Page 23 of Billionaire’s Game

“Yeah, I thought maybe you would like to feed the ducks with me.” It was then that I noticed that he had led me to a large pond where several ducks were starting to congregate, obviously aware that Magnus was providing their next meal.

“Hold on,” I said swallowing the bread that was in my mouth. I looked down at the roll in my hand, that I had already partially devoured. “Are these rolls for the ducks?”

He nodded, clearly amused.

“And you just let me devour stale bread without mentioning that this was for some random ducks?”

“I honestly didn’t expect you to just start eating it.”

“Well, Magnus. When someone offers you food, you don’t normally question it, you just eat it. An offer would have been like, ‘Hey, Lesli. Care to help me feed the ducks?’ Not, ‘Grab some bread.’” I was so embarrassed. This was exactly why I didn’t want to date him. Who knows how many other embarrassing faux pas I would commit?

“Aren’t you testy this morning? Tense even? Is something bothering you?” I could tell from his tone he was teasing me. His eyes held amusement and I planted my hands on my hips and hoped he couldn’t guess that he was what unnerved me and my embarrassment over the bread situation made me even more aware of just how awkward I could be.

“I wouldn’t say that something is bothering me... More like someone.” I looked pointedly at him and he laughed.

“Your laugh is contagious, you know. So carefree,” I said, begrudgingly complimenting him. I didn’t want to give him the idea that I liked him, but I did. Admittedly, I liked him a lot. It felt weird to immediately like someone that I didn’t know, but he seemed to be what my mom would call “good people.”

“Wow, a compliment. From you? I must be doing something right.”

“Just one thing. You did one thing right.”

“You can tell you and Lacey are related. You both have a way of making a man feel—”

“Emasculated?” I asked innocently.

“Not the word I was about to use, but I don’t want to get myself into trouble, so I’m just going to drop the subject—”

“That’s smart of you.”

“And offer you the opportunity to feed the ducks with me.”

“I’ll take that offer.”

“Great. I’m ecstatic.”

His dry sense of humor made me smile and we spent the next few minutes feeding an ever-growing flock of ducks, and suddenly turtles also showed up. They were all coming from the water and approaching us with little greedy expressions. In minutes, we were surrounded.

“Umm... Magnus?” I said, moving closer to him as the circle of ducks and turtles encroached upon us, decreasing the size of our inner circle.

“Yeah?” he said, clearly unworried.

“We’re kind of attracting a crowd... Maybe we should leave while there’s still time.”

“While there’s still time? They’re not going to eat us, Lesli.”

“I don’t know...” I said looking at a duck that seemed to only have one eye and its wings were covered in dirt. “That duck right there looks like it’s part of a biker gang or something.”

“You’re not a fan of ducks? That’s a lot of unfair judgment toward a duck.”

“I don’t like ducks, true. But that duck is scary. I mean, look at him. Could be running a fight club or something.”

He laughed and looked in the direction of the duck. And then suddenly without any warning, the duck lunged forward and snapped at Magnus who instinctively took a step back, knocking me over. As I fell over, the bag of bread flew out of my hand and I fell to the ground.

The next thing I knew I was covered in ducks and turtles, snapping at me from all directions while I tried but failed to pull myself off the ground. And then Magnus’s hands were on me as he dragged me away from what now had turned into a duck and turtle feeding mania. Scratch that. It looked like the Hunger Games of nature.

I gratefully looked up at Magnus who was frowning in the direction of the ducks. A family had stopped what they were doing to stare at me and I realized there was a group of teens recording my disgrace.

“Seriously?” I yelled at them and they just snickered and continued filming.