Page 42 of The Playboy's Most Unexpected Baby

“Well, I started the car on my app once you said yes,” he grinned, holding the phone up to show her. “But it does make me look confident, doesn’t it?”

Olivia couldn’t help laughing. “It does,” she admitted. “I can see how you get women to go out with you all the time.”

To her surprise, the smile on his face faded slightly. “You know, I never try to trick anyone,” he said. “I never want anyone to go out with me who doesn’t want to, and who doesn’t know exactly what she’s getting into.”

“I didn’t mean to imply anything negative,” Olivia said, eyebrows lifting. “I’m sorry if I upset you.”

“No, you didn’t.” He sighed. “It’s nothing to do with you at all, truth be told. Just something my sister said to me.”

“Your sister doesn’t think highly of you at all.”

“No, that’s true, she doesn’t.”

“Your whole family underestimates you. I think it’s a crime,” Olivia said. “I mean, I think you did it to yourself a little bit, from what you’ve told me — acting as if you were less than what you are during your teen years. You let them believe you were foolish and deviant. You’re not.”

Charlie chuckled. “I am, a little bit,” he said.

“No, Charlie.” She held firm. “You’re really not. You’re one of the most intelligent men I’ve ever known. You use that facade you’ve built for yourself as an excuse.”

“An excuse?”

They got into the car and she turned to face him directly as he backed out of the driveway. “I think you allow yourself to waste your time with women you don’t take seriously — women who don’t take you seriously — because you’ve decided that you aren’t a serious person. But I don’t think it’s the truth, Charlie. You deserve to take yourself seriously, and I guess… I guess I wish you would.”

She couldn’t believe she had actually said it. It was hard to draw breath for a moment, waiting to see how he would respond.

Charlie didn’t respond at all. He faced forward, staring out the windshield at the road ahead, as if she hadn’t spoken.

But that wasn’t the worst possible outcome, Olivia thought. It was clear that he had heard her, and that her words had had an impact. He hadn’t simply laughed off what she’d said, as he might have done in the past. Maybe he would sit with the idea. Maybe it would make a difference to him.

It was too much to hope for that he would look at her differently because of this. She wasn’t even sure if that was something she wanted. But maybesomethingwould change. Maybe he wouldn’t continue wasting his life on one girl after another. Maybe he would see that he deserved something more.

That thought was like a dagger in her heart. She wanted the best for him. But did she really want him to find it with someone else?

She wasn’t sure.

They pulled up in front of the marina. Charlie cleared his throat. “That’s my boat,” he said, pointing.

It was fairly modest, though of course it was much bigger than anything Olivia herself could ever have dreamed of owning. It had two stories above the water, and she could see from the parking lot that there was a bar on the top deck. “It’s so nice.”

“I don’t take it out as much as I’d like to.”

“You know how to drive it?”

“Of course.” He grinned at her, and she knew that things were all right between the two of them again, in spite of her comment about his love life. “My siblings and I have all been driving boats like this since we were teenagers.”

“Is that even legal?”

He shrugged. “We were never caught,” he said. “Come on, let’s get going. We don’t want the food to go bad.”

“The food?”

“I had the staff of Amore bring over some food and load it onto the boat for us so that we could have dinner out on the water.”

“When did you do all this?”

“I made the arrangements earlier this afternoon.”

“And what were you going to do if I said no?” she asked again.

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