Page 75 of Billionaire’s Promise

“No, silly. I didn’t go out and buy it. I was at the hospital all morning.”

“Obviously.” I glared at him, wishing he’d just come out with whatever little nugget of information he was about to drop on me.

“My PA did all this.”

Duh. Silly me.

“Still, you organized all this just for,” I paused for two seconds, couldn’t bring myself to say the word me, “lunch?”

“Again. No, not really. My PA did most of it.”

It sounded like we were both in denial. “That’s just semantics, Kai. You paid for it. You asked for it. You did this.”

I couldn’t believe that he would do something so nice for me.

He denied that he had anything to do with it, and perhaps, in his mind, he really thought that he had no part in this. But he did.

Still, it was the thought that counts. It didn’t matter if his PA organized most of it. This had to be the most romantic thing that anyone had ever organized just to have lunch with me.

“Why did you do that though? You could just get me a box of salad, a sandwich and a coffee.”

“Well, Siti said you never had lunch. I’ve seen how busy you are. And I can’t bear the thought of you being disturbed by your colleagues, or patients at the hospital’s cafe or in the cafeteria during the very little time that you called lunch time.”

He took a bite of a chicken wrap before he continued. “Don’t get me started with eating in front of your desk. Oh, don’t get me wrong, you have a nice office. Still, it’s a little depressing to see you eat at the desk where you discuss your patients' pussies and dicks.”

“Shut up! That’s rude.” Though I never thought of it that way, I now felt a little grossed out about my own desk.

“I think you deserve a little quiet time all to yourself. Well, kind of with me as well. Have I answered your question?”

Yes, he definitely did. A little too well.

“That was really sweet of you.”

“Not really. It was a little self-serving. I wanted to spend some quiet time with you too.”

I settled on a bowl of salad and some boiled eggs. Too many carbs would make me sleepy, and I couldn’t afford to have a foggy head for the procedures later. Besides his chicken wrap, Kai ate a pizza with some smoked salmon. We sat beside each other and in the middle of the RV, at the table. Marcus, the British TV chef – I really couldn’t recall his surname and was too embarrassed to ask – served me sparkling water that I requested. I felt a little put out having a famous chef waiting on me. I only hoped that he didn’t feel the same way.

We sat quietly during our lunch. I couldn’t think of anything to say to Kai apart from thank you. If it wasn’t for the awkward celebrity chef waiting at the corner of the room, I would have ripped Kai’s clothes off to show him how much I appreciated his gesture.

18

June

My heart rate wouldn’t settle after my lunch with Kai. I sat at my desk studying my patients’ case one last time before the procedures. None of the information seemed to register in my mind.

It was like my brain had a mind of its own. No matter how I tried to concentrate, my thoughts kept going back to Kai.

I knew for a fact that Kai Li wouldn’t do what he did over lunch to impress just any woman. And the high bid just to date me? He didn’t have to, his charm alone would win anyone over. I was flattered that he did all that for me.

Ten dates would have been enough.

Ten ordinary dates. I would even be okay with it if we didn’t end up in bed again. Those dates were a dream come true for me…sort of. I couldn’t bring myself to admit that I had such a shallow dream – that I simply wanted to date my secret crush.

I wanted more out of life, of course. Being a doctor was a career choice – not my dream – and I knew that from the very beginning. Having a perfect family – husband, children, dogs – was something I also wanted. Living in the twenty-first century America had made that dream almost unattainable, though. Most of the people I know came from broken families. Perhaps seeing my parents marrying and dating different people had made me want this perfect family more not less.

Happily ever after was too much to ask from a guy like Kai.

He wouldn’t marry someone like me. I could never be his someone special. I didn’t mind being just another one of the women who ended up in his bed. But…with everything that he’d done for me over the last few days, he’d given me hope that I could be the one, his forever.