The Sweetest Kiss: A Billionaire Love Story Read Free Page A

would snag the big story, the ones that mattered. I didn’t see myself spying on celebrities in bushes. It had begun to take its toll on me. My mind wandered as the jeep weaved its way down the sandy makeshift roads. I remembered the day I gave notice…
    “James, I appreciate the offer of a raise but really I can’t stay.”
    I looked out through the glass of his office to see Markus resting his ass on the edge of the table of my friend, or should I say now, ex-friend. He was gazing down her top.
    “Well, I’m not accepting your resignation. I’m going to leave it open. If you change your mind, the raise and position are there.”
    It was a nice thought to at least know that if the whole island business didn’t work out I could regain my position. Getting an apartment would be easy enough. My pervert landlord would have kicked someone out to have me back. I was sure he was spying on me. There wasn’t a day that would go by that I wouldn’t check my room for hidden cameras. Thankfully he wasn’t that stupid.
    The island was idyllic in every way, except one.
    “What do you mean there is no internet?”
    “I didn’t say that. I said that you will need to travel to the north side and use the hot spot that the Waylands have set up in the main restaurant and office area.”
    “Oh, like they are going to let me use that after what my sister put them through.”
    He chuckled. “Really, Ms. Hayley, they aren’t as bad as you think. I mean, they gave me a decent wage and have always treated us good. I get three weeks of vacation a year, a bonus around Christmas. It’s hard to complain about them. Anyway, you’ll find your phone will work better on the Caribbean side than it does on the Atlantic side.”
    “And what about Max?”
    “He’s never around. I haven’t yet seen him here. One of his sons runs the island, and to be honest I haven’t even bumped into him, hell, I wouldn’t even know what he looks like. They hired all the staff that was previously here and so my boss is the same one. That’s who I’m accountable to. It’s just the previous owners of the island sold to the Waylands. So essentially it’s under their name. But business is as usual, except for the fact that they have done some massive renovations and brought this place out of the dark ages.”
    “Really? I think having to go to the north side for internet is still the dark ages.”
    He chuckled. “Ms. Hayley. No one complains. They come here to get away from the distractions of life.”
    As we got closer to the south end of the island I could see cottages nestled in among the tropical trees. The road wound around until it ended in a circular cove. A wooden sign with the words Emily’s Resort stuck out of the sand. I immediately felt a twinge of sadness. As beautiful as it was, it was hard to comprehend that I hadn’t been here. Emily had invited me numerous times but I was always too busy. Too caught up in living life, as they say. Yet was I really living? I spent most months living hand to mouth. The cost of living in Brooklyn was brutal, if it hadn’t been for the fact that my landlord thought he would eventually get some ass, I doubt I would have been given a discount rate. I had been living day to day, never slowing down for a second. Heck, I didn’t know what to do if I had time to myself. I was either chasing down a new lead on a celebrity in the area, or poring over work that I had to submit to the editor. The workload was horrendous and the payoff, not so. If I had known what it was going to be like I’m not sure I would have moved to the city.
    “Are those Mrs. Arnet’s?”
    “Yeah, I believe so. As I say, I don’t get over here really.”
    I gave him a hand taking out the luggage from the back of the jeep.
    “I used to deliver groceries here, and help out with repairs around the place before the Waylands took over. Probably if they had sold their places I would still be doing that. But now we are all on the north