Page 19 of Her Brother's Billionaire Best Friend

“Trying not to retch at how wealthy you are.”

I smiled thinly. “The waiter’s coming back with some Dom Perignon. Try a glass of champagne. See if that takes the bad taste out of your mouth.”

She pursed her lips and smiled. “Besides,” I added. “Didn’t you always dream of dining out in fancy restaurants as a kid?”

“How do you know that?” Laura frowned.

Fuck. That was a mistake. I had to think quickly. What should I say? Luckily, the waiter arrived and poured our drinks there.

“Do you know what you’d like to order, Mr. Barnes?” he said.

“We’ll have whatever’s good,” I grinned, trying to cover my nervousness.

“Very well, sir,” he said, and walked away, wiping the bottle with a white napkin.

There was a silence while I took a drink. The champagne dissolved on my tongue, and its flavor was exquisite. But Laura didn’t touch hers.

“You avoided my question,” she leaned forward a little.

“Most poor people’s dream is to eat in this kind of fancy restaurant, isn’t it?” I replied.

“That’s rude! Even though you’re right,” said Laura. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” I said, resigned to having to talk about myself.

“How come you don’t do anything in Caluga Falls?”

“Oh wow… So working on my investments is not considered ‘anything’?” I snarked.

“I mean, why doesn’t anybody know anything about you? David’s always pestering me with questions about what you’re like. You’re sort of like an anti-celebrity.”

“Famous for not being famous?”

“That’s it.”

“It doesn’t pay to be well-known wherever you are. Once people know who you are,” I explained, “they can know your weaknesses. I don’t want to advertise my presence.”

“I always thought the point of a small town was that everybody knew each other?” Laura frowned and tilted her head a little.

“Not if you’re somebody who doesn’t want to be known. Then you can hide in plain sight,” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” I sighed. “Think about it. People in small towns are distracted with day-to-day life. I guess no one’s interested in some old rich weirdo who lives above the Falls.”

“You are rich, and you are a weirdo,” Laura grinned. “But you’re not old, Lucien. From your looks, you’re at most in your late thirties. That’s not old!”

It felt strange to hear her say my name. But I liked the sound of it. I wondered if I’d chosen the name because it sounded like the kind of name Laura would like. I quickly shoved that thought out of my mind. I wasn’t even going to think about the past. That way, there was no chance of me slipping up again.

“How do you know how old I am?” I said.

Laura looked puzzled.

“I don’t know, from your face?” she said curiously. And then our food began to arrive.

Chapter 7

Laura