Page 13 of The Bossy Billionaire's Fake Date

At least I could say that my first day at work had been eventful.

Chapter 5

Dylan

Iblinked twice, trying to get myself to focus on the woman sitting across from me at the table at a fancy restaurant. After several calls and reminders, my mother finally succeeded in getting me to go on a date with her friend’s daughter.

“I’m Carla,” she batted her eyelashes at me. She had been twenty minutes late to the date and I was one second away from leaving before she finally walked in. “But I’m sure you know that already.”

“I didn’t actually,” I replied. My view was partially blocked by the large handbag she had placed on the table between us. But even then, I could immediately tell that she was not my type.

Her hair was bleached blonde to the point that it was almost fried, and she had slathered an entire pound of makeup on her face. From the way her lips protruded in an exaggerated way, I could already tell that she had gotten some work done on her face.

“Well, sorry to keep you waiting,” she said as she took a small metal tin box out of her gigantic purse. “You know how New York traffic is. Took me forever to find an Uber and I wouldn’t be caught dead taking the subway.”

She pulled out a piece of chewing gum from the tin box and put it in her mouth. When she noticed the confused expression on my face, she laughed.

“My doctor told me to chew gum before every meal,” she explained, “It helps kill your appetite, so you end up eating less.”

“Right,” I awkwardly shifted my gaze as the sound of her smacking her lips together filled up the silence between us.

“Do you want one?” She held out the box to me.

“I think I’m good,” I replied, already dreading how the rest of the evening was going to be.

“Your choice,” she said, quietly putting the box away. “You know, I’ve heard so much about you from your mom. She really loves to talk about you.”

“I wonder what she’s been saying,” I let out a laugh, feeling relieved that there was finally something to talk about.

“She’s painted quite the picture of you, and honestly, you know what? I’m never this direct on a first date but if there’s any truth to what she said, I think I like you already,” she laughed loudly, causing some heads to turn our way.

“My mother likes to make me sound a lot better than I am,” I admitted. “But I don’t really blame her. I’m her only son, after all.”

“I think we have a lot in common,” her eyes lit up and she leaned forward as she said the words.

“Like what?” I observed her from my side of the table. I didn’t want to be so quick to judge, but I could not fathom what the two of us could possibly have in common.

“For starters, I think we have the same taste for the finer things in life,” she explained, flashing the expensive-looking chain she was wearing around her neck.

“Are you a fan of jewelry?” I asked.

“Why, yes. Diamonds only, of course,” she stressed.

“New York isn’t exactly known for its lack of street crime,” I replied. “I would be careful wearing that outdoors.”

“Please, what do you expect me to do instead?” she shrugged. “Wear fake chains? As if. Besides, I’m not too worried. If I end up losing it, I can always call my parents and tell them a sob story about how I got robbed. They’ll send me a new one right away.”

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, racking my brain for a change of topic. I’d never been the type to shy away from money or the fact that I had copious amounts of it, but listening to her made it feel dirty. She showed no class whatsoever. I didn’t want to be associated with that kind of money.

“So, what do you do?” I asked, trying my hardest to sound interested. I had promised my mother that I would go through with the date and the least I could do was find out a little more about her.

“Like... in life?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I had to laugh at how clueless she sounded. “Like… life.”

She tossed her hair and leaned back in her chair. “I like to travel, shop, and you know, just live my life. It’s great.”

“I meant for work,” I replied.

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