My Restless Billionaire

Is it normal...

After a hectic day of dealing with Shirley apologizing over and over again, and trying everything to gain his favor back again, James remains reluctant to play nice again. He remains professional but their familiarity has turned cold. Not including her in his plans for the purchase of the property, she is moping around the office. Deciding to transact the deal through his personal account seems like a slap in her face, although it is not his intention to punish her with his decision. It's simply the only way to keep the company out of the transaction. Besides he has enough to worry about with the lead times on projects running behind schedule. Her hurt feelings are not his concern, considering it is her fault. As the clock strikes 10 pm James locks his office and heads to his usual spot for a drink and a very likely hookup. His thoughts keep turning to Jess and the cottage, he definitely needs a distraction.

The night goes down, as usual, two drinks in, a cute blond approaches and they leave together. Going through the motions... another night...another girl...2 hours of sleep... waking up before sunrise he gets up, checks his mail, grabs his runners, and heads out to the park for a run before breakfast, on Wednesday it's a brunette, Thursday a platinum pixie cut blond, Friday a hot redhead, Saturday he rings the midnight bell with an Asian beauty that "rings his bell" repeatedly and still the sleeping hours range between 2 and 3 hours a night.

Wash, Rinse, Repeat...the cycle continues...

Jess has a busy week and when she gets the offer to purchase from the agent two days after her abrupt departure from the cottage she throws it in the dustbin without even looking at it. Two days later she fishes it out of the office bin and leaves it on her table, not wanting to see what it contains. After yet another sleepless night she returns to the office and grabs the envelope tearing it open. Seeing the offered amount her anger explodes, dialing the agent she has to control her fury over the audacity of that man, that sexy, smoldering hot, infuriating, kind, caring, obnoxious man. Since their fight, she can't seem to get him out of her mind. Annoyed she throws herself into her work and keeps herself so busy that she just slumps into bed at night, too tired to think. However, her mind obviously didn't get that memo, it keeps her up at night, reminding her of the b***h she was to him, not giving him a chance, not asking for an explanation...and still, he offered her exactly what he said he would...his integrity making her feel even worse. She explains to the agent that she will not Be accepting the offer, making a counteroffer equal to the asking price she hangs up. Feeling like she accomplished something...not sure what, she smiles to herself.

It's two weeks before his phone rings and he finally hears back from the agent, "Mr. Warldon, I finally got a response from Jess, sorry for the delay. She came back with a counter offer sir, it's quite unorthodox actually, the offer is about a quarter of what you offered sir." he tells James nervously. James chuckles to himself, " I figured she would stick to her guns" he laughs and makes arrangements with the agent to make amendments to the contract and let Jess know the offer is accepted. Now she only has to supply her bank details for the transfer. She's playing hardball, the game he's an expert in, I will show her how it's done!

Another week passes in a blink, working late on deals for a new business venture he doesn't have the energy for the club and heads home alone every night of the week. His mind never ventured far from Jess and the cottage. Since her reluctance to accept his offer, she has been on his mind almost day and night. Somehow the night they shared flashes in his memory, and the full night's sleep he got after has his mind in a twist. could she be the cure? he thinks over and over and then dismisses the thought as a simple fluke. On Friday evening they have an investors meeting and James arranged entertainment for the stakeholders, with the meeting concluded they can finally have some fun. Girls in tiny outfits keep the boys entertained and on their toes. By 2 am he locks the doors behind him and heads home. Colleagues telling him to let loose and relax a bit has him taking home a friendly face with curves but none satisfy his needs quite like Jess did.

Anxiously waiting for his response to her offer she keeps looking at her phone as the day goes by. Early the next morning the agent calls and says that James accepted, and he has sent over the contract for her signature. wow, I didn't think he would agree...somewhat sad that there is not more interaction...like I actually thought he would call to talk about it after the way I treated him... it's obvious he didn't say anything to that Shirley woman if you take into consideration his reaction when I accused him of being that low. Maybe I'm the only one dwelling on this, maybe I was just another notch in his belt after all...

Finding the contract in her mailbox she reads through it, making sure that it has the offered amount and not a cent more. Seeing no objection to her offer she feels disappointed, what did I expect? him insisting on the amount he offered? or did I just want to draw it out a little longer... talking back and forth, even though the agent, is better than nothing...Jess has had a weird week with a lot of small issues taking her time in the office, keeping her busy, and pushing the sale out of her mind. On Friday evening she scrolls through her emails only to realize she had not sent her acceptance to the agent yet! Palming her face she thinks I made him wait as she sends off the signed contract and her bank details...

Another week passes with meetings upon meetings, deals going through across the continent and abroad, and business is booming. Heading out to relax and grab a drink he checks his mail again before leaving the office. Scrolling down the list of emails he finds the one from the agent, "Perfect" he smiles to himself, as the acceptance mail comes through with the signed contract and bank details. Logging into his bank he loads a new beneficiary, chuckling to himself as he pays the contracted amount over and sets up a payment schedule to cover the rest of the amount he planned to pay over to her for the property. Registration and transfer would take 3 months, so he will be paying over a weekly amount equal to the fee he paid for his breakaway week. This will give her the income she might have received if it was rented out weekly seeing as she can't rent it out now after signing the contract. He cleverly disguised it as "occupation rent" for taking over the cottage on the signing of the contract, therefore talking about occupation immediately. He sends a reminder to the agent to send her the letter, highlighting the clause he has secretly inserted in the contract together with the payment schedule. she is going to flip! he laughs to himself as he shuts down the computer and heads home.

Laying in bed after a 2-hour nap his mind is all over the place as typical. Feeling smug after tricking her, he can't get her out of his thoughts, as usual, her face is on his mind, and the feel of her body is on his fingers.

Is it normal to think about her as you are driving home alone? Maybe in the middle of a meeting. Or maybe as you're working on a document alone in your office. Is it normal for you to remember how you had her under you? Bent over your couch? In the bedroom where you typically don't sleep alone? Does it seem normal that she crosses your mind when you're making a deal? Her presence is in your mind at any point of the day. Her face popping up while another girl is satisfying your primal needs? Maybe it's not normal if you can even smell her perfume lingering, remembering those moments. Or when you close your eyes as you replay those moments in your mind? Still, hearing her moans? You can almost feel her writhing under you. All as if it was just yesterday... why does this woman captive me so?...it was one night, and it was weeks ago...

Eventually, he falls asleep again in the early hours of the day and wakes with the sun warming the room. Not quite as nice as waking to the sun on your skin in the cottage, but it won't be long now. 3 more months...

Still trying to figure out his preoccupation with Jess he lays there in the quiet replaying their interactions. Maybe he is obsessed because she accused him of being improper and discussing their relationship when he sure as hell didn't do it. Maybe it's because she never allowed him to tell her that he never would, just believing the worse of him... or because he didn't tell her when she came by the cottage that night...He had been thinking about that night a lot. It doesn't matter though, the look on her face as she left and slammed the door in his face as if he hurt her... that's what gets to him...because being honest with himself, he likes her...and he never expected it... her reaction hurt him, and like a petulant child, he just wanted to hurt her back...pretty mature...

The sound of a message on his phone pulls him from his thoughts and reaching over he smiles as he sees her name on the screen.

Jess: "Good morning James, thank you for the payment. I will have my dad's personal belongings removed next week."

James: Good morning Jess, no problem, thanks

....seeing her typing he waits and then the dots disappear and she goes offline...

I wonder if she thinks about me half as much as I think about her.