The Billionaire and the Cleaner (9 page)

His mom turned to look at her. She had expected to see the
disappointment or some other emotion of disgust. What she got was a large smile,
and then she was pulled into his mom’s arms.

She turned her gaze to
Kent
wondering what to do.

“You need to wrap your arms around her, dear,” the older man
who looked like
Kent
said.

The others chuckled. Lana smiled along with them and wrapped
her arms around the woman. The older woman smelt so comforting. Her vanilla
scent helped to calm Lana’s nerves.

“Penny, dear, I think you’re scaring the woman,” the older
man said.

“Lana, this is my mom, Penny, and this big guy here is my
dad, Derek.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Lana said. Penny let her go and
smiled.

“You’re so pretty.”

Heat filled her cheeks at the compliment.
“Erm,
thank you.”

Kent
moved to her
side. He took her hand in his as they faced his family. “You’re scaring my
friend, guys. Take a step back. Sorry, they’re not used to seeing people,”
Kent
said,
joking.

She smiled.

“No, we’re the ones used to seeing people.
Kent
here
spends too much time working to know what real people are doing.”

“Shut it, Seth.” A blonde woman with a slender figure
slapped the oldest
Anderson
brother. “It’s great to see you, Kent.”

“Tonya.”

So this was the woman who broke
Kent
’s heart. Lana turned to the
beautiful woman. Tonya Anderson looked like she could have been a model. Her
slender frame didn’t look as if she’d given birth to three children.

“
Kent
,”
she said. Tonya knelt down and picked up her youngest daughter. “We’re so glad
to see Uncle
Kent
,
aren’t we?” She spoke in a baby voice.

“Come on, dear, let me get you inside. It’s cold out here,
and my frail bones can’t take much more,” Penny said.

Derek followed behind them. Penny and Derek didn’t look
particularly old. The years had been good to the older couple.
Kent
smiled
after her. Wasn’t he coming inside?

He was leaving her alone with his family. She suddenly felt
exposed by being left alone with them. The rest of his family followed them
inside. Seth, Tonya, and Kent stayed outside. Their kids were playing around
their feet.

“Don’t mind them, Lana,” Penny said. She was taken into one
of the largest kitchens she’d ever seen. There was a range cooker along the
back wall, but in the centre was a counter with a stove in the middle and plenty
of space for her to sit.

Lana felt like she’d stepped onto a cover of a magazine. “Do
you like my kitchen?
Kent
did tell me you liked to bake.”

“Your kitchen is beautiful. I’ve got a small oven in my
apartment.” Along the far wall was a double oven at chest height. There was
also a double fridge freezer along the opposite wall. The kitchen was spacious,
and she saw it was much loved by Penny. The scent of chicken filled the air.

“I’ve got three chickens cooking for dinner. My boys and my
girls have a healthy appetite,” Penny said.

“You also have enough for leftovers, Pen. Don’t forget your
legendary leftovers,” Derek said. He was reading the paper.

Sophie and Dawn walked into the room and took a seat on
either side of her.

“So, you’re
Kent
’s
woman?” Sophie asked, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl on the counter.

“Sophie, if you eat that and struggle with your dinner, there’ll
be trouble,” Penny said, warning the others.

A cup of tea was placed in front of her.

“Mom, I’m twenty-five, not twelve.”

“You still act like a kid, Soph. Mom’s right. Don’t eat too
much,” Dawn said.

Eric walked into the kitchen. Everyone was everywhere, and
Lana didn’t have a clue how to keep up. “What are you looking at, Dad?”

“The results on the football,” Derek said.

“You don’t even watch the football, baby,” Penny said. A
blush stained the older woman’s cheeks. “You’ve always got something better to
do.”

“Ew, gross, they’re going all lovey-dovey and talking about
sex. Make them stop, Dawn,” Sophie said.

“Honey, if you’ve got it as good as I have, you’ll be
blushing at my age,” Penny said. “Now, are you
Kent
’s woman?”

Lana opened her mouth to speak, but she was beaten to it by
another person.

“Of course she’s his woman.
Kent
never brings a woman home
unless he’s serious about her. When’s the wedding?” Derek asked.

“Guys, you’re terrifying her,”
Kent
said, stepping behind her.
“There’s no wedding. Lana and I are friends.”

“Oh dear, I think we were scaring you, weren’t we?” Penny
said.

“I’m not used to a large crowd,” Lana said.

“You’ll get used to it,” Tonya said, bringing in her three
children and Seth. The crowd was getting bigger and bigger.

Kent
squeezed her
shoulders. She took the comfort.

“Here you are, pet, a nice cup of tea. I buy the good
stuff.” Penny placed a cup in front of her. Dawn and Sophie then started to add
sugar and milk to her cup.
“Girls!
Leave the poor girl
alone.”

“It’s fine,” Lana said.

He kept stroking her arm, which made it hard for her to
concentrate on the conversation. His touch sent shivers up her spine. She
couldn’t do anything but think about what he was doing to her body.

“I promise, Lana, you’ll get used to it, and before long,
you’re having a three way conversation and managing to keep up,” Tonya said.

Lana smiled at the other woman.

****

Kent
tightened
his grip on Lana’s shoulders. He felt her shaking from the nerves. His family
were hard to deal with at first. Growing up with all of them made it easier for
him to keep up with each conversation. It was one of the reasons he believed he
was a good businessman.

Tonya’s advice was nice to hear. The other woman had stopped
him from going inside the house along with his brother Seth. They were worried
about him because of his lack of visits to the family home. He saw the love Tonya
had for his brother, and after all this time he truly believed she loved Seth.

He couldn’t force Tonya to stop loving his brother. They
were never meant to be.
Kent
understood that now. Running his fingers up and down Lana’s arm he felt at
peace. Lana was meant to be here with him. Her place was by his side even
though she kept trying to run away from him.

Before coming home, he’d phoned his parents to warn them
about Lana’s insecurities. They were simply being themselves around her.

Lana picked up the cup of tea. She took a sip and winced.

“Oh no, too much sugar,” Sophie said. The cup was whisked
out of her hands and thrown in the sink. He watched as Sophie then started to
make another drink.

“Where are your men?” he asked.

“Football,” Dawn and Sophie said.

He turned to Eric. “My woman’s shopping with the kids. They
need a new costume for some school play, and you know my woman. She needs to
make it herself.”

Kent
nodded. The
few times he’d come home for Sunday lunch he’d felt sorry for his siblings.
Their lives were constantly filled with the mundane crap that came with a
steady woman or man and a family.

Now, as he stood behind Lana he saw something completely
different.
Kent
saw himself from their perspective. He saw a lonely older man with nothing but
work to keep him company.

Turning around he saw Seth rubbing Tonya’s shoulders as she
helped their oldest son do homework. The connection among all of them made him
feel lonely.

He watched as his dad moved to where his mom was peeling
potatoes for dinner. Derek put his hands on Penny’s hips and was whispering
against her ear. The love he witnessed startled him.

Kent
didn’t have
any of this. When they all went home, they had their partners, husbands and
wives to wrap up warm to. What did he have? A beeping phone where he could call
any woman and a black book filled with numbers of women he didn’t want.

His life was meaningless.

“
Kent
, why don’t you show Lana your
old room?”
Penny said.

Nodding,
Kent
took Lana’s hand and escorted her to his room. He had slept on the top floor.

“Wow, your family is huge,” Lana said.

“They’re a great bunch. Were you struggling to keep up?” he
asked.

“I was getting there. It was pretty hectic.” She smiled. He
kept a firm grip on her hand as they made their way up to his room.

He opened the door. The only other woman in his childhood
bedroom was Tonya.

“You’ve got a lot of trophies,” Lana said. “You’ve gone all
silent on me.”

“I’m just thinking.” He sat down on his bed, picking up the
ball his mother had left there on his last day of college.

“What are you thinking about?” Lana tucked some stray
strands of hair behind her ear. The glasses she wore made her look adorable.

Kent
let out a
sigh. “I’ve not come to a family dinner in some time. I’ve always made an excuse
not to be here.
Work, dates, my friends.”

“You were hiding from Tonya,” Lana said.

“I thought I was hiding from her. It’s insane how I’ve built
this wall up between myself and my family,” he said.

She waited for him to speak. He tried to find the right
words to say. “I was pissed at Seth and Tonya. I felt they’d betrayed me, but
you can’t control the person you fall in love with. They’re in love.”

“I can see that.”

“I didn’t. I thought she wanted the older brother, the guy
who’d inherit the real fortune from our dad. I’ve always wanted to go my own
way. Dad let me do what I wanted.” He laughed thinking how silly his past
thoughts have been. “When I came here, alone, I used to feel sorry for them
all. They had family, responsibility. They weren’t free. I thought I had the
good life.”

“You don’t think that?” she asked.

“I thought they were jealous of me because I didn’t have any
responsibilities. They felt sorry for me because I have nothing.”

“You have something,
Kent
.” Lana nudged his arm.

Tears filled his eyes as the truth hit him square in the
chest. “No, I don’t. What exactly do I have?” He stared down at the ball in his
hand. “I’ve got a successful company and a lonely big penthouse fucking
apartment. I’ve got friends who’ve settled down with a family.”

He wiped under his eyes as the real loneliness started to
set in. “Like I said to you, I don’t have female friends I don’t fuck. I’ve got
nothing. When I go home tonight I won’t be going back with a wife or
girlfriend. I’ll be going home to an empty apartment. I’ve got a big fuck-off
television to keep me company. Man, I’ve got a phone filled with lots of
available women who’ll come and sleep with me. But what do I really have? I’ve
got nothing.”

She wrapped her arms around him. Tears were streaming down
her face. “You’ve not got
nothing
,
Kent
.”

“No? Then what do I have?
Because right
now I feel like a fucking waste of time.”
Lana cupped his cheek and
turned him to face her. “You’ve got me. I’m not going anywhere.”

Chapter Ten

One month later

Lana placed the food down in front of her regular customer.
She waited for them to ask for something else. When they ignored her, she
walked toward the next customer. She checked the clock on the far wall to see
how long she had left before it was time to start heading for her other job.
Her time with
Kent
was the best part of her day. Their time at his family’s home had really
cemented their friendship. After she’d promised to always be in his life,
Kent
had held
her close, and their friendship deepened. They were no longer the billionaire
business man and the cleaner in her mind. They were simply Kent and Lana, two
friends who enjoyed spending time together. He was her first real friend, and
she adored him. She checked the clock again to see if the hands had moved
faster. This was how her life had become, clock watching.