The Billionaire's Romance (A Winters Love 2) - Page 4

“Hey, I wanted to ask you…my friends and I do a New Year’s party every year. This year it’s at my friend Nadine’s house. She lives in Brooklyn Heights….”

“I’m sorry, Robyn, I can’t,” he interrupted me.

“I’m sorry? You can’t? I hadn’t even finished asking.”

“I know. I’m sorry. You were going to ask me to the party though, am I right?”

“Yes. I’d really like you to go. I’d love for you to meet my friends….”

“I can’t. Now that the executives know that I’m not out of town they’re expecting me to be at the executive party we throw every year for the shareholders. I’ve missed it every year. This year I’m in town so I have no excuses.”

“Oh…” I paused there; it was a good opportunity for him to invite me to his party since he “can’t” come to mine. The invitation didn’t come. Instead he said, “What about if you and I have dinner the night before instead? I know it’s the day before New Year’s Eve, but what does it really matter when we celebrate it?”

I was thinking, “Because kissing at midnight just won’t mean the same thing,” but I didn’t say it. I was still trying to be patient with him and I was still thrilled about any and all the time I was blessed enough to be able to spend with him. So what I said was, “That sounds great.”

“Good! I’ll have Jeffrey pick you up at seven.”

“You won’t be with him?”

“I’ll meet you at the restaurant; I’ll probably be coming straight from work.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Good night, Robyn.”

“Good night.”

I hung up the phone that night not feeling as happy as I had been. I missed that euphoric feeling I had for the first few days. I wasn’t the type to mope though I decided that I was going to make the best of getting to spend pre-New Year’s Eve with him. I went into my closet and started planning what I would wear….

***

Thankfully the work day flew by on the day of our dinner. I hadn’t seen Aaron since Sunday and I felt like I was going through withdrawals by the time seven p.m. rolled around. I was dolled up in a silver and black dress I’d bought a while back and made some upgrades to and had just finished my hair when Jeffrey knocked on the door.

“Good Evening Miss Robin. You look very lovely tonight.”

“Thank you Jeffrey, so do you,” I said. That

got a laugh from him. As soon as we got into the car, I tapped on the glass. He rolled the partition down and I said, “That’s better. I’ve missed you, Jeffrey, what’s new?”

“Oh you know Miss…another day.”

“Another dollar?” I said.

“More like fifty cents with inflation,” he said with a grin.

It was a nice ride to Manhattan. I really enjoyed talking to him. He told me about his life on the way to the restaurant. He said his wife was in the U.K. visiting family for Christmas. He was supposed to go but when Aaron cancelled his vacation, Jeffrey had cancelled his as well.

“He made you cancel your vacation?”

“No, quite the contrary,” Jeffrey said. “He urged me to go. I cancelled it, my service to Mr. Winters is important to me.”

“That’s very admirable of you,” I told him.

“No Miss, it’s just me doing my job. Mr. Winter’s pays me really well to do what I do for him. I feel like he needs a hundred percent of me in return.”

“Don’t you miss your wife?” I asked him.

“Desperately,” he said with a smile. I could see in his eyes that he really meant it.

Aaron hadn’t told me where we were going for dinner. I wasn’t surprised when Jeffrey parked the car and helped me out to see that the place was obviously elegant and exclusive. I was surprised when I went inside to see that it was completely empty with the exception of the staff….and Aaron. The hostess led me to our table which was situated comfortably close to the fireplace. Before we got there, Aaron stood up and pulled out my chair. Once we were seated he said,

“You look fabulous.”

Smiling I told him the same thing that I had told Jeffrey, “Thank you, so do you.” He really did, as always. He was wearing a dark blue very well-tailored suit. His hair was stylishly mussed and he had just a touch of a five o’clock shadow. He looked so good I could have eaten him with a spoon. “So why is this place so empty? Was the health inspector here?” I asked him, jokingly.

“I reserved it for us,” he said.

“You did what?”

“I reserved it.”

“The entire restaurant? Why?”

“Because I wanted to spend the evening alone with you.” He picked up the bottle of wine that was chilling next to our table and he poured me a flute. He poured himself some then and held up his glass, “To us,” he said with that dazzling smile.

“To us,” I echoed. We both drank and then the waitress appeared with our food. Aaron must have pre-ordered it. That would have normally irritated me a bit…to not be allowed to order for myself…but when I looked at the plate I had to admit that he’d done a great job.

“So tell me about your day,” I said as we ate.

He sighed and said, “There seems to always be too much to do. The China group…Xiong are in a hurry to get our deal finalized. They found out that I didn’t go out of town and now they’re urging me into a meeting to finalize the merger. Then there’s a family business that I’m working on buying and then this party tomorrow night…I’m really sorry about that.” He did sound remorseful, but he still didn’t offer an invitation. I was going to try and not let it bother me. I’d have plenty of fun with my friends…

Tags: Holly Rayner A Winters Love Billionaire Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net
readsnovelonline.net Copyright 2016 - 2024