Blind Date with my Billionaire Boss - Evangeline Kelly

Chapter 1

Easton

There were a couple of things I looked forward to after a long run. Drinking a cold cup of water was high on the list, along with a hot shower. What I didn’t anticipate was a disgruntled woman waiting for me on the living room couch, her arms crossed, eyes filled with aggravation as if I’d ruined her day. The person in question was Lila, the lady I’d been seeing, and I had a feeling she was about to let me have it.

I’d made it clear from the start that I was only up for casual dating, but from the look in her eye, we were going to revisit that discussion. I wiped my forehead with the bottom of my gray t-shirt and set foot into the living room. “Didn’t know you were stopping by today.” My jaw tightened, but it wasn’t intentional.

She flipped her light blonde hair over one shoulder and glared at me. “Seriously? You should check your texts more often.”

The sarcasm in her voice filled the room with enough tension to make any sane man want to run out the back door and never return, but I’d been in this situation before, and it didn’t faze me anymore. Women always had expectations when it came to relationships, and usually around four months in, they’d start to realize I wasn’t going to meet those expectations. I never initiated the breakups, but my level of investment wasn’t sufficient to keep the relationships alive. Come to think of it, we were at the four-month mark.

“That’s probably true.” There was no apology in my tone, but then again, there never was. “I should have gotten back to you, but I’ve been busy. You know how it is with work.”

“I don’t deserve to be treated this way.” She stood and stared at me with wild eyes, her fists clenched at her sides like a child ready to have a full-blown tantrum. “If you find time to go jogging, you can find time to get in touch with me.”

That was true, but training for the Warrior Obstacle Challenge was my first priority and everything else would have to take a back seat to that goal. My father tried to get me to sign-up with him a year ago, but I wasn’t interested at the time. He pushed too hard and the stress from work, along with a family history of heart disease, led to a heart attack. My mom came home from shopping and found him on the floor with no one around. She called the paramedics, and they rushed him to the hospital but he didn’t make it. Now, I was taking up the torch and running in his place. In honor of him. It was something I had to do. Needed to do.

It was the only thing that mattered to me at the moment. Lila didn’t know about the race, so I couldn’t get angry with her for scolding me. Our relationship had slowly dwindled down, anyway, and there was little to say for us beyond fancy dinners at the finest restaurants with subpar conversations about shallow topics I had no interest in. But that was our arrangement of sorts. I showered her with expensive things, and she was there to keep the loneliness away.

“I’m sorry about not calling,” I said. “I’ll try to do better.”

“That’s not good enough at this point.” Her bottom lip trembled, and I knew what was coming next. “It’s been four months. If you don’t see a future with me, then I need to move on.”

“I assumed we were having a nice time together, but you know where I stand on relationships. I’m not ready for anything too serious right now.”

“I thought I was okay with it,” she said, “but I’m not.”

Fair enough. “I understand. The last thing I want to do is hurt you.”

Her eyes brightened, and she stood a little taller as if my statement had given her hope. “If that’s how you feel, Easton, consider taking our relationship to the next level.”

I shifted and pushed a hand into my pocket, wariness filling me at the pleading tone of her voice. “I can’t…” My throat thickened, and the words refused to form on my lips.

She stepped closer, and her eyes pleaded with me to change my mind, but nothing would alter my thinking at this point. I’d been this way for as long as I could remember, and after Dad died, it only got worse. I doubted anything or anyone would alter that in