Page 74 of The Billionaires

“Yes?” I stare at El Duderino in confusion.

Dude. I totally didn’t expect this dude to agree to that either.

“Did you want me to say no?” Lucius asks, and I can picture him smirking on the other end of the call.

Yes. No. Maybe. “Why would I ask you if I didn’t want you to go?”

I fully expect him to say, “Because you promised your nosy parents.” Instead, he says, “It’s a good idea.”

Once again, I gape at my cactus.

Dude. I have no idea why this dude thinks it’s a good idea.

“Why?” I finally ask.

“Great practice,” Lucius says. “If your family buys the fartlek, so will Gram.”

Of course. Makes sense. So why do I feel so disappointed by his robot-like logic?

“It’s settled then,” I say. “We’ll do it when you’re back.”

If anyone learns about me meeting his grandmother and him meeting all my folks, they’ll assume we’re on the fast track to a shotgun wedding.

“Is there anything I should prep ahead of time?” he asks.

“Like what?” It would probably be prudent to have everyone in my family sign NDAs, but I’m not going to give him that idea.

“Are there any get-to-know-you questions we haven’t covered that they might raise?”

I sigh. “They’ll probably tell you the most embarrassing things about me, so out of fairness, maybe you could tell me yours?”

His sigh sounds a lot like mine. “Gram will probably tell you my most embarrassing stories also.”

“Like?”

He tsk-tsks. “I’ll only tell you mine if you tell me yours.”

I hesitate, but then I figure why the hell not. He already knows I’m dyslexic. Softly, I say, “I doubt my family will tell you this, but my most embarrassing moments all have to do with my reading woes. I had a sadistic teacher who always called on me to read out loud. Some examples of my mishaps include ‘vaginal ice cream’ instead of ‘vanilla’ and ‘period red’ instead of ‘Persian red.’ Everyone had fun at my expense, and kids being kids, they mocked me for months afterward.”

“Kids can be animals,” he says with feeling. “And it sounds like that teacher should’ve been fired… at the very least. What’s her name?"

“Oh, don’t worry, I got even.” I smile at the memory. “I snuck Krazy Glue onto her seat. It ended with a pretty embarrassing trip to the hospital for her.”

“Good.” There is a smile in his voice as he says, “I’d better not piss you off.”

“That’s right. And to that end, you now owe me something embarrassing—and not what your grandmother will tell me.”

Did he just curse under his breath?

“Fine,” he says with obvious reluctance. “But this is doubly covered by our NDA.”

“Sure.” I mentally rub my hands together. He’s obviously going to tell me something juicy.

“There was this bully who pantsed me in the cafeteria one time,” he says.

I grit my teeth. “He what?”

“Pulled my pants down,” Lucius clarifies.

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