Hilary had a smug smile on her face, and she folded her arms. “Have fun you two.”
Kat grabbed her coat before Hilary could embarrass her. “Bye.”
Her nerves jumped as they walked to Damian’s rental car. He opened the door for her, which reminded her this was more like an official date. How did she get to this place? Going on a date with a billionaire? What kind of alternate universe was this?
Damian slid into his seat and started the car. “You look nice,” he said.
Kat’s cheeks heated. “Thanks.”
He pulled out into the street. The tension between them grew as no one spoke. Kat blew out a breath. This was going to be a long night if neither one of them would say anything. “How was your week?”
“It was fine,” he said. He gave her a glance. “I missed you.”
Her heart jumped into her throat. Had Damian been thinking about her? She swallowed, not sure how to respond to him. She’d been thinking about him as well. Especially since last night, when they talked on the phone. She’d enjoyed their conversation. She’d tried to tell herself she was just talking to him because she had to, to keep up the Amelia pretense, but that was a lie. She liked him. Too much.
He looked apprehensive, so she gave him a small smile. “I missed you, too.”
“How’s your mother?”
The familiar pang of pain stabbed at her chest. “Not well.”
He reached over and put his hand on her knee. The gesture was sweet, and his touch spread warmth through her. “I’m sorry. Could more be done for her, if she were in a larger facility?”
“I don’t think so.”
“That has to be hard on you.”
Kat nodded. “Yes.”
Damian straightened. “Do you mind if I ask you some ‘get to know you’ questions?”
“Like what?”
“Simple stuff. Like, are you an indoors person or an outdoors person?”
Kat froze. Oh, no. He was going to pepper her with the same questions he asked Amelia. Dang. Now what? She couldn’t be giving him the same answers. Yet, how was she supposed to change them? Most of the questions she answered honestly. And now she was going to have to lie? Kat cleared her throat. “I don’t know. I like both I suppose. But enough about me. I want to know more about you. You’re a billionaire. What’s that like?”
He gripped the steering wheel. “You know, people always think that once they have money their life will be easier. But I don’t think it’s that at all. Your challenges are just different.” He gave Kat a sideways glance before going on. “Take my grandfather for example. He was a millionaire back when everyone else was struggling just to put food on the table. You’d think his life was roses, but it wasn’t. He had polio as a child and suffered immensely. He could barely walk. His life was hard, even though he didn’t want for food or clothes. His struggles were more physical. My father’s struggles were mental. And I have my leg to deal with.”
Kat fiddled with the strap of her purse. She hadn’t really thought about that before. It just always seemed like rich people had it easy, but what Damian said made sense. Life was a challenge for everyone. “You’re right. I didn’t look at it that way before, but I can see your point.”
Damian nodded, then changed lanes to pass a truck. “Can I ask you something personal?” His tone was light, but there was an underlying tension in his question which put Kat on alert.
“I guess, but only if I can reserve the right not to answer if I don’t want to.”
“Fair enough. I was just wondering where you see yourself in five or ten years.”
It was a simple enough question, but Kat knew there was something he was fishing for. She looked down at her fingernails. Her future seemed a little bleak if she were being honest. She sighed. “Before I got fired, I would have said I see myself as a newspaper reporter at the Pleasant Hollow Times, but now…I honestly don’t know. I don’t want to be stuck at Dale’s, that’s for sure.”
“Do you see yourself married?”
Married? He was right. That was personal. She didn’t want to talk about her lack of dates over the past few years. “Well, yes, I guess. Hadn’t thought about it much, but of course, that’s something I want for my future.” She felt uncomfortable with his line of questioning, so she changed the subject. “Did you know human botfly eggs mature into larvae under the skin of a human host?”
Damian made a face. “Why would you tell me this as we’re headed for dinner?”
“Sorry. I saw it on Facebook last night and can’t stop thinking about it.”
“Gross.”
“Yeah, in hindsight, maybe it wasn’t the best thing to say right now.”
“You think?”
Kat let out a breath. At least they weren’t talking about her love life any more. But maybe next time she’d think a little bit longer about her choice of subject change.
When they got to The Acorn, Damian helped her out of the car. His touch sent tingles across her skin. Conflicting emotions surged in her. It would be easy for her to ignore all the things that wouldn’t work between them, and allow the feelings she had for Damian to surface. But that would only mean more heartache later on. She had to keep herself in check.
Damian slid his arm around her and butterflies assaulted her insides. So much for keeping herself in check. Her body was such a traitor.
They entered the restaurant. The hostess came up to them and pulled a couple of menus from a side pocket on the reservation desk. “Two?”
“Yes,” Damian said.
She led them to a table. Televisions hung from above, some football game playing. Damian pulled out her chair for her, and she sat down.
“Can I get you anything to drink?” the hostess asked.
“Just water for me,” Kat said.
“I prefer sherry. Do you have any Palo Cortado?” Damian asked.
The girl shifted. “Uh…no. We don’t have any of that.”
“All right then. Just give me a Diet Coke.”
The girl wrote something down on her pad of paper. “I’ll bring them right out.”
Damian smiled at her from across the table. “I’m glad you decided to let me take you out tonight.”
She wanted to ask him why he was even bothering, but clamped her lips together and just smiled. It would be rude to bring up the fact that they wouldn’t ever work as a couple. She should just enjoy the date and take it for what it was. Just a date. That’s all.
Kat forced a smile. “Have you been to meet your brother yet?”
Damian’s smile faded. “Not yet. I told Lydia I was going to spend tomorrow with him.”
“How did she take that?”
“She hates it. But I don’t care. I grew up thinking I was an only child. And here I find out I’ve had a brother living in another state that I had no idea about.”
Kat’s heart swelled. She would feel the same way if she were in his shoes. “I think it’s good of you to do that.”
The hostess brought them their drinks. Damian nodded at her. “Thank you.”
When she was gone, Kat turned back to him. “I don’t know how to ask this, but I’m curious, I’m just going to say it.”
He looked intrigued. “Go ahead.”
“Are you afraid of Lydia going after your money?”
“No.” He picked up his drink. “If she had wanted money she would have gone after my father years ago.”
That was probably true. Lydia didn’t come across as a gold digger to her. She was too proud for that. “Are you going to keep her running the newspaper?”
“Yes.” He looked like he wanted to say more, but took a drink instead.
“Did things go well with your business deal?”
He squinted at her. “How did you know about that?”
Oh, no. Had he only told Amelia about that? Her mouth grew dry and she covered by shrugging and sucking down her water.
“Everything went smoothly. We’ll be announcing the buyout next week.”
<
br /> Kat set her water glass down with a clunk. “Good.”
The waitress came by and they ordered their food. They fell into an easy conversation about surface things. Damian was easy to talk to. Too soon they were done eating and Kat found herself not willing to say goodnight just yet.
After they got in his car, she turned to him. “Do you want to come over for a while? We could rent a movie.”
“I’d like that.”
When they got to Kat’s house, she noticed Hilary’s car was gone. Her sister must have gone back to her apartment. She unlocked the door and tossed her keys into the bowl. “What do you want to watch?”
“What’s your favorite movie?”
“That’s such a hard question to answer. I love so many of them.”
He shot her a look. “You’re a movie buff?”
“I just have lots of favorites. For instance, my favorite comedy is probably Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. My favorite action film is the original Indiana Jones movie. My favorite musical is…” Kat stopped herself before she said Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. That would have given her away for sure. Instead, she said her next favorite, “My Fair Lady.”
“I haven’t seen that in ages.”
Kat smiled, relieved she’d gotten away with that one. “Great. My Fair Lady it is. I have the DVD of that one.”
Damian sat on the couch while Kat got the movie started. When she sat beside him, she became hyper-aware of his body next to her. She clasped her hands in her lap.
Halfway through the movie, Damian’s arm slipped around her shoulders and she relaxed into him. She pushed all thoughts of the future away. She just wanted to be near him tonight.
Damian leaned over and pressed his lips to the top of her head. It was a simple gesture, but it warmed her to her toes.
“I feel bad about you working at Dale’s,” he said, his voice low.
“It is what it is.”
He slowly nodded. “Maybe it doesn’t have to be. I’ve been thinking about expanding the newspaper.”
She looked at him and blinked. He was what? The thought hadn’t even occurred to her. Hope filled her and she grabbed the remote to pause the movie. “Expanding, how?”
“If I buy a bigger building, and invest in some printing presses, the newspaper wouldn’t need to outsource anymore.”
Kat tried not to get too excited. “Would it be more cost-effective, then?”
“Yes. And if I hired more reporters we could look at printing by-weekly.”
Was he saying what she was hoping? Would he really hire her as a reporter? She raised an eyebrow and tried to act cool. “That sounds like a good idea.”
“Do you think Pleasant Hollow could support a by-weekly printing?”
“You know that’s an unfair question to ask me, right? Because there’s nothing I’d like more than to be hired on as a reporter for the Pleasant Hollow Times. So, there’s no way I’d tell you we can’t support a bi-weekly paper.”
Damian grinned at her, playing with a lock of her hair. “You’re right. That’s not fair of me.”
She poked him in the side. “And it’s so not fair for you to dangle this carrot in front of me if you’re not serious about it.”
His grin faded and he sobered. “I looked at a building today.”
She tried to smother her excitement, but it didn’t work. “Are you kidding me?”
“No,” he said, chuckling.
“Oh, my gosh. I could kiss you.”
Damian’s lips twitched. “I wouldn’t stop you.”
His voice was deep and it made her heart stutter. Butterflies exploded in her stomach as she gazed into his dark eyes. All rational thought left her head and she found herself moving toward him.
Chapter 23
Kat couldn’t stop herself. She kissed Damian with everything she had been holding back. He wrapped his arms around her and took command of the kiss, moving his lips over hers. Energy surged through her and she slid her hand up his chest. He kissed her jaw and she closed her eyes, the attraction between them crackling.
Damian broke the connection, putting distance between them, his gaze penetrating through her. “I should tell you something.”
Kat steeled herself for whatever it was. He was going to pull back again, she was sure of it. She didn’t want to hear once again how they couldn’t be together. It might break her. She had taken a risk tonight. How stupid she’d been. Again.
“Okay,” she whispered as she moved away from him.
“After my car crash, I was trapped inside my car for over twenty minutes.”
She hadn’t been expecting that. She blinked at him as his words sunk in. He was going to talk about his car crash with her. Emotion swelled in her chest. “That’s awful.”
“The car caught fire.”
She swallowed. He’d told Amelia about his burned leg, but she wasn’t supposed to know. She didn’t know what to say so she stayed silent.
Damian seemed like he didn’t want to go on. He broke eye contact, looking down at his lap. “My leg was badly burned in the accident. In the next five years, I had over thirty surgeries.”
He hadn’t told Amelia that. Damian lifted his pant leg, revealing his skin. Kat sucked in a breath, unable to hide her shock. His leg looked like some macabre patchwork quilt, pink and red patches in crazy angles from the many skin grafts. Her vision blurred as tears welled in her eyes.
“Damian…” Her words left her as she tried to get her emotions under control. He must have been in so much agony. It still looked like it hurt. She involuntarily moved away from him, afraid touching his leg would cause him more pain.
He sighed, dropping his pant leg. “The scars go up the entire leg.”
Kat couldn’t speak. She didn’t know what to say. He was sharing something so intimate with her. Something that caused him so much misery. She felt the weight of his revelation.
Damian swallowed, not meeting her gaze. “I understand if…” He struggled to go on, and Kat waited for him to finish. “If you want me to leave.”
Her mouth fell open. “What? Why would I?”
“Because I know how it looks. It’s hideous.”
Kat couldn’t believe what he was saying. She slowly reached out and put her hand on his arm. “Damian, I don’t care how your leg looks. It just surprised me. You’ve gone through such agony. I didn’t realize. It must hurt so much.”
He raised his gaze and cupped her cheek. Emotion played across his features. “Sweet Kat. It’s much better than it was.”
“So, I didn’t hurt you…before?”
He smiled at her. “I’d take some discomfort for your kiss any day.”
She leaned back. “Discomfort?”
He wrapped his arms around her, gently pulling her back to him. “Kat. My leg will never be whole again. The pain is always there. But I don’t want you to be afraid of touching me. I find it quite pleasurable.”
She melted into his chest. “I can’t believe other women have left you because of your leg.”
“Why would you say that?”
Crud. He’d told Amelia. She wracked her brain trying to come up with a plausible reason she would know that. “I could tell, by the way you reacted after showing me.”
He hugged her to him. “You’re right. But I don’t want to think about other women right now.” He kissed the top of her head. She looked up at him, then kissed his lips, slowly this time, enjoying the sensations washing over her.
The door opened and Hilary walked in, two paper bags in her arms. “Whoa.”
Kat sprang back, her cheeks heating. “Hilary. What are you doing here?”
“I went shopping, but Russ’s didn’t have the quinoa I wanted, so I had to run to New Haven.” She kicked the door shut with her foot while giving Kat a wicked smile. “Looks like you two had a good evening.”
Kat wanted to sink into the floor. She grabbed the remote and clicked on the movie. “We were just watching My Fair Lady.”
Hilary gave her
sister a look. “Uh, huh.” She went into the kitchen. “Don’t mind me. You keep on watching that movie,” she called from the other room.
Damian chuckled. “You’re cute when you’re embarrassed.”
Kat buried her face in her hands. “I’m probably ten shades of red.”
“I like red on you.”
Hilary didn’t come back into the living room, and Kat settled in against Damian’s chest. They finished watching the movie. After the credits, Kat reluctantly stretched and turned off the television. “I guess you’d better be going.”
Damian stood and slipped his coat on. “Yes. I’m spending the day with my brother tomorrow, but if you’re free I’d like to see you in the evening.”
Kat’s butterflies came back. She didn’t want to ruin things between them because tonight had been good. But she really wanted to know what was going on with them. She bit her lip and plunged ahead. “What exactly are we doing?”
Damian took a step closer, wrapping his arms around her waist. “I was thinking a little dinner. Maybe take in a movie at the theater. You know…a date.”
She tried not to get hypnotized by his intoxicating smell and the low timbre of his voice. “I mean, where are we going with this?” Her heart screamed at her to shut up. Things were good. Why did she want to mess with it? But her brain needed an answer. After a small war with herself, she went ahead and asked. “Are we in a relationship?”
From the startled look on Damian’s face to the way he worked his jaw, she knew she wasn’t going to like his answer. He gazed down at her, his fingers brushing over her back through her sweater. “Do we have to put a label on this? Can’t we go out a few times, just to enjoy each other’s company?”
And there it was. Damian wanted to have a fling with her while he was in town, and then he’d go back to New York and back to his busy life with no room in it for her. Her throat felt tight and she wasn’t sure she could get any words out. What words would she even say? She knew there really wasn’t going to be a future between them. Why was she upset about this? She nodded. “I see.”
Her Big Fat Hunky Billionaire Boss Page 14