The Billionaire's Kiss

Chapter One

Chapter One

Warner

Whispers Resort bustled with activity as we celebrated the second anniversary of opening day. We’d awarded every guest who’d come the first day we were open with credit on every anniversary so they would return each year and join us to celebrate another year of success. And we had been extremely successful in our first year.

Along with celebrating, my brothers and I—the resort’s owners—met annually to discuss what role each of us had played to help the business grow. Somehow, I’d made it last to the meeting in the main conference room where my four brothers had already congregated.

“Finally,” my youngest brother, Stone, said as he took his seat at the round table, a cup of steaming coffee in one hand and a pastry in the other. “I’d like to get this over with.”

Grabbing a coffee and donut for myself, I apologized, “Sorry about that. It’s just that this place is hard to get around on days like this. There are people everywhere out there. It’s insane.” I took my seat as my brothers took theirs.

Baldwyn, the oldest, brought the meeting to order. “Patton, you take the minutes.” He pushed him the pad of papers and pencil as he was seated next to him.

We sat around the table in order of birth, which we’d chosen carefully to make us all feel like equals in the business. Baldwyn, Patton, me, Cohen, then Stone. As equals, we were to put in equal amounts of effort. And we all did—mostly.

As Patton jotted down our names, I began the process. “So, Baldwyn, can you tell us what you’ve done this past year to help grow Whispers Resort and Spa?”

“As you all know, it’s my job to bring in guests from around the United States. I’ve gone to conventions in each state this year.” He looked around the table at each one of us. “I’ve found that going to the conventions has increased what I like to refer to as our non-local clientele by twenty percent compared to our projections for our first year. As a matter of fact, I’d like to hold a hotel industry convention here sometime in the future. Do any of you agree or disagree with this idea?”

I was impressed. “I like the idea. Maybe we can hold a couple of conventions in the coming year. Like one for national hotels which you could head up. Then we could also do one for international hotels, and I could head up that one.”

Cohen, Baldwyn, and I each held degrees in business management. Cohen’s job was to oversee the entire resort and spa—he supervised all the department managers. When he heard my suggestion, his eyes turned bright with dollar signs. “Those two functions would bring in tons of revenue. I also like that idea.”

Patton was an interior designer, and he too lit up like a sparkler on the fourth of July. “I could hold a convention for interior designers too.”

Cohen liked what he heard and nodded with approval. “That makes three conventions in one year. I can almost already smell the money.” He looked at Stone, who was gingerly stirring his coffee with a tiny straw. “How about a convention for chefs, Stone?”

“I don’t care to head up anything like that. I prefer to go to the conventions, not run them.” Stone was the laziest of all five of us. His one job was to oversee the managers of the restaurants, cafes, and bars we had at the resort.

Trying to entice him into doing a bit more than he usually did, I said, “You know, if you host a convention, you’ll get to meet other chefs from around the world, and that just might inspire you. You should be cooking in this resort, not merely overseeing it.” Stone was an amazing chef, if only he’d apply himself more.

Not bothering to even look at me, he simply shook his head. “Not yet, Warner. I’m only twenty-six. Give me some time to find my feet in the world of cooking, will ya?”

“You worked with chefs in Houston for nearly five years before we moved to Austin. Since we’ve been here, you haven’t worked with anyone.” I’d been silently noting his lack of enthusiasm since the move, and it had me worried. “Aren’t you interested in cooking anymore?”

“I cook at home all the time. I cook for my friends often, Warner. I’m just trying to work out my own unique style before I ask for a restaurant here is all. I want it to be perfect, and I want the dishes I make to wow our guests. These things take time.”

“Spoken like a true artist,” Patton said as he shifted his eyes to me. “Warner, Stone and I don’t think the same way you, Baldwyn, and Cohen do. Our work thrives on creativity, while you guys are rooted in numbers. He’s doing well at handling the things he’s taking care of right now. We don’t need to push him.”

He’d always taken up to defend our youngest brother, especially when he was slacking. “Okay, I’ll let it go—for now.” If I knew nothing else, I knew that Patton would defend Stone like a lioness defends her cubs.

Baldwyn moved the meeting on, asking me, “And how did you grow our business this last year, Warner?”

I was happy to make my report. “Well, I didn’t attend conventions the way you did, big brother. I used the internet to reel in all the fish I’ve brought to our table. I’ve pulled in ten groups from Asian countries. I also brought in guests from Spain, Italy, and even India. At the moment, I’m corresponding with a group from Ireland. It’s a large group, too. Twenty people from a town called Kenmare who want to pay a visit to our fair city, and they’ve expressed interest in staying at our resort while they’re here.”

“That’s awesome,” Cohen said with a smile. “It’s good to see how our individual approaches have paid off. If we keep working like this, I see more resorts in our future.”

“I agree,” Baldwyn said.

Patton oversaw the spa side of the place. “I’ve brought in business for the spa through the internet as well.” He held up one finger as an idea struck him. “Ah, we can add one more convention to the list, Cohen. How about a spa convention? That way, I could gain some more knowledge about the industry and make improvements to our facilities here.”

“I think I’ve got my work cut out for me this coming year,” Cohen said as he shook his head. “Well, at least that means we’ll make even more profit next year.”

We’d already paid our cousins from Carthage nearly half the money we’d borrowed from them to start the business. Within the next year or two, we would pay them off entirely. It felt good to be part of something successful. It felt good to be working with my brothers, too.

We were a tight bunch. Even though we didn’t always agree or think alike, we still had a bond that seemed unbreakable. I suppose when you have no parents to make sure the family stays close, the children have to take it upon themselves to knit themselves together.

In the vein of keeping peace in the family, I asked Stone, “So, how about you make us dinner one night this coming week to show us how your menu ideas are coming along?”

My youngest brother’s eyes lit up. “Really? You’d come to my place for dinner?”

I’d been over to Stone’s new home only once, right after he’d moved in a year ago. We tended to gather at Baldwyn’s house for most occasions. “I would.” Looking at my brothers, I asked, “And how about you guys?”

They all nodded, so it seemed we were all in agreement.

“Maybe we’ve been neglecting our baby brother,” I said to the group. “We should start going to his place at least once a month to try out any new dishes he’s come up with. Maybe that will help keep the creative juices flowing.”

“That would be awesome,” Stone gushed. “I’m already thinking of at least three things I’d love for you all to try.”

Patton bumped his shoulder against mine. “Great thinking, Warner.”

Being smack dab in the middle of my four siblings, I’d grown accustomed to playing mediator within the group. Even when I’d been the one to start the trouble, it was usually me who figured out how to mend the fences between us. “I’ll try to be more considerate of your artistic nature, Stone. You must forgive my business-first mindset. It can get in the way of what’s really important at times. And you are what’s really important to me, baby brother.”

“You’re important to me too, Warner.” Stone’s smile was as sincere as they came. “Thanks for bringing up the idea of me cooking for you guys. I hadn’t even thought about it before, and the way it’s already making me feel is beautiful.”

Stone had always been a bit of a free-spirit—he would’ve fit right in with the hippies of the sixties. “Glad to help.”

Baldwyn looked happy as he moved to the next order of business. “So, on to the coming year. How are we going to keep on improving? Patton, I’ll start with you.”

“It’s obvious that the coming year will be an improvement if our convention idea is met with success. We’ll all have to make a plan for the convention we’d like to host. Then, I’d say we hand them to Cohen so he can put dates on them since he knows best which times of the year are our busiest and which could work best for the conventions.”

“I agree,” I said quickly. “Cohen can take care of that. The sooner we have our plans set, the sooner he can schedule each convention and the sooner we can begin promoting them.”

Baldwyn added, “We can each add all of the promotions to our usual marketing efforts. That way, there will be three salesmen for each convention.”

Stone smiled. “Make that four salesmen. I’ve got a wicked following on social media where I can promote for you guys too.”

I smiled at Stone. He was already engaging more with our ideas and plans—it was nice to see that all it took was a little encouragement and a request for a meal. “That sounds great, Stone. Thanks for the help, man.” I loved it when we all came together to accomplish something.

“Yeah, no problem. Once you’ve got your marketing materials done, shoot them to me, and I’ll relay them to my followers.” He chewed on his lower lip as he seemed to be contemplating something. “You know what I just thought about?”

“What?” Baldwyn asked.

“Well, I have been putting up little bits here and there about the resort, and it got me wondering whether I may have been responsible for some of our sales and guests too.” He looked at Cohen. “How can I tell if any of my followers visited the resort?”

“I’ll hook that up for you,” Cohen said. “It’s not hard at all to set up data tracking with Google analytics. That way, you’ll be able to give us some good numbers when we hold this meeting again next year.”

“Cool. I like that idea,” Stone nodded as he looked at me. “Who knows, this coming year might be my year, Warner.”

“I hope it is.” I truly did. Not that I wanted to push him, but I wanted to see him get excited about things again—especially his cooking.

I’d always envisioned him having a restaurant at the resort. Patton had the spa to keep him creative with the design. The rest of us had business to keep us occupied and working steadily. Idle hands are the devil’s playthings, our mother always used to say. I tended to agree with her on that.

Stone had been a bit on the reclusive side since we’d come to Austin. I’d often worry that he was getting into things he shouldn’t be. Many days he’d come in with sunglasses and keep them on throughout the entire day. If he could get excited about work and cooking, then I would be sure that whatever he was doing that wasn’t healthy for him would end.

Baldwyn had always called me the mother hen due to the way I worried over my brothers. I was the one who didn’t drink much. I was the one to turn down offers of cigars and other things people smoked. I was the one who looked after my health and made sure to drink lots of water. And I encouraged my brothers to do so as well, earning me my nickname.

Throughout the years, all my brothers had been hooked on one vice or another. Losing our parents at a young age took its toll on all of us. I seemed to be the only one who didn’t turn to abusing anything to numb the pain.

But I did have my downfalls. I did have pain buried deep inside me from the loss of my parents. Instead of turning to anything, I turned away from people fairly quickly.

One spat and I was often done with any girl I’d been seeing. Something kept me from getting too close to women. Probably the fear of losing them, but I never thought about it too much. Not that knowing that about myself fixed the problem anyway.

Since we’d begun working on the resort, I’d dated two women. One relationship lasted a couple of months before I ended it. The other lasted half a year before I walked away from her, leaving her in tears as she kept asking what she’d done wrong. I told her plainly that I was the problem, and I was sorry for the way I was.

A part of me must’ve been stunted after my parents passed in the house fire. I was thirteen at the time, and that year I had my very first girlfriend. Dana Caldwell was her name. We’d given each other our first kisses and thought we were in love.

With the death of my parents, I just shut down. Being kids, we drifted apart. And that’s how my pretty much non-existent love life began.

I did wonder if a day would come when someone would light something up inside of me again. I was in my thirty-first year, and it seemed to me that fate had to have something in store for me. It just hadn’t happened yet, but I wasn’t getting any younger. I’d always thought that I would have found the right woman by the time I turned thirty. I had thought wrong, it seemed.

Despite my poor track record, I hadn’t given up on love. But I wasn’t exactly looking for it either. A part of me just assumed that something would fall into my lap, just as it had with the resort. Or better yet, someone would fall into my lap.

For now, I was content with having a successful career. A successful relationship wasn’t within my grasp.

At least, not yet.