Vivian’s POV

When Ryan had insisted that they go out to eat, Vivian, despite her reservations, had agreed.

But she had believed that he would be taking her someplace where she would fit in despite wearing only jeans and a shirt.

She could not have been father from the truth and she was greatly regretting just following him blindly instead of asking where they were going.

"Ryan, we cannot eat here," She whispered furiously, dragging her feet as she considered making a run for it.

The billionaire, dressed in a dark shirt and slacks turned to her, raising a brow like he had no idea why she was against dining in such a fancy establishment.

"Of course, we can eat here, Vivian, I can afford it," He told her and Vivian wanted to scream at how oblivious he was being. Moving closer to him she whispered her protest.

"I am not dressed to eat in a place like this. Look at all of these people watching me,"

Instead of understanding her plight and taking her away, Ryan placed an arm around Vivian’s shoulders and pulled her closer.

"They are only staring because you are the most gorgeous woman here,"

Vivian glared at him.

"Now is not the time to be flirty, Ryan. I feel like everyone in here is judging me and they are all finding me wanting,"

The humour instantly vanished from Ryan’s face and he gave her a serious look.

"So what if they are looking and judging you? None of them know you and I guarantee you, sweet Vivian. Anyone here who dares to judge you has no right to. You are you, splendid no matter what you wear, and you fit in wherever you wish because you are an extraordinary woman and I am honoured to be out with you tonight,"

"So please, will you do this poor man a favour and just share a meal with me?"

Moving away from her, his hand falling off her shoulder, Ryan stood in front of her and held out his hand.

"Please?" He asked and Vivian felt all of her apprehension fade away.

How could she resist him anything when he had such a smooth tongue and kept looking at her like she had somehow hung the moon.

Slipping her hand into his, Vivian allowed Ryan to guide her to a secluded booth, unable to resist smiling when he actually pulled out her chair for her, treating her like a proper lady.

***

Trying not to feel too out of place, Vivian took the menu that the waiter offered, waiting until the man left before opening it and being very glad that she began reading it with only Ryan there to witness her mouth falling open in shock.

"Ryan, why on earth did you take me to a place where the menu doesn’t even have prices? Are we going to spend enough money to buy a small family home with just this one dinner?"

Without a hint of guilt or shame, Ryan merely shrugged.

"So what if we are, this is my treat to you, order whatever you like, you deserve it,"

Vivian sighed, there was that look again, like by being there with him and sharing a meal, Vivian was the one doing something for Ryan instead of it being the other way around.

"Fine, I will order something, but just so we are clear, next time I cook for you, I want you to finish the whole plate,"

It was an awful threat, Ryan already ate everything she made for him with a big smile on his face. So it was not even a threat at all. Even so she was glad when the billionaire played along, nodding in mock seriousness.

"Of course Vivian rose. Whatever punishment you see fit to impose upon me for treating you like the queen that you are, I will take it with a smile on my face,"

Rolling her eyes at him, Vivian went back to studying the menu, there were some options that she would have no idea how to pronounce even if she tried. So she immediately skipped over those, going to the ones written in plain English. Vivian’s mouth watered as she saw some of the less than healthy options, but she decided against ordering those.

It would have been nice to have them, but she had spent the previous week not being very careful with her diet, she had eaten way too much junk food.

The ice cream section at the grocery store probably trembled at the sight of her. So even though it would have been an excellent time for her to go all out, Vivian was very restrained.

When she chose her meals, she went for the healthiest options, when the waiter came back and she rattled off her choices, she caught Ryan giving her a look. But she decided to distract him before the man could question her. Picking up her spoon, she held it out towards him.

"Do you think that this is real gold?" Ryan shrugged, "Why do you ask?"

A sneaky smile on her face, Vivian pretended like she was about to sneak it into her pocket.

"If I stole this would you help me melt it down later? Maybe the two of us could make a fortune just going to expensive restaurants and stealing their utensils,"

She expected him to scoff and tell her to quit playing around, but instead Ryan leaned in closer, and whispered to her. "Why stop with the utensils? We could also go around stealing all of the vases that they keep their flowers in. Some of them are very valuable pieces from ancient times. We could even steal their chandeliers bit by bit,"

It was absolutely ridiculous, but he looked so serious when he said it that Vivian could not help, but laugh. Laughter that quickly tapered off, when the waiter came back in with her first course. While Ryan’s looked delicious, Vivian had a green thing on her plate that she was not sure she would be able to stomach.