Crash (Billionaire New Adult Romance)(7)

A door opening brought in a blast of cold air and my teeth chattered. An  insolent voice talked to the hostess, and I dragged my attention back  towards Charlie.

"What kind of movies do you like?"

"Um-"

A man walked along our table and stood in front of us. I waited for him  to leave, perhaps he was only getting out of the way of a waitress, but  he stood there. I glanced up his torso and jumped.

It was Will.

This time, he was dressed in a black wool sweater and dark jeans, his  hair groomed back. It was amazing how handsome he looked when he put in a  little effort. He gave me a pleasant smile and then looked down at  Charlie with an indiscernible expression on his face. He threw down a  small pile of hundred dollar bills. My eyes widened.

"Clear off," he barked at Charlie.

Charlie looked vaguely offended. "What?"

He blew air impatiently. "Just take the money and leave. Now."

My heart pounded as Charlie fingered the one hundred dollar bills. There  were five hundred dollars there. Would he take the bribe? I would. His  muddy eyes slid towards mine guiltily and I pressed my lips into a firm  line.

"Sorry." He gathered them in his fist and stood up to leave.

Don't be. I was getting bored anyways.

The dark-haired man smirked triumphantly as Charlie swept from the  table. He reached out and pulled the chair back and took the other man's  place. He smiled at me as if this was the most normal thing in the  world. He just threw almost my month's rent at my date to get him to  leave the table. Is this a rich people thing?

I couldn't believe the fucking gall of this guy.

"You can't just-how did you even find me?"

He rolled his eyes at me. "Oh, please. I did you a favor. Both of you looked bored. Besides, that money was fake."

I choked into my glass of beer. "Are you crazy? He could get in a lot of trouble if he deposits it."

"Serves him right for accepting a bribe." He waved over the waitress. "I'll have tea."

What an ass. I should be a lot angrier. "Are you stalking me?" I hissed when she left with his order.

"Nope. Just overheard things at the workplace, you know how it is." He  sighed as if he had a long day and looked at me with the hungry  expression that first drew me to him. "You look beautiful, by the way."         

     



 

I flushed with pleasure and suddenly, the restaurant was too warm. I was  stunned and flattered that he tracked me down all the way to Berkeley  to-what? Why was he here? My anger stumbled. "Thank you, that's very  sweet. You look great yourself." I wanted to make a barb about his  appearance the other day, but I stopped myself.

One dark eye winked at me. "What is this place?"

"It's an Ethiopian restaurant."

Will gawked as the waitress placed a huge platter in front of us, which  was covered with a flattened, round piece of bread. The entrees were  dropped directly on the bread in steaming piles. There were no utensils  and I could see William quietly freaking out about it.

"What the hell-how are we supposed to eat this?"

"You eat it with your hands." I pointed to the bowl of rolled spongy  bread. I took one and tore off a piece. Using the bread, I picked up the  food and ate it. The lamb fell apart in my mouth, the rich spices  making my tongue dance. It was delicious.

He raised an eyebrow. "Strange choice for a first date."

"If you don't like it, I can always call Charlie back. At least he was  excited to try it." It was strange how comfortable I felt around him.  Being around Luke usually had me tongue-tied, but William was completely  different. He was strange, but not exactly intimidating.

"Not a chance," he frowned.

"Are you afraid to get your hands dirty?" Rich boy?

His nostrils flared as if he smelled a challenge and promptly rolled up  his sleeves. Will gave me an "I'll show you!" expression as he grabbed a  roll of bread and picked up food with a piece. He brightened the moment  the food passed his lips.

"Wow, this is really good." Apparently, his revulsion with eating with  his hands was overcome by how delicious it was. He dove back in with  gusto.

All right, enough of the niceties. "Why are you here?"

He paused to lean in a little bit with that secret smile that I loathed,  the one that could see through all my bullshit. Just looking at him  made my skin burn. "I wanted to see you again. I usually get what I  want."

"I'll bet that you do, but I'm still not interested." A flush crept up  my neck but I didn't look away from his narrowed eyes. His cocky  attitude was wearing thin.

Will's tossed his head angrily and looked at me like he could hardly  believe that someone so stubborn existed. "Well, I'm not interested in  you, either. You're a bit too uptight for my taste."

Ouch. "I'm in no mood to be bullied."

He saw the frown on my face and shrugged. "Hey, I'm just being honest.  You turned me down in front of those people." A sad little smile  appeared at the corner of his mouth.

I sighed and dropped my gaze, feeling guilty despite myself. "I just broke up with my fiancé of six years. I'm not over-"

"I don't give a crap about your ex," he interrupted. "I don't need to  hear about it. Luke told me you broke up almost a year ago. Told me to  stay away from you." He smiled to himself. "Naturally, that just made me  want to see you even more."

Never had I met someone so unapologetically blunt. An invisible knife  sank into my ribs, puncturing my lungs of air. I was mortified by what  Luke said.

"He said that? Why?" A ripple of anger went through me. What, am I so  pathetic that I can't handle a guy like him? Do they think for one  second that I don't know what he wants from me? "Maybe he wanted to  protect me from you. He thinks you'll hurt me."

"Maybe he doesn't want a rift forming between his girlfriend and her  best friend. Maybe he thinks it'll create problems between them both. I  don't know and I don't care."

What could I say to that? I stammered as I looked at the table. "Why the hell did you come here?"

"I might have an opening in my department for a talented graphic designer." He winked at me.

A job offering? That's why he came all the way here? That made me  deflate a little. I thought that there would be a more romantic reason.

"Oh," I said.

"Oh? That's it? I represent a multi-billion dollar company and that's all you have to say?"

Well, I was a little disappointed that I completely misread the reason  why he drove all the way to the East Bay. He was oddly contained, as if  he laughed inwardly from a private joke.

Is he fucking with me?

"I just thought that … " I blushed and didn't finish the sentence under  his intense stare. "It's a bit strange to drive all the way here just to  talk about a job. On a Saturday. You could have emailed me."         

     



 

"There are a lot of Natalie Porters on LinkedIn," he said gruffly. "And I'm impulsive."

It was strange that I felt so upset that he changed his mind about me.  What is it about me that is so horrible? My mother would be able to tell  me in a few seconds flat. I felt an incredible urge to look into his  eyes and ask him. He would tell me, but did I want to hear the answer?  At least there was a silver lining in all of this. Working for Pardini  Worldwide would be an incredible opportunity for me. I couldn't pass it  up, no matter how weird William was.

"Well, what's the job?"

"Ah-ah," he tutted. "Not yet. I want to get to know you first."

Taken aback, I leaned into my chair. "Okay. What do you want to know?"

"Do you get drunk often?"

My mouth hung open. "That isn't any of-" I stopped as he gave me a sharp  look. "I don't get drunk. That ended in my sophomore year of college.  I'll have a beer or a glass of wine occasionally."

He nodded approvingly. "How do you feel about cats?"

"Cats? Um, they're okay, I guess?"

"Don't answer a question with a question," he barked.

"They're nice," I said with a bit of an edge.

"Tell me about a difficult person you interacted with."

You. I glared at him, and then realized I probably should look  friendlier to my potential boss. "Well, there was this one guy at work  who-"

"-Never mind. I hate boring questions. What do you do on weekends?"

Nothing. A stinging feeling dug into my brain. I was tired of being  interrupted. "I hang out with my friends, I see movies, go shopping."

Will was looking more and more bored with my answers. "Why?"

"Why what?" He's starting to piss me off.

"Why do you want this position?"

I gave a frustrated laugh. "How am I supposed to answer that when I don't even know what the job is?"

Will glanced up coolly. "You're supposed to kiss my ass and tell me how wonderful my company is."

"Do you want ass-kissers to work for you?"