The Tycoon's Revenge(39)

“How are your cousins doing?” she asked him. She imagined they were doing as good as him, because the three had been almost inseparable and there was no way he wouldn’t share his success with them.

“They’re doing great. I just saw Drew the other day and Ryan is off in some other country right now. We all need to get together, it’s been too long,” he said, letting his guard down for a moment.

“They always made me laugh,” she said with a fond smile, still looking at the photograph.

“They’re great guys,” he agreed. He packed up some clothing and then led her back down the elevator. They went out to the garage and instead of getting back in the Porsche; he walked up to an SUV. She was a bit jealous as he unlocked it and opened the back end to put his things in. It was a really nice vehicle. She didn’t understand why the man needed two expensive cars when it was just him.

“I figure we should switch vehicles. The sports car is fun but this has far more room for Jacob,” he said. “Do you mind driving. I have some work I could do on the commute,” he asked, as he tossed the keys to her. He asked but he expected the answer to be yes. She wanted to drive it really badly though, so she didn’t complain. She stepped inside the luxurious interior and noticed there were hardly any miles on it at all.

“You must have gotten this pretty recently,” she told him.

“I had it delivered yesterday. I figured we would need it for Jacob and my office manager said this was rated at the top for safety,” he said as if it was no big deal.

“You purchased a vehicle without even looking at it?” she asked him.

“I trust my staff,” he simply said and then buried his head in his lap top. Jasmine just shook her head at how truly different the man was. Money did not concern him anymore at all but when he was a teenager he had talked so much of his dreams and what he planned to do with his life. Times really changed, she thought sadly.

They arrived at the office and spent the first couple hours going over the applications Jasmine had pre-screened. Derek then had her spend the next couple of hours setting up interviews for the rest of the week. He said he wanted to get things settled quickly, so the company could do as well as it should’ve been doing all along. His statement was offensive but she let it go. She actually agreed with him on a lot of things. Her father had hired some questionable people and the company had been run into the ground.

The end of the day arrived before she knew it and for once Derek didn’t complain when it was time to leave. It seemed he liked having a son and was eager to pick him up.

“Derek, when Jacob isn’t doing sports, he gets out of school earlier. I was able to take some of my work home with me before, so I didn’t have to put him in day care. I know you run business differently but I really do work well from home and would like to continue doing that,” she asked him, afraid he was going to go off on her about her not being the owner’s daughter anymore and being entitled to special favors.

“You can quit all together if you would like, of course our son comes first and there’s no need for you to work,” he said matter-of-factly.

“I don’t want to quit. I enjoy working and I want to make my own money. Just because you have more than any one person needs, doesn’t mean I’d ever be comfortable spending it. If you don’t want me to work here, then I can begin searching for other work,” she said stubbornly, with her arms across her chest.

“I didn’t say I wanted to fire you, I just offered for you to be able to spend more time with our son. He will be grown before you know it and I don’t want you filled with regrets,” he said, exasperated. She decided not to respond, because she felt a tightening in her chest at the thought. She really would like to be able to go to the school more often. She’d always been slightly jealous of those room moms helping at the school during the week with their kids. She spent plenty of time with her son and was there for all of his special events but Derek was right that she was also missing out on a lot.

Jacob came running outside of the school as they pulled up and looked around with an eager expression on his face. He looked right past the SUV, so she stepped outside and called to him. He walked over, with his brows puckered, disappointed the Porsche wasn’t there.

They stopped by a moving company and loaded the SUV with a bunch of boxes, picked up some take-out and headed toward her house. Jacob helped his dad carry in all the empty boxes and the two men went into her son’s room to begin the massive job of packing his belongings.

She stood in the doorway and watched silently for several minutes, enjoying the sound of both of their laughter. They had bonded so closely in only a few short days. She was grateful she’d told her son about his father and he had a great image of the man because he really was a terrific dad. They paused in their packing and Derek tackled Jacob on the bed and tickled him until tears were falling from his eyes, he was laughing so hard.