The Billionaire’s Girlfriend (His Submissive #5)(10)
Author: Ava Claire

I gave her an awkward hug before I stepped aside to introduce Jacob. "And this is-"

"My future son-in-law!"

Jacob let out an uncomfortable chuckle as she brought him in for a hug that lasted way longer than appropriate. “Mrs. Montgomery. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Oh the pleasure’s all mine,” she said with a grating wink. My father gave Jacob a sturdy handshake once my mother released him and flashed me an apologetic half smile.

I settled in my seat, trying to ignore the warmth of the gaze of the other patrons. Their disapproving eyes were as unnerving as cameras flashing. When our waiter gauged he wouldn’t be chewed out again over the price of water, he breezed back to the table. I barely let him get a word out before I ordered the biggest martini they had.

"Hard day at work?" Mom didn’t even bother masking her judgment.

"Something like that," I answered with a tight smile.

I could tell she wanted to push the subject, maybe give me a lecture about how it wasn’t ladylike to drink, but she let it go. "It must be so glamorous working with celebrities." She leaned forward, dropping her voice to a near whisper. "Working with anyone interesting?"

I glanced at Jacob and he gave me a nod. "Right now we’re working with Cade Wallace."

She exchanged a look with my dad and he shook his head. "You know I don’t keep up with that stuff, sweetheart."

She turned back to me, her forehead scrunched in concentration. "There’s something familiar about that name…" She snapped her fingers as it dawned on her. "Cade Wallace! That bulky, Captain America looking action star with the strong jawline?"

"That’s him," I said with a weak laugh. My smile faltered when I realized why she remembered his jawline at all. Oh no…

"If memory serves, Lay had quite the crush on him."

Jacob perked. "Is that right?"

"I don’t know if I’d call it a crush, Mom." I smoldered.

I must have been naive to think that this meet the parents might go any different than the others. I’d turned down an offer for Jacob and I to come over for a home cooked meal, remembering my mother bringing out the photo album for the first guy I’d brought home. The second had to endure Mom’s frighteningly descriptive honeymoon with Dad after she found out we were going on a cruise. “It’s really not that big of a deal.”

"Oh please," she snickered. "You had posters of the man plastered all over your dorm." She winked at Jacob. "All the other girls swoon over Leonardo DiCaprio, but not my Leila. She liked her men with extra testosterone."

I hoped my mother’s dated intel would lessen the blow of revealing that I was a fan of Cade’s, but I could already tell that she’d ruffled Jacob’s feathers. The hand on my thigh retreated to his own and his jaw went tight as a bowstring.

"Well," Jacob said with a chuckle that he only used when he was pretending he found something amusing. "Maybe I should have made the time to meet the man of Leila’s dreams."

I jabbed him with my elbow. "Don’t be silly. You’re the man of my dreams." When he looked at me for a heartbeat of a second, I could see the anger flash through his ice blue eyes.

The waiter returned to our table and I downed my drink in record time and held up a single finger. He gave me an abrupt nod and hustled away to get me another. Jacob didn’t even touch his drink. He just kept his eyes forward, icing me out like I kept some great secret from him. I gave my mother a pointed look and she let out a nervous giggle.

"Well, um, what are you doing exactly? Another junket like Venice?"

I’d been hoping for a complete subject change, but as long as she wasn’t singing ‘Leila and Cade, sitting in a tree’, I’d take it. "He actually has a film coming out soon, so we’re working with him to set up media interviews and other promotional activities."

"A new movie?" she said brightly. "What’s it called so Dad and I can be their opening night, bells and whistles on?"

I couldn’t help but smile at her efforts. Even when she was being absolutely ridiculous and embarrassing me with impressive skill, she always found a way to make me lower my arms by reminding me how she supported me. "Soldier’s Creed."

"That movies about ‘Nam, right?"

Everyone turned to my dad, surprised he actually said enough words to string together a sentence.

He cleared his throat and shuffled in his seat uncomfortably, clearly not a fan of being in the spotlight. "I remember seeing something about it in The Times." He passed the mic to my mother. "You remember that article, don’t you Cheryl?"

"I sure do." She fondled with the pearls at her neck, a rueful look on her face. "It’s just horrible what they did to that boy in the POW camp. For him to stay strong after all of that is amazing."

I nodded in agreement. After meeting Cade I’d read up about the film and the soldier’s story that inspired it. After being captured by enemy forces, he’d endured unspeakable atrocities for months on end but he never gave in.

"Cade told me that they actually brought the soldier in as a consultant." I traced the stem of my martini glass. "As a vet, he seemed really moved by the story and honored to share it on the screen."

"Interesting," Jacob said beside me.

I turned to him, glad he was finally getting over it. "Yeah the story was really interesting."

"Oh I wasn’t talking about the story." He gulped down a swallow of scotch. "I was referring to you being on a first name basis with a client. Kind of unprofessional, don’t you think?"

Heat unfurled in my cheeks as I tried, and failed, to temper my response. "I referred to our last "client" by her first name on numerous occasions. And since you gave the go ahead to share with my folks, I really don’t see what the big deal is."

But as soon as I was done, and saw the look on everyone’s faces, I felt like the village idiot. The big deal was obvious.

Jacob was jealous.

****

Even though I knew my mother couldn’t say no to anything dessert related, she acted like she was bursting at the seams and had zero interest in looking at their treats. At the start of the evening I’d wanted to hit fast forward but since Jacob had been given me a sneak peek of the epic fight we’d have tonight, suddenly I wasn’t so excited about parting ways.

"You sure you don’t want me to walk you out to your car?" I offered, trying to tuck a subliminal message in the words. "It’s really no trouble."

My mother’s lip smirked slightly as she shook her head. She got the message, but chose to ignore it. "That’s alright, sweetie."