The French Billionaire(48)

He lets me see who he actually is, she thought. Maybe it’s not always perfect, but it’s real.

Mia and Xander woke up around two o’clock in the afternoon the next day. After watching four movies back to back, they had made love once more before falling asleep in the hotel’s giant king sized bed. Xander turned to Mia as rays of sunshine were beaming through the window.



“Thank God I canceled all of my appointments for the day,” he said.

“Thank God,” Mia replied. She leaned over to kiss him, but was interrupted when she heard her phone buzzing on the bedside table. “I should probably look at this,” she said with a groan.

The screen on her phone read an incoming call from Jayden Steele. “Hi, Jayden, can I call you back in half an hour?” she said, in a falsely cheery voice.

“Whatever you need, babe!” Jayden replied.

Mia hung up, and looked at Xander, who was shooting daggers at her with his eyes.

“I have to go,” she said. “But don’t worry, I’ll break up with him today. We can’t keep dragging this out.”

***





Chapter 5




Mia called Jayden back once she was in the elevator.

“Do you want to go out to dinner tonight?” he asked.

Mia paused. She really didn’t want to encourage him by going out to dinner. She should just break up with him now. But then again, he just got back from what had to be a long and stressful trip. It wasn’t really fair to him to break it off now. She would do it at dinner, she thought. It would be hard, but she hated keeping this secret.

“Sure,” she said. “Where are we going?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Jayden said. “I’ll pick you up.”

“That’s really not necessary,” Mia said. “You can just text me the address and I’ll meet you there.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. See you tonight!” she said, forcing herself to sound positive, even though she was cringing inside at the thought of the inevitable breakup.



She walked into the restaurant Jayden had picked about six hours later, wearing an effortless flowy red dress. She had wanted to look nice, but she hadn’t tried too hard since she didn’t want to give Jayden the wrong impression. The restaurant he had chosen was very trendy and modern, almost minimal, the kind of place where your entree was more of a work of art than something actually edible.

She noticed Jayden sitting in a cozy table for two in the corner. He waved her over, with a huge smile on his face. Mia felt like her heart was about to beat out of her chest, she was so nervous. She didn’t want to break up with him like this. She couldn’t handle seeing him that upset right now. She would do it tomorrow, or something. Xander would just have to deal with it.

Although she had expected the date to go very poorly, the pair actually had a wonderful, lively conversation once they had ordered their food. Jayden told her all of his stories about his trip. Apparently there had been a baggage mix-up on the plane, and he’d ended up with a young girl’s duffel bag instead of his own.

“So I opened the bag expecting to find my coat and my laptop, and instead I found a stuffed cat and a Gameboy… What are the odds that a six-year-old would have the same bag as me?” He laughed. Mia was surprised at how charming and funny he could be. She found that she was actually having a nice time. He wasn’t Xander, of course, but it was still pleasant. He was a good guy.

They ordered a second bottle of wine, and continued chatting long after they had finished their food. Mia felt herself starting to get flushed and giggly, all the signs that she was tipsy and should probably stop drinking, but she poured herself another glass anyway. Maybe this would make her forget about Robert and his threats, and Xander, and Lillian, and how she was supposed to be breaking up with Jayden right now. So, she ended up flirting with him instead.

The restaurant slowly started to empty out, and Mia and Jayden were still there, drinking. The staff was starting to send them pointed looks, implying that they should leave soon.

“There’s a really great bar a few blocks away,” Jayden said. “Do you want to go?”

“You don’t have to ask me twice,” Mia said.



Xander sat in the back of his limo and watched Jayden and Mia exit the restaurant. The idea of them together made him nervous, almost physically ill. So, he had followed them there. Clearly, Mia had not broken up with him like she had said that she would. In fact, they were looking awfully cozy, with Jayden’s arm around her waist.



Was Mia stumbling? She looked quite drunk. Silently, Xander got out of the car and began to follow them, making sure to keep a safe distance so he wouldn’t be spotted.