The Principessa Bought a Genius Boyfriend Chapter 04

The Principessa Bought a Genius Boyfriend Chapter 04

All four years of college, Vincent delivered takeout after class.

His dinner was usually just the cheap instant sandwich the delivery depot gave employees.

One time I went looking for him.

He was sitting with a couple other delivery guys behind the depot, just making do with whatever they had.

I said, “Vincent, why are you eating this? It’s not clean.”

He looked uncomfortable. “Does it matter if it’s clean or not?”

“Come on, let’s go get steak.”

I dragged him to a fancy new steakhouse, five hundred dollars a person.

He stood at the entrance for a long time, then silently pulled off his delivery uniform.

After my family fell apart, I finally understood what he felt that day.

Just like now.

It was my turn to carry the weight of getting by.

It snowed.

The ground was slippery, I fell, and all the food spilled out.

I called the customer to explain, but he just yelled at me.

“Don’t give me excuses, late is late!”

My scraped palm stung like crazy in the cold, but I didn’t have time to tend to it, just kept apologizing over and over.

Vincent showed up out of nowhere, and lifted my bike back up.

I didn’t know how long he’d been there, watching me.

I instinctively hid my hand behind my back.

“Stop hiding it,” his voice was rough, his eyes red. “Go wash it out right now.”

“I have to finish this delivery first.”

“Get in the car. I’ll drive you.”

The customer lived on the first floor. When I handed him the new order, he mumbled, “Damn, even people who drive Porsches deliver takeout now?”

I had another order waiting after this one.

Vincent said, “Stop delivering.”

“I can’t. I didn’t make enough tonight.”

“Then I’ll buy them.”

“What?”

A ding from my delivery app. I didn’t know what he did, but the system automatically accepted an order he sent.

“I’m buying all your time tonight.”

Vincent drove me to his house.

I stood in the doorway, refused to go in no matter what.

“Aurora will be mad.”

I remembered clear as day that they were boyfriend and girlfriend, and I didn’t want to get mixed up in their business.

Vincent said, “You got time to worry about other people? Look at the state you’re in right now.”

Aside from the cut on my palm, I was covered in dirty melted snow.

“And another thing, Isabella. Look around this place. Does it look like a woman’s been here?”

I froze. “You two don’t live together?”

“I never was with her at all.” Vincent tossed a contract onto my lap. “She approached me six months ago, proposed a deal. She didn’t want to deal with producers forcing her into bed, so I’d pretend to be her boyfriend. In exchange, she helps me fend off pushy clients.”

He paused, like he was worried I wouldn’t get it, and explained further.

“Some clients think everyone’s down for their little games, just throwing girls at me. It pisses me off. Aurora just handles all that for me.”

The contract spelled it out plain and clear that they didn’t interfere in each other’s personal lives.

Vincent took my hand and cleaned my cut for me.

I noticed a whole row of unopened hand cream boxes on the shelf.

That was my favorite brand back in the day. Vincent bought a whole set and kept it here.

“Today, I asked your coworker,” he said lowly.

“You don’t have a boyfriend. You even said you were single at the team building last week. Isabella, you lied to me on purpose, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t lie.”

“Then show me a picture of you and that guy you’re marrying.”

“We never took any.”

“You, the girl who used to take photos of everything, you never took a photo with your new man?”

“You’re right. I’ll show you one next time I take it.”

Vincent huffed a laugh, half angry half amused.

Suddenly he braced his hand on the sofa, caging me in completely. The air felt thick with his presence.

I couldn’t move. Even through my sweater, I could feel the heat of his body.

“I bought your time. You know what that means, right?”

“I’ll refund your money, Vincent. I’m actually getting married.”

He slid his hand down along my shoulder, but stopped at my wrist.

“Getting married, and still wearing the bracelet your ex gave you? Doesn’t that seem wrong?”