Page 24 of The Billionaire Benefactor

Roman made it three hours before he called her. After Chinese with his mom, where he could barely pay attention to anything she said, he watched part of another baseball game while refreshing Twitter for no reason, not really watching the game or his phone. After getting into bed, he couldn’t stand it anymore.

When Jenny answered, though, he was shocked. It was almost eleven. He thought for sure he’d have to leave a message. Or just hang up.

“Hello?” she said. Her voice was clear, not at all sleepy sounding.

“You’re up?”

She chuckled. “That’s not a proper greeting. And if you didn’t think I’d be up this late, why were you calling?”

“Sorry. Hello,” he said, smiling. “Is that better?”

She giggled, and the sound sent warmth radiating through his chest. “Much. So…what are you doing?”

“I’m in bed. Well, about to go to bed. Had Chinese with my mom after camp and watched some baseball.”

“Aw, that’s sweet. And delicious. I love Chinese. What’s your favorite?”

“I like General Tso’s but only with dark meat. I’ve got only one place that will do that. Most places have switched to white.”

“Ew,” she said. “Dark meat? Really?”

“Um, that’s the best kind of meat. Don’t tell me you like white meat better? It’s so dry.”

“Dark meat is like…I don’t know how to describe it. The texture is just so slimy. Ugh.”

“You know what this means?” Roman asked.

“No, what?”

“We could order a whole chicken and share it. You’d eat the white meat and I’d eat the dark meat. It’s perfect.”

She laughed now, a full-on belly laugh. “Is this like some kind of football player fantasy? Finding someone who will eat the other half of the chicken with you?”

“Maybe.” He loved the fact that she was talking like this. Lightly flirting. It was just enough. “Is that okay?”

“I mean, it’s a little shallow. But very practical.”

“Thank you. I’ve been called worse than practical.”

“Have you?” she asked. “Because honestly, everyone seems to love you. I never hear one bad word about you. You’re like the perfect golden boy. Complete with golden hair.”

“It’s dirty blond, not golden.”

“Sure, golden boy. Whatever you say.”

Roman lay in bed in the dark while they talked. For a while it was just this: banter that was just on the edge of flirtation. Nothing heavy or romantic, which would have been way too much, but just a fun conversation. He loved when he said something that made her smile. He could hear it in her voice and the sound of it made him feel like he’d done something amazing and noble. Because he had, really. He had made Jenny happy.

As the night and the conversation wore on, they went a little deeper. She asked what it was like to live a day in his life, which really made him pause. He felt guilty suddenly. Because he wanted to complain. But his life couldn’t be better, really.

“Every week is different. I mean, I have some daily habits, but a lot of random stuff. It really depends on whether it’s during the season or not. I train every day for a few hours.”

“During the season?”

“Yeah, and the off-season. It’s horrible to come back if you haven’t kept up. I tried that one year. So painful. I threw up the first three days of practice.”

“Yuck,” she said. “Okay, so what about other than football?”

Roman was quiet. “Honestly, I don’t do much else. Some charity work, working out, hanging with the guys, hanging with my mom. I sound like a really big dork right now.”

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