Darcy rolls her eyes. I wonder what happened while they were waiting that led her to claiming a stranger is her boyfriend. I mean, that could’ve really backfired for her. It most definitely would’ve backfired for her in ninety-nine percent of cases. She’s lucky it was me. I’m lucky it was me, and that I didn’t have any other immediate plans for the next hour to take advantage of her… offer.
“What about you, Darcy? Is there anything you’d like? Chicken balls?” I put a heavy emphasis on the word balls and her eyes widen when I say it. I feel a little guilty for toying with her but know I’d do it again.
“I’ll have the lik mein,” she says after a moment, not moving her eyes from me.
“The lik mein? Is that chicken or pork?” Timothy asks, oblivious.
“Pork, it’s definitely pork,” I say and she jiggles with silent laughter. I stifle a laugh but Timothy is still oblivious.
“I’ll also have the Fat Kok Special,” she says. Taken by surprise, I look back at her. She’s leaning forward in her chair, staring straight at me.
“You like the Fat Kok Special?” I ask, leaning forward in my own seat.
“I love the Fat Kok Special.” The way Kok forms on her tongue makes me know exactly where I want to put mine.
“We never get the Fat Kok Special,” Timothy says, flipping over the menu, searching in vain.
“Today’s a good day to start,” Darcy says without pause, still looking at me.
The waiter rushes by our table and I raise my hand to flag him down. He doesn’t even look our way.
“Bastard,” Timothy says, scowling after him.
“He’ll come back,” I say.
“I’m not waiting any longer. I’m going after him.” The menu clenched in his hand, Timothy stands up and gives chase. Glad I’m not the waiter.
With Timothy gone, Darcy’s fixes her eyes on me. I want to tell her I’m more than just a big chest and that my eyes are up here, but am not sure how she’d react, given how I’m much I’ve been staring at her tits.
Instead I study the soft lines of her face. I didn’t get much of a chance in the entrance to truly look at her. She’s beautiful, exactly my type with big blue eyes and shoulder-length chestnut hair. I love the way a stray piece falls across her forehead and the way her curves fill out her clothing.
Slowly, her eyes move up. When they meet mine, I feel the same shudder I felt when our eyes met in the entranceway. Judging from the widening of her eyes, I’m sure she felt something too.
She opens her mouth to say something but Timothy comes back and she closes it again.
“I told them to bring us the set menu for four,” he says as he flops into his chair.
“Thanks, Dad,” she says without taking her eyes from mine.
My breathing is heavy and the loud restaurant fades into the background. Why is she doing this to me? I’m acting completely out of character, and I don’t like it. I need to be in control.
I take a deep breath to regain my composure and tear my eyes away from hers to look at Timothy. He seems oblivious to all that is going on between Darcy and me, instead he is studying the waiters as they shuttle food between the kitchen and the tables. Is Timothy always like this? So focused on one thing at a time. It’s the attitude that no doubt made his business a success. An attitude I myself am well acquainted with.
In no time, our food is unceremoniously plunked in the center of our table without any comment by the waiters.
“About time,” Timothy says as he spoons a heap of rice on his plate.
I load my plate, keeping an eye on Darcy as she picks large chunks of chicken out of the black bean sauce. Normally, that sort of thing would irk me, either you like the sauce or you don’t, but when she does it, it’s natural. Hot, even.
Everything about her is hot.
“Liam, what do you do?” Timothy asks me. I’m not really comfortable enough to answer that. I like to keep my cards close to my chest. I do the same for everyone. Very few people know the full extent of my identity. Few enough that I can count them on one hand.
“Business. Sort of a consulting role with some mergers and acquisitions.”
“I don’t suppose you have any great insight on the events industry, do you?”
“Dad,” Darcy blurts.
“No, it’s okay. I know a bit about it. People’s reluctance to travel with all the stuff going on in the world is hitting it hard. Smart money is on diversifying to online-based events.”
Darcy opens her eyes wide and leans forward with a half-smile.
“See, Dad, it’s what I keep telling you.”
Fuck, what landmine field did I just walk into?
“He’s your boyfriend, what does he know? You probably told him to say that.” Jeez, there’s no pleasing this man. It’s interesting to see the head of Knight Global Events is so resistant to change. Especially when his head of strategy is telling him otherwise. I don’t like the way he dismissed her so quickly. Or me. I almost want to tell him who I am. Almost.
Instead I decide to duck out of this family feud and shovel chopsticks loaded with chow mein into my mouth.
Darcy fights her corner, and I’m impressed. She’s definitely not just a pretty face. She knows her business and knows it well, better than her father I’d say. I’m liking her more by the minute.
The topic shifts away from the event business, and I’m surprised at how easily conversation flows between Darcy and me, almost as if Timothy isn’t even here.
“So how long have you two kids been together?” Timothy finally says. Kids? I’m thirty-six-years old but suddenly transported to high school.
“Three w—” Darcy starts.
“Months, three months,” I interrupt. Months seems like a better story. A three-week relationship wouldn’t be at the stage of having a restaurant meal to meet a parent. Not that I care.
“Three months, huh? And I’m just finding out.”
“Well, Dad, I didn’t want to tell you until I knew it was serious.” Her left eye twitches a little when she lies.
“That’s great news. I take it this means I can expect to see you both at your cousin Collette’s wedding in a couple of weeks.”
I choke a little on my beer. Tonight’s been great, and I’d like to see Darcy again, but in my bed, not at a family event like a wedding. No thanks. I’d rather see her without one of her family members present.
“We’ll see, Dad. I’m supposed to be going to Texas to see about an acquisition that weekend.”
“Oh?” I ask. “Where in Texas?”
“It’s Austin. A chocolate exposition.”
”Chocolate doesn’t sound like big money to me,” Timothy says.
“Maybe not, but it’s fully integrated online and even though it’s in Austin, chocolate lovers from all over the world pay to follow the event online. Believe it or not, they’re groundbreakers. For whatever reason, they’re knocking down boundaries and leading the online revolution in events.”
“Huh. I never would’ve guessed.”
“Bah, online chocolate is pointless. You’re better off going to your cousin’s wedding. It looks bad on me if you don’t.”
Darcy purses her lips, looks at me and shrugs. It strikes me as an intimate gesture someone would make to a real boyfriend. Even though I just met her, I feel her pain.
Part of me wants to drag her away from this dinner, so I can take her back to my place and fuck her senseless. But I have to control myself.
They descend into a bickering match, and once again I sit back, watching her. I’m transfixed by the way she moves while she fights her corner, no matter how resistant her father is to listening.
I start to see red at the way he is treating her, which is ridiculous because I don’t know either of them.
Timothy may have been oblivious over the names of Chinese dishes, but this is different. This is his business and he doesn’t even seem to want to know where his industry is headed, despite his incredibly smart and beautiful daug
hter trying to show him the way.
Darcy knows what she’s talking about, but even if she’s wrong, he should treat her with more respect than he is.
Especially since he thinks I’m her boyfriend. You’d think he’d want to make her look good. Or at very least be on his best behavior for her sake. Or maybe this is his best behavior. I’m starting to see why she claimed a random stranger was her boyfriend. She probably couldn’t bear the idea of eating alone with him.
Maybe she does have a boyfriend and he stood her up. Maybe it’d been planned that the three of them would have dinner to introduce the boyfriend to the father, and he chickened out. I don’t blame him. She probably gave him all sorts of warnings, and no doubt vents to him about her father on a daily basis.
My phone rings.
“I have to take this,” I say, standing and walking to the entrance. I put the phone to my ear but still can’t hear anything, so step outside into the relative quiet of the street.
“Liam, you’re late for the meeting. What’s going on? We need to discuss this before the news goes live in the morning. Tomorrow’s papers are being printed in a few hours.” Victor must be freaked, I’m never late for meetings. I’m always the first one there. Dinner’s been so enjoyable, I lost track of time. Which is completely unlike me.
“Sorry, man. I got held up. I’m on my way now.”
I stick my hand out to flag a cab. One screeches to a stop and I hop in the back.
Priorities
(Liam)
I head to one of my offices at one of my companies. Fortunately, it’s only a few minutes away.
As I enter the office, I ruffle my hair and head into the boardroom. Late Friday evening may seem like an unusual time for a meeting, but we’re in a crisis. A feature article on my energy company is being run on the front page of the Saturday papers and we have to influence as much as possible, even at this late stage.
One of our rival companies has fed politicians lies and now they’re coming out with all sorts of accusations, threatening lawsuits and all sorts. A lawsuit wouldn’t be bad in my eyes, at least then the truth would come out. My company is as clean as a whistle. This is merely a smear campaign by a rival.
My CEO of that particular company, Andrew, is standing at the far end of the table. There aren’t any slides or any sort of presentation, he seems to be standing purely out of anger over what they’re about to print.
“Will,” he says in acknowledgement of me when I enter the room. I use several different pseudonyms at different companies. I’m careful to overlap them in the same industries in case people recognize me.
I have many types of businesses, and always go by the name William Jones. I’m careful not to legally be listed on any of the boards, because then I would have to declare my identity. Instead, the companies are all owned by offshore companies in countries where the owner’s name doesn’t have to be disclosed, and the executives think I am a representative from the parent company.
It’s almost impossible to trace all my various offshore companies, and who owns who. Someone would have to be pretty determined to find it all out. It’s something I’ve intentionally set up. I don’t want anyone knowing who I really am.
I nod to Andrew and take a seat beside Victor. He raises one of his wild, gray eyebrows at me, questioning my out-of-character lateness.
Two hours later, the strategy finalized, Victor and I walk out of the building together. Victor Pratt is my closest advisor, and the only person in the businesses who knows the full extent of who I am.
He’s also the closest thing I have to a friend.
A car is waiting for us and we get in.
“So, why were you late tonight? I’ve known you forever, and you’ve never once been late,” he says as soon as the car door is shut.
“I was having dinner at the Fat Kok and lost track of time.”
“By yourself? You normally get take-away.”
“No, with some other people.”
“No way, did hell freeze over?” He asks, looking at me. Victor is always telling me to get out and interact with more people, with non-business people.
“Must’ve.”
I debate telling him what happened. The memory of the way I’d felt when Darcy’s eyes caught mine plants itself front and center in my mind. I look out the car window as the memory of her laugh, her movements and her voice plays through my mind.
In hindsight, I’m convinced she has a real boyfriend, there’s no other way to explain what she did. Not that there’s really any way to explain it.
Memories
(Darcy)
Liam leaving in the middle of our meal on Friday without saying goodbye was embarrassing in front of my father. Although I covered it by telling my dad that he was treating me so badly in front of Liam, so he got angry and left, instead of causing a scene. That shut him up.
But I couldn’t help feeling disappointed. For the first time in forever, I actually wanted more from a man than for him to leave me alone. I guess I can’t be too upset. After all, the stranger was kind enough to go along with my little boyfriend-girlfriend ruse.
I’ll tell my father we broke up, and that’s why he isn’t coming to Collette’s wedding with me. After the way Liam vanished during the Fat Kok meal, my father will readily believe it. Maybe I’ll even blame my father, telling him he’s the reason Liam didn’t want to get involved with my insane family.
Still, I foolishly thought that Liam and I had a connection. My body reacted differently than it ever has in the past four years. Normally, when I meet a guy, there’s nothing. Each time I looked at Liam, heat shot through my body in a way I’ve never experienced before.
Enough heat that I seriously would’ve let him take me right there in the Fat Kok.
Enough heat that I wore out the battery in my vibrator last night.
What a first date. If you consider dinner with my father at the Fat Kok a first date. Which, come to think of it, I don’t. So I can see him again without breaking my rule. Because the rule allows for sex.
In fact, that’s the whole point of the rule. I don’t want to live like a nun. I just don’t want a relationship. However much my father wants me to have one.
I wish Liam had at least given me his phone number. I wonder what his last name is. There are only two things I know about him, his first name is Liam and he’s some sort of business consultant.
Yesterday, I spent far more time Googling those two scant bits of information than I care to admit. Liam, consultant, New York, events, mergers, businessman, banker, dark hair, attractive, gorgeous, eligible bachelor and on and on. I got nothing. Not even a hint.
Even more shameful, after exhausting Google search terms, I joined a handful of the largest dating sites just to see if he was on them. He wasn’t. I canceled all my memberships, I have no interest in dating anyone. I just want to find Liam again for a proper first date ending in sex, that’s all. I don’t even have any interest in having a second date with him, because that would be breaking my rules. And I’m not about to break my rules.
My Sundays are always spent on non-Knight Global Events stuff. Specifically, the charity I founded and oversee, Young Hearts.
Armed with coffee and a doughnut, I sit on my sofa. I keep a laptop dedicated to the charity under the sofa, and I haul it out and set it on my lap. If I used my regular laptop, I know I would alt-tab into Knight Global Events and get sucked in. So I use this Macbook to keep me focused.
The first thing I do is open YouTube.
I chew my doughnut while half-watching the most recent Carpool Karaoke video, the entire time thinking about Liam. Or more specifically, how amazing it had felt when he kissed me.
I take another bite, and the jelly from the center shoots into my mouth. I let it slide over my tongue before swallowing.
My shoulders heave in a massive sigh. Time to focus. I start my Mega Hits Four playlist and open my email and Office.
Twelve emails from Kirsten. None from anyone else
.
I founded the charity, but set it up to run independently of me. Now legally I’m the chair of the board of trustees. My father is also on the board, mostly because I know he doesn’t care about it and won’t have an opinion on any decisions.
My best friend Kirsten is the head of the charity and runs almost everything about it. We’re still on the small side, but she’s doing an amazing job of growing it. We’re helping more and more families every single day. I’m immensely proud of her and all the team around her.
Heart disease is one of the biggest killers of young adults, but people associate heart attacks with old people, not healthy teens and young adults.
Ideally, I’d like to run more awareness campaigns, but for now we’re focusing on directly helping families who are adjusting to having someone they love who’s surviving a heart issue, and those who have lost someone young to heart disease in their life.
I click through Kirsten’s emails one by one. So far they’re all standard emails to keep me in the loop of what’s happening. The last one catches my attention. Our biggest annual donor has slashed their support by eighty percent, saying they intend to focus solely on heart issues in the under sixteens.
My heart sinks. They make up almost a third of all our donations. Without their support we’ll have to postpone any ideas of growing and really think about how we’re going to preserve what support we do have.
Awareness around the age range of the people we help is a constant struggle. People either want to help children or the stereotypical older heart victims. The unique struggles of young adults get lost in between.
We’ll find someone to take the place of the donor. We have to.
I save the spreadsheets onto my computer, update my own spreadsheets and make some notes in Word.
One of the things we’re currently redoing is our website. I open it to see how it’s coming along. It’s a project that will likely have to be shelved for now. We’ve been putting victim and survivor stories right on the homepage in a slide show, and the first victim I see when I open it is a twenty-year-old man named Liam.
Billionaire's Secret: The Complete Series Page 50