Page 34 of The Billionaire Boss and the Barista

That was meant to be comforting. His words shouldn’t make her underarms sweat. “But it doesn’t have to be you.”

A strong emotion flashed across his face before he could hide it. It almost looked like… hurt.

Emma immediately felt guilty. Yes, he’d inadvertently ruined her life, but he was trying to fix it. “I mean, don’t you have to work?”

Garrett set the glass down. “Many of our current projects are moving out of the planning stage. I’ll still have quite a bit of work, but far fewer meetings. Which means I can telecommute for the nextcouple of weeks. If anything urgent comes up, the office is only a short drive away.”

“Oh.” A new thought occurred to her. “You said a few weeks. Does that mean this housing situation is temporary?”

Was a few weeks enough time to find something she could afford?

Even with the assistance she got from the state, that would be a challenge. Her hours atDe Ollawere supposed to be full-time, but with her frequent absences, she worked part-time most weeks—something Hector considered when drafting the schedule.

“No.” Garrett took a deep breath, frustration creeping into his tone. “Like I said, you living alone just isn’t possible right now—your mother was right about that.”

The look of horror on her face made him laugh. “Before you ask, no. I didn’t speak to her. We grew up in the same town, but I never met her. Not officially. Your cousin spoke of her quite a bit though. He said she was a little high-strung, and the only reason she slept at night was because you lived with a family member.”

“Which you aren’t,” she said, pointing out the obvious.

Garrett acknowledged that with a gruff nod. “We’ve been over this. In a perfect world, you could have stayed with Pedro, but sweetheart… you know he’s a mess. He needs to focus on his health before he can be responsible for yours.”

The endearment was unexpected, but she was too irritated with his choice of words to let her surprise show. “You make me sound like a child. I can take care of myself.”

His eyes were serious and soft. “I know you want to. But you’re not there yet.”

Ouch. Guess who wasn’t pulling their punches?

“Also, I hate to be the asshole who points out you weren’t helping Pedro either.”

“You don’t know that,” she shot back, stung.

“Emmy.” He sighed. “Introducing an animal into a hoarder’s home was a terrible idea.”

“I know that now. But?—”

He held up a hand. “I know you claimed Prince asyour own, but it was just a matter of time before Pedro began to think of him as his pet as well. Trust me when I say that would have been the worst-case scenario. Because one cat would have inevitably turned into two and then three. And then a dozen.”

She shook her head. “I wouldn’t let that happen.”

“Could you stop him?” Abandoning his drink, Garrett came around the bar, stopping just a few feet from her.

His posture wasn’t hostile. Garrett had even slipped his hands into his pockets to downplay his intimidation factor.

It didn’t work, of course. His sheer size made her want to keep a piece of furniture between them. But she was too stubborn to let him see that.

“Tell the truth. Have you been able to stop Pedro from accumulating more stuff since you moved in with him? Or even slowed it down?”

His words hurt like hell, mainly because she’d asked herself those same questions before.

“I’m not trying to hurt you by saying these things.” Garrett’s big hand engulfed hers. “That’s the last thing I want. But the fact is that youweren’tgoing to be able to stop him. He needs professional help.”

Emma pulled away from his touch. “How do you know so much about hoarding?”

“Honestly, I don’t. I’ve just started to investigate it, but what I’ve found is depressing as hell. Pedro is a hoarder, Em. It’s a serious and badly understood disease. And he’s going to need more help than you can give him.”

The tear that fell took her by surprise. Damn, had she gotten so used to pain that the fact that she was about to cry didn’t even register anymore?

Garrett crept closer, opening his arms.

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