The Billionaire’s Heart (Hibiscus Harbor #2)

1. Mia

Chapter 1

Mia

I 'm so late. My stupid GPS took me to the wrong address and now I'm so late for my first day of work. I didn't realize the office that I'll be temping at is on an actual island. The temp agency was less than helpful, then I had to wait for the drawbridge to lower between Hibiscus Harbor and Hibiscus Island.

I stop at the entrance of the unassuming one-story building and take a deep breath. "Okay, Mia. You've got this. Walk in and be confident in yourself and your abilities. You're smart and capable." I give myself a little pep talk in the reflection of the dark window tint of the front door.

It's a breezy day on Hibiscus Island. The ocean breeze seems to ward off some of the humidity that I can feel inland. When I moved from Knoxville to Hibiscus Harbor, I was not prepared for the humidity. Neither was my hair. Florida is no joke. The humidity is for real.

I grab the handle to the door of Hibiscus Island Country Club and pull, and nothing happens. Great, they’re closed. I pull again to make sure, and the sign on the door catches my eye: 'Push'. Idiot. Great way to make a good first impression .

I push the door open and walk into an empty front lobby. There's a large empty reception desk, some guest chairs, a pedestal with a model boat under glass in the center of the room, frosted windowed doors to the side to what I assume are the interior offices, art on the walls of hibiscus flowers in all different colors, and the phone ringing off the hook.

"Hello?" I call out, but I don't hear anyone. "Hello?" I call out again.

The phone stops ringing for a second and then starts again. Multiple lines are ringing now, and it seems no one is around to answer them. I guess that’s why I’m here.

On the front of the reception desk is the logo of the Hibiscus Island Country Club. I'm in the right office and I'm supposed to be temping for the receptionist that's going on maternity leave soon, so I suppose I should answer the phone.

I walk around the reception desk and grab the ringing phone. "Hibiscus Island Country Club. This is Mia. Please hold." I grab the other four lines and answer the same way as I put my purse and lunchbox down and find a pen and notepad. I quickly take messages for all five lines when an older woman, probably in her mid-sixties with white hair, comes out of the side door.

"Please tell me your name is Mia." She pleads with me as I hang up the phone. They've all finally stopped ringing.

Nodding, "Yes. I'm Mia. You must be Mrs. Wilcox." I walk around the desk to shake her hand. "The phones wouldn't stop ringing, so I took the liberty of taking down messages. I hope that was okay."

Mrs. Wilcox shakes my hand. "Yes, thank you. I couldn't get off the phone with one of our members. Lily went into labor this morning, so I'm afraid it's all hands-on deck. She was supposed to train you, but I'll do the best I can. I have a pretty full day today, though, as Mr. Gallo will be here later this afternoon."

"Is that the manager of the club?" I ask.

"No, he's the owner."

"The owner of the entire country club? Impressive."

"No, dear. He’s the owner of the island." Mrs. Wilcox answers quickly. "Now, under the keyboard is the login and passwords to Lily's computer. You'll have to use hers until IT gets you set up. They'll be contacting you later this morning to do that, and it looks like you know how to use the phones. That's good. For today, just try to keep up with the phones and the mail. I'll be at my desk behind those doors, all the way down the hall. My extension is five hundred. Lunch is at noon. Any questions?"

"He owns the entire island?" That's all I heard her say.

She smiles. "Several, along with several corporations and charities. We handle all his business from this office. Any other questions?"

The phone on my desk starts to ring again. "No. I think I've got it. Thank you, Mrs. Wilcox." I pick up the ringing phone and answer, "Hibiscus Island Country Club. This is Mia."

I watch Mrs. Wilcox smile at me, turn, and scurry back behind the frosted glass doors.

The morning has flown by. I've found that Lily, the receptionist I'm replacing while on maternity leave, was extremely prepared as she notated everything that needs to get done and how to do it. IT came and set me up with my own login credentials and now I'm sitting behind the reception desk, starving.

I call Mrs. Wilcox and she answers on the first ring. "Everything okay?"

"Yes, but I was wondering what I do with the phones during lunch. I'm starving."

"Is it that time already? Oh… it is, okay. Send the phone calls to the answering service. You can eat lunch outside by the water. There are picnic tables out there or we have a kitchen in the back, behind the accounting department. Through the double doors, down the hall to the left and then down that hall. Anyone can direct you if you get lost."

"Thank you, Mrs. Wilcox." I hang up the phone and send the lines to the answering service.

I decide to eat in the kitchen as the picnic tables are probably still wet from the rain earlier this morning, so I make my way down the hall and promptly get lost. I can't remember which way she told me to go. The offices and cubicles are all ultramodern and the office is full, but there's barely a peep of noise except for the tapping of keyboards.

"Lost?" a man about my age asks from the desk next to where I’m standing, trying to figure out which way to go.

I laugh. "Is it that obvious?"

He looks at my lunchbox and stands up. "Yes. Here, I'll show you to the kitchen. I'm Rick."

"Thank you, Rick. I'm Mia. I'm temping while Lily is on maternity leave."

"I'm in accounting. Boring, I know. But it pays the bills." Rick says as I follow him down two more hallways and into the kitchen. "Voila! Kitchen."

The kitchen is completely stocked with two giant refrigerators and two freezers, every appliance you could think of, and booths like at a restaurant. The booths overlook the floor to ceiling windows out to the ocean. "Wow. It's huge in here."

Rick looks around at the other employees eating lunch. "Yeah. We're kind of spoiled here, aren't we?"

I laugh, "Yeah. Kinda. The last place I temped at, I had to eat in my car behind a tire shop. This is paradise."

"Wow. That would suck. Where was that?" Rick follows me to a booth and sits down across from me.

"No place you'd know. I just moved here from Knoxville." I tell him as I unpack my peanut butter and jelly sandwich and my apple slices.

"Never been. Mind if I join you?" He doesn't wait for an answer and runs to one of the refrigerators and grabs his lunch and a banana from the fruit bowl on the counter. "I was born and raised here in Hibiscus Harbor."

"Never lived anywhere else?" I ask him in between bites of my sandwich.

"Never left. What more could you want? Hibiscus Harbor is great. It's across the bridge from Hibiscus Island where we work, it has a top-notch university, a few great restaurants and bars, a stellar hospital, and me. What else is there?" We both laugh at his joke. "So, how did you find our little slice of heaven from Knoxville?"

I swallow my bite and wipe my face with my napkin. "Well, I was looking for a new start, so I closed my eyes, spun around twice, and pointed to the map. I found Hibiscus Harbor. And here I am."

He looks at me with raised eyebrows. "I think there's more to that story. Don't worry. You don't have to tell me right now. You can tell me when we go to Hooplas this Friday night. What do you say? You seem like a fun gal, and my boyfriend and I plan to go on Friday. Let's go out and I'll show you around paradise."

"Sure. My only plans were to unpack my boxes, but those can wait. Sounds like fun."

Suddenly, the kitchen erupts in a lot of commotion. People are packing up their lunches, cleaning up their messes and scurrying out of the room. Rick looks around and follows suit. "Lunch is over. Let's go!"

I watch him grab everything off our table and throw away our trash. "What's happening?" I ask him as he grabs the last of my sandwich from my hands and throws it in the trash.

"Mr. Gallo's in the building. Back to your desk. I'll call you later. Go down that hallway, turn right and go out the door and you'll bypass him on your way back to your desk. I’ll see you later." He disappears and I can't help but walk as quickly as possible to my desk feeling the urgency but not understanding it.

What's up with everyone being afraid of Mr. Gallo? Is he a tyrant? I hope not. I can't go through that again.

I make it to the front desk without seeing the infamous Mr. Gallo.

“There you are! I’ve been waiting out here for someone to help me. What kind of customer service is that?” A tall, leggy blonde woman asks me as I round my desk. She’s wearing a lot of perfume, but I can tell it’s the expensive kind. Did she bathe in the stuff?

“My apologies. It’s my first day and I was at lunch. How can I help you?” I say as I sit down at my desk.

“You cannot possibly help me. Get Mrs. Wilcox out here. Now!” She demands as she points with her bright red fingernail on the countertop in front of me. “You know what? Never mind. I know Ian’s here. I’ll just go back there myself.”

I start to chase her to the frosted glass doors. “You can’t go in there. How about I just call Mrs. Wilcox?” I try to direct her back to my desk.

She laughs but it comes across as a sneer, “Do you know who I am?” She sounds affronted.

I shake my head, “No, I’m sorry I don’t. Like I said earlier, today is my first day here.”

Still standing by the frosted doors, she shakes her head at me as if I’m nothing but a bug for her to squish. “I’m Ian’s girlfriend, for the record.” She throws the door open and starts down the hallway to what I presume is Mr. Gallo’s office and I’m at a loss of what to do. Do I chase her? Do I call Mrs. Wilcox and warn her? Is she really Mr. Gallo’s girlfriend?

I decide to call Mrs. Wilcox and dial her extension and interrupt her when she answers. “There’s a lady on her way back. I tried to stop her. I’m so sorry.”

“Hello Mackenzie. Mr. Gallo isn’t in right now.” Mrs. Wilcox says to our visitor even though she’s still on the phone with me.

“Mrs. Wilcox. I know he’s here. I saw his car in the parking lot. I’ll just poke my head in.” I can hear Mackenzie say.

With the calmest voice, Mrs. Wilcox says, “No, you won’t, Mackenzie. Like I told you. Mr. Gallo isn’t in right now. I’ll be happy to give him a message.”

I’m eavesdropping now and probably should hang up, but I don’t. I want to hear Mrs. Wilcox kick this lady out.