Her Billionaire Toy Boy

Chapter 10

“Hey, guys,” Mira said with a friendly smile as she grabbed a mug from the mug tree and poured herself a cup of coffee. Damien and Lisa were sitting at the table. In front of each of them was a black plate with three crispy pancakes drowning in syrup on them, and in between them was a large platter containing an almost indecently large amount of bacon. Mira smiled, reached down, and grabbed a strip. She leaned on the counter and ate her bacon and sipped her coffee, thinking that it was very possible that she could get used to this lower, more sumptuous sort of lifestyle.

“Mira,” said Lisa, and she got up and left.

Mira frowned slightly and looked over at Damien. “That seemed a little frosty. A little businesslike,” she said. “Is Lisa okay?”

“Yeah, she’s fine,” said Damien. “She’s just frustrated that she’s worth about four and you’re a clear ten. Perhaps an eleven,” he said, and he got up and smiled, winked, and walked out of the room.

Mira stood motionless in the center of the silent kitchen. Had that been a compliment? She was wholly unsure that it had been in the first place; and whether it had been complimentary or more derogatory in nature, she was rather sure that it was an overstepping of Damien’s bounds, as it were, and she did not want to do it again.

“Hey,” she called. She followed Damien down the hall. She knew from both her experience of being a lawyer as well as just being a woman living in New York that she had to head this behavior off early, now, and with a strong, firm, and polite way about her. “Damien? Could we discuss what you just said to me, right now?”

She saw Damien turn, slowly, and shrug.

There came another set of footsteps padding up behind her. Mira looked and smiled to see that Sam, fresh out of the shower, was coming from the direction of his room. Sam looked back and forth from Mira to Damien and stopped, then held up his hands. “Whoa. What’s happening here? Getting major confrontation vibes.”

“Nope, just having a friendly discussion,” Damien said. He looked at Mira. “What did you want to bring up?”

“Well,” said Mira, and hesitated. On the one hand, she wanted to get this out in the open. On the other, she wanted to spend time with Sam without necessarily complicating things, and being confrontational almost certainly would lead to complications of some level or another.

“Well,” she said again. “So—Damien—

And she hesitated again. This weekend had been so wonderful. Did she really want to start pouring fire on the flames?

Sam saw that she was conflicted and put a warm hand on her shoulder. “Mira. What’s up?”

She looked up at him and the confusion in his blue eyes almost stopped her in her tracks. She didn’t need to do this now. She didn’t need to do this ever.

She took a deep breath and did it anyway.

“So, Damien,” she said, turning back to him. “I just wanted to ask a little more about what you said back there in the kitchen.”

“Ah,” he said. “Wait. What did I say? Did I refuse to make another batch of coffee or something? I’m sorry, I can get back in there and put on another pot.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Mira said hastily. “No—it was what you said when Lisa left the room.”

Unbidden, Mira’s eyes flicked over to meet Sam’s. She saw that he looked discomfited and reconsidered her whole line of thinking again—but realized that at this point, she’d already begun talking. She was in it, now. She had to finish saying what was on her mind.

“Um,” she said. “So—“

“If I was mean to Lisa, I’m sorry,” Damien said, frowning. “I’m not usually this forgetful—but perhaps I said something off—I’m still pre-coffee, you understand—I’ll go apologize to her.”

“No,” said Mira. “Or, well, yes. You’ll probably owe her an apology. But, first—I was just confused. You—in a comment you made to me after your girlfriend had left the room—you ranked me and her on some sort of numeric scale.”

Damien stared at her. Mira glanced at Sam again. He had put his head in his hand and was shaking his head slightly. Mira frowned, and then refocused on Damien. She’d work with Sam next.

“So—anyway,” Mira said. “I just thought I’d point it out that we don’t like being ranked numerically—and please stop. That’s all.” She waited a beat, and then gestured to the kitchen behind her. “Were you looking for more coffee? I can go make some more coffee.”

Damien was frowning. He pointed back and forth, from Sam to Mira and back. “She doesn’t know?”

He was speaking to Sam, and, for some reason, a hectic smile was growing on his face.

“I’m right here,” said Mira, impatiently. “And I do know that I would appreciate it if you don’t do that again. Look, it doesn’t have to be a big deal—that’s all—nothing more to worry or fluster about.”

Mira was growing uncomfortable. She could in no way reconcile the odd look of triumph on Damien’s face. She turned to Sam again and furrowed her brow. His skin had gone all blotchy and red.

“She doesn’t know, does she,” said Damien.

Mira snapped at him. “Stop talking like I am not here.” She paused. “Is there something that I don’t know?”

There was silence.

“That I need to know?”

Mira folded her arms and glared at both men. Sam seemed to stand as if he were actively hoping that the wallpaper behind him would swallow him up. Damien was still wearing that manic grin.

Damien turned to Sam. “I’m going to tell her,” he said, smiling broadly.

“I—don’t,” said Sam. His face had gone white, instead.

“Tell me what,” Mira said, sharply. “What?”

“Mira, don’t get angry,” said Sam.

Mira’s anger levels suddenly skyrocketed disproportionately.

“If you don’t want me to get angry, don’t tell me not to get angry,” she said, very quietly. “Also, not doing whatever it is that you’re clearly trying to hide—not doing that, whatever it is—probably would have been a good call as well.”

“You’ve got about ten seconds Sam, to tell her yourself before I blurt it out,” said Damien. “Actually, hold on, wait.” Damien stuck his head into the room behind him. Mira heard him whisper-yell, “Lisa, you’re not going to want to miss this, we just found out that Sam’s never told Mira about the—“

“Ahh,” said Sam hurriedly, loudly. Lisa appeared in her doorframe, smirking as well, clad only in a very short towel.

Mira wobbled slightly. She hated everything about this, from the identical, very odd smiles on Damien’s and Lisa’s faces, to the way that Sam was clearly hurting, to the fact that she was probably going to have to reconsider how she felt about him in a very short amount of time.