Emma Darcy - The Billionaire's New Year Gift

Alex felt wistful as he watched.

A moment later, the bell on the front door jangled as a new customer walked in. Alex looked up. Blinked. And looked closer. Yes, that was definitely P.J. approaching the hostess. He watched as she picked up one of the takeout menus and studied it.

In his second impulsive act of the evening, he slid from the booth and walked to the front.

She looked up at his approach. The expression that flitted across her face—which she quickly banished—gave Alex the distinct feeling she was as pleased to see him as he was to see her.

“Hey, P.J.,” he said.

“Hi, Alex.”

“You placing a takeout order?”

“That’s the plan.”

The hostess, a pretty girl who looked about seventeen, looked curiously from one to the other.

“How about joining me instead?”

P.J. hesitated, and for a moment, Alex thought she was going to refuse. Then she smiled. “Actually, I wouldn’t mind company. I’m really not much in the mood to eat alone.”

“Good. I’m not, either.”

He led her to his booth and waited until she slid in across from him before taking his seat. The pretty hostess had followed them and she handed P.J. a menu. “I’ll send your waiter,” she said before leaving them.

P.J. glanced at the menu, then set it aside. “So how are you liking your job now that you’ve been with us a while?”

Alex was glad he could answer truthfully. “I’m enjoying it a lot.”

“That’s good. I confess, I’m surprised.”

“Surprised? Why?”

“You just don’t seem the type to be working at the center.”

“What type is that?”

She leaned back, a smile teasing the edges of her mouth. “I had you pegged for a college man. You seem much better suited to a white-collar job.”

“I could say the same about you.”

“Oh, really?”

Alex returned her smile. “Yes, really.”

“Well, you’d be wrong. My job suits me perfectly.”

“You certainly do it well.”

Once again, that pleased expression flitted across her face. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Just then, their waiter approached.

“I’ll have what he’s having,” P.J. said, pointing to Alex’s bottle of beer.

“And I’ll have another,” Alex said.

“I also want the pad thai,” P.J. said.

Alex grinned. “I already ordered some. Want to get something different and we can share?”

“Sure. How about the green curry chicken?”

“Great.”

Once the waiter had gone, P.J. settled back again and said, “So where were we?”

“Saying neither one of us looks the type to be working in a big warehouse.” Alex figured he might as well be up-front about her comment. No sense pretending it hadn’t been said.

She studied him thoughtfully. “ Did you ever go to college?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“And…did you get your degree?”

Keeping to his promise to himself that he would tell the truth whenever he could, Alex said, “Yes, as a matter of fact, I did.” He didn’t think he needed to add that he’d also gotten a master’s degree.

“So what happened?”

“I didn’t like the business world.” Alex still didn’t like the business world. Thank God he didn’t have to be a part of it.

“I didn’t like the business world, either,” she said.

“What did you study in college?”

“What makes you think I went to college?”

“Oh, c’mon, P.J. It’s as plain as the nose on your face. You’re obviously well educated.”

She shrugged. “On my father’s recommendation, I was in public relations. I hated every minute of it.”

Alex chuckled. “How long did you last?”

“Oh, I got my degree. My parents would have disowned me if I hadn’t. But when I decided to take an entry-level blue-collar job at HuntCom, my father went ballistic.” She smiled crookedly. “He still doesn’t understand me.”

Alex thought about Harry. Maybe all fathers were destined not to understand their children. Harry certainly was batting zero. “So how did you end up at HuntCom?”

“Through a friend of a friend.”

Alex would have liked to question her further, but their waiter had just walked up with their beers. A moment later, he returned with Alex’s pad thai.

“Dig in,” he said when the waiter left.

They ate companionably for a few minutes, then P.J. said, “I apologize if I gave you a hard time at first.”

“You didn’t give me a hard time.”

“Yes, I did.”

He grinned around a fork full of food. “Okay, you did. But that’s okay. You were just doing your job.”

She looked at him for a long moment. “I was worried you might be a spy,” she confessed.

“A spy!” Alex laughed. “What kind of a spy?”

“You know. A corporate spy. Somebody sent to see if I was doing a good job or something.”

Something in those blue eyes of hers told Alex she might still harbor that suspicion. “Listen, P.J., I swear to you, I am not a spy.”

She nodded.

Alex started to say he was just a regular guy who wanted to do a good job, but that wasn’t really true, was it? When and if she found out who he really was, she would remember how he’d looked her in the eye and lied to her. And even though Alex wasn’t sure how he felt about P.J. Kincaid or whether she’d ever assume more importance in his life than she did at this moment, he didn’t want her to think ill of him. Damn . This pretending to be someone he wasn’t was more complicated than Alex had envisioned it being.

“Here comes our curry chicken,” she said, saving him from having to say anything more.

After the waiter finished serving them and had walked off once more, P.J. said, “You have any family around here, Alex?” She spooned some rice onto her plate, then helped herself to the curry.

He nodded. “My brothers all live in the area, and my parents are in Seattle. What about you?”

“My family all live around here, too.” She took a bite. “Umm, that’s good.”

Alex liked the way she enjoyed her food. He got tired of women who never seemed to eat anything but salad. “Their food is good.”

“Yeah, I get takeout here about once a week.” She grinned. “If you’re interested, I know all the great takeout places in Jansen. I know a fantastic pizza place as well as the best Italian restaurant in town.”

“Actually, I like to cook.”

“You’re kidding.”

He shook his head. “Nope. Cooking is probably the thing that gives me the greatest pleasure.” Next to his work at the Hunt Foundation, but of course, he couldn’t say that.

“I can’t even boil water.” She laughed. “Once I burned the coffee.”

Alex laughed, too. “Cooking’s easy. If you can read, you can cook. You just follow the directions.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s easy for you to say. You like it. Believe me, I’ve tried. Not only am I a terrible cook, but I hated it. I mean, why bother when you can get food like this?” She waved her fork at the serving dishes. “Are you going to eat the rest of that pad thai?”

“No, I’m full.”

“Oh, good.” Reaching for the platter, she scraped the remainder of the noodle dish onto her plate.

Yes, a very healthy appetite, Alex thought. He wondered if that appetite extended to other areas of her life. Somehow he imagined it might. P.J. seemed like the kind of woman who would thoroughly enjoy sex.

As if she knew what he’d been thinking, a faint flush crept into her cheeks as their eyes met and held.

She was the first one to look away, and Alex knew he’d flustered her.

“That was great,” she said, putting down her fork and lifting her napkin to her mouth.