Page 13 of Fake Marriage with the Billionaire

She sighed and shook her head. “If you must know, I have a bachelor’s in mathematics.” He raised his eyebrows and that made her roll her eyes. “See. You think I’m an idiot.”

“No,” he said. “No, I don’t. It’s just…mathematics?”

She huffed and crossed her arms and he said, “I’m sorry if I seem surprised, it’s just that you don’t strike me as the kind of woman who…um…”

“Has a brain? I’ll have you know I was in the top five percent of my class.”

He paused thoughtfully. “Why do you need to do this again?”

“Look,” she said with a salty laugh, “if you’re going to sit here and insult me--”

“I’m not. Okay? Let’s just skip the education part of all this. You’re not expected to have one of any significance anyway.” She shook her head again, a bitter smile on her face. “That’s not a reflection of you personally. Remember, you’re a socialite. You’ve got money on top of money. You don’t need to go to college if you don’t want to. You’ve got your family’s business to sustain you.”

She’d crossed her legs and one of them was bouncing angrily. “Do you have an education?”

“Yes,” he says. “I have a bachelor’s in business.”

She nodded. “And why do you have a degree if you don’t need one?”

He sighed. “That’s a long story,” he said. “One that I would rather not get into with you.”

“We’re supposed to be getting ready to get married. You can’t keep secrets from me.”

“Knock it off,” he said, scowling at her. “This isn’t real. If you’re questioned specifically about why I went to college, then make something up. I don’t care because it’s just not important to me.”

“This is so stupid,” she said sipping her beer.

After about three scotches and two more Stella Artois’, Richard was starting to feel the effects of the drink. He wasn’t drunk just yet, but he knew that his limit was coming up fast and it was probably time to stop. Stella, on the other hand, was starting to lean a little as she sat next to him, her eyes glazing over as she watched the pianist play another song.

“We should probably call it a night,” he said, looking down at his glass with nothing but ice and a thin layer of brown liquid on the bottom. “It’s getting late and I have work in the morning.”

Stella was leaning on the table, her head in her hands, her drowsy eyes watching the pianist. “That’s a really pretty song,” she said wistfully. “Kind of sounds like raindrops.”

He tilted his head at her and smiled softly. “Stella. We should go.”

She looked over at him sharply as if she’d just noticed he was talking, then said, “That’s a good idea.”

“You shouldn’t drive,” he said with a chuckle and she chuckled back.

“No, I shouldn’t.”

“I’ll have my driver take you home,” he said. “Come on.”

Stella

Richardpaidforthedrinks and they walked out of the bar. As they stood out on the street in the cool night air, Richard pulled out his phone to call his driver. Stella watched with fascination as he spoke quickly and efficiently to him. Barely uttering a ‘hello’ before giving his orders. A few minutes later, the car pulled up to the curb.

He turned to Stella and half smiled at her, putting his arm out for her to hook hers in. It was interesting how he could be so charming when he wanted to be. At this moment, she found herself wanting to be at his side. Wanting to stand there as his arm candy if that was all she was going to be.

Admittedly, they looked good together as the couples went. She knew how nice she looked and he just seemed to glow with beauty. She thought, looking up at him with the streetlight illuminating one side of his face, that right at that moment, he looked attractive in this light.

Who am I kidding? He’s always attractive. In fact, she would have characterized him as God-tier attractive. Despite it all, Richard Hollis was all the way fuckable as men went. She smiled back at him and she looped her arm in his. He had his good qualities. That was for sure. Sure, he had a little bit of a stiff attitude, but there was no denying how good-looking he was. Or chivalrous. He even managed to behave halfway human to her for the whole second half of the night.

Maybe it was the alcohol talking, but she was starting to wonder what would happen if she asked Richard to come back to her place. It was crazy, but she couldn’t stop herself from wondering what he might be like in bed. Neither of them could be classified as drunk, but she was pretty sure that they were both inebriated enough to deny it all later, should something happen between them.

As he walked Stella to the door and opened it for her. She looked up at him with bleary eyes and decided to take a chance. The worst thing that could happen would be him saying no. “Are you doing anything else tonight?”

“No,” he said as they stood in the open door. “It’s late. I’m probably going to go right to bed.”

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