Project: Runaway Heiress Read Online Free PDF Page B

you grow bored,” he continued, “you can ask me if I’d like another martini. I’ll decline and say that we should get going, as I have an early appointment in the morning, anyway.”
    “Will you be drinking martinis?” she asked.
    “Tonight, I will,” he said, a spark of mischief lighting his eyes. “It will bolster our story, if we make an excuse to leave the restaurant early.”
    “We haven’t even arrived at dinner yet, and already we’re thinking of ways to get away as soon as we’ve finished eating,” she remarked.
    “That’s because it’s a boring, uptight business dinner. If this were a dinner date, I would already be considering options for drawing things out. Excuses to keep you there well past dessert.”
    Lily’s heart skipped a beat, her palms growing damp even as a wave of unexpected heat washed over her. That was not the sort of thing she expected to hear from her boss. It didn’t feel like a benign, employer-to-employee comment, either. It felt much too...suggestive.
    And on top of that, she was suddenly picturing it: a dinner date with Nigel rather than a business dinner. Sitting across from him at a candlelit table for two. Leaning into each other as they spoke in soft tones. Flirting, teasing, building toward something much more serious and intimate.
    The warmth grew, spreading through her body like a fever. And when she imagined him reaching out, touching her hand where it rested on the pristine white linen of the tablecloth, she nearly jumped, it seemed so real.
    Thankfully, Nigel didn’t notice because the car was slowing, and he was busy readjusting his tie and cuff links.
    Lily licked her lips and smoothed her hands over her own blouse and skirt, making sure she was as well put together as he was.
    When the car came to a complete stop, he looked at her again and offered an encouraging half smile. “Ready?” he asked.
    She nodded just as Nigel’s door was opened from the outside. He stepped out, then turned and reached back for her.
    Purse in hand, she slid across the wide seat and let Nigel take her arm as she stepped out. His driver nodded politely before closing the door and moving back around the hood of the car to the driver’s seat.
    Looking around, Lily realized they were standing outside of Trattoria. She wasn’t from Los Angeles, but even she recognized the name of the elegant five-star restaurant. To her knowledge, the waiting list for reservations was three to four months long.
    Unless, she supposed, you were someone like Nigel. The Statham name—and bank account—carried a lot of weight. Not only in L.A. or England, either, but likely anywhere in the world.
    She was no stranger to fine dining, of course. She’d grown up at country clubs and taken international vacations with her parents. She even knew a few world-renowned master chefs and restaurateurs personally.
    But she wasn’t with her family now, and hadn’t lived that way for several years; she’d been too busy working her fingers to the bone and building her own company the old-fashioned way.
    She was also supposed to be from more of a blue-collar upbringing, not a secret, runaway heiress. Which meant she shouldn’t be familiar with seven-course meals, real silverware or places like this, where appetizers started at fifty dollars a plate.
    The good news was that she wouldn’t embarrass herself by not knowing which fork to use. The bad news was that she needed to act awed and out of her element enough not to draw suspicion. From anyone, but especially Nigel.
    Passing beneath the dark green awning lined with sparkling lights, he led her past potted topiaries and through the wide French doors at the restaurant’s entrance.
    A tuxedoed maître d’ met them immediately, and as soon as Nigel gave his name, they were led across the main dining area, weaving around tables filled with other well-dressed customers who were talking and laughing and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying their expensive meals.
    At the