The Billionaire's Housekeeper (Betsy Jones Book 1) - Unedited

The Billionaire's Housekeeper - Chapter 13

Nick was frustrated.

He hated to admit it but he felt like a horny school boy. Kissing Betsy again had been a mistake. Claire trusted him to help her  sister not hit on her. Yet he was messing it all up. It didn't help that the little pixie was capable of breaking through every wall and shield he created. She didn't even know what effect she was having on him.

And yet there was still so much he didn't know about her. The envelope, the one which he had hidden in a drawer at the house, was calling out to him. He could open it so easily. Several times he had taken it out and opened the top. The papers were all in there. He could learn all of her secrets.

Nicholas still hadn't looked at the contents of the envelope. It felt wrong to even consider it.

Clenching his hands on top of the desk, Nick stared at the screen before him. He had been looking at the same spreadsheet for half an hour but he still wasn't sure what he was looking at. It was just one blurred set of figures after another.

Breathing in deeply and locking his fingers together, he stretched them over his head. Then, after cracking his head side to side in an attempt to remove the ache which had settled there, he stared at the screen with renewed focus. However it seemed he was not destined to finish his work. Just as he placed his fingers over the keys, angry buzzing filled the air. His mobile jumped across the desktop as it continued to ring. He was almost tempted to let it go to voicemail but the familiar name across the surface had him scrabbling to answer the call.

"Hello, Nick speaking." He spoke calmly into the handset while his stomach was in knots.

"Nico, how are you today? Have you been working too hard? You sound a bit stressed." Mr Giannopoulos asked brightly.

Nick winced at the exuberance but replied with a polite, "I am good. And how are you?"

"I am good. Very good. The sun is shining and I am having breakfast with my beautiful wife who makes the very best coffee." Markos cheered.

"That's good."

Staring at the screen before him, Nick brought up a hand to massage his temples while the man continued to natter inanely from the other end of the phone. Sometimes Nick couldn't help but think the older man had agreed to this deal just so that he had an unrestricted audience to torture with his chatter. Even if he wanted to, Nick could not and would not hang up the phone. He could lose millions if things went wrong now.

Despite his unwillingness to entertain Markos so early in the morning, Nicholas could admit that he liked the other man. He wouldn't ever say it out loud, but the man was more of a father figure than his own had ever been.

"Anyway, back to my reason for calling, Nico." A merry laugh echoed down the line followed by some muffled arguing. "Sorry, it is the wife. She cannot leave me alone. You know how it is with women! I just wanted to check on the plans for tonight. You said you would make all of the arrangements for dinner."

"Tonight. Dinner?" Nick repeated the words back down the phone line as he tried to figure out what exactly the man meant.

"Oh no, did you forget? Do we need to cancel?" Mr Giannopoulos asked. "I'm sure I could get the board to meet up some other time if you have not been able to make any arrangements."

"No!" the dark haired man stated, running in fingers through his hair while his other hand clutched desperately onto the handset. "I was a bit distracted for a moment there. Dinner tonight will be at my house. As much as I love to eat out, there is nothing like a home cooked meal."