Page 36 of Love your Billionaire Boss

“The locker room smelled for weeks!” Kenny laughed.

Cleo laughed right along with them. She seemed like she was genuinely enjoying their stories, and Kenny was genuinely enjoying sitting so close to her.

“Wait. Kev… is he the—”

“Creep? Yeah, that’s him.”

Cleo bit back a laugh.

“I heard he came in the other night,” said Kenny curiously. He wanted to know what had happened.

“Yeah. He did.” Cleo took a sip of her wine.

He waited for her to continue.

“Uh-oh. What happened?” asked Nico, eyeing her.

“He was just a little pushy. He wanted me to go home with him,” said Cleo quietly.

Kenny could feel heat rise to his face.

“Obviously, I said no,” she said quickly.

“Yeah, he was all butt-hurt about it today.” Nico laughed.

“Maybe he needs another fish in his bag,” suggested Cleo.

Kenny smiled at that. The way she said it was so innocent. He hated that Kev had been such a creep to her. “I can arrange that,” he said.

“You guys remind me of my brothers back home in Indiana. They’re always up to something, I swear.” She smiled down at her wine before taking a sip.

She told them more about her family and how she grew up with two older brothers who were always messing with her. Nico and Kenny laughed at her horror stories. Kenny couldn’t remember the last time he had felt this comfortable with a girl, let alone in front of his friends. Nico seemed to like her too. He kept giving him looks like he was impressed. Cleo really fit in with them.

This was turning out to be too perfect. He knew what that meant. It meant it was either too good to be true, or it would blow up in his face. This thing, whatever it was, had to end. He picked up his glass and emptied it in one big gup before putting it back on the counter with a loud clink.

“Well, this was fun,” he said, standing up and sliding his phone out of his pocket.

“Yeah…you going somewhere?” Nico raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I think I’m going to go meet the guys. They’re going to that new bar that just opened. We’re finished here, aren’t we?” He looked at Cleo with a bored expression.

He watched as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

“Um, yeah. We’re all set here,” she said quietly.

“All right. Well, I’m off. Nico can walk you out.”

Kenny turned and walked out of the kitchen, but not before seeing the hurt expression on Cleo’s face. It crushed him and it took everything in him to not turn back around and stay. But staying meant someone would get hurt, and he couldn’t risk it being him.

Chapter 13

Cleo

Cleo sat at the kitchen counter with her mouth slightly open as she watched Kenny walk out of the room without looking back. She listened to him grab his keys and walk into the elevator as the doors opened. Soon, it was silent. He was gone. Really gone. She sat there awkwardly with Nico and a wineglass in her hand. She took a breath in and set her glass on the counter, the clink the only sound between them.

What had just happened? She thought the night was going well. It was fun. She really felt like there might be something between them, even though this wasn’t a date. How did he flip a switch like that? A look had washed over his face that made him unreadable. Unrecognizable. It was as if a storm had suddenly passed through him, and then he was gone. She furrowed her brow as these thoughts whirled around in her head.

Finally, she looked to Nico, who was witness to everything, and sat awkwardly two barstools down. She raised her eyebrows questioningly and hoped he would give her some answers.

---