Meeting Mr. Mogul: A Billionaire Contemporary Romance (32 page)

“Why haven’t you escorted us to my usual seat? Do I have to tell you my name again?” William asked angrily. He didn’t even dare hide his annoyance. Judging by the tone of his voice, I think it has happened before.

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Maxwell, it wasn’t my intention to forget…” Reyna started to apologize but kept quiet. She stood petrified because of William’s cold stare. I didn’t dare glance up at his face at that moment.

“Reyna, who is sitting in Mr. Maxwell’s booth?” I asked calmly, trying to lessen the tension

“Oh! Uhm… She’s… I mean… Mr. Hamilton is dining with us tonight. He is waiting for Ms. Maxwell,” she stuttered in reply.

Her words made William and I go silent for a moment. I glanced at William, waiting for him to tell me some course of action. But from the way his brow was set and his jaw clenched, the answer was written all over his face. We were not having dinner in this place tonight. I was about to suggest we eat some place when the door behind us opened, making us all turn to see who entered.

“William! Andy! Why are you two standing there?” Alexandra curiously asked. There wasn’t a tone of surprise in her voice. Did she know we were dining here?

“We were about to leave. We just ate and Andy wanted to chat with her friend here,” William replied casually as she gestured between Reyna and me.

“Oh! Did you see Michael inside? Has he already eaten?” she asked in the same tone and manner.

“We didn’t actually see him. We ate on the far side, away from my usual table,” he replied swiftly, making his fib sound true.

“Oh! So, where are you two going?” she glanced towards me for a second before she turned to her brother.

“I’m taking Andy back to her apartment. She’s tired now, so we’ll be going,” William answered urgently, his arm quickly grabbed hold of my elbow as he pulled me towards the door.

Before Alexandra or I could say anything, we were both out of the door. I was startled by his sudden outburst. I didn’t get why he was acting that way.
Why is he avoiding his own sister?

Since we were going to have that drive back to my place, I was going to hound him with all the questions that had been piling up in my head. I didn’t really care if there was someone in the car with us. I needed all the opportunity that I could get. And since we weren’t going to have that dinner, this was the only time I could ask him.

I was about to start when he interrupted me as he talked to Mark. “Take us back home. I don’t feel hungry anymore.”

“Yes, sir.” Mark replied briefly.

My mouth thinned into a somber line as I kept quiet for a second to look at him. “And you don’t even bother asking me if I was hungry?” I bluntly asked him in annoyance.

William quickly turned his head towards me, like he had forgotten that I got into the car with him. “I’m sorry. Is there anywhere you want to go eat?” he asked softly, his face apologetic.

I studied him for a second before replying. “I know a place near the apartment. Though the servings don’t cost as much as a nose job, the food is better than what they used to feed us in high school,” I cautiously remarked as I tried to lighten up his suddenly sour mood.

He chuckled at my reply, making the invisible dark cloud above him disappear. “Is your cafeteria food that bad?” he asked, still grinning.

“Oh. Bad is an understatement. I’m sure you can’t relate since you probably ate some five-star food with names I can’t pronounce,” I replied as I lightly said another witty joke.

“Don’t be fooled by who I am now. My family wasn’t this rich when I was young. I know what kind of food they were serving in the cafeteria in a public school,” he countered defensively, yet his tone had a he teasing edge to it.

“Good to know that you had lived my life once, Mr. Maxwell,” I commented back with a smile.

“Yeah. It’s very refreshing to know that for once in my life I lived with the normal, average people,” he agreed with a chortle.

“Oh. We both know you don’t have a family of just average people.”

He laughed harder at that comment, which made me chuckle in tune with him. As the conversation progressed in to a playful manner, I felt lighter every minute. We breezed through the night towards our new dinner location, which might not
be a good idea in a few minutes.

When we reached our street, Mark slowed down as I told him the right location of the café we were going to eat at. It wasn’t really hard to give him directions since it was located right across my place.

“We are good for the night, Mark. Please have the car parked back in the parking lot and you can go.”

“Yes, sir. Have a good night,” he replied with a courteous nod and turned his head in my direction, giving me one as well. “Have a wonderful evening, Ms. Peterson,” he stated softly.

“Oh, you, too. Thank you for driving us here,” I replied with a small smile.

After our quick exchange, the man in the front passenger seat got out and opened the door on William’s side. He didn’t hesitate to get out of the car, which showed his excitement. I followed behind him and silently laughed at his actions.

We both watched the car drive off before entering the café. William has always been outspoken about waiting too long outside the cold, dark street but I didn’t want to be rude. The café looked the same as the last time I came here with Ally when I was asking her about William. I expected to recognize at least one person inside. However, it seemed that my bad luck was on a roll. My father’s doctor and my next-door neighbor were sitting right in front of the entrance.

I cringed for a second before proceeding towards an empty booth on the far end of the room, hoping that none of them would look our way.

“Andy! Is that you?” a familiar female voice suddenly called my name, making me wince as I stopped walking abruptly.

In slow motion, I turned my head towards the voice, groaning at my lame attempt at sneaking.
Why, oh, why did my mind pick this day to not function with logic?

“Ally! Hey! How’ve you been?” I called with fake enthusiasm as I walked towards her table, feeling a sudden pressure due to the situation.

“I’m doing well,” she replied with a small smile.

“Andy Peterson. I didn’t know you were the Andy that took my old place.” Dr. Stanley told me, a surprised look on his face.

I turned towards him and gave him a smile of recognition. “Dr. Stanley. It’s been awhile. I didn’t know you two knew each other,” I said, throwing them off the topic. I’m not even bothered to know that my father’s doctor and my neighbor might be dating.

“Andy, is that who I think it is?” Ally asked in a loud whisper as she leaned in towards me. Her eyes were staring behind me, ignoring my words.

At this moment, I was cursing myself for even thinking that this was a better place to go. And I was cussing even more when William came up to me like we were together. I wanted to tell him to pretend that we just met by chance. I wish I had telepathic abilities, but that wasn’t happening, not even in a long shot.

“Hi. Good evening,” William greeted them warmly.
Smooth move there, Mr. Mogul.

“Good Evening, Mr. Maxwell. It’s lovely to see you again so soon,” Ally gleefully replied and pointed out, her eyes landed on me for a second.

“Ah, yes. Ms. Peterson and I are going through some extra work tonight. If you’ll excuse us, we’ll be ordering our food and start working,” he stated softly yet sternly. His voice had an edge of authority to it.

“Ah, yes. If you’ll excuse us…” I agreed shyly and quickly brushed off the lie. “It was nice seeing you guys.”

In a fast pace, I distanced myself from them and moved towards the counter. I could feel William following behind me silently. As we reached the counter, I placed my order without any hesitation, already knowing what I wanted to eat.

“I’ll have a Mushroom Melt sandwich and a caramel macchiato, please. Thank you.”

“Is that all ma’am?” the cashier asked as she typed in my order in the computer in front of her.

“I’ll be having your veggie and chicken salad please, and do you have any wine or alcohol?” William interjected beside me, making the cashier look up in his direction.

From the way the woman’s eyes grew wide, I felt slightly annoyed at her sudden ogling. She kept her eyes on William for a few seconds before she stuttered a reply, “Ah, yes… Eh… no, sir…we don’t serve alcohol…”

William pursed his lips in disappointment, which made me raise my eyebrow at his reaction. “You shouldn’t be drinking after that episode two days ago,” I mumbled suggestively.

“That is why I should, and a glass of wine wouldn’t hurt,” he countered softly in the same tone, but he let it go with a sigh. “That would be all, I think. How much would that be?” he asked as he swiftly got his wallet out from his inside blazer pocket.

The cashier was lost in her thoughts and too dazed with William, making me grimace. To quickly get myself out of this misery, I tapped the screen, which showed the total bill and told William. He nodded his head in understanding and got out a hundred dollar bill for payment. I choked at the huge bill he had given, but I didn’t point it out loud. The cashier studied the money for a second before placing it down and giving him his change.

After getting the receipt, I gestured for him to go ahead and take a seat on the farthest booth from Ally and Logan. I hoped that they got the clue that I was not in the mood to catch up. I knew that Ally had seen right through William’s lie when my eyes finally landed on hers. She gave me a suggestive wink and smirked.

“I think we should have the food to go. I don’t feel like eating here anymore,” I stated in defeat as I turned towards William.

“I understand… So, where to? My place?” He nodded in understanding and asked like he was trying to weigh options.

I snorted at his question and slid out of the booth. “There is no way I’m taking that lame bait easily, Maxwell,” I said and walked towards the counter to tell them to have the food packed as to go.

It took me awhile to get back to my seat since I had to pay for extra to have the food packed. As I got back a few minutes later, our table had crowded a little.
Why didn’t it cross my mind to check on him?

“Oh! Andy, you’re back… I hope we aren’t being a bother. I just wanted to properly introduce myself to William here. And talk a little business…” Ally said shyly, as she slowly slid out of the booth across from William.

“I promise you, Andy. I tried to talk her out of this…” Logan pointed out in defense.

“No worries,” I replied to both of them with a small smile, and quickly gave William a glance to see his expression.

The way his mouth was set softly and his eyebrows relaxed, I was relieved to see that this didn’t annoy him at all. I didn’t want them both seeing his not-so-good side. I had enough experience not to mess with a man with money—though, I realized he never really did anything with that power against me.

“So, are you two not going to eat here? Are you heading back to the apartment, Andy?” Ally asked, her tone bordering on an intrusive way

Before William could try to answer her question, I gave her a reply that would make William’s day. “No. We won’t be heading back to my place. It’s his turn to do the cleaning at his own place,” I replied with a strained chuckle.

“Oh! You live close by?” Ally turned to William in surprise.

“Ah! No. His house is on the edge of town,” I replied, cutting William off again as he tried to answer her question. “It’s a long drive from here, but when I told him about this place, he wanted to drop by before heading out,” I continued, predicting her next question.

From the way Ally smirked at my words, she was contented on my reply. I was about to end the conversation when the arrival of our order did it for me. Ally was quick to follow and suggested that we walked out together. Since I didn’t want to be rude to someone who’s been nice to me, I accepted her offer.

As we got outside the café, we made a quick farewell before we separated ways. While I was doing so, I gave sly glances towards William to warn him not to go on the direction of his apartment. Even though I trusted Ally, I didn’t want his address to be common knowledge. Even the paparazzi don’t exactly know where he is currently living from my understanding, since I hadn’t seen any paparazzi in these parts.

We walked at the opposite direction of his place as Ally and Logan continued to walk back to my apartment building. As we continued walking towards the curb, I pushed William on the corner to hide him before peeking back in the direction where Ally and Logan had gone.

“They are still a few meters from the apartment. We have to wait at least fifteen minutes before making a run for it,” I stated in a whisper as I kept my eyes on them.

“Why are you so paranoid if they’d know where I live?” he asked in refined interest as I felt him lean back on the wall behind me.

I turned towards him before giving a reply. “I don’t want to be too suspicious, and us together is suspicious enough,” I replied sternly as I gave him a scathing gaze.

“So, what if they found out that we are dating?”

“Are you freaking kidding me?” I snorted in disbelief.

I didn’t add anymore for his benefit and turned back to check on Ally and Logan. They were already by the entrance of my apartment and had gotten in. I glanced down at my wristwatch as I calculated how much time we had left before making a run for it. After a few minutes or so, when nobody in the street looked familiar to recognize me with William, I grabbed William’s arm and pulled him out of the corner. I quickened my pace as I walked towards his apartment.

“You don’t have to be rude about this…” I heard William mumble in protest behind me, which I pretended not to hear.

When we finally reached the lobby of his apartment building, I let out a huge sigh of relief that we made this far without any more interruptions. I made a quick glance at the reception desk and looked at the guy behind it.

“Good evening, Fred,” William called out beside me before he made his way towards the elevator.

“Good evening, Mr. Maxwell. Miss,” he greeted back with a nod towards his direction and mine.

I nodded back in greeting and hurried my way towards the elevator. As the metal door closed on us, I sighed yet again, faced one of the metal walls and leaned my forehead to it. I couldn’t believe how tiresome today had been.

“Are you okay?” William asked behind me, feeling his warm hands caress my back.

“I’m fine,” I mumbled in reply as I let his hands soothe me.

We stayed quiet for a while until the elevator door stopped on his floor. I slowly stepped out as William held the door for me. Then, I suddenly felt nervous and shy as we reached the main door of his apartment.

“Are you going in or not?” William asked, his voice brought me out of my stupor.

“I’m sorry. I’m going in now,” I said as I quickly walked past him towards his living room. This would be my third visit within the span of three days.

“Please make yourself at home.” He gestured towards the living room after he closed the door behind me. “I’ll place this is the dining room and I’ll change,” he added as he raised the paper bags in his left hand.

I nodded in reply and made my way to one of the black couches in his living room. And as I sat down on the single couch, I could feel William’s eyes on me. I didn’t dare to meet those eyes with mine, not until I’ve calmed down my pounding heart.

When I heard a faint sound of a closing door, I quickly got up from my seat and walked towards the dining room. I got the paper bag with my food and drinks and I sat down on one of the seats in the table and started munching on my sandwich – well, eating it with big bites is my description of munching. I was really hungry.

“And you just couldn’t wait for me,” William’s voice startled me enough to make me jump in my seat as I turned towards his direction.

“Please do not creep behind someone, Mr. Maxwell,” I grumbled in annoyance.

“I told you to call me William,” he countered in the same tone, though his eyes were bright and amused.

“Yeah. Yeah. Right,” I chuntered but brushed it off as I took another bite of my sandwich.

“Is it good?” he asked as he made his way towards me. He sat down on the chair across from mine.

“I won’t be eating it if it wasn’t,” I replied caustically after I swallowed the food in my mouth. “Aren’t you going to eat your food?” I asked when he continued to sit and look at me.

“You are distracting me with your eating,” he replied with a sly grin.

I coughed twice at this smooth comeback. “I can’t believe that you’re using a cheesy line like that,” I laugh in disbelief. “You can do better than that, William,” I added with a smirk.

“I agree with you there. That was pretty lame,” he chuckled in agreement and grabbed the food inside the paper bag.

We ate silently for a while until William opened another topic for us to talk about. He started asking me about my previous jobs and what I did before moving here. I was very vague when I told him about my six-month painting sting after I graduated as an art major. Then I briefly told him about my short-lived teaching job before my father was diagnosed. I skipped the sad parts of my struggle and told him how I got the waitressing job that crossed our paths.

“Why didn’t you just find another teaching job in the city?” he interjected. His tone was filled with curiosity.

“I did apply, but there were no available slots. Then, your sister offered me this job. So, here I am,” I replied and quickly wrapped up the conversation.