Page 18 of Fake Dating My Billionaire Boss

Nora continues studiously ignoring me. Addison, meanwhile, shoots daggers at me with her eyes. “I know you like a nice cotton and cashmere blend, Pumpkin,” she says. “I remember that from when welived together.”

Good Lord. He lived with her? What have I gotten myself into?

Addison reaches her long, narrow fingers up toward her hair. She spins a lock and gazes dreamily at Damian. Then she snaps out of it and glares my way. “I hope you don’t mind if I call him that. We had little nicknames for one another, and I find it hard to think of him as anything else besides my Pumpkin.”

“And what did he call you?” I’m too curious for my own good. But I have to know.

At my side, Damian utters another low groan. “Could we not do this? Please?”

Addison smirks. “If you must know, he called me Doc. Isn’t that sweet? I’m a physician. It’s silly, but that’s how we were together. Two silly love birds. Sorry—that must be difficult for you to hear.” She’s not sorry at all. Her steely eyes dare me to fight back.

“Oh, no. It’s fine with me,” I tell her. I weave my arm around Damian’s waist, tangle my fingers with his, and give him a tight squeeze. Then I nestle my head into his chest. “We have nicknames for each other, too.”

“Is that right?” Addison cocks her thin, auburn brow, daring me to go on.

I’m not one to turn down a dare. “I’m his Smoochums. He’s my Huggy Bear. Because he gives such good hugs, doesn't he?” To make my point, I wriggle against Damian, rocking us back and forth.

“Okay… Smoochums,” he says, patting my head. “That’s… that’s probably enough.”

I paste a thousand-watt smile on my lips and aim it at Addison and Nora while I continue to hug Damian. “I’m just happy to be here, finally, you know? The city was getting to be so lonely, and this feels so right.”

Addison’s frown cuts deep wrinkles in her chin. They travel all the way down to her razor-sharp jawline. Is it wrong of me to feel a little happy that she looks like a marionette puppet at the moment? The frown lines aren’t becoming, and the catty part of me feels triumphant.

Nora, slightly behind Addison, folds her arms across her chest and huffs with displeasure.

Damian’s deep voice rumbles through me when he speaks. “It does feel right, doesn’t it?”

“We were made for one another,” I say, because—what do you know? Maybe I’m better at this acting thing than I thought. “We fell in love in the city, of all places. Two kids from the country, falling in love in the Big Apple… It was crazy, running into him after all those years.”

“In the city? Is that right?” Addison says.

Damian pats my back. “Okay, honey. Let’s not get into this right now. We have a busy day ahead.”

“No, no,” Addison says. Like me, it seems she has a curious streak. “Enlighten us. Nora, don’t you want to know how they met?”

Nora exhales a sigh that makes her highlighted bangs puff up. “Oh, why not? Regale us with the tale. Where do working-class women spend time in the city these days, anyway?”

“Mother!” Damian snaps.

“What? I’m not being rude, I’m being honest. I see her car out there, Damian. It’s at least twenty years old.”

“Twenty-six years old and still running,” I say. “Sort of. I think the muffler is falling off.” I pat Damian’s flat stomach and look up at him. “How are you with fixing mufflers, honey?”

Addison cuts in before he can answer. “So? How did you meet? I want to know.”

“It was…ah hem.” Damian hesitates. “At a private club, actually.” Nora rolls her eyes. “Oh, for heaven's sake. A club? Damian, you’re embarrassing me. Not dancing, I hope?”

What does this woman have against dancing?

“No,” Damian says stiffly, “we had a drink. Bella ordered a Shirley Temple, and I thought that was oddly adorable. Not many women order mocktails on a first date.”

I laugh. “I didn’t even know it was a date. But it really was a beautiful night. Flowers all around us… stars up above. Sortof enchanting and magical, like we stepped out of time and into some dreamy other world.”

“Oh, brother,” Nora utters under her breath. “Fabulous. Charming. Addison, shall we get on with our day?”

“I’m ready,” Addison agrees.

“Damian, honey, see us to the car?” Nora posed the phrase as a question, but I can tell it’s not. Not really. She gives her son a meaningful look, probably to drive home the request.

---