Healing the Billionaire Read online

  Hailey beamed. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.” Then she rushed to add, “The others are just as good in my opinion. But I’ll let you be the judge of that.”

  “I look forward to that.” Miriam grinned. “Do you have the rest of the information we requested? I’ll send that with these boxes to Ronald and James so we can get a decision to you right away.”

  “Yes!” Hailey slid the manila folder out from under the other two white boxes. “Everything you wanted to know is in here. Numbers, revenue—all kinds of stuff. Probably more than you asked for, but I wanted you to have it just in case.”

  “Prepared,” Miriam said, admiration in her gaze. “I like that.”

  “Thank you.”

  The woman stood, which made Hailey do the same. “Well, I have to say I enjoyed that taste. Hopefully my colleagues enjoy these as much as I did, and we’ll have our decision soon. I have your number, so I’ll call you as soon as I can.” She extended her hand again.

  This time, Hailey was prepared and braced herself for the firm handshake. It was still painful, but at least she’d known that it was coming.

  “Everything okay there?” Miriam asked as she came around the side of her desk to see Hailey out.

  “Oh, yeah. Just dislocated my shoulder on Monday.”

  Miriam opened the door to her office, saying, “Oh wow. And you still got your cupcakes baked this morning?”

  Hailey nodded as she stopped right near the doorway. “I had a little help, thank goodness.” She looked down the hall, where said help was waiting for her, and her stomach flip-flopped as she thought about what she’d do now that this meeting was over and they’d kissed.

  Then the frosted doors opened and Jared came into view. He was sitting with one leg raised, his ankle resting on his knee, and drumming the armrests with his fingers. Once he spotted her, he sat up, looking more alert when he raised his eyebrows in her direction. Then he gave her two thumbs-up, lifting his shoulders to pose the question.

  She couldn’t help but grin at him.

  “Is that your help?” Miriam asked in a low tone.

  Hailey chuckled lightly. “Yeah.”

  “Is he single?” Miriam flicked her gaze back to Hailey. “I have a hard enough time meeting anyone while working these incredibly demanding hours, let alone anyone decent.”

  Swallowing hard, Hailey thought that statement over.

  Was Jared single? Technically, yes. They weren’t together. They weren’t even really dating. She wasn’t sure what they were doing, but she wouldn’t consider him off the market based on one kiss and a few conversations.

  Then she dove deeper into that. Was she about to turn into Miriam? Working demanding, long hours, unable to date? That wasn’t what she wanted even though she wanted to be successful with her business. Yet again, she felt torn—until her gut answered for her.

  “No, that one’s mine.” She let those words sink in as she tested them out. They felt good on her tongue. Right. Perfect.

  Miriam gave her a sad smile. “Ah well. I had to try.” Then she tossed a glance at her desk. “There’s always a cupcake for that.” After a wink, she stepped back into her office, and Hailey walked out into the hall. “Thanks for coming by today. We’ll be in touch,” Miriam said. Then she closed the door.

  Nervous butterflies swirled through Hailey’s stomach as she walked down the hall. She was approaching Jared and leaving a meeting for a possible business opportunity. It all felt so symbolic. Was she heading toward her future? The one she could have alongside her business? She was still waiting for that call from her doctor, but nothing was set in stone. She could always make another decision if Dr. Campbell came back with good news. If the doctor didn’t, well… Hailey would cross that bridge when she came to it.

  For now, she felt more determined to see where things with Jared could go. Maybe they lived far apart. And maybe she had a business to run. So did he. But he’d been putting her first this week and that gave her so much hope for the future. She loved the way he’d made her feel special and cared for while her shoulder healed. And when she pushed through the frosted-glass doors, his smiling, hopeful, supportive face was the first thing she saw.

  Part of her wanted to run to him. Jump into his arms. Kiss him again to see if that magic she’d felt earlier was still there. But another part of her knew she didn’t have to test the waters to know. That magic would always be there. It always had before; she just hadn’t let herself feel it.

  They were older now. Wiser. More capable of balancing life’s major things. And that sweet bliss she felt when she reached him in the waiting room and he gingerly wrapped his arms around her? It felt absolutely perfect. So she was confident they’d figure it out between them.

  She’d make sure of it.

  16

  Jared could feel Hailey’s excitement buzzing through the car all the way to Rachel’s. He’d put the top down again just because she liked it. And it was even better this time, with the wind blowing through her hair and a huge smile on her face. She must have rocked it in that meeting.

  Even though he wished it didn’t, it made him nervous.

  He wanted her to succeed—of course he did. But with his new idea in mind, he needed her to get on board. Or else it’d seem like he stole her idea and he didn’t want to give her more reasons not to trust what was happening between them again.

  When he asked her if she wanted to go to dinner to celebrate, she countered with wanting to celebrate after she got the deal. He almost blurted his idea out then, but he didn’t want to scare her away. So when they walked in the door and she said she was going upstairs to call her aunt, he grabbed Otis’s leash and headed out for a walk to call Thomas.

  Time was of the essence.

  But his COO didn’t answer.

  Jared shot a text to Thomas and another one to Jessica to make sure he called as soon as possible. It was well past normal business hours on the East Coast, but Jared didn’t live by those rules. Neither did Thomas, so he expected him to call soon.

  He took Otis around the block a few times and then brought him home. The dog went straight for the backyard, and Jared thought that was odd because they’d just been for a walk. But when he followed Otis out there, he saw the big dog step up onto a chaise lounge meant for humans and sprawl out like the thing had been made for him. He couldn’t believe his eyes, and he wondered if Rachel knew he did this, so he snapped a picture and sent it off to his sister.

  The thought of his sister made him realize he hadn’t heard from her at all during the week. To be honest, he hadn’t exactly missed her, either. Although he missed his sister on a familial level, this week hadn’t been the dull, stressful time he’d thought it’d be without her.

  It’d been perfect instead.

  He truly couldn’t believe it. Hailey was back in his life.

  At the bottom of the stairs, he rested a hand on the rail and felt his heart pick up speed as he thought of his ex-wife. Could they work toward not being ex-spouses anymore? He sure wanted to, but he had a long road ahead to prove to Hailey that he deserved the chance. He’d do everything he could to put her first this time and treat her right.

  A smile curved his lips as he took the steps two at a time to go see her.

  Jared put his ear to the door to see if she was on the phone with her aunt still. He liked that they were still close. When her parents had moved away, her aunt Shirley had been there for Hailey, and when she and Jared had split, he knew she’d been there for Hailey then too. It was good to hear that Hailey still had someone special in her life, even if it wasn’t him. Though he could be on that short list soon as well.

  He didn’t hear anything, so he softly knocked on the wood. When that didn’t produce a response, he thought she might have fallen asleep. All of the excitement plus the ache in her shoulder could have knocked her out.

  With a twinge of disappointment humming under his skin, he went back to his bedroom and opened his laptop. If Hailey was sleeping, he’d get s
ome work done while he could. They only had two more days together, which meant he had two more days to research this new space in his business and convince Hailey to join him on it.

  It was a great idea that would be huge for his business. But the pang in his heart when he thought about Hailey saying no made him realize he didn’t want to do it without her. If she didn’t want to be a part of it, he didn’t think he could move forward with it. Thomas wouldn’t like that, but he’d have to deal with it. It was Jared and Hailey together or nothing at all.

  Like it always should have been.

  When Thomas hadn’t called him back after a few hours and Hailey hadn’t emerged from her room, Jared decided to call it a night. Thomas was probably ignoring him because he was supposed to be on vacation, but they had a serious emergency going on.

  The next morning, his phone buzzed on the nightstand. Faint sunlight streamed in between the blinds, but with the time difference, it wasn’t too early for Thomas to be awake—even on a Saturday. Jared hadn’t found anyone else doing this kind of meal kit service yet during his research the night before, so he knew exactly what Thomas would say the moment he answered the phone and gave him the idea.

  “I hope you’re not asking for an update on the HomeGrown Meals situation,” his COO said when Jared answered the phone. “You’re on vacation. Do I need to remind you—”

  “No, you don’t. I get it. But it’s not that,” Jared rushed out. He got out of bed and paced his sister’s hardwood floors. “It’s better. I think I have a way to fix this.”

  He detailed his idea to Thomas. Breakfast meal kits, dinner meal kits that included appetizers and desserts, dessert-only meal kits, meal kits for parties—all kinds of different options that expanded upon their dinner selections. They could introduce one at a time as they signed new companies to make this happen under their umbrella. Or they could work on perfecting them all. Jared didn’t care how they did it, just who they did it with for at least one portion of the expansion.

  When Jared was done—save for the part about Hailey’s involvement—Thomas was silent on the other end. It went on for so long that Jared wasn’t sure they were still connected. He pulled the phone from his ear and found that they were, and that’s when the nerves kicked in. Did Thomas hate the idea? He’d been so sure he’d love it that he hadn’t considered what he’d do if Thomas wasn’t on board.

  But then his COO said, “You need to go on vacation more often if this is what you come back with.”

  Jared smirked because he knew the real reason he’d come up with the idea. It had nothing to do with vacation at all and everything to do with the woman in the other room.

  Which Thomas quickly caught on to. “Wait a second. Does this have something to do with a certain ex-wife of yours?”

  Jared’s head fell forward, and he put a hand on his hip. He’d wanted to lead into that himself, but he also couldn’t help the smile on his face. Of course it was about Hailey. Everything was about her. It always had been, and he’d lost sight of that once, but he wouldn’t again. He was about to tell Thomas that when he spoke sooner.

  “You know,” Thomas said slowly, “I couldn’t believe it when you called yesterday to have me handle the Nourish Fresh meeting, but it makes sense now. And you mentioned a cupcake business, so I’m thinking this somehow links back to her cupcakes being used for the dessert kits?”

  “Of course it links back to using her cupcakes,” Jared answered, raising his head. Then he peeked at the door of the bedroom, wondering if Hailey was still sleeping. “I just haven’t told her yet.”

  “Well you should. We should act fast on this in case anyone else is developing the same plan and trying to get into this space.”

  “I just checked,” he told Thomas. “So far, I haven’t seen anything.”

  “It’ll have to stay that way if we want to be first at it, which we should.” Thomas was silent for a few moments.

  “We also have another problem.” Jared wiped a hand down his face. “She had a meeting yesterday with Fontell Foods to get her cupcakes into the Portland, Oregon, market. So far, she’s only in Maine, though she has a bit of an online presence. Not a huge one—mostly local, it seems. So we need to act quickly if we want to get her on board with us instead of them.”

  Just the thought of it—he and Hailey working as a team in business—had goose bumps breaking out over his skin. Why hadn’t he thought of this before? Instead of trying to forge ahead in business and be this huge success without her, he could have helped her grow her own. She clearly had a knack for it, seeing as she’d started her cupcake business, built a following, and even got a meeting on the other side of the country all by herself. While she hadn’t needed him to make that happen, he still thought they could be incredible partners.

  That’s what he should have done instead of pushing her out of his life to build his own empire. He should have let her rise to the top with him. And that’s exactly what he wanted to do now.

  “That’ll be your job,” Thomas said. “Make that happen and I’ll work with Jessica to research the rest. Enjoy your last two days of vacation, man. Sounds like the rest of the year is going to be pretty busy.” The smile in his voice was unmistakable.

  Relief flowed through Jared, though he hadn’t truly been worried. His need for control was dissipating bit by bit this week—and he liked it.

  Now, he had to see what Hailey thought about relinquishing some of her control. He hoped she’d see the greater good in the idea. And he hoped it’d bring them closer together.

  Maybe this vacation thing wasn’t so bad after all.

  “Thanks,” Jared told Thomas. “I’m glad that worked out.”

  “I’m assuming it worked out as well as things are working out between you and Hailey?”

  For several beats, Jared was silent. And that silence was enough of a confirmation for Thomas.

  “Does this mean you two have talked about kids now?” he asked.

  “No,” Jared said sternly. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to whip that question out before the first date, do you?”

  Thomas’s long inhale was audible over the line. “Normally, I’d say you’re right. But this isn’t normal. You’d have fought harder for her before if she’d wanted kids. It was that important to you, which is why I keep bringing it up now. You haven’t mentioned it since, but that doesn’t mean you’ve changed your mind, and I don’t want to see you both end up in the same place because you couldn’t open your mouth and get this out of the way.”

  Jared took a few steadying breaths to calm the rush of adrenaline running through his veins. Did he want kids? Yeah, absolutely he did. He’d always pictured having babies with Hailey. They’d have her blond hair, his hazel eyes, and the passion they both had to succeed in whatever they wanted to do. It didn’t matter than he was the head of a multibillion-dollar company—he’d figure out how to manage his time. With Hailey. With kids. Together.

  But Hailey hadn’t wanted them back then. He wondered if she’d changed her mind. He wouldn’t know until he asked, though he wasn’t sure it was the right time. Thomas did have a point. Find out now and save the heartache later if she didn’t.

  “We’ll talk about it,” Jared answered on a sigh. “For now, I just want to enjoy my last day and a half with her. That’s all.”

  It was true. He could hear the honesty in his voice. He wasn’t putting on an act for Thomas so he’d get off his back about being on vacation. No, he genuinely wanted to spend the rest of his time with Hailey.

  They’d figure everything else out soon enough.

  17

  Hailey woke up on Saturday morning feeling hopeful. Her aunt had been just as excited as she was about how well the meeting with Fontell Foods had gone. She’d hoped to hear back right away, and she figured she wouldn’t hear back until Monday now, which made her a little anxious. By Monday, she and Jared wouldn’t be stuck in the same house anymore. That made her wonder what would happen come Sunday when she went
back home. But maybe, with his million dollars, he could spare some cash to visit her soon.

  She heard Jared’s voice in muffled tones through the walls. He was already up, probably checking in on work. That didn’t bother her as much as it would have before. She had her own business now, and he’d been there to support her when she’d needed him. That’s all she’d wanted from their relationship in the past, and she understood now that he had an established company to continue to run. She wouldn’t hold that against him while she ran hers.

  Then her own phone rang, and as she got out of bed to reach for it, she rolled her shoulder. It was a little sore from yesterday’s handshake with Miriam, but she couldn’t complain. That was great considering she still hadn’t taken any of the medication the emergency doctor had prescribed. It could have interfered with Dr. Campbell’s protocol, and the last thing she wanted to do was screw that up. It’d cost too much money and been too painful to have it fail because of pain meds she didn’t really need. She didn’t like lying to Jared about them, but she didn’t think springing that news on him when they’d just reunited was a good idea. Too much was riding on them starting out slowly to zoom right toward that subject.

  When Hailey found her phone on the dresser, the number on the screen made her heart jump. Dr. Campbell’s name flashed as if she’d been summoned by Hailey’s thoughts. This could be it—the news she’d been waiting for. After a hard swallow and a deep breath that did nothing for her nerves, she answered the phone.

  “Hello?” she said, hoping her voice didn’t sound as unsteady as it felt.

  “Hello, Hailey? It’s Dr. Campbell. I know I was supposed to call yesterday, but we didn’t have the results in. Sorry to call on the weekend, but I have news for you regarding your—”

  “Right. No problem. Thanks for calling.” Hailey just wanted to know how it had gone. She didn’t want to hear the words or even think them until she knew if it was a possibility.

  The pause on the line made her fear the worst.