Page 19 of The Boss's Triplet Surprise

He managed to wait until the next morning before texting her. He told himself that he was just setting up another meeting to be sure they were ready to meet his father, though he knew it wasn’t entirely true.

Leah texted back after just a few minutes, agreeing to dinner the following night.

But I’m paying for this one!

Dan chuckled and texted back that she could even choose the restaurant if she wanted to. The message from Leah lifted his spirits more than he cared to admit.

The rest of the day, Dan did his work as usual, but his mind wandered to Leah more often than he was willing to acknowledge. He stayed at the office late to try to catch up on work he’d missed during the conference, so by the time he got home, he was so tired that he fell asleep right after eating.

The next evening couldn’t come soon enough. After work, Dan offered to pick Leah up at home, and she agreed. He met her at her house around six, earlier than he ever left work. She was dressed for a date today, in a white skirt and green top that brought out the color of her eyes and was perfect for the warm weather outside.

“Hi, Dan.” She smiled at him as she descended the steps to his car. “How was work?”

“Not bad. There have already been some good responses from the conference, which is nice to see. And one of our blood-pressure drugs is currently topping the market, thanks to it having fewer side effects and being a more reasonable price.” Dan hesitated. It might have been easier to talk about work all evening, but he didn’t want to. They needed to prepare for Leah’s meeting with Richard — and he’d rather just chat with her. “Do you mind if we talk about something else?”

“Sure, no problem. Do you have anything in mind?”

Dan opened the car door for her and she got in. When he slid into his seat, he had a question in mind.

“I was thinking we could catch a movie after dinner. And, if you’re open to it, we could take a picture and send it to my dad. As a kind of easy introduction to our fake relationship.”

“That’s fine with me. I imagined we’d need to do something like that eventually.”

“Perfect. Is there a movie you’d be interested in seeing?”

“To be honest, I’m not really sure what the options even are. I’m not very good at keeping up with pop culture. Do you have something in mind?”

“I’m the same as you — I don’t do a good job of following current movies. Work keeps me too busy. We can just go to the theater and pick something from the poster.”

“That works.” Leah grinned. “As for dinner, I’ve picked out a place.”

“Great. Let’s go.”

Leah gave him directions, and Dan drove them through the city to a neighborhood he hadn’t visited before. They parked and descended a set of stairs into an underground restaurant. Dan felt a stab of apprehension. This wasn’t the kind of place he would ever visit on his own. He usually went to more upscale restaurants.

The waiter greeted Leah by name and led them to a small, round table in the corner. They took their seats across from each other, and Dan surveyed the place. The design was simple but clean and homey. Waiters bustled between large, round tables, bringing small, covered plates to the guests.

“What do you think?” Leah asked.

“I like it.” Dan looked around once more. “I wouldn’t normally come here, but I like the vibe. What’s good here?”

“This is a dim sum place, so what I usually do is share plates with the people I come with. Between the two of us, we can get five or six plates, depending on how hungry you are.”

Dan set aside his menu. “I trust your judgment. I’m quite hungry, so let’s get six dishes — but I’ll let you choose them since you know what you’re doing.”

“Right answer.” Leah winked, then took a pad of paper and started marking dishes off a list of options. Dan settled back in his chair. He wasn’t usually the kind of person who let others take charge, but something about Leah made him feel comfortable letting her call the shots.

Dan was even more pleased with his decision when the food arrived. Six small dishes were placed on the table in front of them. Dan identified dumplings and something that looked like a spring roll. The other dishes included some kind of leafy green vegetable wrapped in almost transparent rice paper and drizzled with soy sauce, a fluffy white bun that Leah told him was filled with tofu and mushrooms, and several other delectable-looking selections.

“It’s all vegetarian,” Leah told him as she expertly used chopsticks to transfer one of the dumplings onto her plate. “I hope that’s all right.”

“Of course.” Dan took one of the same kind of dumpling. “Do you come here a lot?”

“It’s one of my favorite places,” Leah told him. “When my parents visit or I want a night out with my friends, I usually come here. I’ve tried almost every dish on the menu, and they’re all scrumptious.”

Dan popped the dumpling into his mouth and smiled at the burst of flavor. There was some kind of broth or soup inside that exploded into his mouth.

“Delicious.”

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