Page 2 of My Cruel Billionaire

A body interposed itself between me and the VIP section. I blinked, then looked up past a red power tie to see the smiling face of a handsome, young man.

“Hello there,” he said. “You’re even better looking in person.”

“Thank you,” I said on reflex, though it was kind of a stilted compliment. Without preamble, he settled into the seat opposite of me. I waited to see if he would offer an explanation or apology for his tardiness. He did not.

I found him attractive enough, with a heart-shaped face and sensuous lips. His eyes were friendly, and yet sort of closed off. Like he was there, but his mind was somewhere else entirely.

“So,” he said, eyeing the menu. “Have you ordered yet?”

“I have not. I was waiting for you.”

Again I paused, waiting to see if he would apologize, but he just nodded as if nothing was awry and continued to scan the menu.

“So,” he said, looking up briefly at me. “Do you come here often?”

“No, I can’t say that I do.”

He cocked his eyebrow.

“Oh, right, you’re a secretary or something like that.” His dismissiveness didn’t annoy me as much as it probably should have. I really was just glad to be out of the house, dating like a ‘normal’ person. “I guess you can’t afford a place like this.”

“I’m a personal assistant, actually,” I said, a bit dryly, but he didn’t pick up on it.

“Oh. Pretty much same difference. I’m kind of a big deal on the business scene in this city.”

I smiled, and tried not to laugh. Is there anyone who has ever uttered the words ‘I’m kind of a big deal’ who actually was, in fact, a big deal? If he had really been a big deal I would have met him some other way than a dating app on my phone. I regularly worked with the major players in the city, and he was not one of them.

He continued to talk at me in a manner that suggested he was trying to impress me with what a big shot he was. He kept going on and on about his career, his connections in high places, and so forth.

Joe wasn’t being a jerk about it, nor was he being overtly over the top. Still, it was kind of off-putting. I decided to roll with it. At least he was nice to look at, even if he was kind of a bore.

“Oh,” he said, putting down his wine glass. “And I even worked a deal with Evan Jones. THE Evan Jones.”

I couldn’t keep a smile from coming to my face. Evan Jones was my boss.

“Not just any Evan Jones,” I said playfully. “But THE Evan Jones.”

He totally missed the context and nodded enthusiastically.

“Yeah, I closed a deal with him on the Sikorsky Aeronautics firm. That was worth half a billion dollars all on its own.”

I couldn’t stop a smirk from coming to my lips. He had been nowhere near that deal. I had worked on that deal with Evan, and I knew all of the players involved. And it was worth two hundred and fifty million. A substantial sum, but far from half a billion dollars.

I was disappointed in Joe. I didn’t let it show, though, because quite frankly his lies were so entertaining. He kept name-dropping people he clearly didn’t know, and talking about deals he had never been a part of.

Still, dinner was nice. I had lamb stew with an arugula salad. The stew had been spiced perfectly, and went well with the house red wine my date ordered. Another sign he wasn’t the big shot he claimed to be.

I was having enough diversion that I didn’t notice that the restaurant was shutting down all around us until they started bussing a table nearby. It was down to us and Mr. Cigar Smoking Big Shot in the VIP area.

“Would you like some more wine?” Joe arched his brows at me from across the table. Judging from his manners, I would say that he probably thought he had done a lot better job of impressing me than he actually had achieved.

“Oh no, I’m fine,” I said. “Besides, we’re being rude. These nice people would like to finish closing the restaurant and go home, I’m sure.”

“Hey, they’re in the service industry. They should be used to the idea of serving their betters.”

Yeah, he was getting less and less sexy by the moment. Not that he had ever been all that to begin with. He was handsome, but lacked, ah, heat as I would like to put it. I felt zero chemistry with the guy.

“In that case,” he said. “I guess we should ask for the bill?”

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