“I couldn’t stand that lady,” he said aloud to no one but himself. “She made my childhood hell.” He shivered as he glanced at Becca’s photo once more. He could only hope that he wasn’t dealing with Ms. Perkins’s clone.
* * *
“Ten, nine, eight, seven...” Becca Wright tried her best to calm her rattled nerves as she shuffled through stacks of unruly papers and file folders on her desk. “Six, five, four, three, two, one.” She stopped what she was doing and took a deep breath. She’d been doing intervals of ten while trying to organize her desk for thirty minutes straight, then taking ten-second breaks in between.
Ever since the receptionist for The Aunt Penny Foundation suddenly quit last week, Becca had been under more stress than she’d ever been before. Usually she was great at multitasking and managing several projects simultaneously. However, the temporary receptionist that had arrived yesterday had spent more time chatting on the phone with her friends or stepping outside for cigarette breaks than actually doing the work she’d been hired to do.
“Stacy!” Becca yelled after her short break was over. “Where is the file for the incoming students who arrived yesterday?”
After several minutes, Stacy strolled around the corner, loudly smacking her gum. “Um, what do you expect from me? I just started a few days ago, so why would I know where it is?”
Becca rapidly blinked her eyes. Teenagers today... I’d never talk to my boss like that. “Well, yesterday your only project was to enter the information for the new students who just joined The Aunt Penny Foundation into our intranet. It was a simple job.”
Stacy gave her a blank stare.
Becca waved her hands in frustration. “Never mind. Just tell me where you put my messages. I’m expecting an important call.”
“Don’t you have a cell phone?”
“Yes,” Becca said through gritted teeth. “But not everyone has my cell phone number and it’s your job to answer the phone. I haven’t heard it ring off the hook for a while, so at least you’re doing that.”
“Oh no, I’m not.” Stacy flipped her long black hair over her shoulder. “I took it off the hook because I couldn’t hear my phone call over the loud ringing. A Jonathan Delaney kept calling.”
Becca went through a mental checklist of important calls she was expecting and couldn’t recall that name. Nor did she find it in her Rolodex.
“You know,” Stacy continued, “you should think about getting rid of the landline and only using your cell phone. No one uses landlines anymore. They don’t keep business cards, either. Everything is online now.”
Unbelievable. “I’m surprised you even know what a landline is.” Normally, Becca would have had some more choice words for the young woman, but for now, she just needed to check her calls. Haley was working offsite with a few students, which meant Becca had a lot to accomplish with zero help from the useless temp. She wanted to confirm her appointment tomorrow with the Prescott George representative she was scheduled to meet. What was his name again? She scrunched her forehead and snapped her fingers when it came to her. Joshua DeLong.
“Oh no,” Becca said as she rushed out of her office to the main desk. What are the odds that Jonathan Delaney is actually Joshua DeLong? She hoped her inkling was wrong, but given her week so far, she feared he was the one who’d called before Stacy had taken the phone off the hook.
The front desk was even more unorganized than hers was. She moved Stacy’s oversize book bag from the desk. After a little more digging, she finally found the phone and was able to listen to the messages. She skipped a few until she heard the deep, silky voice of a man who introduced himself as Joshua DeLong. He’d called twice and the last abrupt voice mail he’d left was from an hour ago.
“Stacy!” Becca yelled again. And yet again, Stacy took her sweet time strolling to the front desk. “Don’t you remember me mentioning yesterday that I was expecting an important call from Joshua DeLong? Did you even stop to think that maybe you heard his name wrong when he called?”
“Oh, that explains it,” Stacy said, nodding her head. “He sounded even more annoyed during his last voice mail.”
“You listened to his messages and didn’t tell me?”
Instead of responding, Stacy just shrugged and walked away. Becca jotted down the number Joshua left and called him back.
“Hello, this is Joshua DeLong.”
“Mr. DeLong, it’s Becca Wright with The Aunt Penny Foundation. I want to apologize for not receiving your voice mails until now.”
“It’s quite all right. I still have a couple hours before I have to go to the airport. Can you meet today?”
“Sure, just name the place and time.” Meeting Mr. DeLong today as opposed to tomorrow was a bit of an inconvenience, but the foundation needed the assistance of Prescott George so rearranging her schedule was a necessity.
“So I’m meeting you at the Southern Royal Yacht Club in South Beach?” Becca was a little taken aback by the location. One had to be a member to even enter the gate of the high-class boutique marina. Members included the rich, famous and elite.
“Yes. I’ll meet you at the clubhouse gate entrance. And in case you have any apprehensions, rest assured that you’ll be fine. We Royal yachtees get a bad rep since we’re so exclusive, but we’re just regular people.”
Yeah, right. “Okay, not a problem. I can be there in forty minutes.” She ended the call a little less frazzled than she’d been before. She was sure Mr. DeLong was unaware of her upbringing since she rarely discussed her family’s social or financial status in interviews. However, she knew exactly what type of members frequented the Southern Royal Yacht Club and regular was not the word she would use to describe them.
“Oh, he is hot.”
Becca turned at the sound of Stacy’s voice. “What did you say?”
Stacy tapped her phone a few more times before walking over to Becca. “Have you seen the photos online of Joshua DeLong? I Googled him while you were on the phone.”
“You can’t do any work, but you can eavesdrop on my calls?”
Stacy didn’t respond, but instead passed her phone to Becca. Mercy. His deep blue eyes were the first feature she noticed. They were striking against his toasted-caramel complexion and curly cocoa-brown hair.
“Hot, right?” Stacy asked. Becca stared at the photo a little longer before passing Stacy back her phone.
“Listen, I have to meet Mr. DeLong and I don’t trust you to be here by yourself, so I’m locking up the office. Why don’t you just come back tomorrow.”
“I still get paid for today, right?”
Becca glared at Stacy. Note to self: call the temp agency after my meeting with Mr. DeLong.
“Stacy, just pack your things so I can lock up.” Becca needed to be fresh and alert for her meeting with Mr. DeLong and the only good thing Stacy had done since arriving was showing her that photo.
On the drive to the marina, Becca recalled everything she’d read about Joshua DeLong. Thirty-five. Never been married. No kids. Recently named one of the most influential black men in America. Built his fortune from the ground up as a corporate raider. Despite his accomplishments, she also recalled another article that named him one of the most ruthless men in America. Judging by what she knew about corporate raiders, she had to agree with some of the statements in the second article. Building your career on the misfortune of others was hardly admirable. Especially since Becca had spent the majority of her life on the opposite end of the spectrum by trying to provide fortune to the misfortunate.
As she neared the yacht club, she noticed a tall male