Dirk: A Stepbrother Romance(76)
“That would be great. If you aren’t in a rush either.” Ginny mentally berated herself for how lame that sounded but kept steamrolling ahead, hoping to cover up her awkwardness with more words. “I’m Ginny by the way. All this time I keep bumping into you I never told you my name.” Ginny extended her hand and the man happily took it, shaking with gusto.
“My name is Liam.” They shared a small moment of just smiling at each other while shaking hands. It was a small moment, but it was a moment nonetheless. Ginny would take what she could get.
“Shall we? There is a wonderful little café just around the corner.” Liam pointed to a corner not even a half block away. Ginny nodded her head enthusiastically, perhaps a little too enthusiastically.
“That sounds great.”
They walked side by side to the coffee shop and when they got to the counter Liam insisted that she order first. Ginny got a vanilla latte, her secret guilty pleasure of a coffee drink while Liam got an Americano. Ginny went to pay for her latte but Liam refused to let her, saying that it was the gentlemanly thing to do. Just another reason Ginny could tell she was already falling in love with him. Though, Ginny would still never admit that she believed in love at first sight.
“So Liam, what do you do?” Ginny inquired as she sipped her latte. Liam added a single sugar packet to his Americano as he contemplated how to answer her question.
“I guess the best way to answer that would be to say that I am a businessman of sorts.” Ginny gave him a puzzled look.
“And what do you mean by that?” Liam was hesitant to expand on it any further, yet there was something about Ginny that made him feel at ease. The usually closed off and private man saw something in Ginny, something that he hadn’t seen in a very long time. It was a comforting feeling, almost familiar in nature. Perhaps that was why Liam didn’t stop the words from pouring out of his mouth. There was a connection between him and this girl, a connection he wanted to explore in more detail.
“My family owns the Langley Corporation.” Ginny thought she was going to spray her drink everywhere. The Langley Corporation was a family with money in the billions, and if this guy in front of her was for real he was likely the second son, William Langley, of the current CEO, Edward Langley. The whole ‘Liam’ nickname was likely a way to help keep his identity secret. The family had gained its wealth starting all the way back with the railroads, and through constant diversification with new ventures they had built a reputation of being the closest thing to royalty in the United States. Ginny almost couldn’t believe she was sitting across from such a ‘prince.’
“Are you really William Langley?” Ginny had to set her latte down for fear of another crazy revelation. Liam seemed rather perturbed by the question but answered it nonetheless.
“Yes, though I would prefer if you didn’t share that with anyone. I enjoy my privacy.” Ginny shook her head in understanding.
“No, I get it. It’s just a bit of a shock. It’s not every day that you meet a billionaire.” Even saying the word billionaire was blowing Ginny’s mind. Here she was, a nobody journalist, having coffee with the heir to the corporate throne. To say it was overwhelming would be an understatement.
“I appreciate your understanding. I just want to enjoy my coffee with my beautiful date.” Ginny felt her face turn red again from embarrassment; he was almost too much.
“You aren’t too bad looking yourself.” Ginny wanted to slap herself silly. Had she really just said that to the William Langley?! Shoot me now, Ginny thought to herself.
Liam chuckled a bit at her slightly awkward statement, but didn’t tease her about it, which Ginny was forever thankful for. Instead Ginny decided to shift the conversation back onto Liam and away from herself.
“So if you are from such a well-known family why do you walk around here every day? Wouldn’t it be better to just take a car or limo or whatever it is you drive around in?” Ginny questioned as she re-gathered her latte in her hands. Liam leaned back in his chair and smiled.
“I like to walk the streets and breathe in the … well, I guess ‘fresh’ isn’t the right word, but I like to breathe in the air of the city. I don’t like to be so isolated from the people around me. Besides, no one really knows what I look like so I can get away with walking around town unnoticed. Though, I will say I wasn’t planning to have near constant run-ins with a certain red headed woman.” Liam smirked and Ginny thought she was going to die again from embarrassment. Ginny sputtered for words, but there was really no defense for her blatant actions. “Don’t worry, I always enjoyed our little run-ins,” Liam half-smiled. Oh God, Ginny thought to herself.
“Heh, yeah, well anyways, what else do you do during the day besides get semi-harassed by me in the streets?” Ginny was determined to learn more about the secretive man in front of her. And damn it if she wouldn’t get the topic off of her semi-stalker behaviors. It was bad enough that the conversation had primarily revolved around that singular topic.
“Well I also enjoy Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain.” Liam stated.
“Those are lyrics to a song,” Ginny called him out on his tease. Liam only beamed back and her.
“You caught me, though Pina Coladas are delicious. I mostly just help out at the company doing boring business stuff like emails, memos, meetings and phone calls. It’s rather monotonous, which is why I love walking through the streets. Everyday something different can happen.” Liam eyes lit up as he talked about the near daily adventure of walking down the street and Ginny couldn’t help but smile along with him. His personality was infectious and the more they talked the more she came to like him.