Marrying the Billionaire - Macie St. James Page 0,10

the counter, smiling at the man who was taking Charlie’s order.

“I hear that I have to try your guacamole,” Nicholas said as the guy punched Charlie’s order into the computer.

The guy’s face immediately lit up. “Best in town. I’ll tell you what, I’ll throw it in for free just for trying it out.”

“And an order of street tacos, steak.” Nicholas slid his credit card out of his phone case. “Two margaritas.”

“Oh, I don’t drink.”

Nicholas’s smile fell. Why didn’t that surprise him? She was so orderly and in charge of her life. Of course, alcohol wouldn’t be something that appealed to her.

“Do you have virgin margaritas?” Nicholas asked.

“They’re out of a machine.” Charlie pointed over to the right, where, indeed, a large machine advertised both lime and strawberry frozen varieties. “I doubt they can take the alcohol out.”

But the guy behind the counter was still smiling at them. “No worries. I can whip one up for you.”

“Make it two virgin margaritas, then.” Noting Charlie’s puzzled look, Nicholas shrugged. “Margaritas are part of the experience.”

They took the number the guy handed them and headed over to a table next to the big window that overlooked the street. It wasn’t the best view in town, but he had the best view seated across from him. She still looked troubled, but his goal was to do something about that.

His number one mission was to make her feel at ease with him. He had a feeling that wouldn’t be an easy feat.

5

What was she doing?

This was not like Charlie. Not at all. But at some point during the day, she’d grown to like this man she’d just met. Which seemed absurd. Maybe she’d even developed a bit of a crush on him, which was even more absurd. This wasn’t high school, for heaven’s sake.

But it had been so long since she’d dated, it was no surprise she’d reverted to the way she’d behaved toward the male species in high school.

“So what’s your story?” Nicholas asked just as soon as the owner, who apparently was Nicholas’s new best friend, had set the street tacos down on the table. They’d been sipping alcohol-free margaritas and enjoying chips and guac while discussing her entire life story, pretty much. She had no idea what this particular question was about.

“I think I’ve told you everything about me.” Charlie looked down at her plate, realizing she actually hadn’t. Where she was from, her education, her hobbies—those weren’t everything about her, and she knew it. But she didn’t want him to dig any deeper.

“No, I mean your relationship story.” He took a big bite of one of the tacos and chewed. She chose to dive into her own tacos in lieu of answering right away. Once Nicholas had swallowed his first mouthful, he added, “Justin says you’re single, but that’s new?”

Suddenly, the food was hard to get past the lump in her throat. “Justin knows about that?”

“He’s dating Brooke. People talk.”

Couples talk. Yeah, she should have known that. She and Brooke had lunch together in the break room pretty much every day Brooke wasn’t traveling or away at a meeting. They’d had more than a few woman-to-woman chats about Charlie’s failed relationship.

It looked like she wasn’t getting out of answering this one, so she decided to just minimize it. “I was dating someone for four years. It didn’t work out.”

“Four years, huh?” Nicholas looked off to the side thoughtfully. He was thinking about her relationship? That was how it appeared. She did not like that.

Squirming in her seat slightly, Charlie rushed to add to what she’d said. “It felt comfortable. Like an old pair of slippers you’re afraid to replace, even though they’re all worn out and dirty.”

Nicholas stared at her, eyes wide, holding the second taco he hadn’t yet bitten into. She realized what she’d just said. It was an analogy she’d come up with toward the end of her relationship, when she explained to Brooke why she stayed with him even when she wasn’t really into him anymore.

“You’re comparing your ex to an old slipper,” Nicholas commented.

Now he had a smirk on his face. It was annoying but somewhat adorable. Yeah, maybe she should stop making that kind of analogy.

“We had a routine,” Charlie said. She took a sip of her drink to think through how she was going to explain it, then continued. “During the week, we didn’t see each other, but he called me every night before bed—nine-thirty on the dot. Friday nights, we had sushi at his