AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Are you serious? You’re named for the girl in the Archie comics?”
She rolled her eyes and nodded. “Better Veronica than Betty, right? No offense,” she said to her Bettie Page bicep tattoo. “I’m talking about a different Betty. Who were you named after?”
“Ian Fleming.”
“The guy who wrote the James Bond books?”
“He’s Dad’s favorite author. It could have been worse. He almost did name me James Bond Asher. That would have been a lot to live up to.”
“Your dad doesn’t strike me as a James Bond kind of guy.”
“He’s not,” Ian said. “He’s the opposite of James Bond. No risks. No danger. No seducing beautiful women. He never even remarried after my mother died. He’s dated some, but not much. He’s more interested in my personal life than having one of his own. I let him set me up on three blind dates over the past six months. That was probably a mistake but I had a certain red-haired welder I was trying to get over. Didn’t work. One date each. No second date. Dad was more disappointed it didn’t work out than I was.”
“Who were these women?”
“Just women he knew. Daughters of friends.”
“Fancy daughters of rich friends?”
Ian shrugged.
“Ian?”
“Yeah, kind of,” he said. “One was a professor, one was a doctor, one was a lawyer.”
“Quite a triumvirate you had there.”
“They were nice,” Ian said noncommittally. “They were pretty, too, and fun. I couldn’t stop thinking about you the entire time I was with them. No second dates.”
“A professor, a doctor and a lawyer. And I didn’t even go to college.”
“I don’t care,” Ian said.
“Where did you go to college?” she asked.
“Flash, it doesn’t matter. I don’t care about where you or I went to school.”
“I know where you went to college,” Flash said. “Starts with an H and ends with an arvard.”
“So?”
“Your father is very proud of his Harvard-educated son.”
“He is.”
“He’s not going to like us going out, is he?”
“He won’t care. Now that you’re not an employee anymore, I mean.”
“You sure about that?”
“I’m thirty-six, Flash.”
“You’re also his only child and you’re going to inherit the whole Asher empire, right? You don’t think your father is going to have a problem with you and me?”
“Dad wants the best for me. If dating you is the best for me, then he’s going to be happy.”
“We’re dating now?”
