Page 372 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 5

“Do you want a ride?”

She smiled. “Yes. I was just kidding. I hate the subway, it smells like pee. And taxis are for people who aren’t assistant coaches.”

I laughed and opened the passenger door for her. “The team has a bye this week. But next week be ready to take that title seriously.”

“Oh, I’ll take it very seriously. I promise.” She smiled at me and ducked in.

We were quiet as I pulled out of the parking lot.

“It’s too weird,” she finally said, breaking the silence. “We can’t date.”

“You already said no takesie-backsies.”

She smiled. “Fine. But we need a test drive. Where are we going for dinner?”

Oh. Shit.“I have dinner with a friend tonight. But tomorrow?”

She nodded. “Yeah, that’s fine.” But her face didn’t scream “it’s fine.” She looked worried. Like she’d just made a deal with the devil. Yesterday I’d had a business dinner. Today I had dinner with a friend. I knew what was going on in her mind. And she didn’t have a thing to worry about.

“Tomorrow,” I said more firmly. “It’s a date.”

She smiled up at me. “Okay then.”

“Our first official date. The pressure is on,” I said.

“Don’t make it even weirder.”

I smiled over at her. “I promise there will be nothing weird about our date tomorrow. It’s going to be the best date of your life.”

Normally when I said stuff like that, women would practically swoon.

But Kennedy just laughed. “More like the best date ofyourlife. Because you’ll be eating dinner with the best assistant coach intown, and I’m not even planning on trying to set your dick on fire.”

I really shouldn’t have told her about that.

Matchmaker - Chapter 34

Thursday

I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face as I walked toward the romantic restaurant Tanner had picked. The rose petals all over the marble floors in the entranceway didn’t bother me. And I didn’t care that the hostess practically forced me to take a complimentary rose for my date. Or the fact that the dim lighting was dangerously close to being erotic instead of romantic. Honestly, this was probably a great place for a Club Onyx event. Tanner would be pleased.

The hostess rearranged her bucket of roses to accommodate the missing space, then checked her book for the reservation.

This was going to be epically gay. But I was too happy to care. I’d play along with Tanner’s restaurant scouting tonight to apologize for making him worry two nights in a row. And he could celebrate my good news and commiserate with me on my bad news. I just couldn’t stop smiling.Fuck Poppy.I didn’t even care about that. But I was hoping Tanner would have some advice on how to delicately explain my relationship with Poppy to Kennedy. He was good at stuff like that. Finagling his way out of a crunch. I needed to figure out a way to tell Kennedy that wouldn’t result in her dumping me. I really liked her. I just needed to sort out this mess.

“Right this way,” the hostess said.

Tanner was already seated at our table.

I knew he’d reprimand me if I didn’t pretend we were on a date. For the sake of leaning into the role and tricking the waiters into giving us the full treatment, I handed Tanner the rose that the hostess had made me take. “Your rose, monsieur,” I said in a terrible French accent. Hopefully that was good enough.

Tanner stood up. “You magnificent, secretive beast! I knew it! You’re in love, you’re in love, and you don’t care who knows it!” He grabbed both sides of my face and planted a kiss right on my lips.

What the actual fuck?I made a gagging noise.

Tanner ignored it. He pulled back and patted my cheeks. “I knew it, you scoundrel. Tell me everything.”

I swatted his hands away. I’d seen him mouth kiss random people at bars when he was excited. I preferred he did that instead of planting one on me. I wiped my mouth off with the back of my hand. Sometimes I forgot that he grew up overseas. Or went to school overseas. Or did something overseas for some vague period of time he’d never tell me about. Had I somehow reminded him of those memories? It was probably the French accent. I’d have to make sure never to speak a foreign language in front of him again.