Do Marry Your Billionaire Boss (Jewel Family Romance Book 1) Read online

  The next morning, she packed her suitcases and left the ship as quickly as she could. Luckily, she didn’t see Joshua, Curtis, or any of the other men from work. The only bright side was no one was accusing her of embezzling any more.

  She caught an Uber back to the Jewel Resort, calling on the way to change her flight to tomorrow. There was no way she could simply pick up with Jesse and date him with how deeply she loved Joshua, but she felt like she at least owed it to him to explain and thank him for being so great. She didn’t even care if he showed her his face.

  Walking wearily to the front desk of the resort, her eyes darted around. What if Joshua had come here too? The thought of seeing him made her stomach hop. She pushed that thought away and smiled at the lovely front desk girl with huge, curly, dark hair. “I love your hair,” she said.

  “Oh, thank you. Miss …?” The girl eyed her a bit strangely. Jade had kept her sunglasses on to hide how swollen and red her eyes were from crying all night. She couldn’t remember ever crying like that, but this was Joshua she was mourning and it felt like she’d been gouged from the inside out to lose him.

  “Jardine. Jade Jardine. Do you have a reservation for me?”

  “Let me check.” The girl tapped some buttons and then her eyes widened. “Um …” She blinked at her. “Miss Jardine. I’m supposed to escort you to your suite.”

  “Thank you but that’s not necessary. I can find my own room.”

  “No, you really can’t.” The girl snapped her fingers and a young man ran over and took Jade’s suitcase.

  “Ma’am.” He nodded to her.

  What in the world was going on? She’d guessed Jesse had money but this was a little over the top. The front desk girl escorted her through the resort and around behind the Italian restaurant. She’d seen Jesse coming from this spot before. A fancy elevator waited. The girl swiped a special card and it opened. Jade was really out of her element. Her parents had money but nobody she knew had a private elevator at a Jewel Family resort.

  Her heartbeat picked up as she entered the elevator. Wait. What if this wasn’t Jesse but Joshua’s doing? This was his resort. The private elevator would make complete sense. Maybe he’d trumped Jesse’s reservation and now she was walking straight into his arms. Everything in her lit up momentarily at that thought. Joshua’s arms. Heaven.

  “No!” She shook her head and the two people in the elevator turned to her.

  “Sorry, ma’am. Are you okay?”

  She forced a smile and nodded. “Excuse me.”

  The elevator door opened to a breathtaking view. A large two-story open area boasted a state-of-the-art kitchen and massive living area with leather couches, a big-screen, pool table, ping-pong table, and floor-to-ceiling windows showcasing the beach and ocean below.

  “Wow,” she heard the young man mutter. “I’ve always wanted to come up here.”

  The front desk girl gave him a look. He busied himself with taking the suitcase to one of the doors on the left. The girl followed him and pressed the key card against a sensor next to that door. The door beeped and then she swung it open. Jade was gaping again. The suite, off of the main living area, was bright and modern and had its own sitting area, and a large bedroom off through one door.

  The young man left her suitcase by the door. The girl put the keycard in her hand and smiled. “This will get you into the elevator and this area,” she gestured around at the main suite, “And also into your room.” She pointed at the smaller sitting area and bedroom. “You’re welcome to stay for as long as you’d like. Please let us know if you need anything.”

  “Thank you,” Jade said.

  They turned to leave.

  “Wait,” Jade cried out. “Let me get you a tip.”

  “Oh, no.” The girl smiled. “We’ll be more than compensated. Have a nice stay.”

  With that they were gone.

  Jade wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself. She dropped her purse and laptop bag on the table near the door, finally taking off her sunglasses. Rolling her suitcase through the suite, she stopped at an arrangement of chocolates, fruit, cheese, and nuts. Chilled juices and waters were in a bucket of ice on the counter. Opening the fridge, she saw an assortment of more drinks and snacks.

  “Goodness,” she muttered to herself.

  Continuing through the main area of her small suite, she pushed into the bedroom and looked around at a massive bed. She walked through to the walk-in closet and dropped her suitcase there then peeked into the bathroom with a large glass shower with all kinds of nozzles and a jetted tub bigger than most hot tubs. A basket full of spa and beauty products was on the counter. She caught a glimpse of her red eyes in the mirror. She looked like she had pink eye.

  Her mind was scrambling to know how to respond to this. Did Jesse have one of the other rooms off the main area? What would he expect from such a gift as this room? How did she tell him she loved Joshua, there was no chance for her to be with either man, and she was going back to the States to find a new job and figure out her life. Yet … what if this was Joshua? It had him written all over it.

  She hurried out of the bedroom and yanked open the door to her suite. Checking out the main area again she saw this kitchen was even more well-stocked. Food to cook and ready-made meals.

  She walked to the wall of windows and stared out of them at the beach and ocean below, thinking, praying, she had no clue how to leave tomorrow without offending Jesse but she couldn’t stay. Not when she loved Joshua like she did, and didn’t know when she’d ever be able to forgive him for betraying her trust like he did, all the while not trusting her.

  A movement behind her startled her. Whipping around she saw a tall man slip out of a suite on the opposite side of hers. He had on a hat and sunglasses. He was clean-shaven but it had to be …

  “Jesse?” she asked.

  The man walked slowly toward her, stopping right in front of her. Her eyes narrowed. With him being clean-shaven the resemblance to Joshua was even more startling. Was Jesse maybe his brother or cousin or something crazy like that?

  “Jade,” he said her voice with such longing and feeling. It had to be.

  “Joshua?” she asked.

  He nodded.

  Jade’s eyes widened and her stomach danced. She reached up and in one swift motion yanked off his hat and sunglasses. Joshua’s startling blue eyes stared back at her. His gaze was begging for her to understand, to forgive him. Jade almost crumpled and threw herself into his arms. She’d missed him these past twelve hours.

  “Jade, I …” He peered at her. “Are you okay? Your eyes.”

  “Pink eye,” she said defiantly, dropping his hat and sunglasses. They clattered to the floor but neither of them took their eyes off each other.

  “Oh.” His gaze said he didn’t believe her. “Again, I’m so sorry. So terribly sorry for how this all went down.”

  “You lied to me … again.” She could not believe this. “You are Jesse and you looked me right in the eyes and lied to me, pretended you had no clue who Jesse was.” She backed away from him until she hit the glass wall. “How could you do that to me?”

  He looked … miserable. Well, good, she was miserable so he deserved to at least look it. “I … there’s no excuse really. I didn’t know you, and I don’t trust easily. I’ve been hurt before. Back in college I thought I was in love but she betrayed me then exposed me in pictures online.”

  Jade had an insane urge to find whoever had hurt him and rip her hair out. That was silly. He probably deserved it if he’d treated that girl anything like he’d treated Jade.

  “The thing with the embezzling played strongly into it too. The fingers were pointing to you, and like I said, I didn’t know you, so I thought I’d get to know you, as friends, and see if the accusations could be true.”

  She guessed she could understand why he couldn’t implicitly trust her at the beginning and had tried to find out the truth, but after he got to know her it should have been easy to trust
her. She wasn’t willing to simply forgive him for lying to her, multiple times.

  “Please, Jade. Please try to understand and forgive me. You were completely irresistible to me, and once I started down the path of hiding my identity I didn’t know how to change it.” He shoved his hand through his hair. “I never thought I’d find somebody like you. I never thought I’d fall in love this deeply. I’m so sorry I didn’t trust you. I’d do anything to be with you.”

  Jade stared at him. She could see he was sincere. He did love her every bit as much as she loved him. Yet with her being lied to her entire life by her parents it was the thing she didn’t know she could forgive. “I’m sorry too, Joshua.” She shook her head. “I’m so sorry.” She turned and ran to the suite, slamming the door behind her.

  Crumpling onto the floor, she started sobbing again.

  Joshua felt like he was being ripped apart. He waited in the main room after Jade had run from him, alternating between praying and simply staring out the windows waiting for some kind of inspiration and for her to come back out of the suite door. He didn’t know how to make this right, but he couldn’t give up on her. He loved her far too much to give up.

  Finally her door opened. She had her purse and laptop bag over her shoulder, tugging her suitcase behind her. Her eyes were even redder than they’d been. Pink eye? At least he knew he’d affected her.

  Jumping to his feet, he ran to her. “Jade.”

  She put up a hand. “Goodbye, Joshua,” she said firmly.

  His stomach sank and his shoulders felt like the weight of the world was on them. Not waiting for his response she wheeled her suitcase toward the elevator. Joshua hurried to try to take it from her.

  “At least allow me to—”

  “No.”

  Shouldering past him she walked into the elevator. Joshua stared at her as the doors closed. Her green eyes looked as tortured as he felt. The doors closed and she disappeared.

  He wandered the suite. He had no clue what to do. Not chasing after her went against his every instinct. Last night on the cruise ship had been horrible trying to sleep in the suite next to hers, wanting to go to her, talking himself out of it time and again. Maybe she just needed time. Part of him doubted it would make any difference.

  Finally he pulled his phone out and dialed the number of the smartest person he knew.

  “How’s the best big bro in the world?” his sister teased with a grin in her voice.

  “Rachel.” His voice caught. “I need help.”

  “Anything.” Her voice was now full of concern.

  Joshua didn’t need any more prompting to spill the story. As it progressed he could tell by her comments that she was firmly on Jade’s side, but Rachel loved him, and she was brilliant. If anyone could help him out of this mess it would be his sister. He prayed hard, wondering if there was any hope.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jade was able to get a flight out of Puerto Rico that night. She spent a miserable day in the airport waiting for her flight to board. She forced herself to deal with her text and email messages that she’d mostly ignored for the past nine days.

  When she saw the email from Joshua to her, Curtis, Gabe, Trevor, and Peter she was shocked, to say the least. He’d told them all that he trusted her implicitly, was reinstating her in her position, and recommending her to the CEO position when Curtis retired next year. The most significant part was, if she was remembering correctly, that email had been sent before he’d vaulted from his balcony to hers. She didn’t know that it righted all the wrongs he’d done, but it definitely helped that he’d chosen to trust her, before Gabe had revealed himself.

  She finally boarded the plane at eleven p.m. and spent a miserable few hours trying to get comfortable in the small coach seat with the man next to her leaning against her. She got to her apartment in Miami about four a.m. and finally fell asleep. When she awoke the sun was setting outside and her phone was ringing. How long had she slept?

  Searching for her stupid phone, she saw it glowing on the dresser. By the time she climbed out of bed and made it to the phone it had stopped ringing. She checked the caller I.D. Teal. She and Teal had talked several times yesterday while she was at the airport. Her sister had been sympathetic and heartbroken for her and for Joshua. She kept saying that it seemed like he had “semi-valid” reasons for hiding things and he had in the end decided to trust her before the thief was caught, but Jade wasn’t ready to forgive. She didn’t know if she’d ever be.

  “Hey,” Teal said. “You okay?”

  “As good as I can be. What’s up?”

  “Have you looked at your website lately?”

  “No.” It was another punch in the gut. She’d almost forgotten about her hopes to interview the elusive Joshua Jewel. Instead she’d fallen in love with him. She usually tried to do a new interview at least every month on her site. She was behind and didn’t have much enthusiasm for it. “Why? Did somebody post a bad comment or something?”

  “No. Just look, please.” Teal hung up.

  Jade stared at the phone. That was weird. She used the bathroom and splashed some cold water on her face and then pressed a cold washcloth to her eyes, brushed her teeth and put on some cinna-mint lip gloss. Feeling almost human again, she wandered back to her bedroom and found her laptop bag where she’d left it next to her suitcase when she came in this morning. She was starving so she carried the laptop into the kitchen, set it on her counter, and found a bag of baby carrots that were close to their expiration date and not slimy.

  Propping open her laptop, she typed in her web address. On the home page it flashed, “New exclusive interview with elusive billionaire Joshua Jesse Jewel.”

  She gasped. There was a picture of Joshua grinning next to the caption. He was so beautiful. Who had done this? Maybe Gabe had gotten a hold of her site from jail and posted a fake interview with Joshua as retribution and now Joshua would hate her. She jutted out her chin, knowing she was being crazy. She didn’t care. She was mad at him.

  With a trembling finger, she pushed the play button. Joshua’s handsome face was smiling at her and she could’ve sworn it was Teal’s voice saying, “I’m here with Joshua Jewel, the elusive billionaire owner of Jewel Enterprises at his beautiful home on Hilton Head Island.”

  The camera panned around a view of a gorgeous house. Hilton Head was in South Carolina, right? He’d said his parents had a house in Savannah, Georgia which was nearby. She didn’t know Joshua had a house in Hilton Head. Her stomach was squeamish. There was a lot about him she didn’t know, obviously.

  “So, Joshua?” Teal was saying. It had to be Teal. Her own sister had betrayed her and taken Joshua’s side? When had they set this all up? “Why did you finally agree to show this handsome face to the world?”

  Joshua grinned and Jade stared at his dimple. She loved that stinking dimple of his.

  “Well last week I fell in love,” he said.

  Jade pressed a hand to her heart.

  “Congratulations,” Teal said.

  “Thank you. I messed up though and I’m afraid she won’t be able to trust me.”

  Teal tsked. “You men are experts at messing up. My Stetson messed up, but I forgave him.”

  “That was kind of you,” Joshua said in that deep voice. Jesse’s voice, Priest’s voice, Joshua’s voice. Jade loved all three of them. “I’m not sure if Jade will forgive me but I hoped giving this interview on her blog, showing her that I’ll reveal my face to the world for her, might convince her of how deeply I love her.” He swallowed and said, “I’d do anything for her.”

  “But you damaged her trust,” Teal said.

  “I did.” He nodded gravely. “I wish I could change it, but I can’t. All I can do now is beg her to forgive me and promise I’ll do anything to earn that trust back.”

  “Well, I wish you luck,” Teal said all bright and cheery as if Jade’s world wasn’t crumbling around her. “She’s stubborn but she’s amazing. You’d be a lucky man to get Jade t
o love you.”

  “Yes, I would. I’ll keep praying someday she can love me like I love her.”

  “I’ll pray for you too. Thanks for giving us this short interview.”

  He nodded somberly, and Teal turned the camera around to show her face. “From all of the fans of Cream the Celebrity, I think we’re all in agreement that Jade should give this man a chance. Do it for me, sis.”

  The clip ended.

  Jade sat there, shocked. Joshua had put himself out there, shown his face, for her. He loved her that much?

  There was a soft rap at her door. Jade looked down at her rumpled sundress and couldn’t imagine how bad her hair looked.

  Walking slowly to the door, she looked out the peephole. Joshua stood there, his face distorted by the peephole, but he still looked so handsome to her. She closed her eyes, muttered a prayer for help, pushed a hand through her hair, and swung the door open.

  Joshua gave her a brave smile and raised a hand. “Hey.”

  “Hey.” She stared at him, drinking him in. Had it only been yesterday since she’d seen him? She’d missed him desperately. Could she really forgive him, give him a chance? She wanted to. She wanted to so much. Gesturing at her counter and the open laptop, she said, “You’ve been busy.”

  He pushed a hand at his hair and gave a grunt of what might have been a laugh. “Yeah. I had a lot of help.”

  “Teal is in a lot of trouble.”

  His smile grew. “She’s great. Her and Stetson were just … awesome.”

  “They are. Who else helped?”

  “My sister, Rachel. She had all the ideas, helped me get ahold of Teal, broke into your website with Teal’s help guessing passwords.”

  Jade shook her head. “So, should I be impressed?”

  Joshua lifted his hands in an innocent and incredibly appealing gesture. “I don’t want to impress you, Jade. I want to love you.”

  Jade got chills. She took in a steadying breath and said, “So I’m just supposed to forgive you?”