Page 7 of Falling for My Billionaire Fake Date

“You don’t have to make excuses for Aurora, and no, my pride is doing just fine. The ‘princess' did nothing to hurt it.”

Brittney laughs in reply and Ryan rolls his eyes.

“Dude, I’m sure it was just a misunderstanding. She meant no disrespect. I’m sure of that. This is unlike you, Jake— blowing up like that. I’ve never seen you react in that manner, not even when you found out that Sophia was—”

“That’s enough, Ryan.” I give him a hard look to get him to stop talking. Ryan has always had a big mouth. “I’m sorry, man,” Ryan says softly, remorse etched on his face.

Brittney was watching the whole exchange with a calculating look on her face, and I could practically hear the cogs whirring in her head.

“You mentioned your personal assistant is on maternity leave, isn’t she? And you need a temporary personal assistant as soon as you can get one?” she asks, entirely changing the topic.

And I am glad she did. I don’t want to hear more about tonight’s incident and I have no qualms jumping on Brittney’s change in topic. I nod in affirmation, not letting my preferencefor the topic shine through. “I’ve had the office announce that there’s a vacancy for the post, and the interviews are on Mond-”

She claps gleefully and grins widely, not letting me finish my sentence.

“It’s settled, then. I have a cousin who’s in desperate need of a job. I’ll let her know there’s a vacancy in the new construction office. She’ll be there on Monday for the interview.”

Ryan looks confused at this. “Since when did you have a cousin in need of a job?” Brittney glares at him and gives him a look, intending to communicate an obviously hidden message. I find it very suspicious. Maybe there’s a hidden story concerning her cousin she’d rather not get into.

“Yes, my cousin, who you definitely do not know, is in need of a stable job, and I’ll make sure to let her know there is a vacancy somewhere,” she says, with gritted teeth, while holding his gaze the entire time.

Ryan’s face lights up in understanding and he grins while nodding enthusiastically, which I also find a little weird and . . . yeah, suspicious. It’s none of my business though. Her cousin, her business.

“Gentlemen, if I may call it a night? It was nice meeting you, Jake. Text me when you get home, Ryan.” Brittney downs the remains of her tonic water and stands to leave.

Ryan nods at her, telling her to drive safe. She shakes hands with me, grabs her bag, and heads out, leaving only the two of us at the table.

We talk and laugh into the night, reminiscing about college, and avoiding that one topic that was a very big part of college. And I find myselfgrateful for it.

Brittney’s suspicious cousin nags at a very little part of my mind as the night settles in.

Chapter seven

Aurora – Getting Over It

I wake up before the shrill sound of my alarm, not that I was asleep anyway. It was all a jumble of restless night and angst, eagerly waiting for day to break. Three minutes later, my alarm goes off, blinking 7:03 am in bright neon green. I feel something twitch beside me. It’s Mr. Snow, of course. He must have snuggled in at some point when I had managed to fall asleep.

He climbs up on my chest, not in the least disgruntled by the high-pitched sound of the alarm. Usually, he glares at me with haughty eyes and struts off to his corner of the house whenever he gets disturbed. But this morning, he merely climbs my chest and inspects my face, his intelligent eyes looking straight into mine. I laugh.

“I’m fine, Snow-Snow, nothing to worry about. How’d you sleep?” I ask him, scratching his ears. He cocks his head to one side as if calling me out on my first statement. I laugh in reply. “I’m fine, really.” Grinning, I continue. “Now, tell me, how’d Your Highness sleep?”

I could swear he narrows his eyes at me right before he purrs, snuggles deeper into my chest, and falls back off to sleep. I love to hear his breaths coming out in soft snores and purrs.

To think I saved him from a shelter on the brink of its shutting down. He was one of the few animals left, and I wondered how and why he wasn’t snagged up already. The kind old lady told me he hadn’t been adopted because he was ‘too big.’

Apparently, people mostly wanted to adopt only kittens and puppies. And the other older pets had been adopted because they had seemed tame, and he had not.

It took only one look for me to be completely in love. He wouldn’t let me touch him from his cage, only stood there haughtily, staring at me with absolute pride. As if to say,’Yes, I’m beautiful and I know it, now, judge me like the rest and get out of here. I’m used to it anyway.’

But I never saw any problem with him. A cat that beautiful is allowed to be proud. In fact, I didn’t want himtamed,he needed only to be trained. But it turned out I had no problem with that.

He never messed in the house or even in the cat house I had designed for him under the staircase. Instead, he had dragged his litterbox into the backyard, well hidden behind the rose bushes. How strange is that? He wants to do his business outdoors, but in a litter box!

I named him Mr. Snow obviously because his fluffy fur is as pure as untouched snow, not even a speck of color on him. He’s very beautiful and he knows it too.

Then I allow myself to think of the reason why I had a sleepless night.You mean whom, not why, my subconscious snorts out.Yeah . . . whom,I agree.

Last night had turned out to be a crazy turn of events. All the admiration I’d felt at first was fast flushed down the drain, replaced with anger and embarrassment. And in a corner of my mind was confusion. What had gotten him so angry? Or maybe I had imagined the gentle smile on his face at first? There’s no need trying to figure it out. He’s just a big jerk who thinks he’s better than everyone because he’s from the city.

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