Dropping The Ball - A New Year’s Billionaire Romance - Weston Parker Page 0,19

you eventually. Let’s change it up a little. What’s your favorite meal?”

“Steak.” I didn’t even have to think about it. “But I’m not telling you anything else until you promise me you’re not going to run out to get everything I tell you I like as soon as you leave here.”

“Fine, I won’t go as soon as I leave here,” she promised, flashing me a coy smile.

I crossed my arms on the table and raised an eyebrow at her. “Let me rephrase. You won’t go get it at all.”

“I’m afraid I can’t promise you that.” She smirked but her gaze searched mine with sudden curiosity in it. “Am I just that easy for you to read? It feels like you knew what I was going to say before I even said it.”

“You smiled when you tacked on the ‘as soon as I leave here’ part of that sentence.” Also, I knew her. Maybe I didn’t know the ins and outs of her preferences and pet peeves, but I knew who she was fundamentally, and I knew who she’d been raised by.

Mama and Papa Naples were good people. They’d never had the most money, but they’d have given every last cent they had to someone in need. Mrs. Naples always insisted I stay for dinner, and she cooked enough to feed an army.

It shouldn’t have surprised me that Rylee was taking a page from her playbook. She probably didn’t even realize most people wouldn’t have insisted on cooking for their guard.

She grinned at my reply, rolling her eyes. “Ah. So I am that obvious? I’ll have to work on my poker face.”

“I’ll help you. We’ll make it a daily exercise where you tell me two truths and a lie, and I’ll try to figure out what the lie is.”

“Isn’t that a drinking game?” she asked with a slight frown. “I’ve never played it, but I think I’ve heard about it.”

“It doesn’t have to be a drinking game. Plenty of people play it without alcohol.”

She exhaled deeply. “I’d have loved to play it with alcohol but I’m not much of a drinker.”

Something in her eyes told me there was more to that story, but I didn’t push it. I was enjoying our banter and getting to know each other again. And it was important for the job I needed to do.

“I don’t drink while I’m on duty, so that’s not a problem. We’ll still fix your poker face in no time.”

“Thank you.” She grinned. “Having to keep something as big as my return to the stage a secret if the whole world can see when I’m being evasive or outright lying is impossible.”

We talked for another thirty minutes or so before we eventually parted ways. I stood up to shake her hand again, and caught a whiff of vanilla and berries when she blew past me toward the door. When she left, I realized my heart was racing and my cock was hard.

I was seriously into this woman, and that wasn’t a good way to start a working relationship.

I’m so screwed.

Chapter 8

RYLEE

“Have a good day, honey,” Tani called as Cash walked away from us. He turned to wave with the sweetest smile on his face before disappearing into his preschool.

Once a week, we met for a morning run and coffee after she dropped him off. I met her at the school because it was just easier to take off from here. We lived a few miles apart, and Cash’s school was just about the halfway point between us. Plus, there was a nice park nearby with a trail that we liked and a coffee truck at the exit. It was perfect.

“Ready to go?” she asked, tightening her ponytail as she turned to face me. “I really need to start running more often. I know it’s fucking freezing, but that’s no excuse for the extra pounds I’ve put on.”

It really was cold. We were so bundled up that I couldn’t really see her figure, but I already knew what she had going on underneath all those layers. “Nonsense. It just feels that way because we’re constantly wearing so many clothes. You look great.”

She arched a plucked eyebrow at me and pursed her lips. “It’s not just winter this year. Trust me. My mirror almost broke last night when I got out of the shower.”

I laughed. “Maybe you just need a kinder mirror. Or a stronger one. I wouldn’t mind getting a bit more exercise, though. I’ll need to check with my doctors and