Page 41 of Fake Dating My Billionaire Boss

“I know. Exactly, Pumpkin,” she says, as she pours champagne into a glass. “It’s awful, the way they try to monopolize my time. I need to have time foryou.”

That’s enough. I feel my cheeks heat up, and I’m sure I’m glaring as I spit out,

“No, you don’t!”

“Hm? Don’t be silly. Of course, I do.”

“Addison, do you hear yourself? You are speaking as though we’re an item. We’re not. I’m with Bella now, and—”

“Oh, don’t be like this,” she interjects. “All upset. We all know this thing with Bella won’t last. Your mother says—”

“I don’t care what my mother says!” I huff.

I feel like my head might erupt, like some sort of volcano on a Hawaiian island. “You and I are through, Addison. We have been for a very long time.”

“But, why?” She looks down at her shoes. Then, with eyes downcast, she reaches for my arm. She trails a fingertip up from my elbow to my shoulder.

At the same time, she lifts her eyes slowly, coyly, and looks up through her mascara-lined lashes. “Really…why?” she purrs. “I mean, think about it… does it have to be like that? Because for my part, I’m ready to pick up where we left off.”

I scoot to the side so abruptly that I knock into the table. I’ll have a bruise on my hip, thanks to the move. But it was worth it because I’ve freed myself from her touch. “I’m sorry, Addison. I’m very sorry.”

She pokes her bottom lip out into a pout. “You don’t have to besorry. Besensible. Let’s give it another chance. Then we’ll both be so much happier.” I take a step backward and jostle the table again. I hear the tinkling sound of one crystal champagne flute knocking into another.

“No.”

She opens her mouth. She’s going to say more. I know she will. Like my mother, Addison Feldman likes to have the last word. So, before she can get her next point out, I spin on my heel and walk away—fast.

I don’t like hurting Addison’s feelings. This has gone too far, and I blame my mother.

I’m going to go find her and tell her, calmly but firmly, that this has to stop. She can’t keep yanking Addison around, buying her golf lessons and sending her to the greens when she knows my father and I will be there.

I pass my father, who’s busy scrolling through his phone. He manages to remain oblivious for hours on end, buried in his work. That’s a real feat, given that he’s supposed to be retired.But I suppose marriage to my mother drives him to it. He speaks to me without tearing his eyes from his phone. “You holding up okay, Champ?”

“I’m fine.”

I’m not fine.

I’m in a waking nightmare that won’t seem to end. And I need to find Bella.

I let my guard down for two seconds.Two seconds andlook what happened.

This evening is getting away from me. I need to regain my footing. Reassert myself. I’m supposed to be here with my new girlfriend, Bella, not peeling Addison’s hands off me.

And then, thank God, there she is. Bella steps through the French doors as I near them. She peeks over her shoulder and then closes the door behind her. “Is it bad that I ditched her before she could give me a tour of the back gardens?”

“No, don’t feel bad.”This is war.

She brushes a flyway strand of hair from her face and takes a hurried sip of wine. She’s finished the glass, I see. Her cheeks are rosy with a subtle blush that wasn’t there before.

“Whew. I told her I had to use the restroom. It was like a football play, Damian. I faked right, faked left, then took off running. Who knew a dinner could require so much maneuvering!”

“I did. Welcome to my life.”

I take the empty wine glass from her and set it on an end table nearby. Then I reach for her hand and weave my fingers through hers. If I hold her like this, no one can separate us.

“We have to be on our guard. If they come at us again like that, we’ll know what they’re up to. Dodge and weave; that’s the best way to handle a pincer move.”

She gives a little snort-laugh. “A pincer move?”

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