The Dating Game (Alphalicious Billionaires 5)

Carla hummed at the stove, flipper in hand. She deftly flipped the bacon and then went back to the eggs mixture so that it didn’t burn. When the toast popped up in the toaster, she inserted a few fresh slices.

“And how the heck did you know what time I’d be back?” Muffy eyed the amount of food in the pan. “Because that can’t all be for me.”

“Oh, it’s not.”

The air was heavy with silence as Carla turned back to the stove, but not before Muffy thought she caught a glimpse of pink on her friend’s face.

Carla never blushed. Ever.

“Uhhh… seriously. You need to tell me what’s going on.”

Muffy rushed past Carla and attacked the coffee maker. She poured herself a huge mug, sure she’d need it. As she poured cream in, transforming the dark black liquid into something caramel colored and far more palatable, Carla slid a plate of steaming eggs and bacon along the counter.

“Here you are. Fresh off the grill.”

“Seriously.” Muffy took the plate and her mug to the table. She sat down, dazed. “This is not the Carla I know and love. Not that I don’t love this, but- uh- you… what the heck is going on?”

“Well…” Carla took her plate and sat down. Neither of them touched their food, even though it smelled like heaven.

“Seriously, Car, now. You’re going to give me a heart attack. I can’t eat thinking that the world is going to end because I’m pretty sure that not even a zombie apocalypse could turn you fully domestic.”

“Thanks.” Carla finally bit into the eggs. “Damn these are good. I’ve outdone myself.”

“That’s not hard. You never cook.”

“Thanks a lot.” Carla rolled her eyes. “Try it. I promise I didn’t poison it.”

Muffy reluctantly did. She dipped her fork into the eggs and brought it to her mouth. God, they were good. Better than anything she’d eaten in a long time. “Wow. You should consider a career change.”

“See? Even you’re a believer. Just because I never cook doesn’t mean I can’t.”

“How did you know when I’d be home?”

“I just figured that you usually wake up around eight and you’d want to get the heck out of Alex’s house because you haven’t known each other long enough to actually start spending the night, or at least that’s what you would think. You’d wake up, realize you’d fallen asleep there, panic, get your clothes, and make a hasty retreat, all before nine.”

“Jesus,” Muffy grumbled between another mouthful of eggs. “You know me way too well.”

“Don’t hate me for it.”

“I could never hate you.”

Carla hesitated. Muffy hated that her best friend’s hand paused halfway to her mouth. She didn’t like the strange look on Carla’s face. Like she’d just stepped in dog shit and was trying to figure out how to tell her that she’d actually ground it into the carpet all over the apartment and wasn’t sure how to get it out.

“Good. That’s good.”

“What? What did you do?” Muffy waited. Silence. Her stomach started doing that horrible churning thing it did when nerves got the best of her. Carla was never quiet. She was never anything less than perfectly composed. “Tell me, Car. What. Did. You. Do?”

Carla dropped her fork onto her plate with a loud clatter. “I- I thought I recognized Alex last night. He looked different in person than he did online. I thought I knew his friend too from somewhere, but I couldn’t figure it out. After the restaurant, on the drive home, I realized where I knew them from. They own a huge company. A really successful, massive company. They actually won an award for it last year. They do something about online counseling, and they developed apps or something. I don’t know. Alex was at the forefront of it, I do know that much. Your man, the same guy who is pretending to be someone else, making you pay for dinner and driving a beater truck, yes I saw it last night in the parking lot, is actually a fucking billionaire.”

“Excuse me?” Muffy’s fork clattered down to her plate so hard that eggs flew all over the table. A glob landed in her coffee. “What are you talking about? You must be wrong. Alex is- no. Alex isn’t rich. He- I’ve seen his apartment. His card declined at the diner. You can’t just- fake that.”

“Oh, believe me, I’m not wrong.” Carla’s face flooded with compassion. Her eyes got all soft and her lips turned down. Muffy couldn’t stand to see her friend’s sadness, because she knew that Carla knew something she didn’t. “I invited Jay up here last night. Pretended to be interested and he took the bait. Once he got inside, I stripped him down to his boxers and then took his clothes into the bathroom and doused them in the shower so he couldn’t leave. I came back and asked him straight up what kind of game they were playing. He didn’t want to tell me, but he couldn’t go anywhere in his freakin’ gitch, so he had to come clean. He confessed everything.”