Page 17 of The Billionaire's Commitment

We agreed to meet at my work at the end of the day. It didn’t surprise me that as soon as I walked out the door, Brody was there waiting outside. He was wearing the same shirt and shorts he had been in earlier. I liked that he was keeping things casual. I hadn’t expected him to show up with flowers and wearing a suit, but that he didn’t change and looked more like he was going to go to a baseball game than a date made me feel better about the evening.

“Are you ready?” he asked when I walked up to him.

“Yes. Are you hungry?”

“I’m always hungry. What are you in the mood for?” he asked.

“Anything really. There’s a burger joint around the corner. They have some good food,” I said.

“Do you go there a lot?” Brody asked.

“A few times.” I didn’t want to admit it was the only place I had gone to around work because it was suggested by my boss on the first day. I hadn’t gone anywhere else.

“Why don’t we try something else? Have you ever had Thai food?”

“You know there are no Thai places in Aurora,” I said.

“There are plenty here. Have you tried it since you have been here?”

“No. Is it good?”

“There is one way to find out,” Brody said and put out his hand for me to take.

I looked at him like he was crazy, and he nodded his understanding and started walking down the street. I fell in step behind him. We didn’t talk. I didn’t know what to say, and when I looked over at Brody, he seemed unphased by the awkward silence between us.

When we got outside a Thai place called The Green Garden Bistro, Brody stood in front of it and said, “I haven’t been here myself, so I have no idea how good it is. There might be rats in the kitchen. If it sucks, or there isn’t anything you want to try on the menu, then we can leave. Just let me know, okay?”

“Okay,” I said.

We walked into the restaurant, which was done in deep browns and wood. There were wooden slats that separated some of the tables, with a long row of tables set up in the middle. In the back, there was a bar done in deep leather with stools along the front. A petite woman with a soft smile came up and took us to our table.

Once I was seated, I took the menu and opened it up. I didn’t see anything that I recognized and worried that this had all been a mistake. I wasn’t sure what anything was, and I was trying to find a way to tell Brody that we should try somewhere else when he put the menu down and looked at me. His green eyes were understanding as he smiled at me.

“Did you understand anything on the menu?” he asked.

“No. Did you?”

“I’ve been to a few Thai places before, so a little bit. Usually, they have descriptions of what the food is. This must be more traditional or in an area where everyone knows what it is, so they don’t. I was thinking we could both choose two things on the menu that sound interesting and try them. If we hate them, then we know never to order that again. Or we can just skip out and find a pizza joint. What do you say?”

He looked so excited about the idea, and the words of my sister kept running through my head. I was in New York City. I was there to try new things. What better way to do it than with someone I knew and trusted? This was a good way to get out of my comfort zone and have some fun.

“Let’s try your idea of picking things off the menu, and if we hate everything and can’t eat anything, I say we still go and get the pizza afterward,” I suggested.

“You always were so good about seeing the whole picture. I like it. I see you’re just as thorough with your plans now, a woman after my own heart,” he said and opened up the menu.

I lifted my menu up and was glad to have the shield so that Brody didn’t see me blushing. I didn’t know that Brody had noticed how detail-orientated I was, nor had I ever had a man who liked how I needed to control everything. It left me on edge, and I kept my eyes on the menu and decided on a soup and a main course.

“Find anything interesting?” Brody asked after a few minutes.

“It all looks interesting. We’ll have to see if it tastes good.”

“What were you thinking of getting?” he asked and put his menu down. He looked at me as he waited as if what I had to say was the most important thing he was ever going to hear.

“Um, I was thinking of the soup, Tom Yum Koong. I figure if it has yum in the name, it must mean that it’s good.”

“I like the way you are thinking, and what else?”

“Do you still like salmon? I was thinking of doing Salmon Jian because it had a word I understood.”

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