It was my responsibility to take care of this little boy. If Julia could work hard to make sure Nathan was happy and healthy, take a job she didn’t want, all so he would be provided for, then the least I could do was get over my feelings for his mother and do the right thing.
It was time to tell Julia that I was the man in that closet with the candy cane dick.
I opened my mouth, but right at that moment, the phone buzzed. Reaching for it to turn it off, I noticed it was Hamish.
I groaned.
“Jilted ex calling?” Julia asked.
I chuckled. “No, an important potential investor.”
“Let me talk to him.”
I glanced up in surprise. “What?”
“You don’t want to talk to him but need his money, right?”
“Well, no. It’s a little more complicated than that.”
She placed Nathan’s carrier back on the floor and stood. Coming over to my side of the desk, she held out her hand.
“With money, it’s usually never complicated. People need it to live. That’s it.”
Still in a bit of shock, I handed her the phone.
“I’m friends with him. So, please don’t—” I said before she held up her finger to stop me while raising the cell phone to her ear.
“Mr. Montgomery Diaz’s phone. How may I help you?”
I heard Hamish’s voice but couldn’t tell what he was saying.
“He’s indisposed at the moment. I suspect you’re calling about that exclusive investment opportunity. I’ll let him know—”
She stopped but nodded a few times.
“You don’t know about the investment? That’s strange . . . He told me he was only letting his most trusted friends know about it. I hope I haven’t made a mistake in telling you . . .”
I squirmed in my seat. The last thing I wanted was to piss off Hamish. He was a great guy. Even if he didn’t want to invest, I’d still consider him a close friend. But I suspected after this call, he wouldn’t be speaking to me anymore.
“Oh, please, Mr. Blackwell. Don’t tell my boss I told you. I just got this job as his assistant. I don’t want to be fired. Maybe he was planning to tell you later.” Julia sounded distressed.
I rubbed the back of my neck. Hamish was mad. He was yelling at Julia. This was a mistake. I shouldn’t have let her answer my phone.
“Right. I’ll let him know you called,” she said and then tapped the phone before handing it back to me.
She walked back to her black leather padded chair and sat.
“That did not go as—”
“He wants to invest. Mr. Blackwell told me that whatever it is, he wants in.”
My eyes widened. It usually took me several dinners and a night of getting drunk to slowly get Hamish used to an investment. He may have had all the money in the world, but he was choosy where he put it.
“But you sounded so upset on the phone.”
She shrugged. “I wasn’t. Don’t tell him that. People believe you more if you throw emotion into your plea. I could tell he wasn’t buying the whole ‘it’s exclusive bit,’ so I pretended to be a naïve new hire who just made a big mistake in letting him know about something he shouldn’t know about. He has money. No offense, Mr. Diaz, but the wealthy are oblivious to the intelligence of people without money.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. While her tactics were manipulative, they produced results. Hamish was a smart guy. When I described the venture to him, if he didn’t want in, he could easily back out.
Looking over at Julia, I wondered if she would make an excellent assistant. She may not have had the background I was looking for, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t smart. She proved that she could take direction and run with it.
“You’re hired,” I said, and a shiver ran down my spine as she broke out into a gorgeous, wide smile.
Perhaps me telling her I was Nathan’s father could wait. At least for a few days.
Chapter 10
Julia
“MRS. JULIA DIAZ WITH a heart,” I said as I scribbled on the small white pad of paper at my desk.
It was my third day as Monty Diaz’s assistant, and there wasn’t much to do. I had the interview on Monday, started on Tuesday, and now it was Thursday.
They filled the first day with HR paperwork and a tour of The Blue Spot. That day was nice but boring. I thought since I was now making more money than I ever had in my life, the work would be hard. I was wrong.
The day was like the last day of high school, just busy work and distractions while teachers would show movies all day in class.
I sat in on my first meeting yesterday. It was in the conference room, and Rock was there. James Diaz was there too. Everyone kept telling me he didn’t work for The Blue Spot, but since he was an investor and Rock’s brother, he wanted to keep abreast of what was happening.
The meeting was about a contest they had going on here, something about dating a billionaire. I wish I had heard about that because I would have totally entered.
At one point, Monty asked for my opinion on a topic they were discussing. It surprised me how much I enjoyed giving input. I thought I would panic and make something up, but I didn’t. And the people in the meeting debated my idea.
It was thrilling having a say at what went on here.
“Mrs. Julia Diaz with a skull and crossbones.” I smirked as I colored in the eye pits of the skull.
I had resorted to pretending I was married to Monty and practicing my name like a teenager. But really, what was there to do?
“Working on something exciting?”
I gasped and quickly threw the pad of paper in the top drawer upon hearing Laura’s voice.
“Yes. And Mr. Diaz really doesn’t want anyone to know until he’s ready to announce it.” I leaned back in my swivel chair, tapping the pencil’s eraser against the tip of my nose.
Laura was in her chef’s coat and a navy pencil skirt. Her blond hair was pulled back in her typical tight French twist.
“I wanted to check on you and see how everything is going.” She clasped her hands together, and excitement filled her eyes.
When I told her I got the job, I swore she had an orgasm. My sister believed everyone should have a “career” position. Something with the potential for promotion. A job that filled you with excitement and made you jump out of bed in the mornings. She had that, so why shouldn’t everyone else?
The Blue Chip, where she was the head chef, was on the other side of the resort, making it easy for her to visit me every day this week.
“Like I told you yesterday, it’s great. I sit here and do computery things.” I tapped at the sleek, silver laptop keyboard on my desk. Solitaire popped up on screen.
Her lips puckered. “I see you’re working on something very difficult at the moment.”
“That was from an hour ago during my break, which reminds me . . . Do you know a place where I can pump?” I waved my hand around my chest. I didn’t dare touch a boob for fear it might leak.
I had been sneaking to bathrooms around the resort that didn’t have people in them, but it just wasn’t sanitary. One of these days someone would walk in and do their business, and I’d have to dump what I pumped.