Page 28 of Her Big Fat Hunky Billionaire Boss

“Mother doesn’t like those, either.” He gave her a little smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“She sounds like a ball of fun.”

He was silent for a moment, looking off into the distance as they skated. “She’s not so bad. She means well.”

“And your father? What happened?” Kat couldn’t believe how bold she was being. Why did she ask that?

“He…died of cancer.” The way he said it was weird. Like he was trying not to choke on the words. “Last year. It was sudden.”

“I’m sorry.”

Damian motioned to a bench. “Mind if we sit for a minute? My leg…”

Guilt surfaced in Kat. She’d been making him do all these physical things today. How could she be so insensitive? “Of course. I’m sorry.”

He stopped himself on the railing and sat down. “No need to be sorry. I’m the one that messed up my leg.”

“Accidents happen. I’m sure it wasn’t your fault.” She could feel how cold the bench was, even through her jeans.

“It was,” he said quietly.

She didn’t know how to respond to that. Fortunately, he changed the subject. “So, you bowl and ice skate, and go to fascinating museums. What else do you do in your spare time?”

“Besides baiting scammers?”

He chuckled. “How did that get started, anyway?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I was bored one day and was angry I kept getting nonsense emails. So, I replied to one. I never expected the scammer to reply back. Then it just sort of developed into a game.”

“How so?”

She looked at him. He seemed genuinely interested. “I guess I sort of wanted to see how far the scammer would go to get money out of me. At first, I just wanted to know who I was talking to, so I told him I needed a photo to verify who he was. I was shocked when he actually sent a photo.”

“But how did you know it was a photo of him?”

Kat pointed at Damian. “Right. That’s what I was thinking too. So, I figured if I made him do something in the photo, it couldn’t be just some random picture from the internet. That’s when the fun began. I told him to put on lipstick, and he did.” Kat laughed, remembering the photo. It was hilarious.

“I can’t believe that.”

“I was going to send him several thousand dollars, at least, that’s what he thought. I suppose it was worth his time to appease me. And then it blossomed from there. I started responding to more emails and getting more people to do weird things. I shared the emails with my co-workers and Lydia asked if I could make it into a column. I was so excited. It was the first thing I’d ever written that was printed in the newspaper. And the people in town really love it. I get asked about it all the time.”

“I can see why people like to read it. You’re very witty.”

Her heart warmed at the compliment. She tried not to blush. “Thanks.”

He exhaled, his breath making fog in the cold air. He pulled his coat tighter around him. “Are you as cold as I am?”

“I know what we need.” She stood. “Let’s turn in our skates and get some hot chocolate.”

He smiled up at her, and she realized she liked his smile. There was something genuine behind it. Something she hadn’t noticed before. “That sounds good.”

They took off their skates and walked to the hot chocolate stand. As they stood in line, the music from the carnival rides up the street floated in the air. Crowds of people walked by.

When they got to the front of the line, she saw Abby working the window. “Hey, girl, how’s it going?”

Abby grinned at her, red and green ribbons holding her dark hair up in pigtails. She always did whatever she wanted, in style or not. “Going good. Even with the storm, we’ve had a record-breaking year. What can I get you?” Her gaze fell to Damian and she gave Kat a raised eyebrow look. “Wow,” she mouthed.

“We’ll have two medium hot chocolates,” Kat said.

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