Counting the Days (Counting the Billions 1)

“I know,” I said, giving her a quick hug. “But I promise you, I’m going to be fine. Daniel’s a nice guy.”

“How can you be so sure?” Leanne asked. “You barely know the guy. And no offense, but he has a lot more experience in these things than you do. What if he’s just playing you?”

“I don’t think he is,” I said, shaking my head.

“But you barely know him,” Leanne repeated. “And he’s your boss. That’s something to be wary of.” She paused, noting my tight expression. She sighed. “I’m not trying to say that you shouldn’t do this,” she continued. “But the press love him. This is the kind of story that the media would just eat up, if they caught wind of it. If they knew that you were his new assistant. And I just don’t want to see you getting hurt.”

I shook my head. “They’re not going to find out about it,” I told her stubbornly. It was something I had thought about ever since he had asked me to go to dinner with him. But no one knew about this date except for Daniel, Leanne, Matt, and myself, as far as I knew. Maybe Daniel had told one or two of his friends too. But he wouldn’t have told anyone he couldn’t trust, just like I wouldn’t have told anyone that I couldn’t trust. And none of the people who could possibly know about it would go to the media.

There wouldn’t be a story. It would just be me and Daniel. I was sure of it.

A car honked outside, and I frowned. “Is that him?” I asked, glancing at the clock. Sure enough, it was time for me to go. I looked around the dilapidated room, taking in all the clothes that were scattered on the floor. “I hope he doesn’t want to come back here at the end of the night,” I joked.

Leanne snorted. “You should at least hold out for the second date. Or maybe the third,” she joked.

I rolled my eyes and gave her a small push, but I couldn’t help grinning at what she was implying. “I’m not going to do anything like that,” I said. “You know me.”

Leanne drew me to a stop be

fore we went outside. “Just be careful, okay?” she asked.

“You know I will be,” I said.

We stepped outside, and I walked slowly down to the car that was waiting there for me. I frowned, not seeing Daniel there. But the driver rolled down the window. “Ms. James?” he asked. “Mr. McGregor sent me to pick you up. He’ll be waiting for you at the restaurant.”

I grinned and turned to Leanne. “I’ll see you later, okay?” I told her.

“You’ll let me know how it all goes?” Leanne asked.

“Of course I will,” I assured her.

Leanne gave me one more quick hug and then let me go. I slid into the car, trying to pretend that I wasn’t as nervous as I felt. “Let’s go,” I said to the driver.

I felt a thrill run through me as we drove to the restaurant. I had never had a date send me a car before. Maybe this really was going to be just as fancy as Leanne had told me it would be. I tried not to feel too special about that. I knew the way that Daniel did business, after all. I knew that he liked to impress his clients. Surely, he wasn’t trying to impress me; he was just doing what he normally did.

But I was impressed, in spite of myself. Not that I would build a whole relationship on how impressive a guy was. That said, though, I felt special. And that was something that no man had ever bothered to make me feel before.

When I walked into the restaurant, I felt even more impressed. It was a nice place, and I was more glad than ever that Leanne had talked me into wearing this dress. And heels. If I’d been in flats, I probably would have felt ridiculously out of place. I still didn’t feel like I fit in, but at least I didn’t feel like everyone was staring at me.

Daniel, on the other hand, looked entirely relaxed where he sat at a table in the back of the restaurant, in a private room, waiting for me to show up. He grinned at me as I walked toward him. A waiter rushed from somewhere to pull my chair back for me.

“Hey,” he said warmly when I had sat down.

It took me a minute to find my voice so I could respond to him. He looked even more amazing than usual, dressed in a tailored black suit and handsome as ever. If I hadn’t felt nervous before, I definitely did now. “I hope the place is okay?” he asked.

“You rented a private room,” I said stupidly. I wasn’t sure that things would feel any better if we were out in public. In fact, that might feel even worse. There might be even more pressure in that case. But all the same, back here with his whole attention focused on me, I couldn’t help but feel terrified with nervousness.

Even though that, theoretically, was how it was every time he asked for my opinion on business matters. This was far from the first time that he and I had been alone together in public. And yet...and yet.

Daniel seemed to realize that. He leaned toward me, smiling comfortingly. “I know,” he said. “But you have to understand, no matter where I go in this city, everyone seems to recognize me. So I’m just trying to make sure that things stay between us for now.” He sounded so earnest that I couldn’t protest that.

But he continued: “If you want to go somewhere else, we can,” he said. “Actually, that’s why I never told you where we were going, because I’ve been debating and debating and debating where to take you. I thought about just taking you for a picnic, but I wanted to do something nice. Something that you deserved. And I also wanted to...” He trailed off, looking uncertain.

And that put me instantly at ease. “Thank you,” I said quietly.

He smiled at me, the expression flourishing on his face. He tapped the menu with his finger. “So for food?”

I grinned quickly back at him and turned my attention to the menu. “You’re going to have to give me a minute for that,” I told him. “I’m notoriously indecisive.”