Page 20 of Fake Dating My Billionaire Boss

Chapter 7

Damian

The morning light glints off my mother’s silver BMW coupe. I squint against the brightness as I walk up to the car. My mother’s standing by the driver’s side door with her hands on her hips.

Addison has already tucked herself into the passenger seat. She’s on her cell phone, engaged in what looks to be a serious conversation. Probably work related. Thank goodness. I won’t have to deal with her attitude in addition to my mother’s.

Mother raises a sculpted brow. “So? When were you planning on telling me about this? That was quite a nasty surprise we just had in there.” She checks over her shoulder to make sure Addison is still occupied, and then looks back to me and continues in a hoarse whisper. “Here I am, bringing Addison to you, and you pull a stunt like that.”

I don’t know where to begin.

I really don’t. There are so many ways I could defend myself. I might as well jump in with the most obvious. “First of all, I never asked you to visit with Addison. I’m notwithAddison anymore. Haven’t been for years. It’s uncomfortable when you act as though she’s still my girlfriend.”

“Damian, I am only trying to help you.” She checks over her shoulder again, and then side steps away from the car. When she beckons for me to join her, I do.

“Why can’t you see that Addison is an absolute treasure? She’s successful, well-bred, polite, and charming… She has a wonderful career, and do you know what she told me the other day? She wants to have four children. Four. Children. That’s incredible, this day and age, especially given her profession. Some women with far less demanding jobs think they’re too busy to manage even one or two. Maybe she knows, on some deep level, that I’m going to be a very attentive grandmother.”

I check my watch. It’s now 9:46. Not even ten o’clock, and my mother’s talking babies.

“I can’t do this right now,” I tell her. “I have to get to the office. Can you at least try to be civil to Bella the next time you see her? Because you will be seeing her again.”

“She’s not staying here with you, is she?”

“Yes, she is. I told you that inside.”

“Well, you enjoy this little fling. When you come to your senses, Addison will be waiting, I’m sure. She’s positively smitten with you. And she’s a good, reliable, stable woman. She’s not going anywhere. Have you been to her house yet, on Mountain Laurel Lane? It’s a gorgeous Victorian. Right around the corner from me and your father. If you marry her, you two could live there.”

I’m not going to marry Addison. How many times do I have to tell her that?

“You could sell this thing off,” my mother says, flicking her hand toward the house I designed. “I’m sure you could getsomethingfor it, despite the quirks.”

It’s the same battle we’ve fought many times. Addison’s the woman for me. I should marry Addison. I should sell my weird house—the house I love.

But this morning. I have a new weapon in my arsenal, and I plan to use it.

“The aesthetics of my home might not appeal to you, but Bella will understand. Once she sees how the light changes the spaces… Once she gets a feeling for the art I have on display. She’ll get it. She’s an artist, you know.”

My mother shakes her head.

“The Sinclair girl.Really. I don’t know what runs through your mind sometimes, Damian. Consider her upbringing! Her father worked construction. Her mother ran that run-down little dance studio that never made a dime, because she let half the town take classes for free. Too much of a bleeding heart to charge fees. I’m guessing Bella’s not much better off than either of those two ever were. In my experience, the apple never falls far from the tree.”

“She’s actually making a name for herself in the art scene. She finished graduate school. She has an impressive portfolio.”

“Ha. That may be, but she’s still a Sinclair.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Do I have to spell it out for you? That family’s been in this town for as long as us Knights. Her grandparents, great-grandparents… none of them amounted to anything more than common farmers and service workers. Bella might be fooling you with some show of artistic talent, but at the root of it all she’scommon, Damian. And you’rerefined. Special. Elite. You’re a Knight.”

She pulls her oversized, Jackie Onassis style sunglasses from her purse and fits them on. “I hope you come to your senses soon. That’s all I can say.”

Oh, I’m sure she can come up with more wisdom to impart.

I’m right. She jabs a finger toward my chest.

“Because if you wait too long, someone else in this town will snap Addison up. That would be a real loss. I’m telling you.” Then she pats my chest and pulls me down by the collar so she can kiss my cheek. The next second, she’s wiping her own lipstick from the side of my face.

“Have a good visit with your father, when he stops into the office,” she says. “I’ll swing by tomorrow with the socks and whatever else Addison and I pick up for you today.”

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