Do Marry Your Billionaire Boss (Jewel Family Romance Book 1) Page 2

  Jesse’s jaw tightened, and she saw a muscle working in it. She probably shouldn’t have spilled so much to a stranger, but she needed somebody on her side right now. Even if it was just the guy who offered her a drink.

  The waiter brought their drinks, saving Jesse from having to reply to her diatribe. She thanked the waiter, and Jesse stowed his laptop in a nearby bag and gestured for the man to set their drinks on the table. He then tipped the waiter, who thanked him and walked away.

  “Thanks,” Jade murmured, picking up the ice water and taking a long drink. She was hot from walking in the sun for so long, and she quickly drained more than half of the glass.

  “Jade.” Jesse’s voice was soft but commanding.

  She glanced over at him, still seething about the entire situation, and not sure how she could make it any better.

  “If you truly are innocent, that will come out.”

  “Thank you.” She inclined her head to him, glad to hear him say those words. Yet was there an inflection on “truly are innocent”? She wished she could see his eyes so she could tell if he believed her or not. It didn’t really matter if he did. He couldn’t influence Joshua Jewel. Still, she hated that she was second-guessing everything right now.

  Picking up the Miami Vice, a mixture of pina colada and strawberry daiquiri, she took a sip. It was the perfect mix of sweet, icy coolness. She smacked her lips and leaned against her chair, taking in the beautiful view of the ocean and the relaxing pattern of the waves crashing on the beach. “Ah, this is more what I hoped would happen in Puerto Rico.”

  “Not being accused of embezzling?” Jesse asked.

  “Exactly.” She sighed. “What a nightmare.”

  “Sounds like it. How long are you here?”

  Jade thought his question was a little insensitive. She was in a nightmare, and he was wondering if she would be here long enough for a vacation fling? “I’m only at this resort for a couple more days; then we get on a cruise ship headed to a bunch of saint islands on Sunday.”

  “Sounds fun,” he said noncommittally, as if he didn’t care either way. Maybe he wasn’t looking for a vacation fling. Whatever.

  She nodded. “I was excited about it, until I was wrongly accused.” She straightened up. “But you know what? I’m going to be fine and make the best of this. I was supposed to hang out with the guys from work and a couple of their wives. Now I don’t have to deal with any of them and I can just enjoy a nine-day vacation, right?” She actually liked most of them, and now she was going to have a lonely trip, but it was always her MO to be positive and upbeat, and she wasn’t about to change that because of Curtis’s accusations.

  Jesse shrugged. “I guess so. Did you report what happened to your HR department?”

  “Yeah, but the lady wasn’t very encouraging. My lawyer says they have to have more proof and to wait for the investigators to find the real perpetrator, but it’s scary being accused of something like that.” Jade probably should stop sharing everything with this guy she’d just met, but it felt good to vent about it and she’d always been more of an open book. She pursed her lips. “If only I could find the man himself.” Did Joshua Jewel also think she’d stolen from him? What did it matter? She didn’t even know him, and now she never would.

  “The man?”

  “Joshua Jewel. He’s the only one who could do anything about Curtis. Plus, I wouldn’t mind meeting him.”

  “Why would you want to meet him? I heard he’s a boring workaholic.”

  “Really?” Jade gave a little dance shimmy. “No man could resist this much fun. I’d charm the work right out of him.”

  Jesse chuckled and relaxed back into his chair. “Maybe you would. You’re kind of an open-book, take-on-the-world kind of girl, aren’t you?”

  “For sure.” She looked him over, wishing she could rip off his hat and sunglasses. “And you’re a boring workaholic who won’t even show a girl his face, aren’t you?”

  He laughed even louder. “You pegged it. What are you doing the next couple of days, then?”

  She lifted her shoulders. “Chilling on the beach?” While she prayed that she wouldn’t be wrongly accused of embezzlement and hauled off to prison. “I really wanted to hike and explore the rainforest, the sea caves, and all the other waterfalls and pretty places on this island.”

  “I know Puerto Rico pretty well. Would you want to explore with me?”

  She looked him over, appreciating the offer. It would distract her from stewing over trying to fix this mess when it seemed like all she could do was wait. Jesse appeared to be a good guy, and she hated being alone. “I don’t know. Are you going to take the hat and sunglasses off?”

  “I doubt it.” His voice lowered. “But I’ll treat you with respect and show you all the sites of the main island.”

  Jade had never been one to back away from a fun adventure. She wanted to see his eyes, but she was betting she could talk him out of the hat and sunglasses before too long. She only had the rest of today and tomorrow, since they boarded the ship on Sunday. “Okay,” she said. “How soon do we go?”

  “Grab what you need, make sure you bring some hiking shoes and wear a swimsuit, and I’ll meet you in the lobby in twenty minutes.”

  Jade smiled. She liked that he didn’t waste any time. “Make it fifteen.”

  “I think we’re going to get along great.”

  Jade thought so too.

  Chapter Two

  Joshua Jesse Jewel watched the spunky and beautiful Jade Jardine walk up to the pool area and thread her way through to the rear doors of the resort. His resort. When she disappeared, he released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. The gorgeous brunette with the sparkling green eyes had captivated him in a way no woman had done in a long while. He half wished he could take off the sunglasses and hat, tell her who he was, and promise that he’d find out who had accused her of embezzling and have that person arrested.

  The problem was that he didn’t know Jade, and from what he understood, all the fingers pointed to her being the embezzler. He’d known and trusted Curtis his entire life, and Curtis seemed to think it was Jade, not any of the other three men who worked closely with him. Curtis had started working for his father over twenty-five years ago, and since then, he’d proven himself to be the most dedicated and brilliant employee Jewel Enterprises had. The man was like an uncle to Joshua and had taught him as much business-wise as his own father had.

  Joshua trusted Curtis, but he’d been unexplainably drawn to Jade, before he knew who she was. Even now he had a hard time believing that an open-book person like her could be the one stealing from him. He’d put on a pretty good show himself the past half an hour, not letting her know that he was Joshua and not tipping his hand when he realized who she was. Hopefully, he’d be able to get to the bottom of this mess over the next few days. Being close to her should reveal the truth. If only he could lie to himself and believe that was the only reason he wanted to be close to such a fun and feisty woman.

  He lifted his laptop bag and pushed through the sand, ignoring the interested glances of some bikini-clad women on the chairs nearby. He’d watched for almost two hours as Jade walked the stretch of beach in front of his resort. At that point, he’d had no clue who she was and had shocked himself by throwing his usual reticence around women to the wind, approaching her, and inviting her to have a drink with him. It wasn’t like him, not at all. His sisters and mom would be ecstatic.

  Striding past the pools and into the luxurious building, he took the employee hallway behind the Italian restaurant and rode his private elevator up to the penthouse suite that took up the entire sixteenth floor. This resort was a huge revenue source, but his parents had also built it to serve as a retreat for their large family. The penthouse had an open two-story gathering area with views east and west of the beach, ocean, and surrounding gardens and property. Off of the main area were eight suites, each with its own spa-like bathroom and sitting area.

  His
parents’ home base changed by the season: Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in the summer; Stowe, Vermont, in the fall; Puerto Rico in the winter; and Savannah, Georgia, in the spring. He and his siblings were “requested” to be at each of his parents’ homes for a certain weekend each season. Joshua loved those loud, crazy weekends with his entire family, but he didn’t mind having the penthouse to himself right now; it was only November, and Vermont just spoke fall and the holiday season to his mother. Being here alone, he could get a lot of work done or take a certain beautiful woman to tour the area.

  He smirked to himself. His mom and sisters would definitely be cheering. His dad would be concerned about the accusations against Jade. His brothers would be razzing him, shocked that he’d put anything before work. He’d been working since four a.m., only taking a break from six to seven-thirty for a run on the beach and to lift weights. Of course, there was always work to do, but he could afford a break. Part of the reason he’d asked Jade to go tour with him was because she was so appealing, but mostly he knew he had to figure out if she could be the one stealing money from his company. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, right? Yet Jade Jardine didn’t feel like an enemy. When she’d touched him, it had felt like heaven.

  He stopped in front of a mirror and pulled his sunglasses off. The trademark blue Jewel eyes stared back at him. The media claimed that his family’s eyes were more beautiful and more valuable than sapphires. People were weird. They were just eyes. Yet Jade’s eyes had fit her name, and he’d been so drawn to them, it had shaken him a little bit. If she was the one stealing from him, his attraction to her would shake him even more.

  Jade didn’t seem like she’d known who he was. He wanted to keep it that way. If he could find out the truth by spending the next couple of days with her, it would be worth it. As long as she didn’t endear herself to him. “No man could resist all this fun. I’d charm the work right out of him,” she’d said. He’d love to have a beautiful woman “charm the work right out of him.” For the right reasons. Someone who actually wanted him for him, not for the money or to expose the reclusive billionaire. He’d been burned back at twenty and hadn’t trusted himself to a woman outside of his family since. It was doubtful that he was going to start now.

  His jaw clenched as he threw some snacks, water, and sunscreen into a backpack. He sensed an openness about Jade. What reason would she have to lie to some guy named Jesse? Unless she knew exactly who Joshua was and was hoping to get him to fall for her and pin the embezzlement on somebody else. Those ideas made his stomach clench, and in his experience, they were more likely true.

  He stepped out of the penthouse door and into the waiting elevator. He’d find out over the next couple of days.

  Jade kept sneaking as many glances at Jesse as she did at the unreal beauty of the green majesty of the forest around them. He was a beautiful man, at least from what she could see of him, and he confused the snot out of her. Why was he so secretive, weirdly keeping his hat and sunglasses on? She wanted to make fun of him about it but wasn’t sure how he would take it. At least when her mind was scrambling to figure out the elusive Jesse, she wasn’t stressing about the accusations from Curtis or a dim future of being prosecuted for embezzlement.

  “So Jesse …? What was your last name again?”

  “James. And you?” He smiled, as if she’d let him get away with that.

  “Jardine,” she said tartly.

  “Ah. So we both have alliteration names. I like it. And here’s the first waterfall—La Coca, I believe is the name.”

  Jade looked out her window and up, way up, to a towering waterfall that cascaded down rocky cliffs with lush greenery framing it on both sides. Jesse parked in a small lot close by, and they got out and walked with the rest of the tourists to stare up at the majesty.

  “Guess we can’t swim in this one,” she said.

  “No.” He tilted his head toward the park ranger station with a smile. “They might have something to say about it.”

  “But you’re the outlaw Jesse James. You could get away with murder.”

  He grinned. “And I have.”

  She rolled her eyes. “So are you going to take me to a waterfall I can swim in?”

  “Sure. Just not one as big as this. Sadly, La Mina Falls won’t be open until next spring. It’s one of my favorite waterfalls to swim in, but the hurricane took out the trail and they’re still trying to restore it.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Guidebook,” she said. “One of your favorite waterfalls? Where else have you swum in waterfalls?”

  He smiled secretively. “Kauai, Costa Rica, the Philippines, Dominican Republic, Tahiti …”

  “Oh my goodness, now you’re just bragging.”

  That wiped his smile away. “Forgive me,” he said.

  They walked back to the car and drove to the next spot. There, they climbed Yokahu Tower and looked down at the incredibly fertile valley below, stretching clear to the ocean, and then turned to check out the towering El Yunque peaks the other direction, shrouded in misty gray clouds. After that, they stopped at Juan Diego Creek. They walked up some manmade steps and found a small but beautiful waterfall and pool to swim in. It was crowded with about twenty people, and lots of splashing and laughter reverberated around the natural pool.

  “Let’s swim!” Jade exclaimed, ready to peel off her clothes and dive in. Swimming in a tropical waterfall was a long-held dream of hers.

  “You can, but come check out the one above it first,” Jesse recommended. “It’s usually not as crowded.”

  “Okay,” she agreed.

  He gestured toward the trail. She climbed up the narrow, muddy trail, using roots and tree branches to assist her. Jade liked the feeling of adventure, the beautiful green scenery around them, and sharing it with Jesse. He was definitely an enigma, but she could see herself liking him, a lot. He hadn’t touched her since she tugged on his hand back on the beach, and she wanted to know if it would feel that powerful again.

  As her mind wandered, she slipped on a muddy patch and slid backward. The drop wasn’t vicious, but she still didn’t want to go rolling down fifteen feet through mud, and bouncing off of boulders and tree roots. Letting out a little yelp, she scrambled for a root or branch or embedded rock or something to hold on to.

  Jesse grabbed her around the waist from behind, and she abruptly stopped slipping. His feet were planted on a rock and a tree root as he strained to hold her. “You okay?” he asked.

  “Yes.” Her voice was all breathy and she felt weightless, like she was floating. His hands warmed her waist and lower back, flooding her with fire and desire that she hadn’t felt in a long time, if ever. She stared at his lips, finding herself beyond intrigued by the fuller lower lip and bow-shaped top lip. His lips were manly but unique and oh so appealing.

  “You okay to keep going?” Jesse asked.

  “Oh!” Embarrassment rushed through her. It probably wasn’t easy to hold both of them from plunging to cuts, bruises, or worse. “Of course. Sorry.” She leaned forward, grabbed a root, and dragged herself up the path.

  The path leveled off about twenty feet later, and they burst through the trees to a view of another small, picturesque waterfall and a clear pool below. There was only one other couple swimming in it, as opposed to the crowd below.

  Jade grinned as she climbed down a short, steep decline and then over the rocks to get to the pool. “I’m finally going to swim in a waterfall. I’m finally going to swim in a waterfall,” she chanted, stopping on the boulders next to the pool and pulling her T-shirt, shorts, and shoes off.

  “Glad to see you’re so calm about it,” Jesse teased with laughter in his voice.

  Jade turned to push at him and tease back, but he’d removed his shirt while she wasn’t looking, and the effect shocked her into silence and stillness. On the beach when they met this morning, he’d been wearing a T-shirt, and she’d been able to tell he was fit. Now that his extreme fitness level was on display, she had to exclaim, �
��Holy heaven, what do you do to be Bodybuilder Bob?”

  He chuckled, the lean muscles in his chest and shoulders flexing slightly. “Lifting weights is kind of an escape from work for me.”

  Jade forced herself to drag her eyes from his lovely chest and up to meet his gaze, but all she met were his sunglasses. She wanted to rip them off in the worst way. Maybe they’d come off in the waterfall pool. “What do you do for work again?”

  He shrugged, and her mouth went dry. She wanted to touch those muscles. Now. “Real estate,” he said. “Ready?”

  Jade suppressed the urge to run her fingers over his shoulder muscles, pull his sunglasses off, and demand that he stop being vague with her. She wasn’t sure which one to do first, so she turned and gingerly stepped into the pool, the rocks uneven on her feet. The water was a lot cooler than she’d expected. She kept pushing forward and then dove in. The cold water enveloped her. Her head shot out of the water and she screamed, “It’s cold!”

  Jesse laughed. He was treading water next to her. She wondered how he’d gotten in so quickly. “What did you expect?”

  “Well, we’re in the tropics.”

  He smiled. “You’re also in a rainforest, and this water comes from some decent elevation. So this is really your first waterfall?”

  “I’ve seen waterfalls,” she protested. Not many, though, and none she could swim underneath. She was a Lame Lucy when it came to traveling. Unlike her artist sister, Teal, who traveled the globe for settings for her oil paintings, Jade had focused her extra money on traveling to meet with celebrities for her site, mostly in California or New York.

  “Do you like it?” he asked.

  “For sure. Can I go underneath?” She pointed to where the water cascaded down the mossy rocks. It wasn’t a quick flow, but it would probably pound her shoulders pretty well.

  “Yeah,” he said.

  “Can you show me?” It was sneaky of her, but she really wanted his hat and sunglasses knocked off. Would his eyes be blue, brown, gray, hazel, or green like hers? The hair curling underneath his hat was a deep chestnut brown. She wanted to see if he had a full head of hair and if it was as soft as she imagined based on the short curls she’d seen.