The Billionaire's Proposal

For this next part, I chose my words carefully. Well aware that when you were talking with Nick, there was no practice round. You were playing with live ammunition.

“I don’t want to be tricked into staying here.” I emphasized the word carefully, hoping like hell it would hit home. I wasn’t disappointed.

Nick’s eyes lit up, but he kept a careful calm—coaxing me toward that final ledge.

“Then let me convince you.”

I took a step back, tilting my head doubtfully to the side as he stood in supplication before me. “Convince me? Well so far today, I’ve already been forcibly evicted. You’re off to a really great start.”

Most other people would have blushed. Nick didn’t. He rose to the challenge.

“Then let’s start over.” His eyes danced as his mind began spinning a million miles a minute. “Let me give you a day in my world. We can start with crepes at Le Lapin Blanc, then head over for a private viewing at Christie’s. After that, if you’re not opposed to a little light travel, there’s supposed to be this incredible nightclub opening in Saint-Tropez—”

“Nick,” I held up a hand to stop him, “I don’t want a day in your world.”

He pulled up suddenly short, looking as though he didn’t quite understand.

“You don’t...that’s okay!” He was quick to recover himself. “We can stay Stateside, no reason to go jetting all over the world. I heard that Cartier is actually unveiling a new—”

“Do you think we could just stay in?”

Okay—now he definitely didn’t understand. All the words were familiar, and yet, when strung in that particular order, they didn’t compute.

“Stay in?”

He glanced down without thinking about it at my breasts, and I realized that in Nick’s world, ‘stay in,’ could mean only one thing. I was quick to dissuade that notion.

“Normal people don’t go jetting around the globe at the drop of a hat,” I said with the hint of a smile. “When normal people want Chinese food, they order in. They don’t go to China.”

His eyes tightened almost imperceptibly, and I could tell he was having similar problems with the word normal. Surely he’d heard it somewhere before. What exactly did it mean?

A little smile crept up the side of my face, and I looked at him fondly.

“I’ve spent the last two years living in your world. Two years doing anything and everything you wanted to do. How about, for one day only...we live in mine?”

Nick spoke slowly, trying out the words for the first time.

“Have a normal day.”

I grinned.

“That’s right.”

He grinned tentatively back, then added on a modifier.

“A normal Abby day.”

I nodded, and watched the decision-making process take hold.

At first, he didn’t know quite what to make of it. But after a moment’s consideration, the thought appealed to him greatly. His eyes lit up, and he took a giant step forward.

“Where do we begin?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at his enthusiasm. It was catching. And adorable as hell. He was like a little kid with a new toy, aching to try it out. Dimples and all.

“Well,” I began slowly, “a good friend of mine recently exiled all my things to an unknown storage locker, so I might start with a little online shopping to replenish.” I took one look at his incredulous expression, and rolled my eyes. “It’s not an urban legend, Nick. People actually do buy things off the internet. Not everything has to be purchased in a private viewing.”

He shook his head at the floor, eyes wide with wonder.