Page 156 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 10
“You’re a lot happier than I remember.”
I laughed.
“It’s because of the girl, right? Penny?”
Dr. Clark had said something similar to me. That I smiled more now. “Yeah, I guess it is.”
“You don’t think the age difference will matter?”
Penny was 21. That wasn’t that young. She was an adult. She could make her own decisions. “It doesn’t matter to me.”
“Her parents are going tohateyou.”
“It’s a little soon for that. I haven’t even taken her on a date yet.” And I strongly doubted that her parents would hate me. It’s not like I was a deadbeat. I had plenty to offer their daughter. Although that background check of mine might be an issue. It would be good to at least see if either of her parents were cops. I was itching to open the folder, but I didn’t want to do it with Ian watching me. At least he was only concerned about her age. That was probably a good thing.
“So this is going to be your first date?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“Isn’t this a little extreme? Why don’t you just take her to a restaurant a few minutes outside town if you’re worried about getting caught?”
“That is what I’m doing.”
“No…that’s what a normal person would do. You’re planning on buying a place and making the entire staff sign confidentiality waivers.”
“I make everyone sign confidentiality waivers.”
“Has Penny signed one?”
“No.”
“Are you going to get her to sign one?”
I lowered my eyebrows. “No.”
“What if she’s trying to exploit you?”
“I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m a poor professor. She’s never asked me any questions about Blive Tech or anything else business related.” Which was refreshing.
He shook his head. “But you’re about to buy her a restaurant for your first date. If she doesn’t already know, she’s about to. This is why you need me here. I could tail her and figure out what her motivation is.”
“Is it so hard to believe that she actually just likes me?”
“Even if she does like you for you, there’s still the whole professor thing. You’re in a position of power. There’s a whole other level of issues with that.” He shook his head again. “There are countless opportunities for blackmail. I have to strongly advise you not to go through with this date. Cut things off before they escalate.”
“She’s not like that, Ian.”
“Then for my sake, at least confiscate her phone when she’s with you.”
“I can’t do that. She’s not a petulant child.”
“She’s a college student…so she pretty much is a kid. Just tell her no phones at dinner,” he said with a laugh.
I didn’t find it funny. “Did you find anything in her background check that was alarming?”
“No. Middle-class family. Only child. She grew up in a normal suburban neighborhood with two working parents. Average life.”
Penny was anything but average. “So nothing that screams blackmailer? Great. Can we drop this then?”
