I notice he doesn’t offer to shake his hand. Nice touch.
“Really? Now that you mention it, I can see the strong resemblance. Nice to meet you.”
Rob does offer his hand, so as the two of them do the gentlemanly handshake thing, I say, “I’ve known Marius and his family for years. We all went to the same prep school as kids.”
Why I say all of that I have no idea. What I really want to do at this very moment is stand up and walk out of this restaurant, never looking back at either of these men.
Grinning like a damn Cheshire cat, Marius returns to staring at me as he says, “Oh, yeah. I’ve known Eden forever. It’s like she’s a part of my family I’ve known her for so long.”
His voice sounds unnecessarily sexy, which makes me wonder what the hell is going to come out of his mouth next. Ifonly he had just agreed to tell the world about us, none of this would have to happen.
“Do you also work at King Industries?” Rob asks. “I’m the head of the IT department, and I don’t think I’ve seen you at any of the company functions.”
The very idea of Marius appearing at the King Industries company Christmas party makes me want to burst out laughing, but I can’t do that so I press my lips together and hope I can keep my composure. Another comment like that from Rob and I’m going to lose it.
“No, I leave the workaday life to my brothers Matthias and Kellen. I’m one of the Kings who prefers a more carefree life.”
Rob nods, and I can hear his disdain for Marius come through loud and clear when all he answers is, “Oh.”
Marius hears it too, but his reaction isn’t to get angry. Instead, he laughs. Fabulous. Oh, God, I feel like I’m on a train that’s lost its brakes and is careening down the tracks while on fire and heading for a cliff.
Thankfully, he takes Rob’s lackluster response as his cue to say goodbye. “Well, I better get going. I’m just here to pick up dinner before I have to meet with my assistant Sam. Have a wonderful evening, you kids!”
And with that, he breezes away like everything that just happened was perfectly normal.
I watch him walk out to the entrance where I swear he flirts with the very attractive redhead hosting. He looks back at me and smiles before leaving, and I turn my attention back to Rob who works in IT.
“Interesting guy. He seems nothing like his brothers, particularly Kellen.”
If I keep fake smiling like I know I must, my face is going to hurt all day tomorrow. I don’t have a choice, though. Ava really wants me to give this guy a chance, and even though there’s nopossibility we could ever be a couple, I don’t want to hurt his feelings.
“True. He and Kellen are very different. To be honest, I feel like Marius is sort of a mixture of the youngest King, Ronan, and the second oldest, Theo. He died in a car accident a few years ago, but you know what I mean.”
Terrific. Now I’m rambling. Maybe we should call this date what it actually is. A disaster.
Rob nods, and I push the lettuce around on my plate. Definitely not my best date. Not by a long shot.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see a server less than a minute later when he brings us our entrées. That joy immediately disappears when he sets down Rob’s plate of salmon with the dill sauce he explicitly asked it to not have.
“Excuse me, this wasn’t supposed to have the sauce on top. I specifically said no sauce. Weren’t you listening when I gave you my order? It’s not rocket science. I say what I want, and you write it on your little pad and tell the kitchen. You’re going to have to take this back, and I want a brand new entrée prepared, not just someone scraping off the sauce.”
The server looks mortified, although I’m not sure if he’s bothered by the mistake with Rob’s food or the pretentious way he sounds when he explains the mistake. Personally, I find him rude and would have no issue with walking out of this restaurant right now.
If I didn’t promise Ava I’d work really hard with this guy to give him a chance.
That there’s no possibility we could ever be a couple doesn’t negate the fact that I said I’d keep an open mind about him. It’s just that he was such a pompous ass talking to the server like that. Marius is a billionaire, and never once has he ever spoken to anyone waiting on us so rudely.
“Can you believe that?” Rob asks, likely assuming I think he’s in the right.
He finds out very quickly he’s mistaken. “You didn’t have to speak to that man like that. Someone made a mistake. They’ll fix it. This is a very good restaurant.”
“That’s not the point. The point is I specifically asked for no sauce on top of the salmon. It’s not rocket science. Just don’t drown the damn fish in sauce.”
Since I don’t plan on ever seeing this guy again, I could tell him I think he’s a jackass and walk out, but I can’t because of what I swore to Ava I’d do. So instead, I force myself to keep smiling as I slice off a piece of steak from my New York strip.
My phone vibrates in my purse, so I lean down to fish it out to see who’s messaging me. Marius. This can’t be good.
“Nice stick in the mud. I know you’re pretending to like him but don’t you think that’s cruel? Meet me at our place in an hour. I love you.”
