Free The Millionaire's Wish by Abigail Strom Page A

Relaxed enough to start asking you some questions.”
    He took a sip of wine. “What kind of questions?”
    â€œThe same thing you asked me. I’d like to know more about your work.”
    Their appetizers had arrived. Allison took a bite of her mushroom fritter, and he chased a piece of crab cake with another sip of Burgundy.
    â€œWhat do you want to know?”
    â€œHow you got started, I guess. How you created a software empire.”
    â€œI wouldn’t call Hunter Systems an empire. Do you really want to hear the whole story?”
    â€œOf course I do. I wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t interested.”
    That was the kind of thing people said on a first date, and most of the time it wasn’t true. But when Allison said it, it never even occurred to him to doubt her.
    They were finished with their appetizers by the time he went through the short version of his company’s history—how he and an army buddy connected with a few friends from college and rented that first tiny office on Grand, only a few miles from where the company was now. How they’d worked round the clock, eating and even sleeping in the cramped space until they had a product ready to launch. How “Magician’s Labyrinth” had hit big, making enough money to allow them to expand into other kinds of software.
    â€œBut you still make games?”
    â€œSure. Our gaming division puts out new products every year.”
    â€œBut you don’t? You personally, I mean.”
    He shook his head. “No time. And game design is a crazy job, best suited to kids. Kids at heart if not in years. And in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m all grown up.”
    It was another not-so-subtle opportunity to flirt. She didn’t take the bait, but at least this time she blushed.
    The waiter brought their entrées, setting a dish of lobster ravioli in front of Allison and a steak with béarnaise sauce in front of him. He watched as she cut a ravioli in half and put it in her mouth, chewing andswallowing with a little mmm of pleasure that sent a bolt of awareness through him.
    â€œTell me why you don’t date,” he said abruptly.
    He was breaking his cardinal rule with women—don’t ask anything too personal, especially in the beginning. His relationships, such as they were, tended to skim across the surface.
    But he wasn’t actually dating Allison, and he really wanted to know the answer.
    Allison looked down at her plate, swirling the other half of her ravioli in cream sauce. “That’s not important,” she said.
    â€œIt is to me. I’d like to know.”
    She looked up at him, her blue eyes guarded. “It’s not exactly my favorite topic. My family brings it up all the time, and it makes me crazy. Especially when I think there are so many more important things going on in the world than whether or not I go out on dates.”
    â€œLike what?” he asked, taking a bite of his steak but keeping his eyes on hers.
    â€œLike everything. Disease, poverty, natural disasters. And that’s just off the top of my head.”
    He poured a little more Burgundy into her glass. “Okay, you’ve got me there. But I’m still curious.”
    She frowned down at her wineglass, tracing the rim with a fingertip. “There’s not a lot to say. I was pretty serious about someone in high school, but then we broke up, and it just…turned me off the whole scene. I’ve gone out with people here and there, but I haven’t been in a relationship since. And at some point I realized I didn’t miss it.”
    She looked up at him. “My work and my family are the most important things in my life. I don’t need arelationship to feel complete. And I think romance can be a distraction, you know? Because emotions are overwhelming, and it’s easy to give in to them. Because it feels good for a while. And when it stops feeling good, the