I was ever going to get it. Ninth one down and it wasn’t me. I think after the seventh name, I stopped listening and tuned it out. It wasn’t me.

  Turning around to order another shot, I was rather shocked when I heard my name being called. It threw me off and before I could really think about it, I was moving towards the stage. Everyone wanted us up there, so that we could be applauded. I had not considered that this would actually happen though. I was more stunned than anything else.

  When I got up there, I saw some familiar faces. Of course, Amber and her little squad had made it up there as well. I wasn’t too enthused to be working with the trio, but I knew that I was going to make the best of it. I had gotten a spot and I wasn’t going to ruin the chance. It was a bit surprising really. It was all I had wanted and more.

  “Thank you for all of your hard work and great resumes. We look forward to working and building your skills with you. This internship, will open up doors to you, that you have only dreamed about until now.”

  Another bit of encouragement to make my heart glow. This was turning out to be a far better night, then I would have ever imagined. I was ready for the next challenge, as well as all of the doors that the opportunity was going to bring me.

  In all seriousness though, I was more looking forward to who I was going to be working with. That was all that mattered at the moment. I got the coveted position with the New York office. Another forty names were called for other branches, but I hadn’t even applied for them. Only New York would do. Now I got to work with Richard Grant, someone I had looked up to for quite a while.

  It changed nothing that I knew what the hard lines of his chest felt like.

  ***

  After the ceremony was over, I was still stunned. I had several people come up to me and tell me that they were happy for me. I was thankful for all of the good vibes sent my way and all of the congratulations, but I was really wanting to hear from Richard.

  I waited for him to come off of the stage. He was bombarded by a bunch of people again. When he was finally free of them, I asked him if he knew.

  “Knew what?”

  I think I had startled him.

  “Did you know that I was getting one of the internships?”

  “No, I don’t handle that. My assistant Charles does all of that. Congratulations though.”

  He said it so offhandedly, like there was nothing that he had to do with it. I was going to thank him, convinced that he had to have given my name. There was no way that I would have gotten it. I was doing good things, but I certainly wasn’t the only one.

  “Thank you. I just want to make sure that I have earned it.”

  He stopped and Richard looked at me. I could see tiny gold flecks in his warm brown eyes. They were hard to get away from and I looked down before I let it take control of me.

  “You deserve everything that you have coming to you Sarah. You work hard, you’re smart. That’s going to open doors for you and this internship is only a small part.”

  I couldn’t help the grin on my face. I knew that it was big and that I should tone it down, play it cool, but there was no way that I was going to be able to. I wanted to believe that with everything going on, I wouldn’t be fazed by him, but God I was. It really was a shame that he made me such a nervous wreck. I was never like this. Ever. It made me feel like I was losing myself.

  Stepping back to try and break this connection that we had, I was finding it even harder to pay attention to his words. I was reading the body language and the cocky way he held himself. Everything about him, screamed out that he was going to get what he wanted. As much as I wanted to deny it, I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to. He just had that way about him.

  “Thank you, Richard.”

  “Are you heading off?”

  “Yeah, I really think I should. It was such a lovely evening.”

  I didn’t want to ruin the moment. It had been so sweet and so perfect, that I didn’t want to say or do the wrong thing. Considering that I had acted like an idiot earlier when we were talking, it just didn’t seem like a good idea to be around him more than I had to.

  In retrospect, I guess it would be classified that I just wanted to get away. I was worried about too much and sometimes, it was clear that I just needed to put some distance between us. Again, I was on cloud nine because of Richard and he really didn’t have to do much to get me there.

  Everything was working out just like I wanted it to. That worried me. I wasn’t used to that happening and it made me second guess it.

  ***

  “So, you’re telling me that you got the internship at Grant Holding?”

  I agreed and Donna was as shocked as I had been when I had heard my name called. Her black hair was in a bob, but it was due for a cut, because it was covering half of her eyes. She had a bewildered look on her face, her black-painted lips puckered.

  “Who did you slob on to make that happen?”

  I wrinkled my nose up and just shook my head. Donna was an acquired taste and I was apparently still not there yet. She said just the most outrageous things. We’d been roommates the last few years and I had just grown accustom to her outburst. I still got defensive though. I couldn’t help that.

  “I don’t think I really need to answer that, do I?”

  “No, I am just jealous. I totally need to get something going on. I have applied for a couple of inter
nships, but nothing yet. I am happy for you, you know, in my own way.”

  I smiled at her and asked about her day. That was as close to an apology as I was going to get, and it was enough. Donna just had a delay on her filter, which made her say some messed up things. I would let it go, because moments later, she would realize what she had said and go back. It was just how she was. But the one thing that I did really like about that personality trait of hers, was I didn’t have to worry about her being dishonest. Donna was truthful, to a fault.

  “I am sure you are going to find something. You still have almost a whole year to get it straightened out.”

  “I know. It’s just nerve wracking. You know if I don’t find something straight away, I am never going to hear the end of it. I wasn’t supposed to get into social anything. You know how my family is.”

  I did. Donna could talk a good game about the poor and the downtrodden, but at the end of the day, she hadn’t gone without much in her life, as I hadn’t either. It was easy to see that we both had it pretty easy. I wasn’t sure where all of her angst came from, but it wasn’t from struggle. I knew that much for sure, because her dad paid her rent and anything else she wanted. She had a gold credit card from him.

  “We are the ones that have to live our own lives. I can’t see you being a lawyer or a doctor. You’re smart enough for it for sure, but you don’t have the temperament.”

  I knew that she agreed with me. Donna was a spitfire and I was afraid if she didn’t have something to let all of that energy out on, she wasn’t going to be able to manage. She needed a release. Donna needed that one thing to pour herself into. Social injustice was it for her. I couldn’t imagine Donna any other way and I truly believed that she would do some good. I wasn’t sure how, but I was sure of that one thing.

  “I really am glad for you Sarah. It’s going to be awesome. I know how much you admire Richard. Not to mention it’s New York. That can’t be a bad spot to go next year.”

  She hid an innuendo in there, but I didn’t want to hear it. The internship had nothing to do with Richard. Sure, I thought he was handsome and looked up to him, but I’d never imagined we’d dance like we did tonight. It was all so innocent, until suddenly it wasn’t. Now I was left with many questions and an agonizing wait to get the answers to them all.

  Graduation couldn’t come soon enough. It felt like the next few months, were going to be only a prelude to my real life. This internship, Grant Holdings, that was my future and I wanted to get to it, as soon as I could.

  Chapter 6

  Richard

  I didn’t see Sarah, but one other time, when I traveled to give the commencement speech at Statfords. Usually, I spent most of my time in the New York office, a few hours away from the school. I wanted to make it back several times, but work kept me busy. It didn’t help me through the night, but throwing myself into work, really seemed to help in the daytime.

  I had to wait months for Sarah to be brought to the head office. I didn’t know when I had become that patient when it was about a woman. If it was any other woman, I would have had her underneath me and forgotten everything until then.

  Now she was here in New York. And I couldn’t stop smiling to myself when I was alone. I wanted to believe that we would pick up where we left off, but a lot had changed. We were back to being strangers again. I could see it in her face, once she got off of the elevator for her first day.

  It wasn’t just Sarah though. She had many other people with her. Ten of the fifty interns that we hired this year, were actually going to be at the head office where I spent most of my time. I made sure that Sarah was one of them. She belonged in a city, big enough to hold her. As much as I liked to believe that we were on our way, I realized quickly, that I was going to have to work to get us back to the dirty dance we had before.

  The first few days that the interns were here in the office, they were basically going through orientation. While I wanted to go to Sarah personally and talk to her, see where we stood since the last time. But I knew that I couldn't single her out. It would not end well, especially since most of the intern would be staying together.

  There was no way that they would be able to find accommodations on their own with the salary that we were paying them. Not in this city. So, they were all bunked up together in a massive apartment.

  I called them to my cabin and there Sarah was, entering last. She looked hot in her tight black skirt which clung just over her knees. I was slowly undressing her with my eyes, and I had no control. I had to stop myself from ravaging her this instance.

  I welcomed them to them to the office. When we shook hands, I was almost knocked off once her intoxicating smell hit me. She smelt of roses. Somehow, I regained my conscious and delivered my first speech. They were listening to every word coming out of my mouth and it was a little intense. They were always far more interested in what I was saying, than I was. I made eye contact with Sarah a couple of times, but still there were things unknown between us. She certainly wasn't making it easier to figure it out. Her face was expressionless.

  By the end of the first meeting, I had already decided that whether it was going to seem wrong or not, I needed to talk to Sarah alone. Charles, my assistant, was going to give them a tour of the twenty-five-story building that we worked out of, I was going to take the time to talk to Sarah. I just had to find a reason to do so, that would not set off alarms in people's minds. It wasn't that I really cared what people thought, but I still didn’t know where this was all going to go.

  I told Charles to make sure that Sarah stayed behind.

  “Is something wrong?”

  “No, I just got email from HR Department. There is something wrong with the paperwork and she should go down there and fix it.”

  He looked at me a little funny, because he was probably wondering why the hell, I cared all of a sudden, about the paperwork for new hires. It was far beneath me and it should have been something that I didn't have anything to do with.

  There was also the fact that he knew that I had brought her here. I had not just given him her name, but I put her at the top of the list and made it so that she worked in the New York office with me. I had made this all happen, so it wouldn't be too hard to imagine that Charles knew something was going on. But that didn't mean that he needed to know what exactly it was. I didn’t even know at the moment. That’s what I was trying to figure out.

  “So, you want to take her to HR yourself?”

  I waved him off and told him to just do what I wanted. He almost said something back to me, he was my best friend, far before he was my assistant, but thankfully he didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to have to make sense of this all, so I was more than a little thankful for that.

  “Well, I'm going to take them over and do the tour then. Should I look for her to catch up with us later?”

  I just gave him a look and he stopped asking.

  “You know that I don't like to meddle in your love life Richard, but you have never mixed it with your business life. What is so special about Sarah?”

  That was a great question, that I really didn't have the answer for. All I knew, was that she was different somehow and the draw that I had to her, was greater than anything that I ever felt before. It couldn’t all just be a coincidence.

  Charles left with the rest of the interns and Sarah was left behind. I could tell she wasn’t happy about it immediately, by the expression on her face. I didn’t want to upset her, but I couldn’t walk around with her in the building, like nothing had happened between us. Usually I wasn’t the one that pursued any kind of relationship, but once again, Sarah was somehow different.

  “Charles said something about you needing me to go to HR?”

  “Yeah, in a few minutes, first I wanted to see how you were doing. I haven't heard from you in quite a while.”

  “You stopped coming to the college Richard. It's hard to see you, when you don’t come.”