Free Utterly Yours (Book One) (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) by Alexa Brookes

Chapter 1
     
                  Nathaniel Lynch was seated across from what was most likely the world’s most uptight, stereotypical daddy’s little girl turned adult he had ever met.  The woman was gorgeous; he wasn’t going to deny that, but if he had to listen to her tell one more story about makeup, shopping, or something she did with her father or “gal-pals” from high school, he was going to stab himself in the eye with the salad fork.  Oh God, we’re still just on salads , he thought, realizing they had only just placed their order for their entrees a few minutes ago.  The woman’s name was Eliza Hordon.  Eliza came from what Gatsby would have called old money, and for that reason, Nathaniel’s mother had set up this lovely date on his behalf.
                  His phone buzzed, and while normally he would never check his phone during a date, it wasn’t as though Eliza would notice. She hadn’t bothered taking her eyes off of her phone for more than five seconds at a time.  He glanced down, and it was a text from his mother.  Hope it’s going well!  She’d make pretty grand-babies ;)
                  He cringed, and decided he was definitely not going to answer that text message.  He had gone into this date rather optimistic, despite the fact that it was his mother who had set it up; his mother normally had fabulous taste in pretty much everything, but obviously they shared vastly different tastes in spousal appeal –not that Nathaniel was looking to get married anytime soon.  He was still enjoying the single life.  He looked at Eliza and forced himself to find something he liked about her if only for his mother’s sake.  She was pretty –sexy even.  She had ridiculously long brunette hair, and not a single hair was out of place.  She had one of those long faces that made herself look thin and poise.  Her fingers were perfectly manicured, and she wore what could possibly be a thousand-dollar designer dress.  She was definitely the kind of woman people would expect a self-made billionaire like himself to marry.  It was just that personality of hers that was so daunting.
                  “Oh, wow,” she said suddenly and her face turns red.  “I’ve been sitting here talking about myself this whole time.  Tell me about Lynch Industries.  I’m actually really curious as to what it is you do.”
                  A large sigh escaped from his lips.  He was actually very grateful she was done yammering on and on about herself like she was trying to sell a piece of merchandise to him.  Normally, he wouldn’t mind if a woman talked about herself, but it was the way she did it that was so incredibly off-putting.  “Well,” he began, “Lynch Industries is a tech start-up company.  We do a lot of investing in projects that could do well in the modern market.”
                  “Anything I’d recognize?” she asked.
                  “I bet you have a few of our apps on your phone,” he said.  “We do a little of everything, though, not just apps.  We’re leading the way in software engineering, and we’re starting to even dabble in the astrological field.  We’re designing some things for NASA now too.”
                  “Impressive,” she said and leaned forward slightly to stare at him.  “I remember I had a roommate in college who wanted to work for NASA as an engineer.”
                  “That’s an impressive achievement –did she do it?” he asked.
                  “I’m not sure.  We lost touch after I dropped out,” she said as she pulled out a compact of makeup to re-powder her nose.
                  Of course, you dropped out , Nathaniel thought.  Soon they were back on talking about her brief days at the University.  She had been part of a sorority, of course, and she had many stories to tell there.  His phone went off