Page 70 of Billionaire’s Promise

“Have Clare take you.” I added.

“Will I see you tonight?” Lucy’s words flowed out of her mouth smoothly, now fully recovered from the shock earlier.

“I have other plans.” My eyes went to June’s.

“Oh? A hot date?” Lucy asked, though she sounded like she was snooping for information.

She had started to get on my nerves. I wanted her to be gone like five seconds ago. She shouldn’t be in here, in the first place. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“No, of course not. You do whatever makes you happy.” Lucy turned around and left without another word.

17

June

Although I hadn’t known Lucy for very long, I felt like we could be good friends. There was this Zen air about her. It made people feel calm, relaxed and at ease. At the same time, she wasn’t too Zen – so intimidating – that you felt like you were with a sophisticated Buddhist monk.

She was what my mother considered the perfect daughter. On the outside, she had a great fashion sense, hairstyle and make up that my mother would consider on point for a wealthy and well-bred Asian woman. Inside, well, that was not something I could judge. But from what I’ve seen and heard so far, she was the perfect woman.

Sad maybe, that my mother still worshiped that outdated thinking. While the world had moved on from centuries of stereotyping, dictating how anyone should behave, I remained stuck. Always striving for my mother’s approval.

But then, who wasn’t?

I had tried for years to change her ways, but I knew better than to to hope she’d change. Sometimes, being happy with myself – finding happiness within was much more important than looking for the joy that was attached to the approval that I would never receive.

I felt sorry for Lucy finding Kai and me in that situation. It was awkward. The shock must have caused the poor woman to lose her ability to converse properly. It just wasn’t like her to say something so forward.

But that didn’t mean last night with Kai wasn’t fun. It was like having the chocolate bar that I had denied myself for centuries. My crush on him had lasted too long. And now that I finally had a taste of what it was like to be in bed with him. I wanted more.

But I knew it had to end somehow.

Ten dates should do it.

Ten minus one.

If we did what we did last night, having the same fantastic sex on each date, then it would definitely be enough. Maybe.

I forced myself to push all the dirty thoughts away – mainly what I wanted to do with Kai – and focus on work.

For the rest of the day, Kai waited outside patiently for me. Needless to say, he had again moved his whole office over. Camping at the corner of the waiting room, working on a coffee table. I had pointed out that he could work at the cafe downstairs, but he refused. I even suggested letting him use one of the empty private suites that was reserved for VIP patients, and again, he rejected the idea.

He said he just wanted to be near me.

Sweet.

And too cute, even for Kai.

I didn’t need him to do that. Though it did make my heart sing.

The other part of me couldn’t help but wonder what game he was playing. Chloe had warned me that men like Kai always have something up their sleeves – waiting to trick innocent women like me.

Was I innocent, though? People like to think that I was. Perhaps I was, there was no way for me to tell.

Word traveled really fast where I worked. The nurses loved nothing more than good gossip. Linda, the middle-aged nurse who had known me since I was a teenager, told me all about it over a short coffee break.

At first, they thought that Kai was some contractor that my father had hired for the hospital. And I, as usual, had to manage the contractor while they were at work. Things got a bit ridiculous when he donated his sperm. They then said that I had started some kind of program where I promoted the sperm, by having the donor pose as a billionaire within my clinic. Then it quickly escalated after someone confirmed that Kai had placed a bid at the charity event last night. According to the office gossip, the sperm donor had fallen in love hopelessly with the fertility doctor.

There was more, Linda said, but she wouldn’t tell me to save me from rolling my eyes too much. All in all, the nurses were happy and enjoyed seeing a handsome guy around. Even if it was around my office.