Billionaires in New York Boxed Set: Billionaires in the City Books 1-3 by Laura Burton (learn to read books .TXT) 📕

“Thank you, Emily, this is the opportunity of a lifetime.”

They laughed.

“Really, though, I didn’t expect it,” he urged.

“I have to go. We’ll iron out all the details next week.”

“Great, thank you. Enjoy your time off.”

Emily ticked off “call Julian” on her check list and sucked on the pen as she looked down the list of items. Then she picked up her phone and placed it on speaker again.

“Hello?”

“Jaqueline, are you sitting down?”

“Ms. Stewart? Yes, yes I am.”

“The investors are in. We’re moving to LA!”

“Oh, that is great––wait, what?”

“Julian is taking over the New York office, and you are coming with me to LA.”

“I’m moving?”

“Yes, of course. You want a promotion, well here it is. I need you to help me set up the new office. Besides, why would you stay in New York?”

“My whole life is here, my family, my boyfriend.”

“Jaqueline, there will be plenty of eligible bachelors in LA, I assure you.” Emily laughed.

“You’re asking me to break up with my boyfriend?” Jaqueline sounded affronted. Like this was not happy news. Emily frowned.

“Are you telling me, you are going to turn down this opportunity to stay with your boyfriend?”

“I want to stay at the New York office.”

Emily didn’t like the defiant tone of her voice. Jaqueline definitely had more courage when she wasn’t face to face with Emily.

“Right. Well, if that’s the case you’ll have to speak to Julian about that. He might have a job for you in the New York office.”

“Julian? Please, no… Ms. Stewart, are you saying that if I don’t come with you to LA, I’m fired?”

“No, of course not. I’m saying your job is relocating to LA and if you want to stay in New York, you’ll have to apply for a job.”

“But––I. Julian doesn’t make me feel comfortable.”

“It sounds like you have a decision to make, then. I’ll let you go and think about it.” Emily ended the call before Jaqueline could reply. Moving to LA and getting a promotion was a dream for anyone who’d been working as an assistant for years. Jaqueline was young, inexperienced, and expected Emily to create a perfect career path for her, in the place of her choosing? What is it with these Millennials? She pushed the thoughts out of her mind and opened up her laptop.

After forty minutes she was rubbing her temples and yawning, scrolling through the listings. This was going to take a while. She got up from her desk and unzipped her dress, allowing it to fall to her feet. She marched over to the bedroom and pulled on her cotton pants and her favorite sweater. It was the softest item of clothing in her closet and slipped down her right shoulder. Her curls drooped enough to make her hair look more wavy than curly now. She pulled out the clip in her hair and shook her head. The door alarm buzzed, and she stood still, eyes wide and staring at the clock on the wall, before she walked into the living room to hit the buzzer.

“Who is it?”

“Emily, I need to speak to you. Can I come in?” His voice crackled against the sound of rain pouring over the microphone, but Emily knew who it was. She buzzed him in.

“Come on up.” She turned around and eyed her apartment in horror. From the dress lying discarded on the floor, to the stack of papers spread out on the coffee table. She jumped into action, throwing her dress on her bed, collecting empty chocolate wrappers littered around the apartment, and forcefully stacked the dirty dishes in the sink. She swiveled on the spot to the sound of the faint tapping on her door.

“Hi there, long time no see,” she said brightly as she pulled the door open. Without her heels on, she had to crane her neck to look up at David’s face. His skin was wet and waxy in the yellow light, and a crease along his brow and the firm set to his lips told her he had been thinking too much. He walked into the apartment and started to pace the room.

“Are you okay?” Emily asked warily. She wondered would could possibly have happened in the last handful of hours since she saw him. Perhaps it was something to do with the phone call he had to take at the restaurant? Or maybe he was having second thoughts about their arrangement?

“Hey, do you want to call this off?”

David stopped pacing and stared at her like a rabbit in headlights.

“What?”

Emily closed the door and walked over to him.

“Look, you saw those investors… I don’t think they care very much about visiting again. I’m pretty sure we can just go our separate ways.”

“That doesn’t help my situation though, does it?”

Emily grimaced. In all the excitement about planning her move to LA, she forgot about the party with David’s family. She owed it to him to follow through.

“I’m sorry,” she said hesitantly. “So, if you’re not here to call this off? What’s wrong?”

David took a deep breath and his eyes floated up and down Emily. She crossed her arms self-consciously and noticed his eyes darkening as he looked at her.

“I need to tell you something.”

He averted his eyes and started pacing again. Emily tapped her fingers against her arm waiting. Should she offer him a drink? Maybe take his jacket and hang it up to dry? She wasn’t sure what was so important he dragged himself out in the rain.

“You’ve been nothing but upfront and honest with me since we first met,” he said finally. Emily swallowed.

That’s not true.

“Listen, I can see this is hard for you… do you want me to take your jacket? You’re making the floor wet.” She reached out her hands and David stopped moving. He glanced down at the floor and looked at it in shock, as if surprised it even existed. He nodded and handed her the heavy jacket. She eyed the Armani logo on the label before she hung it up.

“There, that’s better. Do