The Tycoon's Baby Revelation (The Abbot Sisters Book 1) Read online

  So, Josh was going to take a chance on someone else. Someone that Josh sensed needed a break, just like the old man had done for him.

  “What has your panties in a twist?” Jefferson demanded as soon as Josh entered the library.

  Josh tossed Sloane Abbot’s resume onto the old man’s desk, then walked over to the liquor cabinet and poured himself a scotch, not bothering to ask permission because it would only piss the old man off.

  “You’re hiring a girl?” Jefferson asked, his white, bushy eyebrows lowering in anger as he looked at Josh, now sitting in one of the chairs in front of the man’s desk.

  “I’m hiring me,” Josh countered.

  Jefferson let the resume flutter back to his desk as he sipped his scotch. For a moment, he contemplated Josh. “So, who is she?” he asked.

  Josh shrugged one massive shoulder dismissively. “I don’t know. But she’s young, desperate, and on the brink of disaster.” He paused, the glass halfway to his mouth as he said, “She might actually have reached disaster and is just muddling through, trying to keep her head above water, although she might be sinking pretty fast.”

  Jefferson’s lips pressed together and he took a long sip of his scotch. “What happened to her?”

  Josh stared at the amber liquid in the crystal glass, his eyes narrowed as he thought back to the lovely girl-woman’s furious words just prior to her less than epic departure. “I don’t know. But she’s too damn young to have such an attitude.” He paused, smiling for a moment. “You should have seen her, Jefferson. She was…amazing! This Abbot woman…she yelled at me. She told me that the other women who had been in for interviews before her were only trying to get into my bed and I should hire her simply because she’s a good worker and because she’d stay well away from any sort of sexual liaison with me. That she was sick of men who manipulated…or something along those lines. She was…” he paused again, shaking his head. “Fabulous.”

  Jefferson leaned back in his chair, watching the young man who had come so far in life in such a short period of time. Josh Starke was like a son to Jefferson, but it had taken a lot of determination and patience to get him to his current success. And damn if Josh Starke wasn’t the epitome of success! Jefferson couldn’t be more proud of him if the kid was his own flesh and blood. Unfortunately, Jefferson had never found the kind of love that would make all of his financial success worthwhile. And he’d never taken the time to have a family, something he deeply regretted until meeting Josh Starke one miserable afternoon.

  But had Jefferson pushed Josh too far? The man worked hard and was brilliant. He was already ridiculously wealthy and Josh’s power would only increase with his latest move to start his own investment firm. Unfortunately, Josh worked twenty hours a day, not bothering to really enjoy life. The same path Jefferson had taken. Josh always enjoyed the ladies, but only for a week or so before moving on. Josh would never find a loving woman if he kept pushing himself to succeed further in business.

  Jefferson knew that if Josh weren’t careful, then the man would end up just like him. And adopting this girl…he glanced down at the resume again, there was no doubt that she was still a child…might be just what Josh needed. For the past several years, Josh had been so focused on work that he hadn’t taken the time to have fun.

  Sloane Abbot, huh? He’d have to get his people to investigate her. “Well, what are you doing here then? Why aren’t you…?”

  “Stop!” Josh laughed. “I came by to ask for a favor.”

  “What’s that?”

  The housekeeper knocked on the door, announcing that dinner was ready. “For both of you,” she said, turning to Josh with an admonishing look, warning him that he was expected to walk right into the dining room and eat whatever she’d fixed for the two of them. Hell, probably the three of them. Wilma wasn’t shy and sometimes sat down and ate with the two men she took such good care of. And Josh didn’t have to be a betting man to know that Wilma would sneak a bag of leftovers into his car. She was a mother hen if ever he’d seen one and didn’t like that Josh ate at restaurants for most of his meals. She cooked extra for him so that he’d have a home cooked meal at least once a week.

  Josh sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose for a moment. “I recognize the address she put on her resume.” His lip curled in disgust. “She’s living at the shelter downtown. She mentioned something about…well, she needs a place to live.”

  Jefferson nodded. “Done. Wilma?” he called out.

  Of course, Wilma appeared in the doorway, already nodding her head. She heard all that went on in this house and anticipated her men’s needs, usually before they even realized they needed something. “I’ll have the carriage house cleaned up and ready for her.”

  “Thanks,” Josh said with deep sincerity. “I don’t like the idea of someone as young and vulnerable as this Ms. Abbot living in a city shelter.”

  “Agree.” Jefferson stood up and walked around his desk, downing the rest of his scotch before Wilma took his glass away. He had a hidden stash of cigars too.

  Over dinner, Josh and Jefferson discussed business and went over Josh’s next step. By the time he stepped into his car at the end of the night…a huge cotton bag on the passenger seat overflowing with plastic containers filled with meals he could easily pop into the microwave for dinner because Wilma knew that he forgot to eat when he was working …he was going over everything he’d learned over the last few hours.

  So, it was a surprise when he pulled back into the parking lot of the fast food restaurant with the gaudy colors. Even from the parking lot, he could see the smiling face of Sloane Abbot as she greeted a late night customer. He should head home and get some work done, but instead, he remained in the parking spot and started making calls from there, getting his next business step in place. Already, his net worth was in the multiple million dollar range. He’d done that all by himself through shrewd investments. Now, he was ready to expand his investment goals, but needed to hire a staff to get there. His first hire on this next phase of his career was to get a good assistant in place.

  Was he making a mistake in hiring someone so young and inexperienced?

  Thinking about Jefferson, about how the old man had taken a chance on him, a nobody, a teenage criminal…Josh shook off his doubts about Sloane Abbot. She was young, but the fire in her eyes…it reminded him of how he’d felt all those years ago when Jefferson had miraculously stepped into his life.

  Research, he told himself. Pulling out of the parking lot, he headed back to his home. At twenty-five, he preferred a condo to a house, not wanting the hassle of maintaining a yard. Walking through the door, he tossed his keys into the crystal dish in the foyer, then headed through the great room and down the hallway to his office. His condo was spacious, with four bedrooms, a large kitchen, great room, and an office. He didn’t need four bedrooms, but figured he’d grow into the space eventually.

  He sat down at his computer and logged in, entering the complicated password and the other security measures. Already, he’d fouled several attempts of someone trying to steal the secrets to his financial success. He’d created a security system that guarded the algorithm for his investment strategy and the firewalls he’d put in place rivaled Fort Knox. His strategy worked better than anything anyone had yet developed. When the Dow Jones Index rose by five percentage points, his investment portfolios rose by nine to twelve percentage points. And it was all in the mathematical system he’d created and formatted.

  Tonight, he wasn’t researching new companies he might invest in. Instead, he researched a certain young woman with startling blue eyes and a hungry anger that caused her pale, too-thin body to radiate with energy and righteous fury. Damn it, she’d been magnificent! He could still hear her haranguing him for the two and a half hour tardiness of her interview and her small hands fisting at her sides when she’d told him that she’d figure out anything that he threw at her. With a chuckle of admiration, he thought about her absolute certainty that she wouldn�
�t ever be in his bed.

  That was good because he wanted an assistant, not a lover. Business and pleasure were separate and, by the time the fiercely-determined Sloane Abbot had sat down for her interview, Josh had been completely fed up with women trying to entice him. How could so many mercenary women have heard about his job opening…and how the hell had they all thought that they could simply saunter in and seduce him?

  An hour later, Josh wasn’t at his computer any longer. He paced the length of his office, furious at what he’d discovered. Sloane wasn’t just a fast food worker, struggling to find a new job. She’d dropped out of high school after her mother’s death to take care of her two younger sisters. What she didn’t know was that the courts were about to serve her with papers that would put her sisters into foster care.

  Josh didn’t know this Abbot girl at all, other than the twenty minute interview this afternoon. But he sensed a strength inside of her, a power that just needed a bit of direction to unleash. Jefferson had given Josh that direction and guidance years ago. It was time to pay that gruff old man back for his kindness and help Sloane Abbot. He’d have to move quickly in order to save her small family…and possibly her pride.

  It took about three hours, but by midnight, he finally had everything in place. Tomorrow morning, he’d find Ms. Abbot and, hopefully, she’d accept his help.

  Stripping off his clothes that night, he wondered why he was so sure about Sloane. What was it about her that drew him in? She was too young for any sort of romantic inclinations. Not to mention, she’d vehemently announced that she had no sexual interest in him in any way. That was good, he thought, even though something inside of him told him that he was a liar.

  Sloane stood in front of the barren building the following morning, her stomach in knots. She’d received the text message early this morning. “Be at the office at eight o’clock, sharp.” That’s all it had said.

  Was she in trouble? Good grief, she probably should have kept her mouth shut yesterday! The man she’d snapped at, he didn’t seem like the kind of man who took kindly to a mouthy teenager.

  Sloane straightened her shoulders, her chin lifting with that stubborn pride that would one day be her downfall. She had nothing to be proud of right now. At this point, her life was in shambles, she was a high school dropout and she worked at a fast food joint while living out of a homeless shelter, desperately trying to keep her two sisters safe, clothed and fed. But she wouldn’t give up! She’d make it somehow and if this guy wanted to yell at her again, well…she’d just walk away. But this morning over a meager breakfast of rehydrated eggs and lukewarm coffee in the shelter dining area, Rayne and Pepper had convinced her to at least meet with the man, both of them certain that it was a second interview.

  It probably wasn’t, she thought as she put her trembling fingers on the door handle and, with a sigh, pulled open the door.

  The lobby area was empty today. No sexy blonds primping or beautiful brunettes unbuttoning their blouses. No clicks of high heeled shoes or wiggling of butts in tight skirts.

  It was quiet. Eerily quiet!

  Looking around, she wondered if the text had been incorrect. Did she have the wrong time? Was she…?

  “You’re late!” the sharp voice snapped.

  Sloane looked down at her watch. It was eight oh one!

  “I’m…”

  The man from yesterday, with those beautiful, green eyes and crazy long lashes, walked…prowled…towards her. He wore dark slacks and a crisp, white shirt with the cuffs rolled up, almost as if he were trying to look professional, but there was just too much raw masculine power to be contained by the fabric of his clothes.

  “I expect you to be here at eight o’clock every day, ready to work.” His green eyes flashed with icy calm as he glared down at her. Yesterday, he’d been sitting in that cold, metal chair so she hadn’t realized how tall he was, but wow! He was at least a foot taller than she was and…!

  “You’ll have a salary and health care, dental and all the benefits, as well as a retirement package. The health care and dental include you and any dependents.” His firm lips curled slightly into what she suspected the man might consider a smile, but was really just a baring of his teeth. He leaned forward, “As soon as you set all of that up.” With that he turned, leaving her standing in the oddly open space as her mind tried to understand what he’d just said.

  Without waiting for her to respond, the jerk moved into the empty space of the building. “I’ve hired a construction crew, but you’ll be in charge of supervising the progress here. I’ll be working from my home office and will come by to ensure that progress is happening. We’ll work remotely until this office space is built, but you’ll need to keep me informed of all of your tasks.” He turned to look at her and Sloane realized that she was still standing near the entryway. “Are you scared yet?”

  Terrified! But she didn’t say that to him. “Not even a little,” she replied, her shoulders pulling back unconsciously.

  His sharp gaze bored into hers and she wondered what he saw in her. He was hiring her? But…why? She didn’t type fast enough, didn’t know dictation, had been outrageously outspoken during the interview and…he still wanted to hire her? He didn’t move for a long moment, just…looked at her, as if he could see into her soul. But surely he couldn’t see her terror.

  Could he?

  “Fine. You’re not scared. Tell me when you are and we’ll go from there.” He turned and started walking again and Sloane hurried after him. He kept talking, listing tasks. Sloane hadn’t thought to bring a notebook, so she pulled out the cell phone that she and her sisters shared, quickly typing in notes through the e-mail app.

  “Got all that?” he asked, stepping through a doorway and she realized that this was a big office with a window out to the back of the building. She glanced around, barely taking anything in.

  “Yes. Got it,” she said and finished typing before looking up at him. “What else?”

  He chuckled and there was something warm and amazing about that sound. She didn’t have time to analyze it because he continued with more instructions.

  “This will be your office and mine is in here,” he said, walking through another door she hadn’t realized was there. “It will be your job to protect me from whoever tries to get through to me without an appointment and the annoying swarms that will try and get ‘just five minutes’ of my time.” He named a salary that made her gasp. “Believe me, you’ll earn every penny of it,” he replied. “And your salary will increase as you prove your value to me. Any questions before I go?”

  Sloane looked up at him, trying to absorb everything he’d just said. “Um…” she looked around. “Computer?” she asked, feeling pathetic because she and her sisters didn’t even have a computer. She used the one at the county library while Rayne and Pepper made do with the school computers.

  “Order one,” he snapped, his dark eyebrows lowering with impatience. “That’s your job, Sloane. If you need something, you order it. If I need something, you order it faster.”

  His curt, impatient responses made her heart pound with fear that she’d already messed up and she’d only been on the job for…she glanced down at her watch, startled to realize that she’d been here for only five minutes and he’d already given her enough work for the next ten months!

  She wouldn’t lose this job! The salary alone could get them out of that horrible homeless shelter! She wanted a place with a door and locks, a place where she and her sisters could sleep and not fear that they would be robbed or assaulted. She couldn’t lose this job!

  “Fine. I’ll start in two weeks. I need to give notice at my…”

  He didn’t roll his eyes at that response, but she could tell that he wanted to. “You work at a fast food restaurant, Sloane. It’s not like your boss is the respectable kind of man you owe anything to. You’ll start today or you don’t start at all.”

  With that, he grabbed a jacket that had been laid over a metal chair and le
ft the building, leaving Sloane dumbfounded.

  He didn’t say goodbye or even tell her how she was supposed to start! What in the hell was she supposed to do? She couldn’t afford to buy a computer! She had no resources of her own. If she had a credit card, she’d go out and buy one and just pay it off over time but…!

  That’s when she spotted the folder on the other metal chair in the corner. She hadn’t seen it…or anything really…while he was there because he was such a forceful person. But now that she was alone, she could breathe more easily. In in the folder, there was a credit card…with her name on it! Her name and the name of his company. Starke Enterprises. Huh! She flipped it over, wondering if there was a limit on the card. Also in the folder were the employment forms, tax forms and what looked like a legal document. As she skimmed through it, she realized that it was a non-disclosure agreement. A very thick, scary non-disclosure agreement!

  What did he think she was going to reveal? She glanced around at the empty building and laughed, shaking her head. “Who am I going to tell?” she chuckled.

  Sitting down on the metal chair, she considered her options. She could work for a disgusting, groping slob of a man who shunted all of his responsibilities off on her and didn’t give her any of the credit…or she could start figuring out how to build an office environment and, she glanced down at her cell phone with all of the other tasks he’d given her, and earn a living wage.

  It was really a no-brainer. She’d work here just long enough to get experience, do the best damn job ever, then leave the bastard hanging, knowing that no one would ever be as good as she was in the role.

  With determination, she fished the beaten-up pen out of her purse and filled out the forms. When that was done, she looked around, trying to figure out what to do next. Her next stop was a computer store. Or maybe an office supply store? Both, she thought.