Page 27 of Beauty and the Billionaire

We ate quietly as I mulled over the words I meant to say.

Usually, if I had to share my dining table with someone, it was purely for discussing business. With Zain, I didn’t want to talk of business while we ate. We had a study and plenty of hours every day for that. These hours were different, although I couldn’t exactly put my finger on how.

Once we were nearing the end of our dinner, I wiped my lips with a napkin. My hands were a little sweaty, so I wiped them, too. “I was wondering,” I said, thinking that I should have kept quiet. “You’ve been here for a couple of weeks. How do you find it?” It was a last-minute improvisation to postpone asking him.

“Good,” Zain said. “The work’s not that hard. And you definitely provided more than I expected.” He thought about it. “I love the library. But…it’s nothing. It’s just that I’m not used to being so far away from the city.”

“It’s only a drive away,” I said. “Do you miss it?”

He shrugged and averted his gaze.

Man up, I told myself angrily. I wasn’t asking him anything serious. So what if he said he wouldn’t want to hang out? “I wasconsidering doing something,” I said, my mouth dry. This was ridiculous. “Something entertaining.”

Zain cocked his head. “Like movies?”

“Of course,” I offered. “If that’s what you like. Or going to the city. Is there any place you’d like to visit? Anything you’d like to do?”

“Visit my family,” Zain said.

I nodded, hiding my disappointment. I was surprised at how strongly I felt it. “That would be nice for you.”

We were quiet for a few moments, and I pretended to be busy with my plate. Zain glanced at me a couple of times. “There is this place,” he said slowly. “I used to deliver groceries there. It’s a little silly, but I never let myself go there at night because it’s so…shocking. Or it would be to my parents if they knew. But I always wanted to go to one of their parties. Could we go?”

“A…party?” I asked, my chest tight. This was all a mistake. I wasn’t sure what I’d hoped for. Still, my heart gave a lurch that he was asking me to join.

Zain nodded. “They have drag queens. I never saw a live show.”

My eyebrows knitted.

“Like I said, it’s stupid,” Zain blurted, shaking his head. “Forget I said anything.”

“No,” I said. “We can do that.”

Silence. He lifted his gaze, eyes wide, and perked his ears. “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” I assured him, although I didn’t feel so sure at all. “We can spend the night in the city.”

Zain folded his lips and smiled, nodding. “Great.” The word was a small, excited squeak, and it made my heart leap.

A party. What was I thinking?

We left it at that, and I retreated to my bedroom instead of having a drink after dinner. Somewhere below, in the library,Zain was probably sitting with a book in his lap, and I lay in my bed, staring at the dark canopy above, worrying about having to go to a party in the city.

I had attended galas early in my career. Back then, I had understood the necessity of networking. It pained me to be around people I only knew in passing. It only made me think about the ways in which they could mock me, laugh about me behind my back, or get close to me for their benefit.

It hadn’t taken me long to turn my back to it all.

And before that, the only parties I had attended had been some college events. Fraternities would gather to drink and bully the weakest and youngest among them. Julian Hale had put them up to prank me one time in my sophomore year, lacing my drink with something that knocked me out cold after half an hour. I woke up half-naked in a bed, lying under a massive stuffed bear,and photographs of myself in compromising positions continued to torment me for weeks, delivered to my dorm room. “Into bears, Blackthorne?”

I disliked parties.

But it didn’t go over my head, what Zain had done tonight. He’d seen my disappointment despite my effort to hide it. He’d suggested it for my sake, and I decided I wasn’t too proud to take it. It had been an impulsive decision to take him up on the offer. Part of me regretted it, but I understood that my longing to do something nice in return was stronger. And it wasn’t just about being nice to him. I wanted to see him like that. I wanted to see him at a party when he was free and enjoying himself.

You want to bribe him, I heard myself whisper.

But that wasn’t all of it. I wanted to be close to him in some way, some elusive way that only ever manifested itself as yearning.

I flicked the light off and sighed frustratedly.

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