Page 26 of Personal Escort

“I don’t know how to make Eggs Benedict myself.” He says this like it makes perfect sense.

“But you could have made whatever. Toast or…”

“You’re having something fancy, I wanted something similar.” He grins and any thoughts I may have had about this being odd vanish.

Whatever. He wants someone else to cook for our brunch together, that’s no skin off my nose.

“Besides, we’re celebrating,” he adds.

“Right! Your shareholder meeting went well?”

“Sure.” He leans in toward the camera. “But I also got a message yesterday from Ben. Your family seems pretty stoked about Alex. Your plan is working.”

I pull a face at him. “Oh. That.”

“You aren’t thrilled?”

“I don’t know. Now that they all know, it’s kind of weird.” I take a deep breath. “It’s getting complicated.”

He laughs gently. “Yes. You knew it would.”

“Right. But…it’s different in reality.”

“Ah.” He leans back as a waiter sets a plate in front of him.

“Oh, that looks good!” I say.

“I got the smoked salmon instead of Canadian bacon.”

“Hey, fun fact.” I hold up my plate. “They don’t even have Canadian bacon in Canada. True story. They use this delicious other kind of ham that we don’t have at home, and call it back bacon. It’s tasty. I’ll miss it when I leave.”

“We’ll have to get find you an international supplier if you like it that much.”

I laugh out loud before realizing he’s serious. I shake my head. “I don’t need special delivery of food.”

“Maybe for a special occasion.” He smiles, undeterred.

“Oh, Toby.” I play with my food a bit as I try to find a polite way to say I don’t like to be spoiled. Which is, in and of itself, an incredibly lucky thing to be able to say. “I really appreciate the thought. But the thing is, within reason, I don’t like to take advantage of…”

“My wealth?” Where Elana might bristle, Toby just shrugs. “I get that. I don’t like to waste money, either—not owning a private jet being just one example of that. But if you ever got homesick for something you’d had in one of your many temporary homes, I’d move mountains to get it for you.”

His words are earnest, but there’s a roughness to them, too, one that slices under my skin. I should push back against it, tell him I don’t need that kind of dedication—I don’t want it—but that wouldn’t be true.

So instead I change the subject, because while I can’t lie, I can evade like a champ. “Speaking of extravagance, Elana says you’re coming to the Hamptons a couple of times this summer.”

“That’s the plan. I love the Russo beach house.”

“She wants me to bring Alex.”

He chokes on the bite of food he’d just put in his mouth. “Excuse me?”

“Right? These are the kind of details I didn’t think through before leaping into my crazy plan.”

He covers his mouth as he swallows, then waves his hand as if that’s a minor detail. “So the guy works a lot and can’t get to the shore.”

“That’s what I told her.”

He winks. “Great minds.”

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