Page 21 of The Billionaire's Commitment

“Are you saying you don’t like my face?” I asked teasingly.

“I didn’t say that. You all have good faces,” she admitted.

“True, but mine is the best,” I said and lifted my glass at her.

“I didn’t say that,” Zoey said and took a sip of her tea. I knew she was using it to hide her blush.

“You didn’t disagree with me either.”

I held her gaze and waited for her to say something. She didn’t, and I hid my disappointment. I had hoped she would tease me that I wasn’t or tell me that she knew I was.

After a moment, she asked, “And you? What do you do at the bar? I can’t see you sitting around just drinking beers all day long.” She clearly was trying to get off the subject, and I let her.

“No. I like doing the behind-the-scenes stuff. I do the accounting, and I help with the advertising and booking the bands. I use the knowledge I got working theater in high school to keep the sound system working. I will work in the bar if I need to, but that is more Logan’s thing and our staff.”

“Does Eric work behind the bar?”

“No. Never. You’ve seen him. He would scare away all the customers. Grace, his fiance, is much better back there.”

“Fiance?”

“Yeah, that’s a long story, or maybe not. I guess the quick way of telling their story is that they met at work. The longer story is that Grace was Lauren’s best friend.”

“Oh, wow,” Zoey said and leaned back in her chair.

“I like to think Lauren helped bring them together. They’re good for each other, and I’m happy for them.”

“That’s sweet of you. I can see you care about your friends,” Zoey said as Ana came back with the check.

“Yes. Eric and Logan are more than friends; they’re like family. I feel as close if not closer to them than I do my own family.”

“Don’t let Dakota hear you say that. But it shows, you can see how much you all care about each other, or at least I could see it in the little bit of time I was around you all.”

“You should spend more time with us. Then you can get a better understanding of me and my friends.”

“Thank you, but that’s okay,” Zoey said and looked away from me.

I couldn’t tell if she was embarrassed about the idea of us spending more time together, she wasn’t one to hang out at a bar and she wasn’t going to start now, or she didn’t want to spend time with me, period.

Ana came back with the receipt, and I signed it and put my credit card away. I didn’t want the evening to end, and I wanted to get to the heart of why Zoey didn’t want to come to the bar. Zoey didn’t feel the same way as she was grabbing her coat to stand up. I followed her lead and went to pull her chair out for her.

“Tha— Thank you,” she said as she stood.

“My pleasure,” I said and helped her put on her coat, and we headed outside.

She didn’t exactly keep her distance from me, but she wasn’t close either. I could feel her more emotionally pulling away from me than anything else. I wasn’t sure what had changed or why she was. I had a good time; I thought she had too. I could see this being the start of many dates we would have. Dates that would lead to a proposal and then to marriage, a house, kids, everything.

“Thanks for having dinner with me. I hope you liked it,” I said when we got outside.

“It was a new experience, for sure.” She put her hands in her pockets and swayed on her heels.

“Good. I was glad I could give you at least one adventure. Would you do me the honor of allowing me to give you a few more?”

“Brody, this was nice of you. It was kind of you to take me out, it was fun to catch up, to try some new food, but I don’t think we should do this again.”

“Did you not have a good time? Did I have something in my teeth? I hope I didn’t say anything to offend you. If I did, please tell me, and I’ll never do it again.”

“No, you were great. Wonderful. This has been one of the best dates that I’ve ever been on. If I was looking for someone, you would be the perfect choice, but I’m not.”

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