Misjudging the Billionaire - (Contemporary BWWM Romance)

by Destiny Davis

  “If you call having to worry about home invasions ‘cozy,’” she quipped, evoking a chuckle from the man.

  He held the building’s front door open for her, then hurried ahead down the steps to open the waiting town car’s back door for her as well.

  “Thank you,” she said, acknowledging his chivalry with a polite smile as she comfortable situated herself in the vehicle’s back seat.

  “See? I don’t always ride in a limousine,” he said humorously.

  “Yeah, but you still have a driver,” she ribbed while rolling her big, brown eyes as the car set off towards the undisclosed destination.

  They drove for nearly thirty minutes with conversation flowing relatively freely along the way, but Eva could sense a nervousness in Devon. His confidence was clearly feigned, and his underlying tension only made her more curious about the handsome businessman. She was worried she’d be the nervous one, yet his awkward nature somehow managed to put her completely at ease. He asked all about her life, revealing little about his own, and seemed genuinely interested in learning about her. He’d occasionally trip over his own words, and it pained Eva to admit how cute she found it. I’ll have to pump a few drinks into this guy to loosen him up some and see what he‘s really like, she thought to herself with a sly grin.

  Arriving at the restaurant, Eva wasn’t surprised to find it was one she’d heard of many times before. Like Bon Appétit, it was a five-star restaurant known for its wealthy clientele but was located downtown in the busy business district. Tavolino had been a thorn in Mr. Jameson’s side for years, and he viewed it as his primary competition even though the city was easily big enough to house both restaurants comfortably. Stepping inside, Eva found the place every bit as wonderful as she imagined. It was Italian, a nice change from the French theme she’d grown accustomed to working in, and the décor was immaculate. The walls were made of stone and adorned with artwork Eva knew had to be expensive. The lighting was low, adding an almost romantic ambience throughout the restaurant, and Sicilian music played softly in the background. She went from a sense of welcome to a feeling of dread as she surveyed the mobbed dining area. The city’s most prominent businessmen and women sat feasting on Tavolino’s pricy courses, all of them looking akin to the same elitists she served day in and day out at Bon Appétit. She glanced down at her dress, suddenly self-conscious in her choice of attire, and she could feel her face grow flushed as the hostess approached them.

  “Devon Cross, reservation for two,” Eva heard her date tell the beautiful young greeter as she continued absorbing the restaurant’s atmosphere. “What’s wrong?” he whispered to her as the woman guided them to a private table in the far corner of the dining room. His words shook her from her stupor and she recomposed herself, following closely by his side as they crossed the busy room.

  “Nothing, I’m fine,” she whispered back, unsure if Devon could even hear her over the banter filling the restaurant.

  Seating them at their table, the hostess disappeared and two years of experience told Eva what would happen next. A waitress, or perhaps waiter if Tavolino’s owner didn’t hold the same discriminatory hiring practices as Mr. Jameson, would be along soon to take their beverage order. In the meantime, she was left sitting at a candlelit table across from a rich, handsome man she hardly knew.

  “You okay?” he asked in concern.

  “Seriously, I’m fine,” she replied as she soaked in the room’s décor. Their table was slightly recessed from the rest of the room, and she had a feeling he’d paid a lot of money to have it arranged that way.

  “I can’t get over how beautiful you look,” he said with a warm smile.

  “I’m so underdressed,” she said in a quiet nervousness. “I feel like everybody’s looking at me.”

  “Oh, stop,” his smile widened and his blue eyes lit up. “Seriously, you look amazing. Belle of the ball!”

  “I’m wearing all black,” she commented while looking down at her outfit. “I look like I’m going to a funeral. Why did I wear this? Ugh. Stupid.”

  “And I thought I was self-conscious!“ Devon placed a hand over his mouth as he laughed in amusement, adding, “Hey, maybe this date will be the death of you.” Eva couldn’t help but giggle and smiled genuinely for the first time since they’d entered the restaurant. They were both nervous, and they both knew it.

  A friendly waiter scurried over to take their drink orders and Eva, impressed that Tavolino wasn’t afraid to employ male servers, opted to stick to water while Devon ordered a diet soda. As the man hurried off to fetch their drinks, Eva followed Devon’s lead and opened her menu. The selection was decent, but she couldn’t believe the prices she was seeing as she scanned the list with wide eyes. She thought Bon Appétit was expensive, but it paled in comparison to this place. No wonder so many of these rich fuckers drive a half an hour to my restaurant, she joked to herself. Maybe they’re a bit more frugal than they let on.

  “Do you know what you want?” Devon asked as he scoured his menu as well.

  “Jesus, the prices are… And I thought the drinks were…” Eva mumbled, trailing off as she realized the thoughts she’d been meaning to keep private had unintentionally come tumbling out of her mouth.

  “Wait, is that why you only ordered a water? Because you’re worried about the prices?” Devon questioned, his brow raised in worry.

  “Well, a damn soda is, like, seven bucks—” she started, only to be interrupted by Devon’s deep voice.

  “You order whatever you want, okay? Don’t worry about price tags. Not tonight.”

  “You know,” Eva began indignantly, “money may not matter to a hotshot like you, but it does to real people like me. I don’t like waste, and that’s exactly…” She flipped her menu open again and trailed her index finger down to the beverage listing, “…what seven dollars and fifty cents for a Coke is. It’s waste.”

  She expected her outburst to return a look of anger, or perhaps even frustration, from Devon. Instead, he sat looking at her with a satisfied grin on his face. This confounded her as much as it surprised her, and she wasn’t sure if his smile should be interpreted as condescending or not. She’d misread him before, so she allowed herself to remain calm while waiting for him to speak. With his menu still in hand, he looked around the restaurant impassively, taking in society’s most privileged as they sat stuffing themselves on overpriced food in between bragging about their various successes. After a long moment of silent observation he turned his eyes back to her.

  “Do you like it here?” he asked with a curious look on his face.

  “I do, but… this place isn’t me, Devon.”

  He nodded his understanding as he glanced around the room again, and Eva detected a slight hint of disgust radiating from him.

  “Good,” he replied.

  “Excuse me?” she asked, genuinely confused by his unexpected reaction.

  “This place isn’t me, either,” he said with a grin, tossing his menu down on the table. “You want to get out of here?”

  “What? No, we just got—”

  “Let’s get out of here,” he cut her off as he pulled out his wallet and threw a one hundred dollar bill down on the menu. Rising to his feet, he extended his hand and she instinctively took it while also popping up from the table. He ignored her protests as they rushed out of the restaurant, hand in hand, with him leading the way.

  The second they were outside, Devon grabbed his cell phone from his breast pocket and dialed his driver. Parking at Tavolino’s was valet only, so before their date he had instructed his driver to simply drop them off at the restaurant and wait for them just down the street. He explained this to Eva as the two stood outside and waited for the town car to pull up. It didn’t take long, and when it arrived Devon once again opened the door for Eva to climb inside. Only ten short minutes after entering the posh establishment, they both found themselves in the back of Devon’s vehicle for the second time. Eva sat in bewilderment as her erratic date leaned forwar
d and whispered something into his driver’s ear.

  “What was that all about?” Eva demanded to know as Devon sunk back into the seat next to her.

  “I think places like that make me more uncomfortable than you,” he said as he loosened his tie.

  “Wait, what?” Eva asked, totally perplexed by this startling admission.

  “Pfft,” he sounded. “I can’t stand places like that. They’re not my style, and I know they’re not yours,” he chuckled.

  “Are you being serious right now?” Eva questioned skeptically.

  “You have no idea,” he said flatly. “Places like that make my skin crawl.”

  “Yeah, well, you came into my restaurant the other day so you must not hate ritzy places all that much,” she pointed out.

  “Please. I was only there because it’s where I was supposed to meet a potential business partner. Remember when I mentioned buying a few buildings in your neighborhood? Yeah, well, I was supposed to be investing with a guy but he no-showed,” Devon explained as the car pulled away from the restaurant.

  “So that’s why you hung around there so long,” Eva realized aloud.

  “Exactly. I didn’t mind waiting around because you were there, and there‘s just something about you,” he said with a smile. “But eventually I got impatient, got upset, and that’s when I rammed into you like an idiot.”

  “Did you ever meet up with the guy?” she asked in genuine interest.

  “Not that day, no. I started heading home, then decided to go check out those buildings one more time to decide if I even want to invest in them. That‘s when I saw you walking home.”

  “I see,” she replied. “But you did get in touch with the guy?”

  “Yeah, turns out we had our days confused. I would have bet my life that he told me the eleventh, but he swears he told me the twelfth,” Devon said as he shook his head. “It was probably my fault. I need a secretary.”

  “Wait, you have a driver but no secretary?” she questioned in shock.

  “Well, I did, but I let her go a while back,” he answered.

  “Why?”

  “She was a sweet woman, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve been doing some downsizing,” he replied with a sigh. Before Eva could probe into this further, his demeanor abruptly changed and he shot upright in his seat with an excited smile. “Almost there!” he announced loudly.

  “Where are we going, anyhow?” she asked, baffled yet fascinated by his sudden change in mood.

  “You’ll see in just a minute!” he fired back enthusiastically, leaning in towards the middle of the car so he could see past the front seat and get a clear view out the windshield. His smile was infectious, and she also found herself grinning while leaning in to follow his gaze. Peering over the front seats, their faces were only inches apart yet Devon’s stare didn’t deviate from the road. Eva could smell his cologne as they eyed the buildings rolling by them until the car slowed down to make a sharp left.

  “We’re here!” Devon yelled as he clenched the back of the passenger seat in exhilaration. Eva’s evening had already been confusing enough, but it got even more bizarre as she realized the parking lot they’d pulled into.

  “Burger World?” she asked incredulously.

  “You better believe it!” he belted, a look of pure joy glued to his face.

  Her blood began to boil at this seemingly offensive stunt. Had he really pulled her from a five-star restaurant just to bring her to a cheap burger joint? She knew when he claimed to hate places like Tavolino that it was too good to be true. No, he’d yanked her out of the fancy Italian restaurant because he had been embarrassed, and now he was bringing her to a place where none of his elitist friends could see them together. He was ashamed of her, that much was obvious, and she wasn’t going to be treated like this. She opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind but he beat her to speaking first.

  “My parents used to take me here when I was a child. You know, I’ve eaten at dozens of five-star restaurants in my life, yet none of them have ever had a burger as good as Burger World’s,” he said, staring at the sign with his eyes wide and almost childlike. “This is where somebody like me fits in,” he continued, his eyes growing damp. He looked as if he may start to weep, and Eva felt her anger immediately vanish. With a deep inhale, he regained his composure. “Shall we?” he asked, motioning towards the local fast-food chain. His words seemed so earnest that she scolded herself for once again judging this man who’d been nothing but kind to her. Seconds earlier she was about to lay into him but, as usual, it appeared she’d jumped to yet another incorrect conclusion.

  “Sure,” she said with the smile returning to her face. “I’m starving.” She made a pact with herself to set aside her doubts and stop second-guessing the man’s intentions. Climbing out of the town car, the two headed into the restaurant with Devon holding the door in the same gentlemanly manner she’d already grown familiar with.

  Inside, they found the lobby to be much quieter than Tavolino’s crowded dining area and Devon quickly marched to the counter to place his order, a clear indication that he’d definitely been here before and wasn’t just stringing her along.

  “I’ll have the quarter-pounder with cheese, medium fries, and a Coke,” he said politely while Eva looked at the backlit overhead menu and deliberated on her order.

  “Have you ever been here before?” he asked her while ignoring the glances that the Burger World employees were shooting them. Not even twenty minutes ago Eva had worried she was underdressed, but she now felt incredibly overdressed. She didn’t mind the looks, though, and a part of her actually enjoyed them. She felt beautiful, and she could tell by the faces of the few men who sat shoving greasy food into their mouths that they also found her attractive. Unlike the snobs at the Italian restaurant down the street, these people actually noticed and appreciated her.

  “Are you kidding me? I used to come here all the time. I love this place,” she replied. “I’m just surprised you like it, too. Oh, and I’ll have a number two with a Diet Coke,” she told the waiting cashier. Devon paid the young woman and the two took a seat in a corner booth while waiting for their order to be called.

  “Thank you for coming here with me,” he said, his blue eyes looking sincere as always. “It really means a lot.” He caught a young child in a highchair staring at him from a few tables over and waved at the little boy with a smile.

  “You sure you weren’t just embarrassed to be seen with me at Tavolino?” she asked with an eyebrow raised in doubt.

  “What? No, of course not. These are my people,” he said as he looked around Burger World‘s dining area at all the feeding faces, “not them,” he added as he pointed in the direction of the Italian restaurant he’d practically ran out of.

  “And your parents used to take you here?” She found herself increasingly intrigued by Devon Cross, the same man she’d vowed never to see again only a few days earlier.

  “When I was a child, yes, and I’d always get the same thing: the quarter-pounder with cheese, medium fries, and a Coke. I still stop in at least once a month and order it. Not at this location, but the one closer to my house.”

  Before she had a chance to explore this further, their number was called and Devon motioned for her to remain seated while he retrieved their tray from the counter. He walked back to the booth slowly as to not spill their drinks while looking quite pleased at the hot meal he was carrying.

  “Now this is food!” he exclaimed with a grin as he returned to his seat and excitedly unwrapped his burger.

  “I’m surprised you eat this stuff,” Eva commented as she followed his lead and unwrapped her double cheeseburger. “You look like you keep yourself in good shape.”

  “Just once a month, as a treat,” he explained. “I love this place too much to stay away. I appreciate a good burger and this place has the best. Maybe it‘s just the nostalgia factor making me bias, though.”

  “Tell me more about that,” she said, bringing
the subject back to his personal life. “You know way more about me than I know about you.”

  “Well,” he began, taking a sip of his drink to wash his burger down. “I know you think I’m your stereotypical rich snob, but I’m not. Can you believe I actually grew up in your neighborhood?”

  “What? Yeah, right,” she said in disbelief.

  “I swear. Two streets over from where you live now on Montgomery Avenue.”

  “If you’re trying to mess with me, it’s not funny,” she hissed angrily.

  “The park by your place is my old stomping ground,” he said with pride. “I was glad to see the monkey bars were still there, at least. I used to spend so much time at that park when I was a kid.”

  “You’ll have to forgive me for finding this a little hard to believe,” Eva said with skepticism as she reached for a few of her fries.

  “My parents were good people. They didn’t have much, but they tried their hardest. My grandfather and my dad were never close. He resented my father for choosing a life with my mother over furthering his education. My dad met my mom fresh out of high school, they fell in love fast and hard, and I was born only one year later. My grandfather offered to pay my dad’s way through college, but my dad chose to take a full time job at a carwash and take care of me and mom instead. Times were tough, and the only place he could afford was the small apartment on Montgomery since mom didn‘t work. She stayed at home with me and tried making extra money here and there selling multi-level marketing crap, but I’m pretty sure she lost more than she ever made.” Devon paused to take another bite of his burger and a sip of his soda before moving on with his story. “Anyhow, my grandfather did extremely well for himself as an investment banker. I hate to say it, but he was definitely one of those loaded snobs you have to put up with on a regular basis. He hated my mother. He looked down his nose at her, considering her white trash who was too unsophisticated and too uncultured for his son. My dad didn’t care. He loved my mom regardless of her social class and that was that.”

  “Jesus, that’s crazy,” Eva replied, hanging on his every word as she washed down more fries with a swig of her Diet Coke.