The Billionaire Player (In Too Deep)

I laughed. “Baseball didn’t make me a billionaire. Crypto did. The baseball just paid me enough to be able to invest in it.”

“The emcee mentioned that. I guess I just thought that the baseball had something to do with it, too,” she said. “Crypto. Like Bitcoin, right? I tried to explain it to my mom the other night, but she thought I was talking about kryptonite and then went off on a tangent about some precious gemstone called tanzanite.”

A smile touched her lips when she mentioned her mother, and I was surprised at how much I suddenly wanted to get to know her better. “Bitcoin was part of my investment portfolio, but I also put quite a lot into up-and-coming cryptocurrencies. The one that made me rich was a meme coin that got hugely popular overnight and went from being worth less than a cent to nearly a dollar.”

Her eyes widened. “Wow. You must really know your stuff to have seen that coming.”

I laughed. “Me? No. I just got lucky and sold close to peak, before it dropped again.”

“That’s some luck,” she muttered, but she looked a little blank as she turned her gaze back to the smooth water. “I don’t really know that much about crypto, but I’m glad it turned out well for you. It’s encouraging to know that stuff like that can happen to real people.”

“Yeah, it never really seems to, does it? To be honest with you, if my financial advisor hadn’t called to tell me about it, I wouldn’t even have known to check, never mind to sell when I did. It came as a huge shock.”

“Best shock of your life, I bet.” A soft, melodic giggle came out of her and I realized that the sound was devoid of any jealousy or resentment over it having happened to someone that wasn’t her.

Over the last few months, I’d come to learn that most people didn’t really like my story much. I’d faced a lot of jealousy, resentment, and even anger over having sold when I did and hitting the jackpot on timing. Especially when people found out that I hadn’t been watching my portfolio like a hawk and that my knowledge of the spike in the price had simply been because Frank had been doing his job well.

Larisa was proving to be something of an enigma. I’d clearly gotten the wrong idea about her yesterday, but I genuinely didn’t want it to happen again. Just the fact that she wasn’t holding a grudge about it and that she seemed honestly content about my stroke of luck made me want to get to know her so much more than I already had.

In order to get her to open up a little more, I needed to find something that we had in common, though. So far, she seemed much more comfortable asking questions about me than volunteering information about herself.

Which was fine. Especially after the way I’d acted last night. If she wanted to know more about me before she would be comfortable sharing more about herself, then so be it. I wouldn’t have wanted to give personal information to someone who’d acted like a creep toward me either.

“It was the greatest shock ever,” I said with a smile. “I really wasn’t expecting anything to come from the investments I made. I’m not even sure I’d have made them if it wasn’t for my friends. They’ve been preaching forever about the markets and investing instead of just spending all our money as we made it.”

“Money always seems to fly out of my account as soon as it comes in,” she said. “No matter how hard I try not to spend it all and to live frugally, it just has a way of disappearing even if I haven’t done much in a month. I’ve managed to make some investments, but clearly, I need to up my game.”

“If you want a financial advisor who’s actually worth listening to, I’d be happy to put you in touch with mine.” Jesus.It sounds like I’m trying to give her financial advice, which is about the furthest possible thing from relaxing.

As I glanced back at her, I realized that I was starting to lose her interest. She might’ve been taking part in the conversation, but she didn’t seem particularly engaged in it anymore. Once again, she was managing to prove that she was different.

I’d just offered to put her in touch with the guy who’d made me a billionaire, and she seemed far more taken with the boat parked at the end of the dock than jumping at the offer. Switching gears in my head, I nodded toward it. “Would you like to go out for the day? The mist is burning off and the weather report this morning said it was supposed to be a nice day.”

“Can you drive that thing?” she asked curiously. “If so, I’m definitely in. I’ve never been out on a boat before.”

I drained the last of my coffee and pulled my legs back onto the dock. “You’re in luck. I grew up fishing with my dad, and it just so happens that I can not only drive that thing, but I can park it, too.”

“Is park the right word?” she asked. “That’s not filling me with confidence.”

I stood up and held out my hand to help her up. “You can stay here if you’d prefer, but I’m going.”

She swigged the rest of her coffee as well, then eyed my hand for a beat before placing hers in it. “Okay, Tanner. Let’s do it, but just so you know, if we end up sinking, it’s every man for him or herself.”

I laughed. “Deal, but just so you know, I’d never leave you behind. My dear old dad would never forgive me.”

After I pulled her up, she withdrew her hand from mine immediately but smiled as we headed back up toward the house. “That’s your choice, but I’m swimming for the shore before the lake monster can get me.”

“This isn’t Loch Ness,” I pointed out jokingly. “I haven’t heard any similar legends about this lake.”

She shrugged, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she laughed. “Maybe not, but think about what an adventure it would be if we turned out to be the first people to discover it.”

“It would be an adventure, all right.” I had a feeling today was going to turn out that way regardless of whether we discovered a lake monster or not. There was something about her that told me she was going to keep surprising me, and I couldn’t wait to see if I was right.