Marrying the Billionaire - Macie St. James Page 0,9
man started throwing around money. The type of woman who was impressed by the car he drove and the expensive dinners he bought was not the type he wanted to date.
“You aren’t really in the mood for Italian, are you?” he asked.
She looked over at him, then frowned. “Not really.”
“I know this place. You up for an adventure?”
He was running on instinct here. Charlie had been oddly agreeable to everything. It made no sense. Even though he’d just met her, she’d made it perfectly clear that she was not an adventurer.
“What did you have in mind, exactly?”
There it was. The side of her that wanted to know what they were doing. He could see in her eyes that she was forcing herself to do this. She wasn’t enjoying the spontaneity of it at all, and he didn’t know if anything he did could change that.
“What’s your favorite restaurant?” he asked.
“There’s this taco stand near my apartment. They make the best street tacos. I sometimes indulge.”
“Let’s do that, then. I’d love to try out your favorite place.”
Out of the corner of her eye, he could see she looked horrified. “I never eat there.”
“Why not? Don’t they have seats?”
She gave him a strange look. He saw that out of the corner of his eye, as well. “Of course, they have seats. Why wouldn’t they have seats?”
“I don’t know. Just the way you said you never eat there, like the mere thought is horrifying.”
“No, it’s just…it’s one of those to-go places. It’s not really set up for fine dining.”
“Perfect. I’m not in the mood for fine dining.”
He thought they’d established that last part, but he probably hadn’t made that clear. He wasn’t sure what he was doing. Apparently, he had zero game. He decided to let the whole thing drop.
Charlie gave him directions to her place—which merely required he circle back to where they’d just been and take a right turn, then go three blocks down. She lived within walking distance of work.
“I can walk to work most days,” she said, as though hearing his unspoken question about how she got to work every day. “It’s great exercise, and it saves me from having to buy a car.”
“You don’t have a car?”
“Nope. Don’t need one. I can grab a bus or rideshare if I’m meeting up with friends. I visit my mom the first two weeks in July and at Thanksgiving and Christmas, but that’s just a rideshare to the airport.”
Nicholas found a parking space just steps from the taco shop Charlie pointed out to him, ignoring her annoyed expression as she commented that he had “parking space luck.” He supposed he did. His office building had its own parking lot, so he didn’t have to worry about street parking or multi-story garages.
“Where does your mother live?” he asked as he opened her car door and waited for her to step out. Even though it seemed like he might be just trying to make conversation, he actually was curious about her. He genuinely wanted to know where she was from, who she was.
Cheesy. He needed to get that under control.
“Milwaukee,” she said. “She married a guy she met online and moved up there a couple of years ago.”
He’d come to a dead stop, staring after her as she started toward the building. She didn’t seem to notice he wasn’t following. He rushed to catch up.
“Your mom moved to Milwaukee to be with a man she’d never met?”
“Yep. She’s a bit…impulsive like that.”
He worked to process this new information as he opened the door to the taco shop and waited for her to enter. Her mom was impulsive. Charlie was the opposite. He was no therapist, but he had a feeling there was a connection there.
“We have to get guac,” she said as she stepped inside. “Their chips are amazing.”
Amazing seemed a little dramatic for food, but he decided to let that one slide. He was liking this side of her. She seemed carefree. Maybe he’d completely misjudged Charlie McLaughlin.
Why she’d said this was a to-go place, he had no idea. Sure, there was a to-go counter, but the place was packed with tables, and half of them were occupied. Also, hadn’t she called this a taco stand? He’d define it as a full-on restaurant.
He watched Charlie interact with the person taking orders as though they’d never seen each other before. Wasn’t she a regular here? Maybe he’d misunderstood. But there was no sign of recognition, no pleasantries. All business. Nicholas stepped up to