Marrying the Billionaire - Macie St. James Page 0,8

time he’d read something that wasn’t a website.

“I’ll take you to dinner,” he blurted out before he could talk himself out of it. He certainly didn’t expect her to say yes. But it was one hundred percent what he wanted to do. Just to be able to spend more time with her. Otherwise, they’d go their separate ways and never see each other again.

He didn’t like the idea of that, even though he’d known her less than twelve hours at this point.

“I…”

The rejection was clear in just that word, but for some reason, she didn’t say more. She had a confused expression on her face as she stared ahead at the still-closed elevator doors. The elevator dinged again as it slowed to a stop. The doors slid open, and she stepped out.

Would that be it? Just “I” and she’d take off, with no elaboration? Should he follow her out until she gave him an answer?

No. He couldn’t do that.

But she stopped outside the elevator and turned to look at him. “You know what? Let’s do it. Let’s go to dinner.”

Had she suggested they fly off to Europe together and enjoy a long weekend, he wouldn’t have been any more surprised. It just didn’t fit what he’d seen of her after a long day, stuck in a conference room, watching her demonstrate, over and over, that she did not like change. She thrived on routine. On knowing exactly what came next. On not taking any risks.

Not that dinner with Nicholas would be any type of risk. It was just dinner. Still, he felt this pressure to make it special. And if there was one thing Nicholas could arrange, it was special.

“Have you ever been to Valore’s?”

Charlie looked around. The lobby was empty, although Nicholas had a feeling there was a security guard sitting behind the desk around the corner. They’d been working with Justin all day, coming up with ways to motivate the team over the coming weeks using what they’d learned earlier that day, and everyone in the office aside from Justin had emptied out a while ago.

“No,” Charlie said.

He could tell, right then and there, she’d never heard of it. How could he impress her with his ability to get them into the hottest new restaurant in town…when she didn’t even know how hard it was to get into the hottest new restaurant in town?

The options flew through his head. He immediately dismissed each of them. Telling her that there was a two-month wait for reservations, mentioning that he knew the owner, discussing that he’d been part of the preview group who attended the restaurant’s soft opening… All sounded too much like bragging, and bragging would put her off. He’d known her just long enough to realize that.

“Italian food,” he said instead. “It’s delicious. You in?”

He made every effort to sound casual as he asked that. No big deal. Come to dinner with him or not. Either way, it was all good.

“Sure.”

Her response surprised him, but he wasn’t going to give her a chance to change her mind. “I’m parked right out front,” he said. “Follow me.”

She didn’t move at first. He was halfway toward the door—and, yes, the security guard was seated behind the desk he’d seen when he’d entered—when he realized she wasn’t right behind him.

“You got a parking space out front?” she asked.

“I was here pretty early.”

“Right.”

He hit the button to unlock his car, even though it would unlock automatically once it detected his key nearby. The plan was to open Charlie’s door for her, and he wasn’t one hundred percent sure that side unlocked automatically. It had been a while since he’d been on a date—mostly because he’d been so busy. In fact, he couldn’t remember if he’d been on a date since he’d traded for this car just a few months earlier.

Wow. He definitely needed to stop working so hard and enjoy life a little more.

“Hmph.” Her gaze scanned the length of his car, which was a Porsche 911. He was pretty darn proud of this car, but she seemed to be sizing it up—sizing him up via the type of car he drove. All of a sudden, he wished he’d just grabbed a rideshare to the restaurant.

Things didn’t impress her. He could respect that. In fact, her own boss was a billionaire, and a bit showoff-y at times, if Nicholas was honest about it. He’d met more than a few women in the area who turned and ran the other way if a